Customer Reviews

Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have been recording in various project studios for about 10 years. I've bought a huge number of books on the subject and have - I hope - become reasonably competent at tracking. Every book I've bought has been strong on tracking advice such as mic placement and acoustic treatment. I have always felt let down in the area of mixing advice.

I have never been good at mixing. Reading books didn't seem to help much. While it is easy to understand written instructions on how to mic a guitar cabinet or build a bass trap, it is a different matter to read and understand advice on compression, EQ, or reverb treatments.

This book plugs the gap in my knowledge nicely. A major plus point is the included DVD with audio files which demonstrate to your ears what a compressor sounds like. You can hear individual tracks before and after treatment with processors and effects.

It is written in the here and now, referencing modern mix engineers such as Andy Wallace and Nigel Goodrich and uses modern recordings like as Nirvana's Nevermind and Red Hot Chili Peppers Blood Sugar Sex Magic. It also references electronic music and Hip Hop.

It's a huge book, a bit text-book like, but certainly readable. The reason I couldn't give it 5 stars is because every fifth page seems to contain a glaring grammatical error. I have never seen so many obvious mistakes in a published book before. I can only surmise that the book wasn't proof-read perhaps due to its technical nature or in haste to get it to press.

As a home studio owner and pro musician of 40 years I am always on the lookout for that "next bit of info" that will push me to yet again improve...and this book was it. I have looked at this book for month's and thought..."Man, is it REALLY worth the $$?"

Now, as I look at my bookshelf full of "Mixing & Mastering & Studio Tips & Tricks" books, I can honestly say that this is the best book I have bought over the years.....period. Read what everyone else has wrote here in their reviews, and you got the gist of it, this book is the bomb!

Even if you "know it all", I recommend this book for 3 chapters, Compression, Reverb, and Gates-Expanders. Written so that ANYONE can understand it, but deep enough to make us old timers go "WHOA..." And the DVD, full of example audio clips and 4 full mixes that are tore apart at the end of the book, just drive the information home.

All of the reviews are correct(including the "eglash" in places), if you are serious about your Sound and Audio in general, this is the book to own. If you REALLY want to understand what the Ratio control does, on anything that uses one, this is the book to own. If you really want to improve your Engineering & Mixing Skills, this is the book to own. If you are using a computer to do audio, this is the book to own. If you use Cubase, Music Studio, Pro Tools, Audacity, or the Kristal Audio Engine, this is the book to own. It is worth every penny!

Can you tell I like the book?! I am on my 2nd read thru!

This tome fills a huge gap in references on this topic in a very timely fashion. The author most definitely knows this material in-depth and, despite a few very minor glitches in the grammar, presents the concepts in a very well-thought out fashion. Nothing gets lost in translation.

If you ever wanted a single, comprehensive reference to modern mixing techniques that covers the entire process, this book is it. The contribution this author has made to music production is MASSIVE!!!

This book might be the next mixing bible. For Amazon's price this book is a bargain and everybody should pick it up. My only gripes are that I wish there was more practical applications and tricks included in the text and I wish that it would have been proof-read better (lot's of grammatical errors). The real meat of the book is the tools section which goes over all the commonly used mixing tools. The chapters on compression and EQ is what really sealed the deal for me. I would say this book is a great companion to The Mixing Engineer's Handbook. It doesn't give as many tricks as the other book but it makes up for it with very detailed explanations of the mixing tools. It goes over every control for all of the tools and why or why not you would want to use those controls. I've learned a lot from this book and can't wait to put what I have learned into practice! This book will be within an arms reach of my computer at all times!

very simple : unless you are very happy with your mixes, this book is a must have.
Even better than what I expected. This book is very complete and really makes mixes better.

This book talks really seriously and precisely about mixing. I've catched advice that I now use all the time. A few examples :
Compressing : I've been using compressors for 5 years and I've read a lot about compressors and to be honest, this is the first time I understand how a compressor works ... The "usual" explanation is wrong.
Now when I open a compressor window, I know why and how I'll use it
Reverbs : I didn't know that gating the reverb was the way to have that "big" sound without the "amateur" flush we always hear on home-studio mixes; this is the way to have very audible but short reverbs without distorsion.
Equalization : I have never used a high-pass filter that way ... now I really "aggressively" clear the bottom end on most guitars, vocals ans so on ... and my bass and kick just stick out the mix.

I am still working with this book. It is a book I'll never get rid of.
a master piece.

I learned so much reading this book. I basically devoured it from cover to cover. If you have any interest in the subject of mixing audio and don't know where to start, this is the first (maybe the only) book you'll need.

There are a few typos, and grammatical errors abound. However, once you accustom yourself to his dialect it's like anything. If you've ever had a college professor with an accent or strong dialect then you'll know, you can either hang with it or miss out on a lot of valuable information.

That's what this book is chock full of. In my opinion it's worth it's weight in gold. Izhaki gives detailed explanation of the uses and science behind the most commonly used, and often misunderstood mixing tools. Time based effects (delay, reverb), dynamics based processors (gates, limiters, expanders, and a powerfully insightful chapter on compressors), and frequency filters (EQ) are all covered in great depth, including tips and tricks for how to get the most out of them by using them in combination.

Examples from many stellar recordings from the late '90s are given, Nirvanah, Radiohead, and Massive Attack tracks are just some to be examined. In case you aren't familiar with the tracks referenced in the text he also provides a CD of tracks he's mixed that illustrate the same principles.

You can't go wrong with this publication.

Just wish he'd pay me to proof read the next edition.

I've been making electronic music in a project studio for several years. I am amazed at the quality of information that is available now both in print and online.

I have Owsinski's book on engineering. It was a good place to start but hardly comprehensive. There was a similar introductory section in the Dance Music Manual by Snowman. I've checked out other mixing books but they all came up short. That is until I found this book.

Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools is modern and detailed. It is very aware of the digital revolution and many current plug ins/vst's are used as examples. The book is not limited to DAWs only. This is valuable information for anyone who is trying to make quality mixes of any kind.

I made my decision to buy this book after reading the section on compression. This is the first time I've read someone explain compression with the detail I wanted. He does more than just explain what attack, release and threshold do on an audio signal. He explains the relationship between these parameters and discusses their practical, real world applications in satisfying detail. This chapter is the best knowledge I've ever gotten online or in a book regarding compression.

I look at my compressors in a whole new different way.

If you are serious about making music (especially on a computer) this book is a must have. I've got many books on music, theory and DAWs. This is the only one that I would say you MUST have. You can figure out how to write music on your own. It may even be better if you don't learn from a book as far as pure creativity goes. But no matter how good your songwriting is the mix can make all the difference between something that really works and something that just falls down and lies there. I also recommend Mastering Music at Home (Book) because having to send your tracks out to a mastering house IMHO really defeats the purpose of the modern digital, project studio.

I would also recommend a good book on music theory but there are many musicians who make music without theory. I think you'll be a better musician if you learn it but to each his own. A good book is Music Theory Made Easy (Music Sales America). Its short and written primarily for guitarists but its a very clever little book. Another good one is Music Theory for Computer Musicians Bk/Cd (Book)

You can learn to mix on your own but that involves a LOT of trial and error. No matter what the resources it will take time to get your mixing down(every mixing setup is different and everyone will have a different mixing style)but a book like this will significantly speed up your progress.

There is a technical side to mixing which does involve being able to use meters and spectral analyzers. You cannot go by your ears alone on everything.

Again, if you are serious about making good mixes and need a modern, detailed reference that explains not just what effects/dynamics do but how to use them you want this book. The sections on panning, levels, etc are excellent as well. No book can give you everything. Some things you'll only figure out by actual mixing. I just envy anyone who is starting to mix right now and has this book as their starting point.

Worth every penny and then some.

This is by far the best book that I have EVER read.

I have a dream of being a composer/producer and have dedicated 3 years learning by experimentation. Without reading this book last month, I would have spent another 30 years learning just the basics of what this book covers through experimentation.

I was particularly excited by the EXTENSIVE chapter on compression. I have read many websites, tutorials and manuals on compressors, but this is the first book that I've read that explains it from a truly musical perspective - and well it's just correct!

The book covers more territory in audio production and mixing (and mastering) than any book I've ever seen - and I even got a few chuckles out of it.

Add this book to your brain and you will be a contender in the audio mixing/production industry!

For you DnB wannabe's out there, there's even a MASTERCLASS CHAPTER on how to put together a killer DnB Track - and it's based on a track by someone you'll have heard of if you know anything at all about DnB. (The reason I write this is because SO MANY people are trying to write DnB, and producing it so poorly that it'll end up making the genre obsolete! Do yourself a favour, study hard with this book and you'll enjoy the fruits of your labour much more - and so will others.)

This big, thick, heavy tome is, without a doubt, one of the best books ever published on audio mixing and production. You will find it ALL in here - mixing tips and tricks, in-depth discussion of how compression, EQ, and all the other processors and effects work, good coverage of popular plug-ins and tools, in fact ... everything. It is an ambitious, thorough book, written by someone with an obvious love of the craft. It is aimed mostly at the recording musician, versus the hard-core sound engineer - meaning it is pretty easy to read and digest, with formulas and math kept thankfully to a minimum and relatively simple where they appear.

This book is THE resource for audio engineers, both professional and amateur/hobbyist. It is not a little paperback with a few cool "tricks" for hip hop producers. This is a book for serious people who want to learn, or reinforce their knowledge of, the whole field of audio mixing.

A major plus of this book is that it is very current. For example, the plug-in examples are things like Altiverb, McDSP, and Vintage Warmer. The song and artist examples are equally current. This is a 2008 book in every way. It is the first book in its field that was really written from the ground-up for the digital, DAW age, as opposed to many other books which are pre-DAW and obsessed with old (and expensive) pro studio gear that few people use anymore. Today's musician-producer does not care why an $80,000 mixing board from 1973 is better than some other board; he/she wants to know how to use compressor plugins to get a better sound. This book is truly ideal for people mixing in-the-box, because it is so DAW / plugin /software centric. Since I mix in-the-box I really loved this aspect of the book.

I am giving the book 5 stars for the content, though it does deserve to be dinged a star for some awkward writing. The grammar is weird, and occasionally interrupts or slows down the reading flow. However, the very notion that one would read an audio engineering book like a novel, so as to get pissed off at a writing style that throws off the "flow," is a testament to how good the content is. An editor should take another pass at this book and tighten it up a little.

There is no reason or excuse not to have this book, if you are into making music and mixing audio.

This book is an excellent guide to mixing. Like another reviewer said, this is not a "Mix audio in 10 easy steps." The author does give quite a few tips and tricks, but it a lot more extensive than that. He gives insite into what compressors, EQs, etc. actualy do Instead of just saying, "for a snare you should set the compressor to X:1 ratio, with a -30dB threshold. He helps you to understand how a compressor, EQ, etc. actually functions. It has really helped my mixes (which was what I had the most trouble with in my music).

Highly recommended for those who want to understand the subleties of mixing and not just a quick "mixing for dummies" guide.

The audio examples were really good too.