Customer Reviews

Practical Recording Techniques, Second Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Here's a useful and comprehensive introduction to professional audio recording aimed primarily at the beginning and intermediate level recording engineer, but useful also for people like me doing home recording. It covers all aspects of equipment, sound, techniques and procedures. In addition to what you'd expect (it's recent enough to cover digital applications), there are sections on spoken word recordings, on-location recording, hum prevention (the electrical, not the oral, variety), how to judge sound quality, and a short but interesting chapter on how an engineer can learn to listen to the art, and not just the sound, of the music being recorded. The Bartletts offer sound advice for how to mic various instruments (well, how would *you* go about micing bagpipes or a hammered dulcimer?). It contains a very useful guide for analyzing and correcting bad sound. Additionally, there are appendices covering the technicalities of dB, SMPTE and a suggested reading list. The glossary is excellent. For someone like me, it filled in all sorts of gaps in my knowledge - now I'm familiar with the Fletcher-Munson effect, I know exactly what an ORTF mic placement is and how to go about clearing up muddy sound. There is little or no input about specific brands or models of gear, but at 458 pages, there's not much room for that, and it's not that kind of book anyway. Thumbs up.

I am new (just a few weeks) to home recording, DAWs, and all the hardware, software and terminology that goes with it. I saw this book in the store and quickly fell in love with it. FYI, I am the kind of person who will read a book cover to cover when I am trying to learn something new, as long as it is easy to read and techincally sound. This book is both, and covers much more than just recording as stated in the title.

It starts out with some basic terms and concepts, which make the rest of the book easier to follow.

It then discusses the following topics (not a complete list and not necessarily in this order):
- studio equipment, connections, speakers, mics, and other components
- different microphone types and how they might be placed in different recording situations
- bit rate and sampling rate recommendations
- an explanation of when and how to use various SW effects (equalizers, reverb, compressors, limiters, delays, etc)
- and tips for mixing and mastering for newbies

This book was JUST what i needed when i needed it. It may not be for anyone who already has experience or knowledge in the field though. Before i got this book, I tried to read Mixing Audio by Roey Izhaki. That book was very highly recommended (by online reviews), but was difficult for me to read just starting out. I will try to read that one again in a week or so and see if this one has better prepared me. (Another review to come, hehe).

Happy recording/editing/mixing/mastering/etc !!! :-)

Just by looking at the cover you already want to dive into this book that covers practical techniques to get your personal music station going. It covers step by step putting together your own audio work station, from microphones down to the XLR cables. Tips for mixing down your music, what mixers, microphones, studio monitors to use. All in all, this is not a book you would want to check out at the library. I highly recommend that you invest in buying this unique guide that will come in handy later on down the road. Thank You

If you always seem to be a bit be-fuddled when it comes to recording audio, this book will definitely help you as it did me. I experienced several "light-bulb" and "Ohhhh, that's what that is for!" moments while studying the contents of this book. My only wish would be for a comprehensive "mix" section dealing with external gear as well plug-ins. For instance, you always see on a piece of gear, "48 inputs available during mix-down". Other than that I can only give this text a very solid rating. Great book.

As a multimedia instructor, I'm always looking for better ways to explain things. In the case of preparing audio for video presentations, I've been reading in four texts lately. Practical Recording Techniques is one of the best in this category. One of the book's strengths is the manner in which it is organized. This makes it fairly easy to go directly to a subject and find the answer to a question. I recommend it.

Don't get caught by the name of the book. The whole book just tells you the tip of the iceberg... a little of this a little of that and just few stuff is truly practical. If you are totally new in this field, go buy it. Also i have "Modern Recording Techniques" and i noted that they are very similar if not i dare to say they are the same.

I have used this textbook for the last 20 years in a college-level curriculum in audio engineering. It is one of the best resources for beginning to semi-experienced students. The authors have done a good job of keeping the material up to date. Highly recommended.

Very useful book which I'm told was written by one of the designers on Shure mics - so a definite reliable source of information. Lots to sink your teeth into here and great information to polish your existing repertoire of technical knowledge. I'm not a professional by any means but this book just might get me there!

The author, Bruce Bartlett, is a well known author in the recording industry, with over 900 magazine product reviews and articles on recording, and 8 books on recording techniques. He even started his own microphone company recently, manufacturing a sweet little acoustic guitar mic! He wrote this as an introduction to audio recording for the novice. With each edition of this book he has updated it to reflect the technological advancements since the previous edition.
Simply put, if you are thinking of getting into audio recording as a hobby or profession, get this book for it's easy explanations of the processes involved in this rather complex undertaking. If you want detailed explanations for "How to do" aspects of DAW recording, this is not the book for you, as it is NOT product specific, though he does utilize many different products in his explanations.
Mr. Bartlett is a professional audio engineer with a penchant for writing so that everyone can comprehend the recording/ editing/ mixing process.

The book covers general aspects of audio engineering at an introductory level. It is a good book for the very beginner who is interested in learning general aspects of audio, but it is not suitable for the audio professional. I am an audio professional an I did not find in depth information on the book.