Rating: 
Summary: Inside the Musicians Studio
Review: An enjoyable book that reads like a documentary - no, like a bible with many chapters. "And the vocals were scorched but it worked, and it was good". "They spent forty days and forty nights in the studio." "On the seventh day God split the guitars into two channels so that the vocals may cross in the sound space." This is the stuff you won't find in the text books.
This book got me to buy a disco CD. Yeah, disco, and I liked it!
Le Chic, Freak Out! same guitarist that plays with Bowie in Let's Dance and China Girl. After you read the story, you have to give another listen. It doesn't tutor in mixing, recording, equipment selection, nor critical listening - but the chapters touch these subjects so that you can read about the working professional from behind the glass.
Rating:
Summary: Inside the Musicians Studio
Review: An enjoyable book that reads like a documentary - no, like a bible with many chapters. "And the vocals were scorched but it worked, and it was good". "They spent forty days and forty nights in the studio." "On the seventh day God split the guitars into two channels so that the vocals may cross in the sound space." This is the stuff you won't find in the text books.
This book got me to buy a disco CD. Yeah, disco, and I liked it!
Le Chic, Freak Out! same guitarist that plays with Bowie in Let's Dance and China Girl. After you read the story, you have to give another listen. It doesn't tutor in mixing, recording, equipment selection, nor critical listening - but the chapters touch these subjects so that you can read about the working professional from behind the glass.
Rating:
Summary: "BIG LEAGUE CHATS"
Review: Definitely this book will guide you through numerous interviews with some of the big names in production, from the producer/arranger to the producer/engineer to the producer/musician. You'll get an idea of how this monsters of the industry work and some of them will reveal some of their techniques. There is no secret formula in this book that will allow you hit success after been read, but it will definitely give you an average idea of how things can be achived."Behind the glass" will make you travel from the 60's to the 90's, with artists like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Alanis Morisette, David Bowie and lots more. Some of the technical stuff could be a none-sense for beginners, on the other hand there is a lot of good tips for the home studio musician. This is a book to have on your bookshelves it will make worth your money.
Rating: 
Summary: The best book
Review: Forget every other book. This is the only you'll ever need.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Bad...
Review: I would not say that this is the best book to buy for the aspiring project studio owner. While there are some neat stories, etc, the interviews don't give you much other than the "GO do it your own way, your ears are always right, when we recorded x-famous person, blah, blah, blah, ".. I found the Mix Engineers handbook was more practical. I have read a few of the recording and mixing books available, and while this was a fun read, it was the least practical. If you are looking for production/recording tips get studiobuddy and then buy the recording and mix engineers handbooks.
Rating:
Summary: Not Bad...
Review: I would not say that this is the best book to buy for the aspiring project studio owner. While there are some neat stories, etc, the interviews don't give you much other than the "GO do it your own way, your ears are always right, when we recorded x-famous person, blah, blah, blah, ".. I found the Mix Engineers handbook was more practical. I have read a few of the recording and mixing books available, and while this was a fun read, it was the least practical. If you are looking for production/recording tips get studiobuddy and then buy the recording and mix engineers handbooks.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: If you want to know how to proceed in the recording enviroment, this is the book you've been looking for. I would buy it again if I could.
Rating:
Summary: Learning From The Masters
Review: If you're a musician, an aspiring engineer/producer or are into any aspect of audio, you'll find this book absolutely fascinating. The author obviously knows his stuff (he's a producer and engineer himself, and a well-known writer in EQ magazine), and by asking probing and detailed questions, Massey has managed to get the world's top record producers to spill the beans about every aspect of how they make hit records, and he's also successfully captured the essence of their personalities. Each of the big names in the business -- George Martin, Brian Wilson, Alan Parsons, Phil Ramone, Arif Mardin, George Massenburg, even the usually reticent Geoff Emerick (who engineered Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road) get a full chapter, and there are two absolutely hilarious panel discussions as well. Equal time is given to top American and English producers, and I especially liked the section called "Young Guns," in which younger, up-and-coming producers (like Walter Afanasieff, Chuck Ainlay, Danny Saber and Sylvia Massy) get a chance to present their views. All in all, this is a truly exceptional, eminently readable book. If you've got a son, daughter, nephew or niece who's into music, this will make the perfect stocking stuffer.
Rating:
Summary: Good Hands on-Nuts and Bolts(knobs and Mic's) Kind of stuff
Review: The author asks a bunch of recurring questions to nearly all the subject producers. Any musician/composer with some time under his belt struggling to self produce at an objectively professional caliber will recognize the starkly relevant real world challenges underlying those questions. The fact that so many of the questions repeat from one interview to the next only makes the many varied answers all the more interesting. If you're a starry eyed wanna-be mesmerized by the supposed glamour of pop music making, look elsewhere. If you want to know how the grunts in the trenches actually make hit records, don't read this book once; read it repeatedly. I still am. As much to absorb the no bs, no excuses, no slacking, know your stuff, just get it done, mind-set common to these seasons pro's. (no young bucks here)
Rating:
Summary: Great resource, but how does it rate for up-and-comings...?
Review: The other really good reviews tell you what you want to know about the logistics of the book. I want to talk about whether or not an up-and-coming musician/producer/composer can use the book in their daily work and professional lives to any useful extent.My quick answer is absolutely. It's chockful of great interviews with unquestionable legends in the field. We always hear about the artists and get these clunky, chopped up interviews in magazines with them about what it took to make the record ("I had a dream", "My contract was about up", "It's an homage to field mice", etc.), but we rarely get such an in-depth look at who REALLY makes these artists SOUND they way they do. There's a ton of stuff about the gear they use, how they use it and why they use it. The slant of the book is a little high-end, which is understandable, considering the professional level of the producers we're talking about here, so the average joe in their bedroom or basement studio may find the discussions about $10,000 microphones a bit overwhelming and useless, but the theories about how they're used and what environments (an aspect of recording SADLY bypassed by big and small name studios alike) they're striving to create are invaluable, and can be applied everywhere. If you're an aspiring artist, get it because it will tell you where the lines are in your working relationships with these people, and help you help yourself instead of looking at the studio clock with 6 more tracks you'd like to lay. If you're a session musician, you'll probably find it useful when the discussions turn to getting good sounds out of your instruments in various environments. And if you're an aspiring producer, you HAVE to get it. It's your guide through ego, business and the nature of what you wish to do.
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