Production

Which books would be considered essential reading for a potential music producer?
posted by Zenabi (4 comments total)

Mastering Audio. Downstream, true. Still, an excellent book about what happens after the production and what you can do about it.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 7:35 PM on December 20, 2009

can you please clarify what you mean by a 'producer' the traditional role a la Brian Eno say working with a Band to clarify their vision in the Studio?

or some one who writes their own music (in the more contemporary mis-used sense).

I've read a good books on Recording techniques which are quite useful in the Studio "Recording Engineer's Handbook" ~ Bobby Owsinski had a lot of info on Microphone Techniques that I wasnn't aware of. and also was recently reading this Mixing With Your Mind - by Stav, which a lot of people love. More pracitcal guide to Mixing.

Also this was ok: Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices and Tools (Paperback) ~ Roey Izhaki

I've read most of Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science (Book) (Paperback) ~ Bob Katz but I didn't really like it or find it that useful.
posted by mary8nne at 3:47 AM on December 21, 2009

In terms of recommending books it kind of depends on how much prior knowledge you have. Also - somewhat pedantically - whether you're making a clear distinction between record production and engineering. The two have now become almost synonymous, but it used to be that you didn't need to be an engineer to produce records (you had an engineer to handle all that technical stuff). So I'm not sure you can take a course, as it were, in being a producer in a pure sense - the main requirements of which are a good pair of ears and an imagination - most of the bumf available is basically about engineering. And a lot of producers aren't overly keen on giving away trade secrets - for obvious reasons.

"Sound Recording Practice" by John Borwick (Oxford University Press) is a comprehensive starter, if a little dry. Another one that I found useful was "Behind The Glass" by Howard Massey (Backbeat Books, San Francisco). This one is more "chatty" and less technical, but it does yield one or two nuggets and is an interesting read anyway.
posted by MajorDundee at 12:14 PM on December 21, 2009

More of a focus on engineering and mixing, but an awesome book nonetheless:
Mixing with your mind.
posted by robotot at 4:15 PM on December 29, 2009