TechTV's Secrets of the Digital Studio: Insider's Guide to Desktop Recording

Author: James Maguire, Jim Louderback List Price: $24.99 Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price ISBN: 0789726866 Publisher: TechTV (New Riders) (09 April, 2002) Edition: Paperback Sales Rank: 40,885 Average Customer Rating: 4.43 out of 5

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Customer Reviews

if the author honestly tried to do his best, then of course, it would be my fault to judge him, but the book is nonetheless NOT HELPFUL.

you take a look at most books out there, whether on general music production/recording or specific software tutorials(cubase,sonar), most of them are rehash of the manual that comes with the software(that is unless, the software manufact only provides PDF version but in that case, the book purchaser already knows he wants a printed manual).

now i don't know if people know this, but to publish a book that's pretty much a repeat of the manual is, how do you say, lazy way to make money. there's 2 ways to make money on earth, either by contributing to the world's progress or gear your profit opportunity on fooling dummies.... what i'm trying to say is that I KNOW that most authors for these books don't know adequately about music production nor the specific software. perhaps, went thru the software manual and paraphrased them into his own words.... i feel that the same applies to web design/multimedia/graphics books.... only a handful are helpful.

in addition to being a rehash of the manual, you will find trivial things like market your songs online via mp3 sites, which most of us already had an idea of if we are serious about music.

when someone studies or wants to make music, given that the manual already tells you how to achieve certain tasks, a good book should inform on:
1) music theory(at least the basics)
2) universally applicable concepts in music production. if you know this, then you know every other competitor product as well b/c these are what sequencers/soft synths/effects processors are grounded on - the lowest common denominator.
NO ONE WANTS TO KNOW HOW EXPORT A WAV FILE or where a menu option is located. IF THAT'S THE CASE, then it should state that it's a beginners book.
3) though not a requisite, a chapter informing on whether a person possesses creativity should be included(if i was author, i would have). it's kind of pointless and waste of time if you have no creativity and trying to pursue music in the first place. that's like a fat boy trying to win the 50m dash in the olympics.
4) and again though not a requisite, if not an entire chapter is devoted to them, a general background on lyric/songwriting should be included.
5) there's so much more bads to the book, but i don't want to go back to the book to find them out. the forementioned immediately came to mind without effort.

YOU WOULD THINK THAT THE WORLD IS GETTING BETTER. ALL THAT'S HAPPENING IS PEOPLE ARE GETTING STUPID b/c computers do everything for us. IF THE WORLD IS PROGRESSING, then what's up with the myriad of INFO BOOKS THAT ARE GARBAGE. It wasn't always like this.

AND IF THE AUTHOR TRIES TO REFUTE ME WITH SOME RIDICULOUS REPLIES, ALL I NEED TO SAY IS THAT regardless of whether it's MUSIC PRODUCTION OR DESIGN/MULTIMEDIA/WRITING, it's never the software that matters(though you do need to learn it to use it); it's the driver of the computer and softwares that achieves creative output. computer and softwares are just productivity tools. So, if the author wastes your time with 100s of pages of useless info/fluff, i would be upset... not to mention the hard earned money i've wasted.

i highly recommend "GET CREATIVE WITH CUBASE SX/SL" or "CREATIVE PROJECTS WITH CUBASE VST" they are both hands on tutorials(learn as you do).

This book covers a broad landscape (from acoustic fundamentals to surround technology) in enough detail and with enough references to other material to get a good foundation for digital audio work. With it (and other research) I'm confident that when I get my hands on the hardware and software I've been researching I'll be successful and I won't have to flounder too much.

This is not a step-by-step tutorial for how you go from opening a package to listening a polished CD.

The cutesiness in some parts can be a little annoying. There is lots of white space and browser screen shots that make the book thicker than it needs to be. Those are minor issues that detract little from this very useful book.

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