Customer Reviews

Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Guerrila Home Recording Guerrilla Home Recording, Second Edition is intentionally deceptively simple in concept and design but the message it delivers is both straight forward and powerful. Equipment doesn't matter as much as knowledge, technique and having a plan.

The author, Karl Coryat, has been recording at home for decades. He realizes all recordists do not have the time, experience, resources or money that recording studios have. His book is about making intelligent choices and compromises to overcome the shortcomings while still making top quality recordings. It doesn't matter if you've been recording for years or if you're new to the hobby you'll learn and enjoy while you learn. You will make better tracks, mixes and masters after reading this book.

I love the author's attitude in this book. He's not an equipment snob or purist. A Teac PortaStudio cassete recorder, Pro-Tools computer software and MIDI are all tools to be used within his system. Best of all, as you learn to use the advice given in this book, you'll be able to make better equipment choices to better enjoy what you get.

The book devotes a complete chapter to how to set up your gear to record acoustic instruments, make your singing voice sound better, record a live band or drums, etc. The advice is practical, easy to remeber and follow. If you're stranded on a desert island filled with instruments and a recorder, this is the one book to have onhand.

I had a weird mix of knowledge before I read this book. I am a EE major so I knew pretty well about the physics and math of the signals and amplification. And I played guitar for many years and knew about music theory. But I lacked knowledge on the actual analog/digital equipment out there and their uses. This book tied many loose ends in my mind and help me form a nice network of knowledge. It was an amazing experience, I read the book in two days. Almost on every page there was a moment of "a ha that totally makes sense."

The author knows very deeply what he is talking about. I could tell this because of his explanations on some details of the signal chain and compressors/expanders etc. He knows much more about the underlying electronics and acoustics principles then he summarizes here and yet he really does an awesome job in choosing which bits to write and which complexities to omit.

His model of understanding sound in three dimensions (dynamics, frequency and pan) is amazing. It helped me understand what mixing really is.

I have not recommended a book more strongly then this one in my life. If I met Karl Coryat face to face one day, I would shake this man's hand with utmost sincerety and thank him.

I purchased this book at the same time as Home Recording for Dummies. The two books compliment each other well. This book filled in some technical depth that was understandably left out of the Dummy book. Still it gave considerable basic information for newbies.
I really enjoyed this book. The author has some really clever ideas to make things happen that you probably won't learn in a formal school or typical "how to" book. I was especially grateful of some of his demystifying explanations of complex subjects. It was very helpful in equipment and software purchase decisions.

throughout the years i have purchased many good books from amazon but have never felt that compelled to review any of them, until now that is.I purchased the first edition of this book a few years ago and it has had a profound influence on the way i go about recording.I do all of my recording on a boss digital multitrack recorder,which in this day and age i would class as "weird gear".I felt the book was aimed more at this type of technology,more so than computer based recording systems. The real strength of this book though, is in its explanation of the basic principles of understanding and capturing "sound" on what ever medium you happen to have.this stuff is the cornerstone of recording and it is essential to know and understand these princibles to be able to make great sounding recordings and this book does a brilliant job of explaining everything.Before i purchased this book i relied on the owners manuals of the equipment that i owned, to teach me how to record! The 3 princibles of sound,frequency slotting and the importance of really having a critical ear when listining to the sounds you have recorded,made my songs go from amateur sounding trash to almost professional sounding recordings.The author has simple way of explaining everything thats niether to techncal nor to minimal.The stuff really gets stuck in your head and its not easy to forget,somthing that is important if you are just learning to record.Overall, a great read and really helpful if you are just beginning to learn how to record or have weird gear. Computer based recordists will find the basics a big help,but might need to complement it with one of the computer recording books.
great stuff!

Very good book to show the fundamentals of mixing in any software. Gives you anything that you need to make it sound great. From volume levels to what type of effects you need. I will recomend this book and for the price its worth it.

I bought this book a few weeks ago and read through it in almost one sitting!!! Setting up a home studio and recording requires understanding of many different aspects including music (arranging), sound, technology (both hardware and software), electrical engineering etc. There are many books that explain individual topics like effects boxes, gear, acoustics etc. Karl Coryat is able to seamlessly combine all these elements into a coherent whole. For example, he describes frequency characteristics of instruments, a tour of the signal chain and various effects. A must have for the beginner guitarist and an excellent book for anyone interested in setting up a home recording studio.

This is a very well written and easy to understand book for both beginners and already experienced recording engineers and producers. I'm not all the way through it yet, because I am savoring it slowly, one bite at a time!