Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition [Paperback]

Karl Coryat (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2008

A clever resource for the ever-growing home recording market. The revised edition is updated with a greater focus on digital recording techniques, the most powerful tools available to the home recordist. There are chapters devoted to instrument recording, humanizing drum patterns, mixing with plug-ins and virtual consoles, and a new section on using digital audio skills. And since, many true "Guerrillas" still record to analog tape, we have retained the best of that world. This edition features many more graphics than in the original edition, further enforcing Guerrilla Home Recording's reputation as the most readable, user-frienly recording title on the market.

Product Details

• Paperback: 251 pages
• Publisher: Hal Leonard; 2 edition (July 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1423454464
• ISBN-13: 978-1423454465
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #172,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but ..., November 4, 2009

By 

famous beagle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book is good for the beginner recordist, and it does a good job of explaining the basic techniques. The problem is that it kind of has its feet in two different worlds.

It makes it clear from the beginning that it's going to treat your recorder device---whatever that may be---as a generic black box. It doesn't matter if you're recording on 4-track cassette, 8-track R2R, or a full-blown pro-tools rig he says.

Another point he makes from the beginning is the "mix as you go" concept, saying that we guerilla recordists don't have the facilities to wait until the final mix.

He also talks about using an expander to cut down the noise on your tracks. Cool!
So far, so good. It looks as though we're gonna get some good advice on how to use our "weird" gear.

However, about 1/3 to 1/2 into the book, he basically urges you to ditch analog and go digital, which is what he's done (and he'll never record any other way he says). At this point, though, you have to wonder what all his previous advice is about.

What I mean is, if you're running a full-fledged DAW system, you don't NEED to mix as you go anymore. You can setup endless, non-destructive sub-mixes if you want to conserve CPU power, but you can probably get along mixing the whole thing at the end. You'll also have endless plug-in resources for effects, so there's no need to print effects anymore (another technique he talked about in the beginning). You also wouldn't need an expander, because you'll have automated mixing resources, so you could set up your own automation to handle the noise in between phrases.

The book does give some good ideas, and for that I give it 3 stars, but it just doesn't seem to know what to do with itself. It seems as though it would have been a really good book if it were written in 1990 or, before the digital revolution had completely taken over, and any kid with a laptop can record 48 tracks if he wants to now.

In other words, if you do as he suggests and "go digital," there's really no reason to buy his book, because you won't NEED to take the shortcuts and workarounds that he teaches.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but general, December 27, 2008

By 

Matthew Taylor (el paso, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition (Paperback)

The author gives a great deal of useful information, mainly general in nature. The only thing I didn't like about the book is the way he badmouths other people who are doing home recording -- it's important, in my opinion, to remember that each of us has a different set of ears. Slagging other people's work says more about your own insecurities than their abilities. The main thing he badmouths is generally accepted studio techniques; I see the value of trying things outside the norm when using cheap equipment, but the author makes some bad recommendations based on that. For example, he gives studio monitors short shrift, and believes that headphones can be used to mix. They can, but once you've heard even a cheap set of monitors, and experience how they improve your mixes, you will never mix on headphones if you have any choice at all.

I would have enjoyed more specifics; there are some, such as good, clear discussions of EQ and compressor use -- actually, the compression advice has done more to improve my recordings than anything else. I had been afraid of over-compressing; when I lost that fear, I found I was able to use WAY more than I thought I could without killing the dynamics or making the song sound squashed. Another area where the author gets specific is in drum programming, but he attempts to discourage readers from attempting to record real drums in the same breath.

I recommend this book highly, as long as readers understand that it is only the advice of one person, and that like any advice, some is helpful and some is not. For the price, this book has a lot more helpful than unhelpful information.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'd give six stars if I could, November 11, 2008

By 

flanfan - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition (Paperback)

The following passage, headed "Don't Sweat Acoustics" (p. 12), is typical of the author's approach:

"Most recording books include entire chapters on how to improve your studio's acoustics. But in the Guerrilla studio, the room is irrelevant -- you should be able to move your gear into the garage or a VW bus and still get just about the same sound. . . . As a musician you probably don't have the time, money, or interest to bother with building homemade diffusers and bass traps. That's okay -- it'll be our secret."

If you're an audiophile or a studio expert (or both), this book likely isn't for you. For me, it's as close to perfect as I'm likely to find. I want to learn to make clean, solid recordings in the space available to me, with what gear I can afford. This book explains how, simply and clearly. It's a great resource. My compliments and gratitude to Mr. Coryat.