Customer Reviews

Sound Check: The Basics of Sound and Sound Systems

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

 

 

I have run sound part-time for several years. This book is a great next step after learning the basics of running and setting up sound equipment. I found this book excellent for answering introductory & intermediate questions about such topics as impedence matching, selecting speaker enclosures, and how cables affect the system. I recommend reading this book before reading the Sound Reinforcement Handbook (Davis & Jones)--an excellent, comprehensive resource book.

This book should only be read by the most novice of aspiring sound personele, at best. Some areas are terribly missleading and, at times, will leave out profound information that will simply get you in trouble. The saying, "I know just enough to be dangerous" is just the feeling I get from this book. It will leave the reader with a false self confidence of professional audio that, when given the opportunity, may land them in over thier heads or achieving undesirable results. For a quality start, check out Yamaha's Sound Reinforcement book.

I really liked Sound Check because it's easy to understand, fun to read, and it answered all my "beginner" questions. I thought that I should start out at a higher level book, like Yamaha Guide to Sound Systems, but I was wrong. I'm an aerospace engineer, lawyer, and I ran an electronics manufacturing company, but Sound Check was the best starting point for me; I wish that I had this book many years ago. It would have saved me a lot of trouble. It is a practical book that I have recommended to all my employees who work with sound systems.

I wanted to learn the basics of audio, and found this book to be very easy to understand. It also has many illustrations. It especially helped me to understand decibels. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to better understand the basics of sound.

The author of this book needs to take a basic writing class before writing any more books. He forgets to define sound terminology, expecting the reader to understand phrases like "colored signal", etc. although I did appreciate the somewhat incomplete glossary at the back of the book. He also has a hard time teaching many of the concepts. Many of the charts I found very labor intensive and confusing. Who proofread this book any way? I admit I did learn a fair amount. Maybe many of the concepts have to be experienced to be understood and if so, it's not the author's fault.

All of the basics of getting your sound to your audience in an easy-to-read . . .and understand . . .format. I've been doing live music performance for 30+ years, and thought I knew what I was doing. I do much better now. I recommend this book to anyone who uses a PA system, or places speakers, or builds speaker cabinets, or performs with amplification.

Information contained in the first few chapters is a very good explination of the principles of sound reinforcement. I would highly recommend it for beginners.

I found this to be a good introduction to doing live sound for folks who have some interest and aptitude. It's not deeply technical, and it doesn't take that long to read/study. I think most audio novices who have the inclination to do any reading on the subject will appreciate this book. I only read it once several months ago, but I would have appreciated this back when I started.