Product Description

Now you can record your music like a pro right from your own home! "Home Recording Power! 2nd Edition" give you all of the tips and techniques that you need to set up your home recording studio and see your musical project through to completion. You'll learn how to do everything from initially setting up your studio before you begin to promoting and marketing your finished product. "Home Recording Power 2nd Edition" is the start-to-finish guide you need to take your musical inspiration from concept to completion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1329683 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
Much more than a guide to recording MP3s on CD-ROM, this guide addresses how to build a home studio with audio software and get the best sound out of one's voice, guitar, drums, keyboard, etc. A home recording artist and software architect, Milstead excels at explaining recording, mixing, and promoting music online. His potential audience is very wide both amateur and professional musicians as well as adventurous computer users will find that he hits all the right notes. Although much of this information is available on the web for free, Milstead does a great job of wrapping it all together. Recommended.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap
Plan your studio according to your own individual requirements

Make the acoustics in your space work for you, not against you

Master recording techniques for synth, guitar, vocals, and other instruments

Use MIDI, digital audio, and loops together

Record and edit tracks using digital audio software and sequencing

Learn real-world mixing secrets for polished productions

Burn your creations to CD

Promote and distribute your music

About the Author
Ben Milstead has been tinkering with the home recording puzzle for two decades. He has set up numerous home recording studios and recorded his own music for years. His most recent project is the Daisies, a pop-folk-rock band on the independent Regress label, which was recorded using three different home studios. By day, he architects studio software applications as well as Web sites for SoundMAX. Milstead has also served as an editor for "Cakewalk Power!" and "Sound Forge Power!"

Customer Reviews

MAXIMIZE your puny home studio budget!
I love this book! I am a lifelong professional musician with some audio and recording experience; I want to get started with recording, but funds are limited, and the idea of trying to sift through all the trade mags and internet articles to get "up to speed" on the latest recording equipment is daunting, to say the least.

Ben Milstead is well aware of professional recording techniques and gear, but he has THANKFULLY chosen to keep this book concise and easy to understand for people that are not necessarily educated, on even the basics of recording.

In several cases, he presents us with two viable ways to solve a problem: 1. The pro (expensive) way, and 2. The home-studio (cheap) way. The idea here is that home studio people can really have a shot at making something decent without spending a zillion dollars. I love that.

Although this book is well informed with the wisdom of the last few decades of recording, it is up-to-date in it's presentation about digital technology. This is important, because the nature of the recording world is really shifting from analog to digital. Digital has gained so much in quality and value over the last five years that even the most die-hard analog guys have reason to reconsider.

Ben touches on everything from planning and building a studio to recording to mastering to marketing and sales (and even a little on artistry and creative identity!). The book is broad in scope, yet simple to digest for just about anybody.

Not only that, it's just fun to read. At the times when he could get really long-winded and boring with detail, he makes the choice to be concise and entertaining.

If you want to get "up to speed" on the latest gear, and you want some practical, cost-effective ways to "get the music out of your head", get this book. You will not be disappointed.

Ask an Engineer What Time it is.....
...and he'll tell you how to build a watch. I was extremely disappointed in this book, not for its lack of content, but for its lack of focus. I bought "Home Recording Power" hoping to learn tips and techniques to make the best audio recordings possible with my inexpensive home set-up. While there were many helpful tips and tricks, I spent most of my reading skimming over superfluous explanations on the physics of sound waves, how MIDI works, how Microsoft Front Page works (???)and a re-hashing of much of my "Sonar User's Guide."

Can I record my electric guitar direct with an effects processor without an amp? How do I hook up this mixing board to my soundcard's breakout box? These and myriad other questions I went into the book asking never got answered. Like so many other how-to manuals it runs the gamut between the insultingly simple to the unitelligibly advanced - for example, the author begins talking about boosting EQ values by specific db amounts but he never tells you what equipment he uses to do this or how it's done.

It wasn't all a waste, however, I did pick up a few tips that I hadn't known before and bought the recommended Rode NT1 microphone that was touted several times. Overall disappointing.

A must for the home recording wannabe!
I have been toying with recording music at home for a few years (as a hobby, of course), but the overall idea of a "home studio" has always been in the back of my mind. Unfortunately, I am not rich and have little space to dedicate to a studio. This book takes that into account. Most home recording books I have read all assume that you have tons of money to invest. That is not the case for most of us. This book takes a relatively complex subject and puts it into terms that even the beginner can understand. The advice in this book can have you up and recording semi-professional stuff in no time, and for less than [amt], not including software and a PC of course (Sorry Mac Users, this is pretty much PC geared).

My only real complaint is that Mr. Milstead leans a little too much towards Cakewalk's SONAR. That is great for someone like me who has Sonar XL, but those of you who can't afford the [amt] Sonar pricetag, you may have to work around that. Other than that, this is a very solid and ejoyable read. I highly recommend it. As a matter of fact, if you are even THINKING about getting into home recording, DO NOT BUY A SINGLE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT BEFORE YOU BUY THIS BOOK! It could potentially save you from buying unnecessary equipment and software. Think of this book as a [amt] coupon to savings!