CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Soapbox => Topic started by: LFF on September 01, 2012, 03:54:42 PM
-
One of the best things you can do in any hobby is to educate yourself about it. While some sites prefer you educate yourself in marketing terminology and flavors of the month, I think it's best to educate yourself on the fundamentals first so you can see through marketing hype and the snake oil that is all to pervasive in this hobby. So...where to start? How about with these books. I have owned all of them but one and highly recommend them:
Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audio-Second-art-science/dp/0240808371/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8)
NOTE: This is THE mastering bible and probably the best book on the subject of mastering. It contains information on equipment, equipment set-up and mastering chain, physics, how EQ works, restoration, etc etc. A great read with a lifetimes worth of information.
The Physics of Music (http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Music-Alexander-Wood/dp/1443726834/ref=sr_1_1?s=books)
Music, Physics and Engineering (http://www.amazon.com/Music-Physics-Engineering-Harry-Olson/dp/0486217698/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8)
Mixing Engineers Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Engineers-Handbook-Second/dp/1598632515/ref=sr_1_4?s=books)
The Mastering Engineers Handbook (http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Engineers-Handbook-Audio/dp/1598634496/ref=sr_1_2?s=books)
Spatial Hearing (http://www.amazon.com/Spatial-Hearing-Revised-Psychophysics-Localization/dp/0262024136/ref=sr_1_1?s=books)
This is some easy reading of hardcore stuff. Reading all of it will not make you the next great mastering engineer or producer but it will give you a solid understanding of music and how studios work as well as how your ears work.
-
Great stuff Luis!!
popcorn
-
Studying is good. Very good.
I'm going to do more reading on this when I get the chance this fall, and I wish more in this hobby would do the same.
-
Awesome, Luis!
Did you read my mind?
I was about to ask you exactly that since I have decided to try to "correct" the many crappy masters I have.
I think I'll start with Bob Katz's bible.
Thanks!
-
Awesome, Luis!
Did you read my mind?
I was about to ask you exactly that since I have decided to try to "correct" the many crappy masters I have.
I think I'll start with Bob Katz's bible.
Thanks!
Not very good at mind reading. Still trying to learn how to do that with my wife. :)p13
Best way to correct your masters is to compare what you have to real life. I was just talking about this with Anax and Purrin.
Listen to a real life instrument and try to match it on playback using as neutral a system as possible. It will pay you back in spades. :)p2
-
Good stuff, LFF :)p7
-
Awesome, Luis!
Did you read my mind?
I was about to ask you exactly that since I have decided to try to "correct" the many crappy masters I have.
I think I'll start with Bob Katz's bible.
Thanks!
Not very good at mind reading. Still trying to learn how to do that with my wife. :)p13
Best way to correct your masters is to compare what you have to real life. I was just talking about this with Anax and Purrin.
Listen to a real life instrument and try to match it on playback using as neutral a system as possible. It will pay you back in spades. :)p2
For playback, I plan to use the C4 (hence my question in the C4 thread ;)), real life instrument will be more difficult to find for me, and then there's rock music, where most instruments are plugged...
As for your difficulty mind-reading your wife, I don't think I have a much better success after more than 20 years...
-
Great list!
I'd also add one or both of the following, mainly for a great education in the fundamentals of digital audio:
The Computer Music Tutorial, by Curtis Roads
The Principles Of Digital Audio, by Ken C. Pohlmann
Kind of unrelated, but a great audio read nonetheless:
Recording The Beatles, by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew
-
I'll echo Lius' recommendation of "Spatial Hearing" and "The Audio Engineers Handbook" and add "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz and Hill.
-
Huh, missed this thread earlier. Awesome recommendations. A few new things to add to my list of audio related books to read.