TravisinFlorida said:
there are tons of books on all aspects of recording. if you're a book kind of person.
I have a small collection of about ten late-issue books including a few that -just- came out. If you are going to buy books on any subject dealing with computers, then you need to get the latest versions possible. For all but the most basic aspects of computers and software, any book over two years old is worthless - and even a one year old is book getting long in the tooth. It does depend on the subject, for example any book on Reason 3.0 should be good but you wouldn't want one on Reason 2.0 if you have the new one. That's obvious. But if the book is about a variety of subjects, like a book that I purchased last week about plugins and -just- came out (I actually got the only one that they had so far, an advance copy) then you want one as new as possible. I wouldn't want a two year old book about plugins.
Also, not everyone benefits from the book route. For me, I generally do not rely on books to get going because I can get bogged down in them. I find it hard to use books to get started on something that is brand new to me because I can't relate to anything that they are saying, and I do not like to try and read them and learn the program step by step. It's easier for me to get going on the basics by poking around in the program and using the Internet to pick up bits and pieces of specific information that I need - then the books become much more useful to me since I can relate to what they are saying, and I can use the books to become proficient on the more advanced features of the programs.
As of now, my library consists of
Power Tools for Loop Music - Preve, Francis 2004 (with CD)
Understanding Audio - Thompson, Daniel M. 2005
The Desktop Studio - Menasche, Emile D. 2002
Making Music with Samples - Duffell, Daniel 2005 (with CDs)
The Sampling Book - De Furia, Steve and Scacciaferro, Joe 1987
The Beginner's Guide to Computer-Based Music Production - Price, Zack 2004
The S.M.A.R.T guide to Digital Recording Software and Plug-Ins - Gibson, Bill 2005 (with DVD)
Software Synthesizers - The Definitive Guide to Virtual Musical Instruments - Aiken, Jim 2005 (with CD).
In addition, I have quite a few magazine/books of the sort that are published in the UK and cost around $25. These things are awesome! They provide up to the minute, cutting edge info and also come with TONS of free software, good stuff too, not junk and demos that expire. They come with FULL programs that cost more than the magazines! I buy them as soon as I see a new one. I've also been buying them for graphics and web design. If you haven't seen these, go to a good magazine shop (I've been getting mine mostly from Barnes and Noble). They are not cheap for magazines, but these are not your ordinary magazines, they are keepers as far as reference books and the software is great. I've also found the new magazine "Future Music" to be great, it doesn't cost as much and has great articles and software. I'm getting a sub to this one.
As you can see, they are mostly right up to date. Older books can be helpful too, just don't try to save money by buying only old books. Older books are more useful to learn the basics of something - sometimes they can be very helpful because they are more in-depth on the basic stuff as they are a whole book on what would just be one chapter in a newer book. But for things like specific plugins, synths, programs, etc. you really need to have your library be up to date.
Everybody is different though. One of the things that I learned when majoring in education is that there are different learning styles. For example, three basic ones are audio, visual, and kinesthetic-tactual. Audio means that you learn best by having someone explain things to you. Visual means that you learn best by watching someone do something. Kinesthetic-tactual (KT) means that you learn best by doing. I am definitely KT. Books are considered to be supplemental to all of these, but if they had to be pegged then they would fit into the visual mode most of all.
It can be very useful to figure out what your learning style is before spending money on a course of study. Even if you are going to a school, you can find one that best fits your learning style. You do not have to try to fit yourself into one style and one only - just try to determine what style best suits you and pursue a course of study that fits that model. It can make a huge difference. For example, if you are a KT learner like me, you would be wasting your time and money attending a school that does not focus on hands-on learning.
BTW - as far as the notes-taking suggestions, that can be invaluable. Again, you need to find out the best method of notes-taking for your particular style. For me, the best way is to collect articles from the web, magazine CD's, and other places and save them on my PC in highly organized directories that I can go to when needed. I also make my own notes on Word documents (much better than Notepad since they are much more editable and formattable) and place them into my directories.
Also, I purchased a couple of DVDs on Ebay that were comprised of thousands and thousands of articles, tutorials, manuals, links, and other reference materials. They were already fairly well archived, so I just copied them onto my hard drive and fine tuned the archiving to my liking. Along with a couple of other cheap DVDs filled with all sorts of shareware and freeware tools that I also copied and archived, I have a HUGE collection of reference materials on my PC, about 10GB worth. I have obviously not scratched the surface of far as using it all, and I am sure that I will never even see more than about ten percent of what's on there (10GB is a LOT of documents!). But the point is that it's there if I need it, and it's organized well enough that I can find what I need easily.
In addition to all of that, I have copied whole tutorial cd's that I purchased into the directories, such as one for Reason 3.0 and one for Acid 4.0 (I am going to be adding one for 5.0).
There are also folders in there for my own web findings, and for copies of the CDs that come with magazines such as Future Music etc.
PS - I've been thinking of putting all of this stuff onto a couple of DVD's and selling them for a nominal fee like $10 or trading them for other stuff. I put a lot of work into them, I didn't just copy and paste. I want to clean up the archives even more before I do, but let me know if you might be interested.
