The Techno Primer : The Essential Reference for Loop-Based Music Styles

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Summary: New to Making Electronic Music? Get this book.
Review: Tony Verderosa, aka VFX, is a New York City based producer and performer who is at the forefront of a new movement toward live performance and remixing of electronic music. Using a combination of electronic drum triggers, acoustic drums/cymbals, and samplers, Tony creates exciting live performances of the kind of music typically associated with vinyl based DJ music.

This book is written for people who want to learn about the history, key people, and the technology and techniques used in creating electronic music. In the first half of the book, Tony covers the early history of electronic music and its pioneers such as Theremin, Cage, Stockhausen, etc. There is some overlap of course with Iara Lee`s film `Modulations` but I found the extra detail interesting. He then moves into the modern period with the invention of analog and digital synths, samplers and computer based music. He then traces the birth of the modern DJ from diverse styles such as reggae, disco, electro and rap. At the close of this section he provides examples on the included CD of different styles of electronic music including jungle, drum n`bass, illbient, 2 step, trance, etc. If you often find yourself confused by the many terms used to describe different sub genres the CD is very helpful. And although I`m more interested in jungle/dnb it was helpful to get a solid overview of how these different styles have influenced each other.

The next section covers the various ways in which electronic music is created. If you are new to making electronic music, this section is key for wading through all of the hardware and software out there. I wish I had this book a year ago when I was getting started! He breaks these into `instant gratification` apps like Acid (included on the CD), to MIDI based hardware setups to hard disk recording. He discusses the pluses and minuses of each approach as well as the hardware/software needed. He gives a brief overview of MIDI, which I felt could have been more in-depth since it is a confusing topic for beginners. His explanation of the basics of sound synthesis is easy to grasp and filled in a lot of blanks for me. In the final part of this section he talks about various approaches to live electronic music, including his DJ Drummer concept. If you want to see more of this you should really check out his live videos!!

Part 3 of the Primer consists of interviews with various artists such as Jamie Meyerson, Code 911, Mistress Barbara, Zach Danziger, etc. This is my favorite section of the book because each of the artists reveals their influences, what gear they use to create their music, how they do it live, their experiences in the industry. The key lesson I took from these interviews is that there is no one right way to create music and that it`s important to develop your own approach and sound. As someone who is working on my own music, this section was very inspirational.

Although Tony is known as a DJ Drummer this book is for anyone interested in learning to create electronic music. I`d also highly recommend his CDs and live videos...