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 enlarge | Author: Karl Coryat
Publisher: Hal Leonard
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.98
You Save: $9.97 (40%)
New (37) Used (7) from $14.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  22 reviews
Sales Rank: 30360
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 251
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 11.1 x 8.8 x 0.5
ISBN: 1423454464
Dewey Decimal Number: 781
EAN: 9781423454465
ASIN: 1423454464
Publication Date: July 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: H20081203095851D
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book! July 20, 2007
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a great book for anyone that owns a home studio. I will explain why I gave it 4 stars in a bit.
First of all, its a catchy read. The diction and style of his writing is very calm and friendly, as if you were speaking with him in person. This is what will hook you!
Secondly, the chapters are very well divided into sections such as "How to Record almost Anything" and many others.
In a sense, it may seem a little childish and not-so-accurate, but at the same time, the reader must remember that it takes it all back to basics to lay the foundation for future learning. The best way to learn in the studio is do observe, try, fail, and experiment. This book will spark that interest.
I have been recording my own music for a few years now and I find that this book gave me some helpful insight and great tips for EQ settings, and the importance of experimentation. It's a great little book! The only reason I gave this book 4 stars was because many of the things I felt like I already knew, however, there were times when he would hint that he was going to go in deeper about a subject, and he only told me a few things I didnt know and many that I knew. THAT is a PERSONAL preference, so for someone that knows little to none about home recording, this book could be a LIFE SAVER!
I would say this: If you own a consumer home studio, you cant go wrong by OWNING this book. Even if it doesnt help you incredibly, this book IS useful and thought provoking, which is the most important part: it will spark your interest to learn and try new things in your studio.
Advice from a patient friend February 8, 2007
33 out of 33 found this review helpful
The title of this book is somewhat inaccurate, since it doesn't really cover a wide variety of types of studio gear or types of recording. Rather, reading this book is more like spending several hours in the particular studio of one patient, experienced home recordist who is generous with his time in explaining, engagingly, his own set-up and how he uses it.
A problem anyone new to home recording will confront is the feeling of coming in late on the conversation: frustratingly, the manuals for even entry-level gear seem to have been written by engineers (often, Japanese engineers) who assume everyone else has been working with audio recording gear since at least 1950, just like them. And, it is always engineers, not musicians, who write the manuals. Thus, we get instruction on "attenuation" instead of being told how to produce a diminuendo, and we get pots instead of knobs.
A key benefit of this book is that it is written by a musician, and explains what the engineers are talking about in words musicians use.
This is, overall, an outstanding book for any musician assembling a home studio. The author understands, from experience, that no home studio is going to match a pro one, and that understanding how to use ordinary gear is more valuable than spending many thousands of dollars on equipment that won't achieve much benefit outside the environment of one of those pro studios. The author's specific target is a recording that will sound good to a musical listener, while realizing that a home studio will never impress (or fool) a pro sound engineer. Particularly valuable here is his advice on when to stop trying -- e.g., he is right that recording drum sets in a home studio is bound to lead to disappointment, so why spend a few more hundred or thousand dollars on a set of matching drum mikes?
The author plainly came of age in recording well before the digital era. As a result, his recommended set-up is perhaps heavier on hardware, and makes less full use of software, than a brand new set-up would. As an example, he considers a hardware mixer a core piece of equipment, and devotes considerable space to describing work-arounds to deal with the limited connections available on most (affordable) hardware mixers. Whether a hardware mixer is needed anymore if you are using mixing software is an open question (and a good way to start heated arguments on the appropriate forums). Still, understanding how to use a hardware mixer will make using mixing software much easier, since most software products aim to emulate the functions of hardware models.
The book is a nice mix of specific tips, general theory, background explanation, problem-solving, and arcanely entertaining trivia. The more detailed tips tend to be specific to rock recording, so musicians in other genres may get less out of this book. However, at the price there is plenty here to benefit any musician wanting to make home recordings.
I docked one star from my rating out of irritation with small factual inaccuracies (e.g., the author doesn't understand that the panning of a drum set can be affected by whether the drummer is left-handed) and larger limitations (e.g., the author has never learned to record with multiple mikes and therefore never explains how to do this -- his approach is strictly one track at a time.) Again, though, for the money this is a great book to have.
Guerilla Home Recording January 28, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This has been a really helpful book. He goes into detail about what separates professional from amature recordigs, and shows you how to get those sounds. Also, a lot of tips and tricks for people to cheat a lot of things. I gave the book a 4 out of 5 though because the subtitle is "no matter how weird of cheap your gear is." This is not really covered much in the book. He also strongly suggests, without saying it outright, that there is a lot of gear you will need to get a good sound, and if you don't have it, you should try to find a way to pick it up. Overall a good read and he makes a lot of concepts that I didn't undestand before comprehendable.
 Basic but a must have January 19, 2007
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is definately for all levels of Recording. Very straight and to the point. Very clear and concise, and doesnt limit you to having to have a specific piece of gear.
Really informative book! January 18, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I bought this book for my son who is into home recording but had some questions. He said he got some great ideas and saw that he was doing some things wrong. For instance, he had the wrong kind of speakers for recording. I bought him 3 or 4 books on this subject and this one was his favorite.
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