The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Mix Pro Audio Series) [Paperback]

Bobby Owsinski (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0872887235 | ISBN-13: 978-0872887237 | Publication Date: November 1, 1999 | Edition: 001

Secrets of the top recording engineers revealed at mixdown! Learn the evolution of mixing, regional mixing styles, the six elements of a mix, rules for arrangements and principles of building your mix! Learn the secrets of EQ and "magic frequencies" along with adding effects, EQ'ing reverbs, sonic layering of effects, calculating the delay time and much more! This book extensively covers stereo mixing with an expansive chapter on mixing in 5.1 surround. Plus, it includes an incredible third section filled with interviews with the top engineers in the field such as George Massenburg, Allen Sides, Bruce Swedien and over a dozen more!

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Mix Books; 001 edition (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0872887235
• ISBN-13: 978-0872887237
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #592,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 94 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best I've run across, October 28, 2004

By 

LANCE R LINDLEY "hagakure" (Yokosuka, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Mix Pro Audio Series) (Paperback)

Are you looking for a "magic book" that tells you exactly how to set your EQ, compressor, or reverb for every situation? The bad news is, that book does not exist, and even if it did, it would surely render hideous results. There are far too many variables involved in recording, mixing and mastering even one single genre of music for any one formula to always work. The good news is that The Mixing Engineer's Handbook offers something even smarter: fundamental information that can be used in a wide variety of applications (just generally making the reader a smarter mixer) wrapped in copious straight-from-the-horse's-mouth tips and tricks from a bevy of the top names in mixing from virtually every genre. The book has enough "hard fact" charts, like the "magic frequencies" of numerous instruments and the forumlae for determining BPM and translating that into ms for delays and reverbs, to name only a few, that I found myself making photocopies of numerous pages to keep next to my mixing board for quick reference. But beyond that, the book offers so much general and ultimately FLEXIBLE advice that I find myself getting smarter about mixing just reading it. Rather than telling a reader how to always start a mix, for example, Owsinski offers five suggestions for logical places to start a mix (drums, bass, etc.) then offers a handful of single-paragraph suggestions by top mixers in various genres to support one idea or another, leaving it to the reader to decide which makes most sense for his/her work. It is the very fact that these suggestions by the pros are often contradictory that really gives a reader a broad perspective, leaving it to the reader to decide with which pro they align their own work most closely. In addition, there is an entire section devoted to detailed interviews with these same mixmasters, which amounts to getting a chance to pick the brains of the tops in the industry. I've tried numerous books on this topic, and this is the ONLY one that I find myself revisiting again and again, both as a reference at the mixer and also as casual reading away from the gear to expand my knowledge. The more advanced engineer will find this book lacking in details; one would need to look elsewhere for extremely micro-level discussions of the function of EQs, compressors, etc. That level of detail is usually only addressed in books devoted exclusively to that one piece of gear. This book, instead, provides the beginning/intermediate mixer -- the home and project studio guy -- an outstanding knowledge base from which to take his/her mixes to the next level.

64 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Improved mixing skill, August 8, 2000

By 

Salomonsson Johan Ingemar (Linköping Sweden) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Mix Pro Audio Series) (Paperback)

This book takes you through the six (6) steps on how to succeed with a great mix. * Balance - the volume level relationship between musical elements * Frequency Range - having all frequencies properly represented * Panaorama - placing a musical element in the sound field * Dimension - adding ambience to a musical elememt * Interest - making the mix special

Within each step the author also has put in comments from famous producers like Bruce Swedien, David Sussman, George Massenburg, Joe Chiccarelli and more covering the actual topic. A good thing because you get the feeling that the methods in the book also has a practical use and that they work. And they do! Each step has it's own chapter and is filled with tips and tricks both from the author and the producers.

A chapter explaining the basics of mixing in surround is included in the book too. Though the author is not going into any depths it's good to get started on the topic. Some links to websites about surround mixing are there so maybe there will be more in future releases of this book.

At the end of the book there is a chapter with exclusive interviews with 20! top producers. The interview questions are connected to the 6 steps you learned earlier in the book so it is a very good finish. The questions can be like "Where do you build your mix from?", Do you use a lot of compression?", What's is your approach to panning?", "Do you have any listening tricks?" and lots of others.

Well, what can I say. I have improved my mixing skill a lot by reading this book. It is so great because you know other people are doing successful hitmusic using the methods described in this book. You don't get anything for free without practice but you know you are on the right track! I don't give it five stars, just 4 because I feel that a CD-rom with audio examples connected to the book would be awesome here! Maybe in the future? I seriously recommend this book!

Johan Salomonsson, Sweden Email: [e-mail]

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good "conceptual" material., February 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Mix Pro Audio Series) (Paperback)

It is not a real "handbook" in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. a handbook used by mixing engineers), but rather conceptual ideas that point out the key elements of mixing for the beginner.

The reality of this book is that the content is based on a series of pretty informative interviews that are transcribed verbatum in 2nd half of the book. The first half of the book is the author's summary of the usable data culled from the interviews, and presented in a organized fashion.

The 6 aspects covered (that comprise a good mix) should certainly help beginners start thinking about mixing in ways that don't ordinarily occur to beginners. In essence, what this book does best is to tap into the experience of very experienced engineers, and then present "what the experts do" in various scenarios.

There are NOT so much specifics as there are general guidlines. It is not so much "step-by-step instructions" or "hard reference" as it is a "starting point." There ARE useful things like where to start the mix from, and tables that show where to find the EQ frequencies that effect different instruments--for example, to bring out the slap sound on a bass guitar. Further guidlines suggest, which effects and settings (in broad terms) to use to emphasize/de emphasize other aspecs.

I'm a beginner, and it has been a good resource for me.