Which couple of music related books have inspired you most?

[musikmachine]

+1 for mixing secrets, helped get my monitoring set up properly and look more closely at things like room, acoustics and it actually inspire to me to go and listen to the monitors that keep cropping up on internet forums which was an eye opening experience. I completely changed my setup as a result, even moved rooms!

A good e-book i picked up recently which has had an impact is mindfulness plain and simple: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mindfulness-Pla ... in_title_0

A good intro the practise of being in the moment which has given me a different way to approach and experience music and a better understanding of the creative flow and a different way to experience life which is good for the inner muse.

[Doug1978]

Thanks for all the excellent and helpful replies fellas.
It's always great to receive suggestions about musical areas that I'd never have thought about or searched for.

@ Sean - no worries mate, any further info from you or anyone else regarding why they found certain books inspiring will be very welcome.

Cheers.

[SODDI]

"A Year (With Swollen Appendices)"



Brian Eno's journals from 1994 and 1995. Sometimes utterly prosaic - he goes into more detail about exactly what he is fixing his daughters for lunch than exactly how he does what he does musically - but it's also often brilliant, with his views on music and art and technology and collaboration expressed with calm, cool, clear intelligence.

The "swollen appendices" are short essays and letters to collaborators like Dave Stewart, David Bowie, U2 and Stewart Brand.

Suggested listening - "Passengers: Original Soundtracks 1" which was recorded in this time period.

Unfortunately, this is out of print with no digital edition available and Amazon lists new copies from 3rd party vendors at $200.00+. I paid $16.95 for it new.

[audiojunkie]

Being mostly a "Patch Kiddie" for the last decade, I've been interested in synth programming lately and recently picked this up:

http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Synthesize ... B000ERHA4S

I've only begun reading it, but it appears to cover synth basics, audio analysis (supposedly making it possible to reverse engineer synth sounds, and better understand what is going on with the sound), and a large list of recipes for recreating various instruments using standard dual oscillator synths.

It seems interesting...

--Sean

[Mario-C.]

The Art of Record Production (older edition) is a great read.

Here's the new one : http://www.amazon.com/Music-Production- ... y_b_text_y

[Tricky-Loops]

Being mostly a "Patch Kiddie" for the last decade, I've been interested in synth programming lately and recently picked this up:

http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Synthesize ... B000ERHA4S

I've only begun reading it, but it appears to cover synth basics, audio analysis (supposedly making it possible to reverse engineer synth sounds, and better understand what is going on with the sound), and a large list of recipes for recreating various instruments using standard dual oscillator synths.

It seems interesting...

--Sean

Nice alternative, is it better than the "How to make ..." books of Simon Cann?

[Doug1978]

Thanks SODDI, Audio Junkie, Mario and Tricky-Loops for those excellent suggestions.

It's been a very helpful list this to give me some new topics of interest.
Many thanks everyone for your great recommendations.

Doug

[audiojunkie]

Being mostly a "Patch Kiddie" for the last decade, I've been interested in synth programming lately and recently picked this up:

http://www.amazon.com/Welshs-Synthesize ... B000ERHA4S

I've only begun reading it, but it appears to cover synth basics, audio analysis (supposedly making it possible to reverse engineer synth sounds, and better understand what is going on with the sound), and a large list of recipes for recreating various instruments using standard dual oscillator synths.

It seems interesting...

--Sean

Nice alternative, is it better than the "How to make ..." books of Simon Cann?

I haven't read them yet either. They are on my list to read though. I have the free PDF version of Cann's book on my iPad and plan to read it soon. The process I took in deciding what to read first involved reading Amazon book reviews and reviews here and on other sites. Both authors appear to be highly respected in the field of audio synthesis.

--Sean

[robogone]

Can't say I've ever read anything instructional or pertaining to specific technique. Maybe I should, but not sure what I would find most useful.

[audiojunkie]

Can't say I've ever read anything instructional or pertaining to specific technique. Maybe I should, but not sure what I would find most useful.

I've been the same way. Any time I read something new, it is a total gamble for me (whether it will be useful or not). That's why I tried to read the reviews to get an idea about what people thought was the best book on the subject.

It's too bad we can't somehow group, index, and organize a lot of the valuable information that has been posted over the last decade here on KVR (too big of a job). I have learned more here than from books.

--Sean

[CC4]

great thread. i'm always looking for new reading material. that "Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music" book looks like an interesting read. would love a thread on overrated, useless, or "way over-my-head" books.

Sound Synthesis & Sampling - Martin Russ is an absolutely excellent book on sound synthesis. it was my bible for many years for use with programs like SynthEdit & Reaktor. at the time i devoured the second edition of the book and now there is a third edition. a much more complicated but good compliment to to this book for granular synthesis is Microsound - Curtis Roads. i would admit there are probably still some concepts left for me to grab in Microsound, but it did inspire me to create certain Reaktor ensembles like Spider or Sonic Dust. i have constantly referred to these books many times for ideas which has made them well worth the purchase price, so i'd highly recommend them to anyone who has an interest with modular synthesizer software & hardware.

Temperament - Stuart Isacoff is an interesting read about the history behind the modern turning system of equal temperament. might sound like a dull subject at first, but i honestly found it a truly enjoyable book. it might make one interested in musical tuning software like Scala.

two other books i've enjoyed are Music, The Brain, And Ecstasy - Robert Jourdain and This Is Your Brain on Music - Daniel J. Levitin. both take a look at why someone likes particular music. Musicophilia is also a rather interesting book.

[Numanoid]

I've found this an OK beginner guide:


http://www.amazon.com/Keyfax-Omnibus-Ed ... 0918371082

This I plan to sink my teeth into when I get the time:


http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Synthesi ... 0711900566

[Tricky-Loops]

It's too bad we can't somehow group, index, and organize a lot of the valuable information that has been posted over the last decade here on KVR (too big of a job). I have learned more here than from books.

This would be a great idea! Instead of posting always the same things every few weeks, everyone could look at it and find what he/she is searching for.

For example, kind of a KVR-WIKI. There are so many infos in the forum, but they're too scattered and it's easier to start a new thread than ransacking all posts in search of a specific answer. Because reading through 20 pages of rants and flames isn't much fun when you're searching something specifically, for example about sound design or effects...

If there would be some volunteers who are gathering all the information to make a KVR-WIKI, this would be a great idea!

[PatchAdamz]

Bob Katz

Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science

[Gamma-UT]

or example, kind of a KVR-WIKI. There are so many infos in the forum, but they're too scattered and it's easier to start a new thread than ransacking all posts in search of a specific answer. Because reading through 20 pages of rants and flames isn't much fun when you're searching something specifically, for example about sound design or effects...

If there would be some volunteers who are gathering all the information to make a KVR-WIKI, this would be a great idea!

There used to be one. But it got locked and looks as though it got deleted in the last upgrade.