Questions for Alan Parsons

Robert Archer at CEPro conducts an interview with producer/engineer/musician Alan Parsons, author of The Art and Science of Sound Recording DVD (Hal Leonard). Below is an excerpt of the interview to whet your appetite, but do click over to the full interview for the entire experience.

Archer: Do you have any advice for those that would like to develop their professional listening skills to hear things more like audio professionals such as yourself?
Parsons: The art of listening is the key to any kind of career in this business. My training at EMI/Abbey Road was thorough in how to listen. I learned how to discern minute differences in pieces of equipment, and it helped me to appreciate what I was hearing. As you become experienced on a pro level you become fussier about how things sound and how certain pieces of equipment behave.

Archer: What do you think about the market evolution that has seen the CD format losing sales while the vinyl and digital download categories increasing their respective sales?
Parsons: I’m not sure vinyl is selling beyond audiophile purists, and I’m not really one of them. I’m reasonably happy with the quality of CDs, but I’d really like to see high-resolution downloads become more widely available. It is encouraging to see people listening to high-resolution audio. Eventually it’s going to be an all-download world…computers dominate our lives these days. We are just going to have to be tolerant of the longer download times. It’s just the way it is.

Keep reading this interview on CEPro!

———————————————————————-

Alan Parsons’ The Art & Science of Sound Recording

Nearly three years in the making, Alan Parsons’ monumental ten-hour video series, The Art & Science of Sound Recording, is now available in a three-DVD boxed set! Narrated by actor and musician Billy Bob Thornton, the DVDs are divided into 24 sections, starting with a brief history of recording. Filmed in HD, this the most powerful instructional series ever created for music production.The Art & Science of Sound Recording looks at everything from soundproofing to mixing, and from recording guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and vocals, to recording a choir. Fellow professional engineers & producers join Alan Parsons in this top quality, practical, and cutting-edge guide, including Jack Joseph Puig, John Fields, Elliot Scheiner, Jack Douglas, Tony Brown and Chuck Ainlay. Artists and musicians interviewed include Michael McDonald, Taylor Hawkins, Nathan East, Rami Jaffe, Carol Kaye and Erykah Badu.. This invaluable instructional DVD set applies classic, old school recording experience to the modern recording scene, and is certain to be a standard work on the subject for years to come. Along with its fully interactive website, The Art & Science of Sound Recording is a complete course in modern recording. Available from Hal Leonard.

Hal Leonard at Winter NAMM 2012

Bobby Owsinksi, author of Music 3.0 and his Handbook series, says ”The 2012 Winter NAMM was a picture of enthusiasm, both from an exhibitor and attendee standpoint, a sign that the economy might finally be turning around. I was happy to be there in support of the release of the 2nd edition of my Music 3.0 book, which continues to enjoy enormous support from both musicians and the music business community alike.”
He has further reported on NAMM 2012 on his blog:
Part 1: Audio Gear
Part 2: Guitars and Amps
Part 3: Unusual Things
You can also read his Q&A on Twitter about NAMM

For Steve Turnidge, author of the upcoming Hal Leonard book Desktop Mastering (March 2012), this year’s NAMM was the best ever. He is especially exited to try out hosting his Desktop Mastering plug-in chain in iZotope’s RX 2 Advanced, and experimenting with implementation of the mastering chain using iZotope Ozone 5. He looks forward to trying out some new Waves plug-ins and putting the Sonnox Pro-Codec into his digital delivery workflow. Several of his circuit board designs launched at this show, including the Pigtronix Infinity Looper and several products from Synthwerks. His favorite (and most surprising) new release at the show was the Yamaha THR-10 guitar amp, with big sound and capability from a small, portable box.

Tom Wheeler (author of The Dream Factory) talks about NAMM

Guitar World magazine (authors of The Complete History of Guitar World, the forthcoming Dear Guitar Hero, and many other books) reports on NAMM

Moses Avalon (pictured below) reports on NAMM on his blog.

Before the show, a booth waiting to be filled with NAMM-goers

Two of our authors Moses Avalon and Alan Parsons

Author Signings at Hal Leonard Booth

Stop by booth #364 to meet the authors!

Friday

2pm—Alan Parsons (creator of Alan Parsons’ The Art & Science of Sound Recording DVD set)

3:30pm—Moses Avalon (author of Confessions of a Record Producer, Secrets of Negotiating a Record Contract, Advanced Recording-Contract Negotiations for Music Industry Professionals, and Moses Avalon’s 100 Answers to 50 Questions on the Music Business)

Saturday

2pm—Steve Gordon (author of The Future of the Music Business)

3pm—Bobby Owsinski (author of Music 3.0, The Touring Musician’s Handbook, The Musician’s Video Handbook, The Music Producer’s Handbook, How to Make Your Band Sound Great, The Studio Musician’s Handbook, and the Drum Recording Handbook)

Books and DVDs will be on sale at the booth.

For more information, please visit halleonardbooks.com.

Alan Parsons to Appear at Hal Leonard Booth at AES Convention

MILWAUKEE – Recording engineer, producer, composer, and artist Alan Parsons will appear at the Hal Leonard booth (#364) at the Audio Engineering Society Convention at the Javits Center in New York.  He will sign copies of his three-DVD boxed set Alan Parsons’ The Art & Science of Sound Recording on Friday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m.

Parsons’s illustrious career acts as both backdrop and inspiration for this groundbreaking series.  He worked with The Beatles on the albums Abbey Road and Let It Be, engineered Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, and produced a string of multi-platinum hits for The Hollies, Pilot, Ambrosia, Al Stewart, and other artists, as well as for The Alan Parsons Project.

Filmed in HD, this is the most powerful instructional series ever created for music production.  The Art & Science of Sound Recording looks at everything from soundproofing to mixing, and from recording guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and vocals to recording a choir. Fellow professional engineers and producers join Alan Parsons in this top-quality, practical, and cutting-edge guide, including Jack Joseph Puig, John Fields, Elliot Scheiner, Jack Douglas, Tony Brown, and Chuck Ainlay. Artists and musicians interviewed include Michael McDonald, Taylor Hawkins, Nathan East, Rami Jaffe, Carol Kaye, and Erykah Badu.

This invaluable instructional DVD set applies classic, old-school recording experience to the modern recording scene and is certain to be a standard work on the subject for years to come. Alongside its fully interactive website, http://www.artandscienceofsound.com, The Art & Science of Sound Recording is a complete course in modern recording.

Alan Parsons’ The Art & Science of Sound Recording
Publisher: KeyFax New Media Inc.
Artist : Alan Parsons

Nearly three years in the making, Alan Parsons’ monumental ten-hour video series, The Art & Science of Sound Recording, is now available in a three-DVD boxed set! Narrated by actor and musician Billy Bob Thornton, the DVDs are divided into 24 sections, starting with a brief history of recording.

Watch exclusive video excerpts here.
Buy the DVD here.