Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! [Paperback]

Eliot Van Buskirk (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 2003

Learn the perfect way to rip, copy, record, and burn your favorite songs, using free or open-source software. From mash-ups that combine existing hits, to remixes of your favorite songs, you’ll be ready to tackle it all—even if you start as a novice who doesn’t know BPM from MP3.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Learn the perfect way to rip, copy, record, and burn digital music, using free, open-source software, or inexpensive commercial apps. From mash-ups that combine existing hits, to remixes of your favorite songs, you'll be ready to tackle it all--even if you start as a novice who doesn't know BPM from MP3. Follow along with author Eliot Van Buskirk's step-by-step instructions (with diagrams) to produce projects that take you into the studio, onto the radio, and beyond. Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! shows you exactly why the computer is the most powerful musical tool of all time.

• Rip, burn, copy, and mix a CD
• Create live DJ mixes featuring fades and beat-matching
• Listen to, manipulate, or produce music of any genre or format
• DJ live using a laptop
• Run your own Internet radio station
• Record live audio
• Make remixes and mash-ups of your favorite songs
• Produce a slideshow with your own MP3 soundtrack
• Learn audio effects and smart editing techniques
• Understand relevant copyright law, and what you should and should not do

About the Author

Eliot Van Buskirk (San Francisco, CA) has been a journalist with CNET covering music-related technology since the first MP3 player came out in 1998. His MP3 Insider column is the longest-running single-writer column at CNET, the largest online tech publication in the world. His career highlights include interviewing a Congressman about digital copyright issues, interviewing Mick Fleetwood about a set of drum loops he released for use in home digital recording studios, and assigning and editing a column by Chuck D of the rap group Public Enemy about the digital audio revolution. Van Buskirk has moderated panels at the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, has appeated on public television to discuss music technology, and has appeared countless times on various radio stations to discuss digital audio issues. The son of a concert pianist and music teacher, Van Buskirk has been surrounded by music all his life, playing violin, piano, and bass. He started a band called Solarium, which played and recorded locally in San Francisco at a variety of venues from 1996 to 2000.

Product Details

• Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (June 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072228792
• ISBN-13: 978-0072228793
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,522,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eliot Van Buskirk has covered digital music and other disruptive technologies for over a decade for Wired.com, CNET, Evolver.fm and as a freelancer for several other publications since 1997. The author of two books (Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing and More and an iPod book, both for McGraw-Hill), Van Buskirk is a regular on NPR. His latest works can usually be found via twitter.com/listeningpost. He rides a bicycle.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Your Computer is a Music Machine, November 16, 2004

By 

Frank D (ridgewood, nj United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! (Paperback)

Burning Down the House
Ripping, Recording, Remixing and more!
Nov. 2004

This book is about putting music on the computer, editing it and then playing it back. Or, "That's No Computer - It's Your Music Machine". As the book further states, "It doesn't matter whether you can play an instrument, read music, or carry a tune - as long as you like music, all the projects in this book are within your grasp".

The desktop computer now can do things that used to require thousands of dollars worth of equipment. This book gives the novice computer audiophile a lot of great basic info to get started, and also has many tips and tricks for more experienced users

It is well-written , with many screenshots illustrating the text, and though short, it is extensive and very informative. The book identifies software needed to perform the various functions which, in almost all cases, is freeware or shareware, to limit costs.

Of course, an initial question is "Why do I want to know all this?" My short answer - because it allows one to obtain a digital audio file with content just as wanted.

I have a few projects in mind which would make good use of the computer. In some cases there are no commercial CDs available presently. Other projects would transfer audio from records or tapes that will continue to deteriorate - records when the phonograph needle wears out the grooves and tapes as they age and lose magnetic material - and also continue to accumulate scratches and other artifacts that cause blips in the sound. Computer processing can eliminate these artifacts and improve the sound quality. Also the computer will allow me to make CDs with my own compilation of music - and in a manner so it can be played on any CD player, anywhere.

The following are my initial projects which can be handled quite well on the computer.

1. I have old tapes of my children's music performances while in school. I would like to produce an audio CD with the numerous tapes combined on the one CD.

2. I have some old 78 rpm records of Enrico Caruso, Fritz Kreisler and others, which are no longer available. It will be interesting to listen to these on modern equipment.

3. I have a 33 rpm record of Porgy & Bess with Cab Calloway as Sportin' Life singing It Ain't Necessarily So which is not available on CD.

Before describing how this book helps me with these projects - and other music-related uses of the computer - it will be helpful to define certain of the terms relevant to this processes used in this book - and thereby indicate the scope of the efforts described.

* Digitizing - converting the analog sound signals from tapes and records to digital format for the computer
* Burning - writing data onto a CD-R or -RW
* Ripping - reading audio data from a CD and saving to a computer
* Recording - capturing audio on to a media
* Mixing - creating a group of selected songs, including songs from different CDs or other sources
* Re-mixing - further editing of mixes, including excerpting portions of songs
* Downloading - obtaining music from the Internet and saving it on the computer [see Streaming]
* Streaming - receiving and playing, without storing, music from the Internet [see Downloading]
* Broadcasting - sending audio signals to remote receivers or speakers
* Codecs -technology for compressing/decompressing data files, in this case audio files:
o MP3 - a popular codec
o WMA - Microsoft's codec
o RealAudio - Real.com's codec
o WAV - Microsoft's uncompressed format
o Numerous other
* Mash-up - splicing all or parts of two or more songs into one unit

The book's Chapter headings also are descriptive of the content


1. That's no computer - It's your music machine
2. What you need [and what you don't]
3. Copy a CD
4. Rip a CD
5. Download music
6. Record and mix live audio
7. Burn the perfect mix
8. Digitize your vinyl [my primary interest]
9. Turn your digital pictures into music videos
10. Build a beat and sample library
11. Broadcast audio to every radio in your house
12. Turn out your own DJ set
13. Make a self-playing or self-burning CD
14. Create your own Internet Radio Station
15. Remixing 101
16. Create a mash-up remix
Appendix - Legal considerations


The low-cost music software covered includes Audacity, CoolEdit Pro, Windows Media Player, MusicMatch Jukebox, PC DJ Broadcaster, Shoutcast Server and more, with explanations of the various file formats. The discussions of editing include fixing artifacts [defects], creating effects, using multiple tracks and more. They describe the way to capture and restore the quality of audio from old media.

I was struck by the number of times the author refers to the legal issues pertaining to copyright and fair-use - describing relevant copyright law, and what is advised to do and not to do, and much more. Besides the Appendix, there are many sidebars within the chapters making note of the potential issues and the conflicting opinions regarding fair use.

All in all, this is a great book for anyone interested in music and the computer and curious about combining the two. I will refer to it often as I proceed with my own projects.

Burning Down the House
Ripping, recording, remixing, and more!
By Eliot Van Buskirk
Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Osborne
© 2003
ISBN: 0-07-222879-2
List Price: $24.99
Price On Amazon: $16.49

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Nice!, September 30, 2003

By 

"m2graphis" (stuttgart, germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! (Paperback)

This is a must buy for any newbie and intermediate level digital music enthusiast. i found his book to be chock full of info that i hadn't known.
Now my digital music life is much easier. Thank you! mr. van buskirk
BTW.. please check out his column on c-net, also very helpful.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We're living in a digital world, enjoy it!, July 13, 2003

By 

u ser (London, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Burning Down the House: Ripping, Recording, Remixing, and More! (Paperback)

Buskirk's book is a perfect introduction to the world of digital music and home recording. Many newbies have a hard time coming to terms with digital file formats, hardware, software and the diversity in cost/quality/platforms,etc. and which way to take these choices. If that is you, this is an ideal guide for your initial dive into modern audio technology. If you are only interested in downloading mp3's and burning cd's from this material or are an aspiring producer/home recording/musician, this book is for you. It could also be a good review of modern production options and the free or commercial software to flesh out your sonic ideas. All of the above without presenting the information in a dry or overly academic style. An enjoyable read!