The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, Second Edition [Paperback]

Bobby Owsinski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2006

Secrets of the top mixing engineers are revealed in this second edition of the bestselling Mixing Engineer’s Handbook. In this edition, you will learn about the history and evolution of mixing, various mixing styles, the six elements of a mix, the rules for arrangement and how they impact your mix, where to build your mix from, and mixing tips and tricks for every genre of music. You will also learn the secrets of EQ and the “magic frequencies,” along with tips and tricks for adding effects, EQ’ing reverbs, effects layering, calculating the delay time, and much more. A lot has changed in the recording industry since the last edition was published seven years ago, so the new edition provides completely updated information on tips for a loud mix, hypercompression, mixing for Internet distribution, warning signs of an amateur mix, MP3 encoding, streaming audio, audio codecs, de-essing, gating, surround sound mixing, and more. There is also a completely new chapter on how to get the most from mixing inside your computer, as well as a new section on the bass/drum relationship and how to make this difficult part of the mix easy. The book wraps up with insightful interviews with the top engineers in the fi eld, including George Massenburg, Allen Sides, Bruce Swedien, Elliot Scheiner, Andy Johns, Nathanial Kunkel, and several others. Join the tens of thousands of engineers who have used this book to master the art of mixing.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

A longtime veteran of the music industry, Bobby Owsinski has produced and composed for records, DVDs, motion pictures, and television shows. One of the first to delve into surround-sound music mixing, Bobby has worked on more than 200 surround projects and DVD productions for such diverse acts as Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, The Ramones, and Chicago, among many, many others. Currently a principal in the music production house Surround Associates and content creator 2B Media, Bobby has also penned several hundred articles for many popular music and audio trade publications and has authored books that are now staples in audio-recording programs in colleges around the world. A frequent moderator, panelist, and program director of a variety of music and professional audio industry conferences, Bobby has served as the longtime producer of the annual Surround Music Awards and is currently an executive producer for the Guitar Universe and Desert Island Music television programs. He is also a partner in the popular Asia Los Feliz restaurant in Los Angeles, and he serves on the board of directors of the Media Entertainment Technology Alliance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: Thomson Course Technology; 2nd edition (May 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1598632515
• ISBN-13: 978-1598632514
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #29,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Recording & Sound
  • #35 in Books > Computers & Technology > Digital Music

More About the Author

A long-time veteran of the music industry, Bobby Owsinski has produced, engineered and composed for records, motion pictures and television shows along the way. Currently a principle in the content creator 2B Media, Bobby has also penned hundreds of articles for many popular industry trade publications and has authored several books that are now staples in recording programs in colleges around the world. A frequent moderator, panelist and program producer of a variety of industry conferences, Bobby has served as the longtime producer of the annual Surround Music Awards, and is one of the executive producers for the "Guitar Universe" and "Desert Island Music" television programs.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Just For Fun, December 4, 2009

By 

Dairy Air (LA CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

Don't purchase this book if you're looking for technical info or a step by step manual. It's a series of interviews with prominent music engineers. It is interesting to read the interviews of engineers but doesn't attempt to explain a process. Definitely not helpful for a newbie but maybe a good read for a seasoned pro.

16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Redundant, Repetitive Regurgitation, February 2, 2008

By 

Juan2daPaab - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

The second half of the book is basically a repetition of the first half. After reading the first half of the book, you have to re-read through most of what you already read just to acquire maybe an additional 10% of content in the second half. The author could better written the content into a singular, continuous read.

Secondly, while reading the book I could not help but feel that the author was lacking personal knowledge in mixing and was merely regurgitating the information acquired from the interviews.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good info...for half of the book., November 21, 2006

By 

jmcdaniel_ee "jmcdaniel_ee" (Lake Charles, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mixing Engineer's Handbook, Second Edition (Paperback)

This book has some good info that I will use about the basics of mixing. The author interviewed a wide variety of well-known, professional mix engineers and compiled the responses by topic--therefore it showcases a variety of approaches and points of view. However, the other half of the book contains the interviews in full, therefore half the information contained in this book is almost redundant. I still think I will benefit from it in my library, just don't be disappointed when you find out you really need only half of the pages in this book. I have a general disdain for using filler material in music as well as in books.