Books on Studio Recording?

Hey guys,
So the past weekend I was in a professional studio recording a song, it's part of a module I'm doing in my course at uni. Now, the engineer was a great guy and seemed to know what he was doing, but I've come out with a track that doesn't really sound a lot how I wanted it to, which is largely down to what the guy did and not doing what I wanted him to.
However, the experience has inspired me greatly to learn as much as I can about being a recording/mixing/mastering engineer at studio level, and it's something I can see myself getting into in a big way. Do any of you have any suggestions of books that go from recording for the very beginners up to fairly advanced engineering?

Thanks bananas.

Afro

I think its hard to get all around book for it. For each area of mixing, mastering, sound engineering even using effects and equalizators are the areas that have so much information and stuff that those all needs own books.

This is what I have, there are basic stuff and more advanced stuff also. Very good if starting to learn engineering.

http://www.amazon.com/Studio-Recording-Procedures-Michael-Shea/dp/0071422722/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241449992&sr=8-1

Cheers.
Empirism

My A level music tech book is very useful for things from recording to EQing etc

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Students-Guide-Music-Technology-Specification/dp/1904226752/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1241450629&sr=8-3

Here's one my dad (professional studio musician) owns:
Book 1

You may also be interested in the business aspect of it:
Book 2

Cheers guys keep 'em comin!

Afro

I've picked up couple of books along the way. I was not really that impressed with them. One i bought when I first got a cassette 4-track and it helped out a lot. It spent most of time on techniques for recording different instruments. I don’t have the title in front of me I’ll look it up when I get home. It does not talk at all about digital recording at all.

Check out some other sites and forums. There are some just devoted to recording and the process, and techniques. Also read up on some of the producers and engineers you like. I remember reading about butch vig and he told the interviewer how they recorded nirvana’s nevermind. It was interesting and the technique is something I use regularly.

I would stay away from books as the data in them become dated pretty quick.

http://homerecording.com/

http://www.tweakheadz.com/

one of the books i have is called "making the ultimate demo" i think it was written in the mid 90's or late 80's.

Tele that tweakheadz site seems like a really good place to look - thanks!

Anyone with any other ideas?

Afro

Have you check out harmony central at all? In ther forums over there there some good conversation about recording.

They also had this monthly contest where they would put out a theme for example 80's songs and different people would record a cover stong from that era.

The more you do it the more you experiment the better you get.

Off in a diffrent direction...

So i was browsing through craigs list and saw an ad for "Audio engineering classes, and music business classes". This might be something you would be interested in also. I followed up and this what the guy told me. I wish i had $2500 bucks.

The cost for all classes from beginning to end is $2,500. You can pay up front, half and half, or per class. One common way our students like is pay 299 to cover the first 2 classes, then 100 each for the third and fourth class of each set. It's one class a week, for an hour. Doesn't sound like much, but trust me, it is a ton. It's one on one instruction, and sometimes you'll even have 2 instructors just teaching you. So an hour is more than enough, anymore and people tend to have to use too much of the next class reviewing from the previous class. You'll go through multiple sets of four classes, intro, intermediate, and advanced pro tools. Then after that you go into labs, guitar amp lab, bass lab, drum lab, compression and eq lab, etc. We can do labs on anything you want to learn. Then once we feel you're almost ready, we'll put you into a session simulation, where I remain with you the entire time, making sure you do well. If anything happens I'll be there to fix it and keep you going recording whoever is in there. Then a few more labs to fine tune your skills and right back into the fire. You'll be in your final session simulation, once again I'm there the whole time, but a fly on the wall. Just sitting back watching you work. You'll be basically on your own at that point, but you'll be ready for it. Then after that session you'll mix the project and be done. You can take extra labs at any point if you feel you have a weakness you'd like to work on. It's continued education with us really. Even when you're done, you can always come back and learn more though labs.

I hope that answered any questions you had. Feel free to e-mail me or call me with any further questions.

Well that sounds almost perfect for what I'd like to do, of course it might be quite a long way for me to come in week, what with me living in England and all! But I know there's similar kinda set-ups over here, so it might be something I could look into when I have some more argent.

Thanks,
Afro

Great topic to start Afro, I'm also interested in the same thing! Also, the guy who recorded and mastered your song is probably used to doing thing his way, i've had my fair share of these guys and it never turns out the way you want it to unless you're hovering above their shoulder every minute.

I also think the best way to learn, is by asking the pros themselves, why not go into your uni and ask your tech teacher about certain things, or go down to a studio and ask them if they have some time to explain some things for you. It's worked for me a few times, depends on the timing I guess.

Yeah I've already planned to do that Jazz, but the thing is that I know literally NOTHING about studio work, so to shadow someone at this stage would be massively annoying for them as I would be asking how and why they were doing every tiny step in the process. Tele's websites are massively helpful, so I'm slowly making my way through those ATM.

Afro

BHS is more into the tech side of music, he also might be able to help out.

How about friends from the music area of your college? Any of them take the tech course and willing to take the time to explain some things every now and then?

I've only got a few friends who ever really have the time to explain it all to me, and I'm still limited with what I know. Are you interested in the math side, too? (I personally suck at it)

@JM, I don't know anything about working in a studio. I was going to do Music Tech AS in Year 13 but I decided to focus on Physics, Maths and Chemistry. As for the maths side, I'm intrigued...