Customer Reviews

Behind the Glass - Top Record Producers Tell How They Craft the Hits (Softcover)

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When I first saw BEHIND THE GLASS, by Howard Massey, I began turning its pages immediately. Publisher Miller-Freeman, it seems to me, has sort of seized the initiative in releasing great new music-industry titles that appeal to the targeted up-and-coming musician as well as veteran industry observers, teachers, and researchers. Author Howard Massey presents his material in interview format, sometimes with individual U.S. and British engineers and producers, and sometimes in a group setting (East coast panel, West coast panel, for example). He obviously has both great access to and an easygoing credibility with hit-making engineers and producers, because the questions are good, the answers are candid, complete, and casual. (If I sound vague about Massey, it's because I haven't bumped into him and the book contains no "about the author" blurb, a disappointing omission.) The book is being marketed briskly to college and trade-school recording programs, so--will this book teach you recording? No, you must still learn the basics from a good class setting, or a mentor, or in a self-directed experience with a different class of book than this (Runstein, Wadhams, and Woram are among the classic recording-text authors). But don't think I'm diminishing the value of this new book: it reads fast, and Massey brings all these legendary names into your living room, making them acquaintances, colleagues, friends--sharing shoptalk, suggesting both general methods and personal trade-mark techniques. Here's a bit of detail I gleaned from Behind the Glass: I bought James Taylor's Hourglass CD in Cape Town, South Africa a couple of years ago on a day when I needed to hear some mellow American music, and found myself entranced with the recording quality. I made a mental note to associate those great rich sounds with engineer Frank Filipetti. Later that same year Hourglass won a grammy as best recorded album-no surprise to me-but I honestly had no idea, until reading Massey's interview of Filipetti, that Hourglass was essentially recorded on hastily-assembled project studio gear on Martha's Vineyard. My respect for Filipetti went from huge to immense. Behind the Glass is excellent for prospective engineers or producers, for teachers of recording, or anyone with technical insight who is involved or interested in the recent history of pop music production. Ron Simpson, School of Music, Brigham Young University. Author of MASTERING THE MUSIC BUSINESS.

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.

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.

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.

This is one of the best recording books I've ever found. Great interviews with most of the world's top producers and engineers. Anyone on any will learn and be entertained by this book. It gives insight into recording, mixing and the music business. I don't read many books and I never read them twice. I'm in the middle of reading this book for the third time. My only complaint is that some heros are left out (Jimmy Iovine, T-Bone Burnett, Chris Thomas), but it's still incredible how many star producers and engineers are here!

This booked is really packed with insight from the best people in the business. What surprised me the most is the sheer amount of knowledge: unlike similar books (like "The Mixing Engineer's Handbook"), it's printed in "smallish" type (i.e. like a novel) and the page margins are "normal" too, so you really get your 328 pages of useful information. The interviews are also very entertaining, with very intelligent questions and answers. It's the closest you will be to having a face-to-face chat with the likes of George Martin and Brian Wilson. The amount of interviews is staggering too.

If you are thinking of buying this book - you really can't live without it!

This is an fine set of interviews with engineers who have worked with the legends of rock and roll. Most of the time is spent discussion mic positioning, filtering, and mixes. There is some coverage of analog versus digital, and some amusing anecdotes about the performers. It's a fun read for those looking to glean a bit more sage wisdom from the pros. There are no diagrams, detailed specifications or settings to impart. This is higher level, about the approach of sound design and how one works with tricky personalities.

This book is a collection of interviews by some of the best engineers and producers in the business. The content within the interviews reflect the personality of the person being interviewed, which makes for a great balance between those that love techspeak and those that need to understand the soft skills involved in capturing killer performances by artists. Topics covered include the differences between US based engineers and producers vs. their UK counterparts (the latter prefers to print effects to tape directly if things are working.) Another set of questions the interviewer regularly asks are related to project/home studios and the comparisons between the those environments vs high end studios. The responses are candid and enlightening.

If I could sum up best info in the book is that ALL of the interviewees restate the same thing- there are tons of variables but critical to great recording results falls mostly to good mics and the use of dedicated mic pre amps.

Other takeaways:
- Rooms obviously color the flavor of the recording
- Mic placement varies as much as the choices of mics
- Digital vs. analog debate still continues, but good recordings fundamentally result from choosing technologies that you believe are the magic sauce to laying good tracks and understanding their weaknesses to compensate accordingly
- Capturing a great performance is far more important than technically perfect recordings

This is another book that provides more fuel for your gas tank!

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.

I highly recommend that anyone in the music business read this book-- wether or not you are interested in making hits. it's full of really useful information, basically there is no one approach-- everyone has hits on their own terms.

all extremely talented and intelligent people are interviewed.

recommended for home-recordists especially.