The Billboard Illus Home Recording Handbk [Paperback]

Ronan Macdonald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

A comprehensive and accessible guide to making music on a home computer, this book is perfect for beginners, a godsend for musicians trying to keep up with technology, and an inspiration to anyone thinking of the best way to make music more easily. The handbook covers all the software and hardware needed to create any type of music on a computer. Plus, professional tips and jargon troubleshooters are provided throughout the text to help individuals through the technology minefield and provide expert information in a digestible form. With the solid advice and information found in this book, individuals will be able to make music using the same methods as professional musicians.





• For both amateur and professional musicians

• Written for both Mac and PC users

• Includes contributions from and expert team of writers and consultants from the US and UK

• The flexi-bound format of the book allows readers of different levels of experience to get up to speed quickly

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ronan MacDonald is the editor of Computer Music Magazine, which is the top UK magazine in the field. He lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823070794
• ISBN-13: 978-0823070794
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #480,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book for Beginners, May 2, 2005

By 

Nate I. (Indianapolis, IN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Billboard Illus Home Recording Handbk (Paperback)

This book is what "Home Recording for Dummies" should be. It gives a very good overview of the components of a modern amateur recording studio. I would recommend it over anything in the "Idiot's" or "Dummies" series by far. Excellent color pictures and diagrams, well layed-out information, equipment and software recommendations, recording techniques, and price guides are all excellent reasons to buy this book.

The only reason I gave it 4/5 was because the book has a little difficulty tying all the pieces of a home studio together into one package. While the book gave excellent descriptions of the components of a home studio, it didn't tie them together extremely well.

The book deals almost exclusively with computer-based recording, with slight mention to tape-based recording. It's unbiased between Mac and PC, but the software recommendations are dated to 2004/2005. However, most everything else in this book should be good information to have for years to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of the available batch in 2005, February 7, 2005

By 

Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Billboard Illus Home Recording Handbk (Paperback)

I took a look around my local Borders recently. Most of the books were about analog mixing. The most recent coverage was early Pro Tools. This book had the best coverage of recent technology. Plus it was good at explaining the fundamentals in an easy to understand way. Definitely good coverage for home rock and hip-hop recording and mixing. If I could fault it for anything it's that the depth of the exposition is scanty in places. The book could use some more detail in a second version.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Book, June 22, 2006

By 

David DeLizza (new jersey, usa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Billboard Illus Home Recording Handbk (Paperback)

I recommend this to all levels of musician, teachers, etc. There are great illustrations (well, i suppose there'd have to be), but it's the most up to date out of anything i've seen, and still plenty of "timeless" (to use an overly dramatic, but apt word) info on the actual audio end of things.

GET IT!