Customer Reviews

Sound for Film and Television, with accompanying audio CD

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2 star:		(2)
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Having read almost every book out on sound for film and television, from the most contemporary to the classics, it was a surprise to find both the theoretical/aesthetic use of sound and technical sound information (from one who really knows, the author, creator of the THX sound system.) The innovative thinking Homan put into the design of the THX system has been equally applied to this book. The book gives countless examples of both classic and contemporary films demonstrating practical application of sound theories.The information in the book has been of great value to me in my film work and to several students I know from USC School of Cinema-TV and its Summer Production Workshops. I also found the CD in the back of the book extremely helpful in actually "hearing" principles discussed in the book, another innovation from the author.

As a newcomer to the world of audio for video productions, I found this book to be an excellent introduction. The author has struck a very nice balance that explains the technical and science aspects without getting bogged down in complexity. The book covers everything from sound and how people perceive it, to equipment, to techniques, and it even has a CD that demonstrates principles discussed in the book. The author makes liberal use of examples from popular films that I found very helpful in gaining insight into the topics under discussion. In addition to being a terrific overview, I've found myself going back to it as a reference due to the clear explainations it contains on a wide variety of topics.

This book is an excruciating read and, if it didn't hold information I need, I'd toss it from my book stacks with satisfaction. Holman is clearly not a gifted writer and appears to have little interest in attempting to achieve such status. What you get with SOUND for Film and Television is like a condensed instruction manual for the study, technical names and mechanics screwed together with lazy, careless language. Forget skipping through to the middle to read up on a particular microphone, the crammed description will be completely composed of references to complex information from past chapters. You will have to read it through, as arduous (and potentially impossible) as the task may be, to access any of the valuable details buried within.

An easy to read, logical guide to practical production sound. If you only ever read one book on audio this should be it.

This is an excellent book though it contains many errors in the mathematics of decibels. The other 2 greats books are: Audio in Media by Stanley R. Alten and Sound for Picture by Tom Kenny.

Great book, very easy to read and follow... it's like a boot camp course. It's written by an eminence in the industry, Tomlinson Holman, who has a vast experience within the audio industry. If you are serious about post-production, this book is a must have.

Raúl Torres
Puerto Rico

The book covers comprehensive topics about its subject: from psychoacoustics to (for example) sound editing techniques to (for example) film sound synchronization methods to (in the last chapter) dynamic range for various media for master prints. First that comes to mind when I remember the accompanying CD is the demonstrations of various microphone directivity patterns (but there is something more in it).

The topics aren't discussed in very deep levels (but are good enough), but are reinforced with author's wide experience I would like to admit (examples how the sound was worked out are taken from such films as "Jurassic Park", "Star Wars"). I found this book very interesting as I didn't know very much about film sound techniques, for specialists this book is of lower interest I think (although it contains some handy material, e.g. comparisons of various sound recording formats, etc.)

Contains some errata, but I cannot find it right now.

This is an amazing book. It contains every aspects of Film TV Sound in depth (including newest techonologies like Surround stuff) and it is easy to understand. The CD is not what you expect from this book but anyway it is useful.

Should bore the socks off you if you have a pulse.