It’s not every day that we have an author turn 80. It’s certainly not every day that we have two celebrity authors turn 80 on the exact same day. Quincy Jones (Q on Producing) and Michael Caine (Acting in Film) are celebrating their double birthday together today. Best wishes to both!
Below is an excerpt of the DVD that comes with the book Q on Producing where Quincy Jones and Bill Gibson discuss Jones’ work with Michael Jackson.
PLUS: Read a brand new interview with Bill Gibson on Voice Council!
With invaluable advice on subjects such as songwriting, scoring, and the modern music business – to be expanded on in subsequent volumes – Q on Producing provides the foundation for what is sure to be the most anticipated series of tutorials on music production ever created.
The Audio Engineering Society conference takes place in San Francisco this year from Oct. 26 to Oct. 29. Stop by the Hal Leonard booth. Buy books, talk to authors, enter our giveaway, and more!
.
In the Booth
Hal Leonard’s new, innovative Quick Pro Guides series and newly revamped Power Tools line include tutorials on Ableton, Logic Pro, Pro Tools, Reason, Cubase, and Studio One. Hal Leonard’s authors include Bobby Owsinski, Mixerman, Moses Avalon, Bill Gibson, Howard Massey, Alan Parsons, Dave Hampton, Chilitos Valenzuela, Steve Turnidge, and many others.
.
Giveaway
Drop your business card in the jar at the Hal Leonard booth for your chance to win a copy of Alan Parsons’ The Art and Science of Sound Recording DVD set. The winner will be contacted by email the week following AES.
.
MusicPro Guides YouTube Channel
MusicPro Guides is giving away prizes on our YouTube channel. To enter the drawing, subscribe to youtube.com/musicproguides between October 26 and November 10th. If you are already a subscriber, enter the drawing by commenting on the front page video. We’ll announce the winner on November 27th on our YouTube channel. Prizes include the complete Mixerman book collection; a prize pack of books that include Quick Pro Guides, Desktop Mastering, and Electronic Musician Presents the Recording Secrets Behind 50 Great Albums; and a Skype call with Bruce Swedien.
.
Panels, Tutorials, and Workshops with Hal Leonard authors
Bobby Owsinski, author of Music 3.0, will give a presentation on social media. Facebook, Google+, Twitter and YouTube are important elements for developing a fan base or client list, but without the proper strategy they can prove ineffective and take so much time that there’s none left for creating. This presentation shows engineers, producers, audio professionals, and musicians the best techniques and strategy to utilize social media as a promotional tool without it taking 20 hours a day.
2. Total Tracking: Get It Right at Source: Choosing and Recording Your Sound Source
The astonishing and ever-improving power and versatility of digital signal processing plug-ins for computer audio workstations has encouraged the widespread belief that everything can be “fixed in the mix”—and in many cases, of course, it can. However, this approach is always extremely time-consuming and the results aren’t always perfect. It is often much faster, and with far more satisfying results, to get the right sound from the outset by careful selection of the source and appropriate microphone selection and positioning. This workshop will explore a wide variety of examples, analysing the requirements and discussing practical techniques of optimising source recordings.
Panelists: Dave Hampton, Mixerman, Steve Turnidge, Dot Bustelo
W10
Sunday, Oct. 28, 4pm-6pm
Music Business Panel: Show Me the Money! Finding Success in an Evolving Audio Industry includes a panel discussion about the new music business. The mission of this workshop is to provide insightful tactics and techniques for the modern audio professional—ways to make money in the current business reality. Topics include proven ways to increase profitability, nuts and bolts explanations of setting up your business to receive payments for licensing, sync fees, Internet and other new media delivery systems, and more. Panel consists of noted authors and music business experts, Dot Bustelo (author of The Power in Logic Pro), Dave Hampton (author of The Business of Audio Engineering), Mixerman (author of Zen and the Art of Producing and The Daily Adventures of Mixerman), and Steve Turnidge (author of Desktop Mastering). Bill Gibson (author of The Hal Leonard Recording Method and Q on Producing) will moderate.
To get good drum sounds, it’s necessary to be familiar with drum tuning and dampening techniques. A bad-sounding drum is nearly impossible to get a good recorded sound from. A good-sounding drum can make your recording experience much more enjoyable.
If the drum heads are dented and stretched out, cancel the rest of your appointments for the day. You’ll be spending a substantial amount of time getting an acceptable drum sound.
If the drums aren’t high-quality instruments, there’s a good chance that the shells aren’t smooth and level, and there’s a possibility that the drums aren’t even perfectly round. If this is the case, the heads won’t seat evenly on the drum shell and there’ll be a loss of tone, detracting from the drum sound.
Tuning
Often, the primary difference between a good-sounding drum and a bad-sounding drum lies simply in tuning. The standard approach to tuning involves:
• Tuning the top head to the tone you want
• Making sure the pitch is the same all the way around the head by tapping at each lug and adjusting the lugs until they all match
• Duplicating the sound of the top head with the bottom head
Hal Leonard Recording Method – Book 2: Instrument & Vocal Recording – 2nd Edition by Bill Gibson
This edition addresses new equipment and software concerns that affect the way excellent recordings are made. Updated text, illustrations, photos, and video examples add to the power of the previous edition, plus new techniques and considerations are presented as they pertain to additional recording scenarios. You’ll learn what you need to know about capturing the best vocal and instrument tracks possible, no matter what kind of studio you are working in or what kind of equipment is used.
Bill Gibson has spent the last thirty-plus years writing, performing, recording, producing, and teaching music. He has written more than thirty books and produced several videos covering important audio concepts. His style is acclaimed for straightforward and understandable explanations of audio concepts and applications. Gibson, an instructor at the Art Institute of Seattle, is also known for his work helping Quincy Jones author the book Q on Producing. He has developed curriculum and currently teaches online sound courses for Berklee College of Music in Boston. The courses have been very helpful to an amazingly diverse international student body. Gibson lives in Seattle, Washington, and serves as a trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and also on the National Advisory Board for the Recording Academy’s Producers and Engineers Wing. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
The six-volume Hal Leonard Recording Method, the world’s first and best-selling recording method that takes the aspiring professional from the beginning of the signal path to the final master mix, has been revised and updated with the release of the second editions. The series provides easy-to-understand explanations of the entire recording process, addressing both standard equipment and the latest software and technology; hundreds of photographs and illustrations; and much more.
These new editions feature free downloads of dozens of audio and video examples that amplify the material taught in the books. “This will fast become the norm with all of our products that traditionally come with CD or DVD content, making access to them easy and downloadable directly to your preferred media player,” says Bill Gibson, author and Music Pro Guide series editor for Hal Leonard.
The entire Hal Leonard Recording Method will be available at the Hal Leonard booth (#364) at the Audio Engineering Society Convention to be held Oct. 21-23 at the Javits Center in New York. The updated Book 2 will also be available. Visitors to the Hal Leonard booth will be able to enter a drawing for a chance to win the complete six-book set. The drawing will take place Sunday, Oct. 23, at 1 p.m.
In the update to Book 1, Microphone & Mixers, 2nd Edition ($39.99), Gibson helps readers take their first steps in a truly organized path through the entire recording process. Topics include:
How professional microphones work, which to choose and why
Understanding the signal path from microphones to mixers and how to operate these critical tools to capture critical recordings
Explanations of the most up-to-date tools and techniques involved in using dynamics and effects processors.
Book 2, Instrument & Vocal Recording, 2nd Edition ($39.99), addresses new equipment and software concerns that affect the way excellent recordings are made. Updated text, illustrations, photos, and video examples add to the power of the earlier edition, and new techniques and considerations are presented as they pertain to additional recording scenarios.
Readers will learn what they will need to know about capturing the best vocal and instrumental tracks possible, no matter the studio or equipment in it.
The other books in the Hal Leonard Recording Method also are being updated and revised and will be released in this order over the next six months: Book 3 Recording Software & Plug-Ins, Book 6 Mixing and Mastering, Book 4 Sequencing Samples & Loops, and Book 5 Engineering and Producing.
Available for purchase here from Hal Leonard Books.
With invaluable advice on subjects such as songwriting, scoring, and the modern music business – to be expanded on in subsequent volumes – Q on Producing provides the foundation for what is sure to be the most anticipated series of tutorials on music production ever created.
