Review of Home Studio Setup: Everything You Need to Know from Equipment to Acoustics (The Mastering Music Series) (Paperback)

I"m sorry to have to give this book a three star review, however, it has very litle to do with HOME RECORDING, at least with the traditional, D.I.Y. vectors like cassette four tracks, ADATS, and now the stand alone DAW recorders. (Most are those are 8 track, have all the sliders, faders, equalizers, and even processors, that make home recording fast, easy and practical.) I've done a LOT of home recording, and read a lot of books on it. Normally, you can find such fun suggestions on how to use the bathroom for natural reverb, or using direct injection, etc. NONE of that is covered in this book, however. The author teaches a class in PRO TOOLS, and has his own studio for professional recording, connected to his home. So, this is what ALL home recording ought to be? The first third of the book covers acoustics. Interesting subject, but for home studios, you would need to build your own addition onto your home, soundproof it, and then even build one or two extra rooms for equipment storage, and the sound engineer's room. Is that what you are after for home recording? If so, you found your book.

Actually, this book wouldnt be bad, for what it is, but it doesnt seem to be edited well.For instance, building an actual studio room, soundproofed as Harris discribes, with the baffling and sound dampers, would cost tens of thousands of dollars. SO, even tho the PROTOOLS program might be relatively cheap, the interfaces he recommends, the outboard processors, the tons of different mics, studio monitors, etc, is EXPENSIVE. Also, it has NOTHING to do with home recording. Have people forgotten that those four track cassette home recorders were used to record albums like Springsteen's NEBRASKA, or the early albums by WEEN? All this extra stuff this book advocates, isnt nessacary, unless you are in a mid level signed band, that has a dedicated practice and recording area, and want to record your album yourself.
There is a second problem, ie, the editing. Do you need a book that discribes the difference between MACs and PCs? Do you need to be told what a HARD DRIVE is? C'mon, if you need that info, then you need a BEGINNERS book on computers. Why was this included? Also, he discribes the difference between DYNAMIC and CONDENSER mics. First time in chapter five, and REVIEWS it in chapter 9. This stuff is so fundamental, that if you dont know it, I doubt you are ready for 39 pages about advanced Acoustics, or asking yourself questions like "Do i want to build a 1 room or 3 room studio, and do I want to use one, two or three engineers?"This is the problem thruout the book. BASIC INFORMATION is included about computers, or how sound is produced in microphones, but home recording basics outside of PROTOOLS is skipped cos its too "amateur".Nothing is said about the stand alone DAW recorders, except that they are only good for making a quick sketch of a song, ie, a lousy sounding demo. Now, shouldnt things like DIRECT INJECTION of a bass, or guitar be included, if you are this deep into MIDI? Or, if you are going to cover miking acoustic instruments, (ie, GUITAR) do you think that you MIGHT cover the acoustic piano? (I bought the book for that reason.) There is more information in the book about the right LAVA LAMP to create a studio's mood, than there is on acoustic piano miking. I'm not kidding either. Even the part of the book that discribes mix down of tracks, is strange. PANNING is explained in a very concrete, unimaginative manner. "THIS IS WHERE YOUR INSTRUMENTS BELONG" in the stereo picture, and little else is considered.So, for my needs, the book just didnt have much. The information about how to acheive an acoustically DEAD room, is wasted space. Interesting, but only needed for buiding a truly professional recording studio. And why was that info included about stand alone plate REVERB units, stand alone microphone preamps (doesnt everybody at home use phantom power?), and various outboard effects units? Then, you get the BASICS, like how midi data streams are produced. (yup, read about that 20 years ago. If you are writing about how to use PROTOOLs, you have to assume your reader already KNOWS about MIDI interfaces, and the difference between digital and analogue.) I was stunned, when the guy assumed his readers knew zip about HARD DRIVE units.

Overall, between the wasted book space on acoustics so your carpenter can design a soundproof studio,and the other places where microphone basics are explained, the book just doesnt understand its "AUDIENCE". This is a book for professional musicians with lots of money, looking to build a home studio for professional recording, but who dont know the difference between a MAC and a PC, or the difference between microphones, or even closed and open backed headphones. It doenst cover what 99.9% of the people who REALLY want to have a home studio might need to know. People want to know how to make your own demos, or even MIX ready digital recordings, in a bedroom, using direct injection OR amp miking, and a sound processor to compensate for the lack of an acoustically "DEAD" room.If you want to get as deep into recording as part of this book covers, you will get bored, cos its way too complex for a beginner, working his way thru his first demo of a first composistion. And, if you want the complex info included to build a pro studio, the basic stuff would bore you too. Maybe that's the REAL problem here. What constitutes a "home studio" is the one the writer had made to record bands in, and what constitutes a "good recording" is one that is done with the equipment he owns, that conforms to the way he THINKS a professional recording ought to sound. If your thinking falls outside of boxes like this, or if you budget falls short of the BIG BUDGET you would need to make a studio like the one he recommends, then you dont need or want this book. Basically, its a book for professional studios running PROTOOLS, with a few basics thrown in, to make it seem like its for "beginners", and "home studio enthusiasts". By trying to supply both professional and amatuer needs, it falls short of both.

Product Description
Whether you have a ton of equipment or just the basic gear this book offers an all you need to know to setting up, running and getting great sound from a project studio. In three parts Harris walks you thought Acoustics, Equipment and Recording Technique. From the basics of acoustic treatment to techniques to solve problems specific to your room, and from offering explanations and information of equipment to how to record and create a great mix. In no time you?ll be recording, producing great music in your very own studio.

* Provides information on how to make the right decisions when buying and installing equipment, learn how to set up a quality studio
* Covers recording technique, teaches how to make high quality mixes
* Covers acoustics and studio design, understand acoustics without going down the roadof becoming a professional acoustician

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