Recommended books for learning music production?

K

KEROUAC1957

New member
Can anyone recommend some books (or even videos) I should take a look at to learn about music production? I think I can put together a basic demo of a song but I'm starting to wonder how I make a recording go beyond sounding like a basic demo. I've been listening to a lot of records and thinking I like that sound but I'm not able to analyse to a great extent what went into getting that sound and what is going on in the mix.
 
KEROUAC1957 said:
Can anyone recommend some books (or even videos) I should take a look at to learn about music production? I think I can put together a basic demo of a song but I'm starting to wonder how I make a recording go beyond sounding like a basic demo. I've been listening to a lot of records and thinking I like that sound but I'm not able to analyse to a great extent what went into getting that sound and what is going on in the mix.
Click to expand...

https://homerecording.com/bbs/content/37-recommended-books-home-recording.html

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...best-book-home-recording-start-finish-323824/

https://homerecording.com/bbs/gener...hniques/what-best-home-recording-book-208742/

:guitar:
 
Read all about it !!

KEROUAC1957 said:
I've been listening to a lot of records and thinking I like that sound but I'm not able to analyse to a great extent what went into getting that sound and what is going on in the mix.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure any book on production is going to help you with that. That comes from a combination of experimentation, experience and chance.
That said, there are some good or at least useful books that might be of use;
i Guerrilla home recording by Karl Coryat
ii The mixing engineer's handbook by Bobby Owsinski
iii Mixing audio by Roey Izhaki
iv Emergency ! First aid for home recording by Paul White
v 101 Recording tips by Adam St James

In addition to these, old interviews are often a great source of information and to this end, you could check out "Behind the glass", volumes 1 & 2 by Howard Massey, "The record producers" by John Tobler and "Good vibrations ~ a history of record production" by Mark Cunningham, not to mention the autobiographies of people like Ken Scott, Tony Visconti, George Martin and Geoff Emerick.

An exhaustive but ever so informative thread in the Reaper forum called "Why do your recordings sound like ass ?" is worth persevering with, even if it takes you months to read it.
There is also a fantastic set of articles called "How to mix a pop song from scratch"
 that is a great read. I printed it off after downloading it and a friend bound it for me so it sits as a book on my shelf.

It's not an exhaustive list, but it's a lengthy starter.
 
Im selling a few of the above on ebay...good condition, cheap..links in the for sale forum


Shameless plug :o
 
Wow there's a lot of suggestions to check out there. Thanks so much for the responses. Guerrilla Home recording had already come up on my radar so will probably give that a try but I''m also going to look into those other suggestions. Thank you
 
kcearl said:
Im selling a few of the above on ebay...good condition, cheap..links in the for sale forum


Shameless plug :o
Click to expand...
I was just looking at my bookshelves.......if I was to sell all my books for just £3 each, I'd be able to make enough to take the family on a spectacular holiday somewhere in Europe !
We won't be going, however.
Well, not with the sales proceeds anyway !
 
Peter McIan and Larry Wichman: Musician's Guide to Home Recording. It's from the 80s and the actual recording modality is tape. But it talks about, using a console, mic placment, amp placement, room damping, etc., and opens with a discussion of "critical listening." It was co-written by a professional producer and his buddy who is a home recording hobbyist.
 
That really reminds me of thisHome recc.JPGtome from about 1988 written by these two German guys and filled with the kind of information about studio building in the home that forums like this were set up to counteract and blow away. But on the other hand, it's worth a read for some of the actual recording information.
If you ever come across it and it's cheap, buy it. If you hate it and find it rubbish, consider the cost as the price of an education !
 
grimtraveller said:
I started it about 7 or 8 months ago. I'm on page 46 of the 55. It's good but heavy. I have to take it in small dribs.
Click to expand...

Because I currently have nothing to do at work, I'm cutting and pasting this beast into a Word doc, leaving out all the interjections from non-yep posters along the way... figure it will be useful in years to come. I'm sure someone must have done it already...
 
There's a guy called Smurf on the page that has been doing that. But to be honest with you, although Yep turns in lots of priceless info {and some contentious stuff about the bass !}, lots of the other contributors turn in some great, good and useful {as well as argumentative crap} stuff. It's kind of been like a long running drama serial. I feel slightly sad because I know it's approaching the finalè.
Only slightly though. :D
 
grimtraveller said:
There's a guy called Smurf on the page that has been doing that. But to be honest with you, although Yep turns in lots of priceless info {and some contentious stuff about the bass !}, lots of the other contributors turn in some great, good and useful {as well as argumentative crap} stuff. It's kind of been like a long running drama serial. I feel slightly sad because I know it's approaching the finalè.
Only slightly though. :D
Click to expand...

Yeah, I spotted Smurf's efforts and thought "what am I doing this for....?" - has he gone all the way through? I'm about on page 5 and I already have 50 pages of content just from Yep and Yep answering questions, and cutting everyone else out. Good stuff though.

There are a couple of things he's said that have had me going "of course!" and one in particular, although it has nothing to do with the mechanics of recording...."don't do mid price gear upgrades.... if you're going to upgrade something, save more and go big - it will be cheaper in the long run" (or something like that) which is the way I've always looked at it... hence my constant refrain of "Save more!" in the noobs forum...
 
Armistice said:
Yeah, I spotted Smurf's efforts and thought "what am I doing this for....?" - has he gone all the way through?
Click to expand...
He had, up to my page 46.
Armistice said:
and one in particular, although it has nothing to do with the mechanics of recording...."don't do mid price gear upgrades.... if you're going to upgrade something, save more and go big - it will be cheaper in the long run" (or something like that) which is the way I've always looked at it... hence my constant refrain of "Save more!" in the noobs forum...
Click to expand...
I'm one of these odd fellows that can fully appreciate two mightilly opposing points. I see paradoxes in many areas where some people would say "man up and pick a side". So I agree with your point there because I can see where you're coming from. I also disagree with it in various contexts because in some instances, being, what I call "hot to trot" but simply not having the money at the time may have to mean a lesser upgrade. I find that many if not most home recorders will pass 'up' the scale and go through quite a bit of gear in their time and money in the long term isn't really an issue. I'm not going to slit my wrists because I spent £500 quid over a three year period. And I think we all reach that point eventually, or many do, where we kind of know what we want or are relatively satisfied with what we have.
That said, it's different for everyone and some need the encouragement of a gentle push to explore areas they might not otherwise {like saving a bit longer}.
 
Take it all with a grain of salt until you read this:

BEHIND THE GLASS

There are rules and "generally accepted best practices" and all that fluff, and then there are ways to break the rules. After I read that book I understood why the veterans all say If it sounds good, then it's right.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top