The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools [Paperback]

John Keane (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072231750 | ISBN-13: 978-0072231755 | Publication Date: April 14, 2004 | Edition: 1

This expertly written guide will show you exactly why Pro Tools shrinks a full music studio into a computer, replacing the bulky recording infrastructure of multi-track analog mixing boards and rolls of two-inch-wide magnetic tape. Ideal for beginning, intermediate, and advanced producers, sound engineers, and musicians.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

"My main impetus for creating this book was the realization that my musician friends who had purchased the new semi-pro Pro Tools systems were being overwhelmed by the complexity of the software. Although the Pro Tools Reference Guide is very well written, they had difficulty taking it all in. In my efforts to help them through the learning curve, I found that the best approach was to show them only the parts of the program necessary to record, edit, and mix their own demos, using the techniques I had developed over the years.

The mission of these tutorials is to get beginners up and running in a few days, using their own instruments and their own music. My approach is to keep the lessons short and concise, with no unnecessary information. The instructions are very specific, and assume that the reader knows nothing about Pro Tools. The tools needed for the specific tasks are introduced gradually, and the emphasis is on having fun with the program. For those who wish to learn them, the more advanced features will be covered in Book Two.

It is my hope that musicians who may feel daunted by the Pro Tools learning curve will find this book an enjoyable shortcut to the amazing world of hard disk recording." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Foreword by Peter Buck of R.E.M.

I’ve known John Keane for almost twenty years. When my band first worked with John, he had just made the huge technological leap from four-track to eight-track — analog, of course.

Over the next eighteen or nineteen years and seven or eight albums, I’ve watched John expand his studio from eight-track to sixteen-track to twenty-four track, and finally to forty-eight track digital. Every step of the way, John mastered the new equipment and squeezed the most sonically out of each format. Then along came Pro Tools.

I was doing a session with some band now lost in the mists of time when John unpacked the thing. My first question was, "Why would anyone want a television in the control room?" This prompted a twenty-minute explanation from John on the technology and uses of Pro Tools. Of course it was all over my head; I’d gotten lost somewhere between the switch from eight tracks to sixteen. I do remember, though, that John used the phrase "This is the wave of the future."

Over the course of the next year, I saw John work his way through the manual, and day by day, miracles occurred. As John became more and more familiar with Pro Tools, recording became easier and easier. Great takes that had one huge glitch were fixed; editing became instantaneous.

Over the years I’ve since worked with many Pro Tools operators, and I’ve got to say, John can make that thing do things that no one else can. I’d recommend this book to anybody, whether beginner or expert. As for myself, I’m almost ready to make the jump to sixteen tracks.

See ya, Peter --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 1 edition (April 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072231750
• ISBN-13: 978-0072231755
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #768,620 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An invaluable guide worth every penny, July 25, 2004

By 

Patricia Priest (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools (Paperback)

Finally, finally, I was able to become adept at Pro Tools -- software known for its steep learning curve -- after reading the first edition of this book. Now I've learned a whole new spate of tricks and trouble-shooting techniques from this newly expanded and highly useful guide.

I teach broadcast writing part time at the University of Georgia. I'm also an independent producer for Georgia Public Radio. I worked through this new version of Keane's book because I wanted to know whether to recommend it to students. The answer is: yes, I'd recommend it highly.

Almost everyone who has worked with Pro Tools gets bogged down at first. Things can go awry because you've toggled something accidentally or used the wrong mode or tool. Then, you're lost -- or more critically, you may have lost something you've been working on for hours. But Keane's book guides you through the thicket, showing you the pitfalls to avoid and the ways to get out of inevitable tangles. He does this by systematically introducing tools just when you need them. He then anticipates common mistakes and teaches remedies to fix or prevent each one.

It's pretty remarkable how well and relatively seamlessly the guide serves all types of readers (Mac and Windows users - with each group further differentiated by those using the latest or earlier versions of operating systems and Pro Tools). The information about moving to Mac's OS X is especially useful for the many producers out there making the switch, finally, with trepidation.

The book is geared primarily toward musicians - as the book's name underscores -- but the information has been just as suitable for my work producing features and commentaries for public radio.

I bet John Keane could pretty much offer a guarantee that readers will feel they've gotten their money's worth. I learned invaluable new shortcuts, tricks, and safety mechanisms for this industry-standard audio editing software -- and actually for my computer generally. The book has a great chapter on trouble-shooting and provides crucial information about hard drives and improving system efficiency.

Everyone striving to master Pro Tools faces the same challenges on the steep climb in. Keane shows us the way -- all the while stressing tactics that save space and time and avert disaster. Learning those good habits right at the outset is worth every penny.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Helpful for Songwriters w/ simple home studios, October 15, 2006

By 

E. Dahmen (Boston, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools (Paperback)

With all due respect to the author, I found this book frustrating. It seems to be written for engineers with experience in pro studios recording bands, NOT songwriters with simple m-box setups in home studios. I am a songwriter who records mostly by myself, one instrument at a time, so much of the advice and how-to in the book strikes me as overwhelming, confusing and at times irrelevant.

After my frustrating experience w/ this book, I ended up hiring a freelance instructor. It was money well spent. Here was what was on my list to learn -

How do I
-set the whole thing up (install program, get the right hard drive, get enough memory, get the mbox working, and actually record a sound onto a track)
-make a quick click track
-import beats
-perform basic editing techniques
-render a quick mix and a final mix (bounce to disk)
-put reverb and other effects on my voice (aux effects)
-find and install plug-ins (I didn't like the digidesign ones much)

In 4 one-on-one lessons, I learned enough to record and edit my songs with relative ease. In the 10 months following, I've gotten more comfortable w/ Pro Tools, though it is still confusing at times. I occasionally go back to this book when I have a question, but... very rarely does it answer my question! It either doesn't make sense to me, or just doesn't address my exact question.

So, I am going to try "Pro Tools for Musicians and Songwriters," by Gina Fant-Saez. I've heard it's much easier to digest for home studio songwriters. If it's not, I will update this review.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This should have been the first Pro Tools book I bought!, December 11, 2003

By 

seattleguitarman "seattleguitarman" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Musician's Guide to Pro Tools 6 (Paperback)

I purchased three other Pro Tools books before this, to get up and running with Pro Tools as a newbie to the software/hardware. Then, I got this one. This book rocks as it is a hands on, practical tutorial taking the reader step by step through the user interface, recording, editing, tweaking things the way you'll eventually use the software.

I've just rebuilt my system and ready to continue on with the book. I can't recommend it too highly! Nice work John Keane!!!