Audio Mashup Construction Kit: ExtremeTech (Paperback)

~ Jordan "DJ Earworm" Roseman (Author)
Key Phrases: beatmapper wizard, mashup artists, making mashups, Adobe Audition, Center Channel Extractor, Spectral Pan Display (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

HERE ARE SOME SOUND IDEAS.

Wonder what would happen if the Big Band sound crashed into heavy metal? Or what the offspring of a balladeer and a rapper might sound like? How about smooth jazz and acid rock? Stop wondering-this book will take you there. You'll explore hardware and software choices first and select what you need; then you'll sample a little music theory. After that, it's step by step to the big mashup. Do what sounds good.

How to mix & mash.

Cool stuff you'll learn:

• How to use mashup construction software
• Basics of songwriting and music theory
• Insider tips on selecting your songs
• How to get your tracks in key and in sync
• Ways to extract vocals from full songs
• Tricks for arranging your mashup for maximum impact
• How to polish up your mashup with mastering and effects
• Rendering, distribution, and legal considerations

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

From the Back Cover

HERE ARE SOME SOUND IDEAS.

Wonder what would happen if the Big Band sound crashed into heavy metal? Or what the offspring of a balladeer and a rapper might sound like? How about smooth jazz and acid rock? Stop wondering-this book will take you there. You'll explore hardware and software choices first and select what you need; then you'll sample a little music theory. After that, it's step by step to the big mashup. Do what sounds good.

How to mix & mash.

Cool stuff you'll learn:

• How to use mashup construction software
• Basics of songwriting and music theory
• Insider tips on selecting your songs
• How to get your tracks in key and in sync
• Ways to extract vocals from full songs
• Tricks for arranging your mashup for maximum impact
• How to polish up your mashup with mastering and effects
• Rendering, distribution, and legal considerations

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 338 pages
• Publisher: Wiley (June 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471771953
• ISBN-13: 978-0471771951
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #385,971 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book on Mashup creation! 3.75 stars ;-), August 23, 2007

By	Sam Cyberspace (Auckland, New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This is a good book by a fairly accomplished Mashup creator. If you haven't heard of Mashups then you've been missing something wonderful. Mashups when created by talented musicians/djs who understand music theory and beat matching are wonderful. Bad mashups are horrible to listen to. This book takes you a long way to making great mashups and I very much liked the chapter on choosing songs (even though I already understand musical keys and tempos). The Excel spreadsheet templates and key matching templates were helpful and great musical refreshers which helped me create my own database of songs to mashup from my collection.

DJ Earworm's chapter on choosing songs was great - and the freeware tONaRT and aufTAKT (which you can throw a WAV file at and have it auto-detect the musical key and tempo in beats per minute) on the book's CD were awesome finds almost worth the price of the book themselves and they're great time savers in choosing tunes to mashup!

The only thing not making this book great is that it too heavily focuses on the specific software Acid Pro. I actually may not have purchased it if I knew that initially - though I'm glad I got it anyway. I just use other softwave like Sonar and Audition and Sound Forge so the pages on Acid specific stuff I just skimmed over. Even though it used Acid as an example, there was plenty to sink your teeth into in this book. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants to create decent mashups!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for those starting out and DJs looking for new horizons., August 21, 2009

By	Glen McBride "djglenmcbride.com" (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First off if you're a Mac user, then as they say, there's nothing to see here - move along. That said if you're a PC user or don't care either way then you'll get something out of this book.
Yes it pretty much a book that focuses exclusively on Sony Acid, but what's wrong with that? Acid is probably one of the best known packages for PC and is certainly a good jumping off point for those entering the Mashup/Remix domain for the first time.

The book does assume a certain working knowledge of Acid, so if you've never ever laid hands on Acid, I suggest before getting too deep into this book that you get some fundamental experience on Acid then come back to this book.

Overall I found the book easy to follow and it gets done what needs to be done. Those with remix/mashup experience already will probably not rate this book that highly however if you're learning or want to refresh and get another perspective, then this book will serve you well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One big ACID commercial, insightful nonetheless, February 4, 2009

By	Paul M. Giangregorio "Junkmonkey" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The Mashup Construction Kit is an insightful look into the world of mashup creations. For beginners in the world of mixing & mashing, DJ Earworm does a wonderful job keeping the material simple - at times, too simple - so you should have no problem with this book.

For intermediate to advanced audio enthusiasts, this book may not have much to offer beyond a look at how DJ Earworm goes about constructing mashups - not necessarily a bad thing.

The book includes a brief history of remixing (neat), some background music theory (a waste of time since people either already know it or will not understand it), and tons of how-to's for Sony ACID and a little bit of information on using Adobe Audition.

For the most part, the book seemed like a commercial for ACID. Earworm didn't consider any other software and sorta left Mac people out in the cold.

Why the 4-stars? Because while this book came across as very "basic," the insight into how someone as accomplished and skilled as DJ Earworm goes about creating mashups is very helpful. Sometimes it all seems so elusive until you actually "see" it done - then it all makes sense.

For those interested in creating mashups and who have a basic to intermediate understanding of mixing, mastering, music theory, etc., I highly recommend this book.

Maybe not so much for the intermediate to advanced folks out there.