Customer Reviews

PC Recording Studios For Dummies

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

 

 

The book is not bad for someone who is new to recording; although, the technical information written in the book is outdated! Author mentioned for example that USB2 is brand new think in computing; I have USB2 for several years and the copyright of this book is 2005! Also while writing of this book, author use Mac computer and not PC as mentioned in the title of this book. In examples of software, author works with Mac software costing $1000 and another software (Pro Tools) that run on both, PC and Mac. Author mentioned in the book, that 32 track recording software is not sufficient. The version of Pro Tools that is not limited to 32 tracks starts at $4000. Author should use examples for Sonar or Cubase to keep trend with home recording engineers. Those software are professional quality and financially friendlier. About $500.
I would like to conclude my review. If you want a book that explain you basic of home recording and you are willing to do extensive research about software and hardware through Internet or other sources, the book is for you. From the other hand, hardware and software for recording is changing so rapidly that you would have to make some research anyway, though, this book would be actual about 5 years ago. Myself, I wouldn't buy this book if I new how outdated information it contained.

I had no idea on how to do PC recording, now I know. However, I put 4 star instead of 5 because of the book is not up-to-date enough. The PC requirement descriped in the book is kinda old, I think they need to keep the book update for every year (if that is possible). For example, 1G or 2G RAM is quite common these days, but the book still staying in the 256-512M age. But in general, it is a great book on how to start out on PC recording.

In a world of rapidly advancing technology, it is understandably difficult to write a book based upon technology that is not quickly outdated. As such, the 2005 copyright might incite some immediate hesitation. Unfortunately, there is not a significant amount of comparable reading material with regard to this subject matter which has been written more recently. However, in this case, there is relatively little to fear. In my opinion, the core concepts still apply, and the reader is simply forced to replace the written "currently available" this or that with what one knows to now be available in terms of both hardware and software.

This work is a legitimate help to inexperienced readers who are seeking to wet their palate or gain a better understanding of the home recording process. In fact, the material found within ranges from the most basic of basic to fairly complex subject material, and much of what should be between. The only drawbacks might be (other than the date issue) the fact that the author focuses primarily on Pro Tools and Logic; however, if the reader prefers either Pro Tools or Logic this would be a significant advantage. Even this is understandable when considering the veritable plethora of available software options, and I commend the author for even covering two of the major players at such great depths. Furthermore, the author, at least, attempts to take an unbiased approach while explaining processes involving both Macs and PCs. Overall, if the title appears to pertain to what it is that you are looking for, the purchase is probably worth it if not only until an updated version is available.

I picked up this book after being interested in trying PC recording for months. I had previously tried browsing the internet, searching forums, etc, to figure out where to get started - if anything, I just found myself more confused. The recording industry uses alot of technical jargon, and that's exactly what this book doesn't do. It assumes you know very little and presents the information in an easy-to-understand format.

The only reason I didn't give it five stars was because I felt like there could have been more information added to the book. Granted, it is a book for beginners who want to get started, but I still felt like it was a bit sparse in parts. Still, though, it's a great read for anyone interested in PC recording, and it'll definitely save you alot of headaches and money.

Before you start whacking out large amounts of cash on bits and pieces of software, recording gear, and a PC which may or may not be suited to the task, I suggest you get as big a picture as possible. It will help you to intelligently build a PC-based studio, rather than haphazardly collecting modules based solely on individual recommendations or specs.

I almost embarrassedly endorse "PC Recording for Dummies". Yup, finally had to admit I wuz one. I know recording, I know computers, but trying to do one with the other was topping me. Unless the book has been updated recently, it will be a little dated in terms of hardware model numbers and software versions, but most of the brand names still exist and all of the principles still apply. It was instrumental (hey, if there's a pun, I meant it) in leading me toward the stable, capable Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) I have today.

Author Jeff Strong writes in an annoyingly cutesy style, but he knows his stuff. The book is well organized and systematically takes you through the steps of assessing your needs, acquiring gear and software, and putting it together and making it work.

I originally wrote a version of this review for the forum at PG Music, manufacturers of "Band in a Box", "Power Tracks Pro Audio" and "RealBand", which are unfortunately not mentioned in the book. Even the dated price points of competitive software will make you appreciate the bargain that PG products represent.

I take off one star for syrupy-cute delivery and being somewhat out of date, but the information is all solid. A bargain in its own right, and for what it will save you in time and wise buying decisions.

Ryszard
Atlanta GA

this book covers a lot of ground
but in doing so it does not cover anything in depth
and many things are covered poorly or omitted


in many places we are told to do something
but then referred to our manuals for our hardware & software although
sometimes he often provides a generic example but not always

if you know nothing at all
this will be a good introduction but
dont try to understand the details from this book
just try to grok the big picture (albeit slightly hazy)
then look for other books to fill in what you need

you will not be able to build and use your home studio with just this book as a guide

if you have experience with analog recording
andor a degree in electronics then you will be disappointed
but you may be able to figure out the gaps and confusing parts with some google searches - otherwise this will leave you with too many questions

full disclosure - i have recorded with analog tape and was a member of AES for several years as well as having 5 years of graduate school in EE -- after many years of doing other things, i wanted to quickly get up to speed with the modern digital recording on pcs for my own use at home . this book was a start but not the answer.

overall i found this book annoying and inadequate

many terms are not explained
although
some are explained *after* they got used instead of before

there is no glossary of all terms for quick reference
the index does not always include a pointer to the section explainign them either

some terms are used in non standard ways - which may reflect the current usage by the public but not engineers and
some are new jargon (eg midi stuff) that was not used in days of analogue
but
some usages are just plain wrong. however some others may be just careless use of english or bad editing and some are possibly just the authors misconceptions.

many diagrams are on the opposite side of the page referencing them
which makes the book much harder to use

diagrams are confusing and not intuitive
and need better explanations of what they are supposed to tell us

reference material is omitted. he tells us that middle c is coded as 60decimal in midi format but fails to give a diagram with all the possible notes/codes.

other items are missing like a table of the mystery codes that got mentioned in passing but never described (that i could find; and they are not indexed)

he throws out things like midi codes without explaining them and they are NOT in the index at all and which is poorly done.

I have a list of about 15 terms/jargon that he used that i need to google to find out what they mean. I also have a number of questions that i will ahve to research. these should have been covered in the book!!

some words are thrown out to show his music experience as they have little relevance to the topic at hand. maybe you know what a dobro is ,but most of us dont -- and we have no need to know it either (but appears to be some sort of specialised percussive instrument. and hints on recording ti are not appropriate in this book.



this book is copyright 2009 which is why i bought it
else i would suggest looking at
jeffs pc recording studio for dummys instead
but that one is sadly out of date
and may well suffer from the same editing/production problems as thsi one
but i have only glanced at the TOC and copyright date so far

this one covers too much non pc recording options (stand alone disk and all_in_one non_PC related hardware devices) which is a total waste these days, but could possibly be justified in this book but not the pc recording studio book done in 2004 (copyright 2005) which needs to be updated real soon now or any book that covers PC music which is the only viable alternative circa 2009. such Stand alone options are only marginally cheaper and are much harder to use and inflexible.

it covers too much miking of drums (author used to be a drummer!) and is way too light on explaining PC interface devices.

he should cover more about sound cards and how they fit in the big picture and less on making your own sound panels. i am interested in PC music not carpentry.

there are probably better books out there
(it is hard to imagine worse but i have seen some! so caveat emptor)
but i have not looked for better intros yet

i grabbed this one at the local borders on impulse because i was there
and wanted to read something on this topic right away. this was the least worst of their paltry selection. and to be fair, i learned some thigns, and relearned some things i had not used for years. but it did not live up to what i expected in such a book.

search amazon for PC music not home recording and you will likely come up with more appropriate books.

Extremely helpful when starting from zero knowledge. Explains all the computer requirements, how to optimize performance etc that a techno-trog like myself couldn't get my head around. Will be using this as a reference source for quite a long long time to come. The only downside is that the examples are presented using Pro Tools and Logic, but the information really helped in decoding my program's (Cubase) manual. Also a useful companion is "Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies" by the same author.

I DID NOT START READING THE BOOK YET BUT IT WAS A AMAZON VERIFIED PURCHASE. THE BOOK WAS BOUGHT USED AT A FRACTION OF THE COST NEW,IT CAME WRAPPED LIKE IT WAS GLASS AND WAS IN PERFECT CONDITION AND ARIVED ON TIME YOU COULD NOT ASK FOR ANYTHING MORE!