Product Description

Get ready for an in-depth exploration into the aesthetics of what makes a great mix! David Gibson's unique approach to mixing gives you a visual representation of the dynamics of the sounds involved in creating a musical mix. Through this three-dimensional, colorful explanation, you are introduced to a framework that will help you understand everything that an engineer does-- enabling you to not only recognize what you like, but how to achieve it in your studio. Expand your recording techniques by learning what your recording equipment does and how it all works together in a simple, visual manner. From bluegrass to big band, new age to heavy metal, classical to hip-hop, jazz to rap, and alternative rock to techno, Gibson has mapped out everything that can be done to create various effects in all standard mixes. Once you have a perspective on what can be done, you have the power to be truly creative on your own: to make art out of technology.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207201 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 344 pages

About the Author
David Gibson has engineered and produced albums in a wide range of styles of music – acoustic rock, jazz, rock, new age, heavy metal, rap, hip-hop, and electronica. He has been teaching, engineering, and producing groups in major 24-track studios since 1982 and is the founder of Globe Institute of Recording and Production in San Francisco. Gibson has also done recording for James Brown’s band, Bobby Whitlock (Derek and the Dominos), the Atlanta Rhythm Section, and Hank William’s Jr.’s band, as well as having worked with members of the Doobie Brothers, Lacy J. Dalton’s band, Herbie Hancock’s band, and It’s a Beautiful Day. Gibson is also the inventor of the patented “Virtual Mixer” mixing plug-in which uses 3D visuals to control a mix.

Customer Reviews

Left me with more than somewhat to be desired
I will agree with most of the reviews that this book's images helped in conveying stereo field information, however, I have two problems with this book:

1) The images are exremely redundant and take up half of the already slim 124 pages (where does the publisher get 144 from?)

2) The book's content does not justify the price.

Contrary to someone elses comment, I found the book to be exremely lacking in the area of compression. On the other hand, it did have some useful info on equalization settings.

Not Worth The Money
...What I will say is that the advice given in this book is, in no way, worth the price if the book. The information is far too basic and is presented over and over again until the reader is completely turned-off by the whole concept. In short, we are asked to visually represent a mix in terms of volume, panning, and frequency. This is done with a basic X-Y-Z axis and a series of colored spheres representing the different instruments. That covers about 5 pages. Throughout the rest of the book , we are hit with what seems like hundreeds of these same graphs, each representing examples of different mixes. The problem is, they do not teach us anything other than "every mix is different". To me, that's just not enough.

In short, the basic theory is good, but it is more geared toward a magazine article than to an entire book. By making the concept into a book, we are presented with a lot of over-priced fluff which, in reality, detracts from the fact that the basic theory makes sense...

A must for entry/mid-level recording audiophiles.
When I recieved the book I began to glance through the pages. Four hours later, I finally put it down, complete with highlighting items I thought were important. That night, I mixed and mastered my latest composition and compared it to a previous mix I "thought" was good. Day and night.

This book has no pork...only the necessary items to raise your mixing abilities to a semi-pro level. And it does so in a wonderful graphical form unlike the countless "engineering" books I've poured through (and I've got an engineering degree). Make no mistake, you need to know the numbers, but the perspective Gibson provides is worth every penny!