PC Audio Editing: From broadcasting to home CD [Paperback]

Roger Derry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2000

PC Audio Editing is an essential guide for anyone wishing to make audio production for issue as recordings, or for broadcast, using a Windows PC and material acquired both in the studio and via portable equipment.


Even those who are experienced with editing and mixing using quarter inch tape can find the change to editing audio visually on a PC daunting. The author explains all the basic principles of this new technology and the skills you need to use it successfully, without assuming prior knowledge of the system, in a practical and straightforward manner.

The accompanying free CD-ROM is supplied by Syntrillium Software Corporation. It contains a demo and tutorials of Cool Edit Pro, the leading PC audio editing program.

*Covers practical and artistic considerations involved in the editing process
*Ideal for those having to use digital systems for the first time as little background knowledge is assumed
*Includes a free CD-ROM with tryout software

Editorial Reviews

Review

'Roger Derry's book is a masterpiece of well-presented theory combined with useful practical advice. It is an excellent bridge between the subjects of sound recording and digital audio processing.'
David Kirk, editor, ClickTX.com

'PC Audio Editing takes a complex subject, littered with technical minefields, and escorts the user safely through. Roger Derry's careful explanations and pragmatic advice guide the complete novice through every aspect of the subject matter with relevant underpinning theory where appropriate. Experienced practitioners, too, will find plenty of helpful suggestions and techniques to produce the best possible results from the available technology.
Hugh Robjohns, editor, Line Up Magazine.

'...this book is aimed more at the tyro than the professional, although the latter could well pick up some useful tips on the use of Cool Edit Pro...an excellent book for those finding their way around PC Editing for the first time, or indeed, requiring a refresher course. It makes a surprisingly good read for a technical book, largely because the style is that of a very experienced operator chatting you through the whole business and sharing his hardwon experience with plenty of tips and clear explanations to help you along. Well done Roger!'
Ron Godwyn, Line Up Magazine

'A great little book - especially for anyone taking his or her first steps in recording and editing audio on a PC.'
Brett Moss, Pro Audio Review

From the Author

As a review of the book Ben Hoff was expecting; it is quite fair. However, this is not the book I wrote! It is not a manual for Cool Edit Pro. Syntrillium's tutorials and help files, on the CD included with the book do that well. I use CEP as it implements nearly all the features people are likely to come across in alternative software; in my view, often better than much more expensive software.

The book that I wrote was aimed specifically at the non-technical. This ranges from salesmen who have occasionally to record something for distribution on cassette to an Arts graduate radio producer. Away from the broadcast and audio professions, I kept coming across people who had no audio training who had been given the task of dealing with audio and making a total pig's ear of it! They are the other end of the spectrum of readers I am aiming at. In the middle are media students like the ones I have taught. They can start with little knowledge of computers and rather less of audio, and progress to making a competent radio feature two hours later using CEP. I have also been gratified by the number of former colleagues in UK broadcasting who have been extremely complimentary about the book.

"Line Up, the Journal of the Institute of Broadcast Sound ended their review with this summary.

"This is an excellent book for those finding their way around PC Editing for the first time, or indeed, requiring a refresher course. It makes a surprisingly good read for a technical book, largely because the style is that of a very experienced operator chatting you through the whole business and sharing his hard-won experience with plenty of tips and clear explanations to help you along."

So I must be doing something right! If you want a treatise on Fourier Analysis, then this is not the book for you. If you want to get the best out of audio editing software then you may wish to consider it.

Roger Derry, September 2001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Focal Press (April 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 024051596X
• ISBN-13: 978-0240515960
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,187,166 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I was very disappointed. Read this and you'll know why., March 1, 2001

By 

Ben V. Hoff (North Las Vegas, Nevada United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PC Audio Editing: From broadcasting to home CD (Paperback)

.

I don't know who Roger Derry is but he seems like someone who has been in the business (audio engineering) for a long time and is less than accepting of those who are new to audio; those who are using modern technology instead of "razor blades" from the past (that's how audio tape used to be spliced). I really don't know what is going on, but I do know:

He spent several paragraphs explaining how to choose a password. He spent several paragraphs telling how to make an interesting special effect that sounds like what might be an alien voice. (record the text, play it backwards, write it out phonetically, speak the phonetics, reverse the recording) and...

This is what he stated in one section (the kind of material I think most of us would be looking for) eg:

"FFT FILTER: FFT stands for Fast Fournier Transform. It is nothing less than a techie's dream of designing a totally bespoke [sic] filter. Great fun if you know what you are doing. Totally confusing if you do not! Probably best avoided if you did not start your career as a technician."

That was everything he said about FFT. You be the judge. I thought the book was padded with obvious and marginally useful information and very short on details about the nuts and bolts of audio editing.

As for the Syntrillium software. I have used a simpler version and love it and the people at Syntrillium are really helpful. You can get a demo like the one on this disk on the net. Use any search engine (amazon doesn't allow url's in these reviews).

I returned this book, thanks to amazon.com 's fair policy and am looking for an alternative.

Ben Hoff ([e-mail])

4.0 out of 5 stars I Found This Book To Be Helpful, February 15, 2002

By 

Rick (Midland, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: PC Audio Editing: From broadcasting to home CD (Paperback)

Unlike the other reviewer, I found this book to be helpful. I am already a Cool Edit Pro user and I have integrated this program into my audio recording program of Sonar XL by Cakewalk. Together, these programs are a powerhouse. I did think that there were subjects that I would have liked the author to elaborate on (i.e. more about music audio than voice), but all in all, I thought it was well written and informative. I would have also like to have seen more tricks covered, but I have learned the art of audio editing basicaly on my own with trial and error. To listen to some good examples, visit my mp3 site at mp3.com/rsumner. "Rock Slide" was edited with Cool Edit Pro. This is actually the only book that I have seen covering the subject of audio editing on the PC. I do expect to see more in the near future though.
I gave the book a 4 star rating.