Shameless self promotion...

[Professor]

Be the first kid on your block to get the new book...

Mastering Pro Tools Effects: Getting the Most Out of Pro Tools' Effects Processors, 1st Edition

Introduction.
1. Establishing a Baseline.
2. Fundamentals of Recording.
3. Compose, Record, Edit, Mix, and Master.
4. Equalizers.
5. Dynamics Processors.
6. Reverberation.
7. Delay.
8. Dither, Sound Field, and Other Plug-Ins.
Index.

I'll admit that what started off as a harmless little project to write a book about when, why, and how to use the Pro Tools plug-in suite kind of morphed into a pretty involved book on overall recording, mixing, and mastering.
That's why it needs a special place on your desk... right between the your headphones and your Sweetwater catalog.

[trodden]

So that's where you've been/what you been doing the past couple of years!

[Recycled_Brains]

Be the first kid on your block to get the new book...

Mastering Pro Tools Effects: Getting the Most Out of Pro Tools' Effects Processors, 1st Edition

Introduction.
1. Establishing a Baseline.
2. Fundamentals of Recording.
3. Compose, Record, Edit, Mix, and Master.
4. Equalizers.
5. Dynamics Processors.
6. Reverberation.
7. Delay.
8. Dither, Sound Field, and Other Plug-Ins.
Index.

I'll admit that what started off as a harmless little project to write a book about when, why, and how to use the Pro Tools plug-in suite kind of morphed into a pretty involved book on overall recording, mixing, and mastering.
That's why it needs a special place on your desk... right between the your headphones and your Sweetwater catalog.

Congrats man! I've always enjoyed reading your posts here. I'm sure it's a great read.

[Professor]

That is (at least part of) what I've been doing the last couple of years.

There was also a healthy (or unhealthy?) amount of girl chasing going on... along with house buying, followed quickly by a new job that requires me to relocate.

It's been quite an adventure.

But it's great to be back!!!

[Professor]

Shameless bump.

[Matt C.]

maybe a dumb question, but how much does one stand to learn from this book if they don't actually use pro tools? based on your posts here I'm guessing it would still be an enlightening read, but I have no immediate plans to actually learn that software.

[Professor]

Well thanks for that - I do try to write posts that are helpful apart from the occasional ones that only say "shameless bump".

But funny you should ask about this...
I will of course suggest that you take everything I say about my own book with a healthy (or unhealthy?) grain of salt, since whether it's me or anyone else, there's always going to be an inclination to fall into cute baby syndrome.
With that said, I really did try to make this one a book that would be useful to people who just want to learn about plug-ins and even hardware audio processing.
The original request from the publisher was that I avoid simply rewriting the manual and actually get into explaining when and how someone might reach for a particular kind of plug-in. I realized pretty quickly that would basically turn it into a book about mixing... at least in some sense.
So, each chapter starts off with a "refresher" section that talks about some of the important ideas. That is, before I tell you about using an equalizer, I want to make sure you understand something about frequency and the audio spectrum. The idea is that it's meant to be a brief, um, well, refresher on the subject, not an in-depth explanation. But there's one at the start of each chapter. Then there's a section on using the particular type of processor (equalizers, compressors, delays, etc.) during 5 different phases of the recording process - those being songwriting/composing, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering.
With all that at the front end of each chapter, you're almost 8-10 pages or more into the chapter before any specific plug-in information shows up. And even then I tried to go with plain language explanations of what various controls do rather than just giving the ranges and expecting that you know what a 'Q' knob adjusts. And then each chapter ends with some 'best usage' examples and 'danger zone' warnings. Honestly all of that material turned something like the dynamics processors chapter into a 75-page chapter and there are only 5 plug-ins described in there.
Maybe I got carried away? That happens some times with me.

But in the end I will say that in my opinion this kind of book would be useful for any kind of software or even hardware beyond just Pro Tools. Just keep in mind that not every function with match.

Hope that helps.

-Jeremy