This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession
by Daniel J. Levitin
from Plume
In this groundbreaking union of art and science, rocker-turned-neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin explores the connection between music—its performance, its composition, how we listen to it, why we enjoy it—and the human brain. Drawing on the latest research and on musical examples ranging from Mozart to Duke Ellington to Van Halen, Levitin reveals:
• How composers produce some of the most pleasurable effects of listening to music by exploiting the way our brains make sense of the world
• Why we are so emotionally attached to the music we listened to as teenagers, whether it was Fleetwood Mac, U2, or Dr. Dre
• That practice, rather than talent, is the driving force behind musical expertise
• How those insidious little jingles (called earworms) get stuck in our heads
And, taking on prominent thinkers who argue that music is nothing more than an evolutionary accident, Levitin argues that music is fundamental to our species, perhaps even more so than language. This Is Your Brain on Music is an unprecedented, eye-opening investigation into an obsession at the heart of human nature.
Mastering Audio, Second Edition: The art and the science
by Bob Katz
from Focal Press
Written by an award winning, highly respected professional, Mastering Audio gives you a thorough introduction to the unique procedures and technical issues involved in mastering.
Suitable for all levels of students and professionals, it is ideal for anyone who wants to increase their mastery of digital and analog audio: musicians, producers, A&R, mastering, recording and mixing engineers.
Fully updated to cover the latest technologies, Mastering Audio discusses audio philosophy and art: sequencing, leveling, processing; how to make a record album radio-ready; mixing as it reltes to mstering. Divided into 5 parts, the book begins with the basics - monitoring, mastering techniques, useful tutorials and the fundamentals of dithering and decibels and moves on to more advanced concepts - jitter and clocking, monitor collaboration as well as multi channel audio, miking and acoustics. Leading-edge audio concepts are explained in an easy-to-grasp holistic style.
Including practical tips and real world experiences, Bob Katz explains the technical detail of the subject in his informative and humorous style.
* Written by a well respected engineer who has engineered albums which have won the Grammy
* Provides you with information on the latest techniques and processes used in mastering
* Covers equipment, training and the business of mastering and answers all the frequently asked questions
Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals
by F. Alton Everest
from Artistpro
Audio productions are made or broken by the quality of the recording engineer's ears. The ability to properly discern sounds, identify subtle problems, and act accordingly to apply the necessary fix makes all the difference in the quality of the final tracks and master. The good news is that these crucial skills can be learned. The ability to instantly identify frequencies, hear hidden distortions, and instinctively reconcile conflicts in the EQ of instruments, audio elements, vocals and more are traits of those who have mastered the art of audio production. The best engineers have trained their ears to immediately recognize audio problems that the consumer and those new to recording arts would likely not hear, but that, if left unresolved, would result in an amateurish final product. For more than two decades, students of F. Alton Everest's Critical Listening and Auditory Perception courses have rapidly developed these skills by using the intense lessons found in this book and on the CD. Unfortunately the books and CDs included with the course were usually too expensive for aspiring engineers to purchase and were often available only in colleges, universities, or school libraries. Now for the first time these indispensable training sessions are available with this release of Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals. Through hundreds of illustrations and an accompanying disc containing high-resolution MP3 files with nearly five hours of narration of the entire course, you can acquire the audio discernment skills of a seasoned recording engineer by studying this course at your own pace, in your own home.
The Sound Reinforcement Handbook
from Yamaha
- This revised edition features almost 40 new pages and is even easier to follow with the addition of an index and a simplified page and chapter numbering system. New topics covered include: MIDI, Synchronization, and an Appendix on Logarithms.
Sound reinforcement is the use of audio amplification systems. This book is the first and only book of its kind to cover all aspects of designing and using such systems for public address and musical performance. The book features information on both the audio theory involved and the practical applications of that theory, explaining everything from microphones to loudspeakers. The Whirlwind pcDI is the first direct box designed to interface your unbalanced stereo line sources with professional balanced low impedance equipment. This unit contains two separate DIs - input your signals with one 3.5mm (1/8 inch) mini TRS stereo jack or two sets of color coded RCA phono type in and through jacks. Output is via corresponding color coded XLRs.
Sonar 7 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide
by Scott R. Garrigus
from Course Technology PTR
Covering both Studio and Producer Editions, Sonar 7 Power! is the seventh edition of the best-selling Sonar Power book series providing detailed training for Cakewalk's Sonar 7 music recording software. Written for both new users and veteran upgraders alike, Sonar 7 Power! walks you through all of the features of the software with step-by-step instructions and exercises. New users will start at the beginning and learn everything they need to know to use Sonar 7 for recording, editing, producing, mixing, and bringing their music to the masses. Upgraders will learn about all the new features in Sonar 7 as well as enhancements to existing features that may affect their current production workflow. New topics covered include: Flexible PRV Tools, PRV Microscope Mode, MIDI Data Lanes, EQ Settings Copy, Step Sequencer, CD Ripping/Burning, Sidechaining, Using External Hardware, Boost 11 Maximizer, Linear Phase EQ, Linear Phase Compressor, Dimension LE, Rapture LE, DropZone, Z3TA+, and more.
Designing a Digital Portfolio (VOICES)
by Cynthia Baron
from New Riders Press
It isn't easy finding a job these days and for those working in the creative fields like graphic design, illustration, photography, filmmaking, and music, a digital portfolio is just the shiny object you need to catch the attention of a prospective employer. But you can't just slap a few files on a CD and call it a night. As Cynthia Baron points out in Designing a Digital Portfolio--a thorough guide to digital portfolios--your first impression is critical and good preparation will pay off.
The books begins with soul-searching: what work are you hoping to get, who's your audience, what style of presentation should you choose, and what technology--Zip, CD, DVD? Effective portfolios from various fields are analyzed, for example, one for an industrial designer or a flash animation artist. If you happen to do both or are otherwise a jack-of-all-trades, Baron outlines your strategy for targeting your audience and deciding how to focus your presentation.
There're several great chapters on prepping your work, collecting it (do you have your process materials, like pencil sketches?), digitizing the non-digital and cleaning it up (like stitching together scans or effective cropping), nitty-gritty items like optimizing and encoding (crucial if you don't want your future boss frustrated by large files), and dealing with that neglected cousin of the visually creative: good written content.
Next, the book considers delivery (for example, Web versus a portable portfolio on CD or DVD), a presentation metaphor (for example, gallery or diary), and the navigational master plan. The chapter on copyrights and attribution are worth the cover price alone. (For example, do you know who owns the artwork you just created for that latest brochure? Do you know how to present a large project on which you worked as part of a team?)
Throughout the book, Baron profiles some stellar examples of digital portfolios, most of which are viewable online, for example, illustrator Michael Bartalos's Web site at bartalos.com. And the appendices offer even more resources to help and inspire you. --Angelynn Grant
The world has gone digital--which means that a paper portfolio is no longer good enough. These days, as a creative professional, you're expected to be able to show your work on demand--whether that means emailing it to a client, displaying it on a Web site, or delivering it on CD or DVD. This book shows you how. Using a combination of step-by-step instructions and inspiring examples, veteran author Cynthia Baron takes you through the entire process of designing a digital portfolio--from developing a concept and choosing a medium, to scanning work created with traditional materials; optimizing digitized art; repurposing digital material; creating a portfolio Web site, CD, or DVD; producing a portable portfolio; and avoiding technical pitfalls when digitizing, organizing, and delivering the final product. You'll also find loads of insights from the professionals who evaluate artist portfolios everyday--agency heads, art directors, and designers--plus handy checklists, a run-down of dos and don'ts, case studies, and tips.
Acoustic Design for the Home Studio
by Mitch Gallagher
from Artistpro
With the advances in digital technology, musicians can now produce their own music at home. Over the years the gear has gotten much better, and musicians have learned a great deal about recording. So why do so many musicians and engineers have difficulty getting truly professional-sounding results? One reason? Acoustics. If the room you're working in has poor acoustics, it will be extremely difficult -- if not impossible -- to produce excellent results. You can't capture a true sound if the microphones don't hear the instruments and vocals correctly. You have to be able to hear what's truly going on with your tracks to make the proper decisions about editing, equalizing, processing, and mixing them. Acoustics can be a complex, math-laden science, but treating a room to make it sound great and function optimally as a recording studio needn't be difficult nor require hours in front of a calculator or computer screen. Improving a studio's acoustics can be simple and inexpensive -- all you need is some guidance. Acoustic Design for the Home Studio focuses on creating a greatsounding home or project studio in an existing room. It teaches the basic principles of acoustics that affect you in your home or project studio and how to solve any acoustical problems you may have without laying out much (or any) money. Whether you're converting a bedroom, a garage, a basement, or a corner of the living room, this book will help you improve the sound of the environment in which you're making music. The principles are easy to understand and the materials used for treating a room are readily available. Diagrams and photos of actual rooms created with the designs are included to illustrate concepts. Whether you want to pursue a no-cost solution, use "off -the-shelf" acoustic materials, or even splurge with an unlimited budget, you'll learn how to put your room together easily and effectively.
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Recording with Cubase (Complete Idiot's Guide to)
by Michael Miller
from Alpha
Mix-mastery is just a few clicks away.
This guide offers a step-by-step, practical approach to mixing, recording, and mastering tracks with the Cubase digital-audio recording, sequencing, and mixing software program. From configuring the program for both audio and MIDI recording, to editing and adding process effects and equalization, to creating drum tracks and loop-based recordings, this essential resource will help musicians stay in key.
• More than 1.5 million users of Cubase worldwide
• One of the first books on the new Cubase SX version 4.0
• For users of all 3 Cubase versions: SX (full-featured version), SL (mid-level version), and SE (budget version)
• For musicians recording with Cubase in both home and professional recording studios
Harmonograph: A Visual Guide to the Mathematics of Music (Wooden Books)
by Anthony Ashton
from Walker & Company
Master Handbook of Acoustics
by F. Alton Everest
from McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics
The goal of this book is to apply the principles of acoustics to the audio arts. This involves serving as an interpreter of major trends and the literature for students and practitioners in the audio field. Along with covering the more theoretical aspects of acoustics, the book applies the theory to the design of specialized audio spaces such as the home listening room, the control room, and the multi-track-recording studio.
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