How to Run a Recording Session (Pro Audio Series)

Rating:
Summary: A highly enjoyable book.
Review: Here's an unusual volume: a book about the process of recording that's funny, filled with anecdotes about famous musicians and packed with practical advice and information. I learned a heck of a lot from this book -- how to save money all the way through the recording process, the difference between a studio engineer and a producer and why band members shouldn't hit each other when they're trying to lay down tracks. If you are planning to record anything from a symphony to a poem, this book should accompany you.

Rating:
Summary: Inappropriate title for this book
Review: This book is aimed at artists and bands who will be working with producers and engineers and recording at established studios. It tells you what these people do, what to expect from them, and how best to work with them.

It has good and wide-ranging advice for artists and musicians, but it never gets close to describing "how to run a recording session" - an entirely inappropriate title IMO - and is not aimed at potential producers and engineers.

The author's experience with studios and established (now becoming obsolete) technology is obvious and the advice about people and instruments will always be relevant, but recording technology has come a long way since the book was last updated (1997, the second edition) (I'm writing this review in January 2003) and the book's coverage of technology has been rendered badly out-of-date.

I expect nowadays most people who want to know "how to run a recording session" will be working in their own project studio using computer-based digital multi-track recording setup. This arrangement isn't even mentioned or considered in this book. It does mention "ripping" (he means "burning") recordable CDs (at USD 10 each - were they ever that expensive?) but doesn't recommend them.

That said, the book is more about people and working with them, and less about technology - these details are handled by the engineer, and the book is really written for artists and band members.

I had hoped for more about the psychology of interaction between people in a recording situation, since the technology is now so advanced that the search for the "perfect take" has to move elsewhere. The book answers the old chestnut "what does a producer actually _do_?" but doesn't answer another, "just what is mastering?", to my satisfaction.

The book is not long (130 pages in large type) with no illustrations at all, and well-written in a nice clear conversational style. It avoids technical language - because technology is only fairly lightly covered anyway.

I would describe it as a general practical "how-to" book with useful advice aimed at music artists and bands, with slight emphasis on working with industry professionals in a studio situation. But I guess that wouldn't have been a very sexy title.

Rating:
Summary: Inappropriate title for this book
Review: This book is aimed at artists and bands who will be working with producers and engineers and recording at established studios. It tells you what these people do, what to expect from them, and how best to work with them.

It has good and wide-ranging advice for artists and musicians, but it never gets close to describing "how to run a recording session" - an entirely inappropriate title IMO - and is not aimed at potential producers and engineers.

The author's experience with studios and established (now becoming obsolete) technology is obvious and the advice about people and instruments will always be relevant, but recording technology has come a long way since the book was last updated (1997, the second edition) (I'm writing this review in January 2003) and the book's coverage of technology has been rendered badly out-of-date.

I expect nowadays most people who want to know "how to run a recording session" will be working in their own project studio using computer-based digital multi-track recording setup. This arrangement isn't even mentioned or considered in this book. It does mention "ripping" (he means "burning") recordable CDs (at USD 10 each - were they ever that expensive?) but doesn't recommend them.

That said, the book is more about people and working with them, and less about technology - these details are handled by the engineer, and the book is really written for artists and band members.

I had hoped for more about the psychology of interaction between people in a recording situation, since the technology is now so advanced that the search for the "perfect take" has to move elsewhere. The book answers the old chestnut "what does a producer actually _do_?" but doesn't answer another, "just what is mastering?", to my satisfaction.

The book is not long (130 pages in large type) with no illustrations at all, and well-written in a nice clear conversational style. It avoids technical language - because technology is only fairly lightly covered anyway.

I would describe it as a general practical "how-to" book with useful advice aimed at music artists and bands, with slight emphasis on working with industry professionals in a studio situation. But I guess that wouldn't have been a very sexy title.