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Mstation Book Reviews
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Sun, 29 Jan 2006

Sound and Recording

Francis Rumsey, Tim McCormick,
Sound and Recording: an introduction 5th Edition (2006), 
Focal Press

This book is in our new Random Shop so we might be accused of conflict of interest here but the book is in the shop because we think it's worthy rather than being here because it's in the shop!

Anyway, this 569 page book (with index) is one of the more up to date offerings available today. It is used by a number of educational institutions and that will give a clue as to its flavour ... which is a reasonably straightforward presentation of the information. Sections covered are What is sound, Auditory perception, Microphones, Loudspeakers, Mixers, Analogue recording, Noise reduction, Digital audio principles, Digital Recording and Editing systems, Digital audio applications, Power amplifiers, Outboard equipment, MIDI, Timecode and synch, Two channel stereo, and Surround. Thes are supplemented by appendices to do with understanding equipment specs, turntables, and further reading. There is also a "Fact File Directory" which highlights things such as Ohm's law, the precedence effect, fader facts, and a whole lot more. There are diagrams and pictures on the way through.

What this book is essentially about is the basic underpinning: which is why it is styled "an introduction". You won't find any details of working in Pro Tools or Ableton Live or whatever, or any mention of Linux or Mac as a platform. That will need to be in your "further reading" list.

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