Customer Reviews

The Insider Audio Bathroom Reader

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This guy has been writing about pro audio and music technology for about 25 years, and he just keeps getting better. These are some of the essays he's done for Mix magazine, the best audio journal in the business, and they cover tons of ground, going into all sorts of areas you wouldn't expect, but always really interesting! He's got interviews with John Chowning, George Martin, Tom Lehrer, and the Kronos Quartet, and talks about what's REALLY at stake with downloading.
Some of his essays are hysterical, like when he writes a "course catalog for the real world" for prospective audio engineers, with courses like "Why the client hates you." And he's dug up a bunch of music and technology jokes, a lot of which are new to me, which will make you laugh no matter where you're reading it!

I have a few tangential connections to author Paul D. Lehrman: I was the co-founder of Thomson/Course Technology, the publisher of Paul's book, studied computer music back in the days of the IBM 360, and worked with a number of Boston and national bands as a soundman in the early 70's. Plus we were both avid readers of the magazine Recording Engineer/Producer. I've been reading Paul's columns for years in the local Boston press and was thrilled to discover Insider Audio, a 400+ page plus treasure trove of his columns from Mix magazine - which did not disappoint. If you have a serious interest in music and audio, buy this book. Paul's range is amazing, from a great article/interview with Tom Lehrer to the inside story of the Concert for George, you'll be informed and entertained. He does a great job of framing each article with a preface and afterword, that puts these articles in context. And anyone who can get a cover blurb from a member of the Firesign Theater is a hero to me! Now Paul, how about a collection of your articles that didn't appear in Mix?

The author seems like a cool guy. Someone you could hang out with, he's also a comedian, which makes the book enjoyable. The book is a very easy read and it's fun to enjoy a book that literally takes you back in time and lets you feel the growing pains of the music industry and what the problems where back then. That is one slight disappointment I have with the book, is that I was hoping for a more current updated bathroom reader and a lot of the knowledge and articles start 15 years ago or so and then continue on up until more recent years. Although, he does offer a reflective commentary at the end of each article, which is nice to see how things have changed since then and what he thinks about it.

I would recommend it! Great read.

For more than a decade Paul Lehrman has become a fixture in the field of audio and music technology. His monthly column in Mix magazine has become a must-read for many audio professionals, myself included. When I first heard about the book I thought: What could possibly be in there that I haven't seen already? Turns out quite a bit! Other than the months in recent years that, regrettably, I've missed the column, and those in Paul's earlier days with Mix that I wasn't the regular reader that I would later become, the book also contains articles that were never published -- some that were a bit too "colorful" for a family oriented magazine such as Mix, unabridged versions of articles that were `abridged' for publication, and music jokes you can file away for those lulls during recording sessions.

The bite-sized articles are perfect for those of us without a lot of time for pleasure reading. If you have read Mix over the past decade you will enjoy revisiting some of Paul's best work and even, perhaps, be inspired by some of the topics Paul himself clearly gets excited about. My personal favorite -- which I didn't immediately recall reading in Mix -- is the article from May of 1999 written after attending a lecture given by Sir George Martin at Berklee.

I recommend this book to anyone working in the music technology or audio production fields. Every studio lounge needs to have a copy on the coffee table! And every bathroom, well...you know.

Scott Metcalfe
Mind's Ear
Director, Music Production and Technology,
The Hartt School, University of Hartford

This book is outrageously funny and insightful. I have always read Paul's column's in Mix with interest, as he is their best writer, but one forgets from month to month how thoughtful his columns are. Reading them all together was eye-opening. And the jokes, I guess you will just have to buy the book if you want to find out how many bass players it takes to change a lightbulb.

I was truly surprised by this book, both by the breadth of subjects that Lehrman covers and how much insight he brings to the topics. Since he writes for MIX Magazine I thought the book would be a bit heavy on tech talk relating to pro audio. There is a fair amount of coverage in that area, but also some wonderful gems like an interview with Tom Lehrer, an article about George Martin, and objective discussions about digital downloading and the problems associated with the ever-changing landscape that seems to have brought down giant retailers like Tower Records. A lot of time and care went into writing these essays and the book is a must-read for anyone who works or is interested in music, technology, or likes jokes about musicians that really make you groan!