Music Books

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ashley BORG
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Music Books

Post by ashley BORG »

Came across this book review on attack.

Might be nice for anyone looking to treat themselves to an Xmas present.

http://www.attackmagazine.com/reviews/b ... synthesis/


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Re: Music Books

Post by arc »

Yeah I saw that book a while ago, seemed kinda interesting. I mentioned it in the "sound design theory and technique" thread a while back.

Another good book I've been reading lately called "How music works" by David Byrne is another good read. It doesn't really relate directly to techno, but it definitely makes you think about music in a deeper way.

http://www.amazon.com/How-Music-Works-D ... 1938073533

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Re: Music Books

Post by Planar »

Yeah, I think we discussed this before. The example chapters are stupidly basic in the Rob Papen book. I'd really like a book that covered every synthesis type in depth actually, and not just a cookbook of how to make certain sounds. I'd also like a good up to date Reaktor book, and something that covers max4live as well :(

The only production book I own is the Izhaki one and it's really good. I always go back to it and learn something new as I get more experienced.

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Re: Music Books

Post by jordanneke »

I have the book.

I'm stupid and basic, so the chapters fit quite well ; ) I like it so far, probably cos I'm not very technical at all.

Although it's sitting here half read, my time is so limited I much prefer to make, rather than reading about making.

I'll finish it over the xmas, if I have the time

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Re: Music Books

Post by don_questo »

for all the maths and physics required for reaktor/max etc this is still an essential bible even though its a bit old.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Music- ... rtis+roads
Edit: I read the pappen book and it didnt really improve my sound design much even though I was pausing video to deconstruct every single patch. That I could have done without it anyways. I think all the theory for subtractive synthesis is so simple a retard can learn it in an hour. What will give the most improvement is of course practice.
I only recently discovered synthorial, and its so great I only wish I knew about it long ago when i started programming synths. But going through it became a bit tough for me as well towards the end.

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Re: Music Books

Post by disparate »

don_questo wrote: Edit: I read the pappen book and it didnt really improve my sound design much even though I was pausing video to deconstruct every single patch. That I could have done without it anyways. I think all the theory for subtractive synthesis is so simple a retard can learn it in an hour. What will give the most improvement is of course practice.
Agreed, a lot of tutorials seem to focus so much on these basics when understanding what filters, envelopes etc do is extremely simple (maybe I'm just saying this cos I'm an engineer but surely it's not rocket science...) and the real challenge is turning these knobs to make the sounds that you want...

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Re: Music Books

Post by Planar »

don_questo wrote:for all the maths and physics required for reaktor/max etc this is still an essential bible even though its a bit old.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Music- ... rtis+roads
.

I've been eyeing this up for a while, but it's always just been a touch too expensive to be an impulse purchase.

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Re: Music Books

Post by don_questo »

Planar wrote:
don_questo wrote:for all the maths and physics required for reaktor/max etc this is still an essential bible even though its a bit old.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Computer-Music- ... rtis+roads
.

I've been eyeing this up for a while, but it's always just been a touch too expensive to be an impulse purchase.
But its 1200 pages, like i said it is a bible not just in content but in volume as well.

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Re: Music Books

Post by Hades »

I've said it before and I'll say it again :
I followed one of those sound design classes by Rob Papen a few years ago.
His "unique 4 steps" method or "4 element synth" or whatever he calls it is just as non-unique as it can get because he's just talking about oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFO's.
The whole day was one big disappointment to me.
It's about as basic as it can get when talking about sound design, and he's not giving you anything you couldn't learn from reading a few articles on the internet.

I'm not saying this can't be helpful for anyone,
but I do mean it if I say there are far better ways to learn more about sound design than Rob Papens courses.
And most of them will be a lot better value for what you pay for it.

I can always highly recommend "the dance music manual" by Rik Snoman

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Manua ... 0240521072

it covers a lot of ground, and up till this day it's been the best book I've found on electronic music production.
stupid title, great book.
If you're damn broke, you can find it in PDF for free on the net but I honestly feel this guy deserves your money.


Is that Curtis Roads book really that good ?
Any more detailed info on this (from people who have bought and read it) ?
thx
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Re: Music Books

Post by Luke »

ashley BORG wrote:Came across this book review on attack.

Might be nice for anyone looking to treat themselves to an Xmas present.

http://www.attackmagazine.com/reviews/b ... synthesis/


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My misses bought me this for my birthday. Everythings really well explained. I'd really recommend it for someone who's trying to get to grips with synthesis.

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Re: Music Books

Post by Luke »

Hades wrote:I've said it before and I'll say it again :
I followed one of those sound design classes by Rob Papen a few years ago.
His "unique 4 steps" method or "4 element synth" or whatever he calls it is just as non-unique as it can get because he's just talking about oscillators, filters, envelopes, LFO's.
The whole day was one big disappointment to me.
It's about as basic as it can get when talking about sound design, and he's not giving you anything you couldn't learn from reading a few articles on the internet.

I'm not saying this can't be helpful for anyone,
but I do mean it if I say there are far better ways to learn more about sound design than Rob Papens courses.
And most of them will be a lot better value for what you pay for it.

I can always highly recommend "the dance music manual" by Rik Snoman

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Manua ... 0240521072

it covers a lot of ground, and up till this day it's been the best book I've found on electronic music production.
stupid title, great book.
If you're damn broke, you can find it in PDF for free on the net but I honestly feel this guy deserves your money.


Is that Curtis Roads book really that good ?
Any more detailed info on this (from people who have bought and read it) ?
thx
A mate gave me this book a few weeks ago, but I haven't bothered to read it yet. The title put me off. Thought it was gonna be a load bollocks. Looks like I was wrong! Got nothing to do all weekend, so gonna get my head stuck into it.

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Re: Music Books

Post by Hades »

you're talking about Rob's book now or Snoman's book ?
If it's Snoman's book, do read it, I find it a very valuable source of information.
The different chapters cover so much ground : sound synthesis, cables and mixers, music theory,...
all kinds of stuff.
And you can just read a chapter here or there whenever you feel like it, it's not like you gotta read it all.
(I still haven't, even though it's a great book)
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Re: Music Books

Post by chrome-metronome »

Curtis Roads is very academic, maybe not for everyone's taste. But if you really want to dive into DSP and the science of sound, then definately worth a read.

I loved this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Secrets-Sm ... 0240815807

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Re: Music Books

Post by tdmusic »

Hades wrote: I can always highly recommend "the dance music manual" by Rik Snoman

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Manua ... 0240521072

it covers a lot of ground, and up till this day it's been the best book I've found on electronic music production.
stupid title, great book.
If you're damn broke, you can find it in PDF for free on the net but I honestly feel this guy deserves your money.
Interesting, I'd always ignored this book because of the title to be honest, but had a quick look in the PDF and I think I'll get the Kindle edition so I can read it on my phone on the way to/from work.

Never really been much of a reader when it comes to learning stuff (either for my job or outside of it), I've always just used Google, but I'm trying to start reading a bit more technical stuff as you do get a depth of knowledge from reading a good book written by an expert that its not so easy to get from reading articles/blogs/forums online.

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Re: Music Books

Post by ashley BORG »

tdmusic wrote:
Hades wrote: I can always highly recommend "the dance music manual" by Rik Snoman

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Manua ... 0240521072

it covers a lot of ground, and up till this day it's been the best book I've found on electronic music production.
stupid title, great book.
If you're damn broke, you can find it in PDF for free on the net but I honestly feel this guy deserves your money.
Interesting, I'd always ignored this book because of the title to be honest, but had a quick look in the PDF and I think I'll get the Kindle edition so I can read it on my phone on the way to/from work.

Never really been much of a reader when it comes to learning stuff (either for my job or outside of it), I've always just used Google, but I'm trying to start reading a bit more technical stuff as you do get a depth of knowledge from reading a good book written by an expert that its not so easy to get from reading articles/blogs/forums online.

The kindle version isn't any good.

I've read it 3 times. I'd credit much of my improvement to this book. It can be really basic on some subjects, but then sometimes the basics is a good place to start.

I suppose it depends on where you rate yourself skill wise.

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Re: Music Books

Post by tdmusic »

ashley BORG wrote: The kindle version isn't any good.
How come? I've just downloaded the sample and at first glance it appeared OK (images in place etc). There's a third edition just come out, it worryingly seems to have introduced a lot of references to "EDM" so maybe I'd better off with the second edition!

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Re: Music Books

Post by ashley BORG »

tdmusic wrote:
ashley BORG wrote: The kindle version isn't any good.
How come? I've just downloaded the sample and at first glance it appeared OK (images in place etc). There's a third edition just come out, it worryingly seems to have introduced a lot of references to "EDM" so maybe I'd better off with the second edition!
I downloaded the sample too, which convinced me to get the full thing. Read some reviews on Amazon, quite a few negative comments, which refered to missing diagrams, and sentences which made no sense. Or something like that.
Book is great for marking pages and scribbling notes.

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Re: Music Books

Post by Críoch »

Definitely recommend the Dance Music Bible book.

I've criticised it in the past.. but I think at times I've missed the information that is in it. Still.. its a big book and though it covers a lot of ground, I do think there is a lot of stuff in it that you dont need. It is an interesting read though & I do revisit it every now & then.

However.. the Roey Izhaki (??), mixing audio book is wicked. Best book I ever bought. Someone mentioned it earlier & I totally agree. It covers so much. Its like the best manual ever written. It does explain some techniques alright.. but its more the explanations of what everything audio related 'does'.. like for instance, all of the typical controls you find on effects units / plugin emulations.. that really comes in handy when you are scratching your head or want to fine tune something that you cannot quite put your finger on. Definitely the favourite book that I've bought.
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Re: Music Books

Post by tdmusic »

Started reading the preview of the Dance Music Bible yesterday and was impressed, gonna pick up the whole thing and give it a read. Cheers!

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Re: Music Books

Post by Hades »

you mean the Dance Music Manual, right ?
It's a decent book, that covers a lot of ground.
whether or not you're gonna learn a lot from it depends on your level of experience.
I read it years ago, maybe I'd find it different now, but I doubt it.
Nice book, really.
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