Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expertise?

Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by dvlsg on Monday October 01, 2018 @03:12AM (#18110580)

Does it touch on mixing / mastering at all? I have a suspicion that some of my friends will be looking to me to put together some demos in the near future, so I'd be very interested in some beginner/intermediate knowledge around that.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by sideshowb on Monday October 01, 2018 @07:36AM (#18111687)

I read an enormous amount on mixing/mastering and was still rubbish. It's hard to write about perception of sound.

I would recommend instead finding a well reputed mixing/mastering engineer who offers lessons and pay for some. Bring them your best mix (in the DAW on your laptop) ask them where it is wrong and how to improve it. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. In my case this cost around £100 (http://oood.net/mastering/about-stooodio-mastering) and helped enormously. My friends now think I'm great at "mastering" by which they mean mixing, I have nothing even approaching mastering engineer ears & I suspect Colin still wouldn't think much of my mixes either but that's why I'll happily pay him to master them if I ever have time for music again :)

I know there are online practical courses these days, in theory these could be better than a book as they would have audio/interactive examples. No idea if they actually are any good though.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by sideshowb on Monday October 01, 2018 @07:43AM (#18111722)

Basically forget learning to master though. For your friend's demo, learn to do a reasonable mix then slap a limiter on the main output and boost the loudness as much as you can without losing quality.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by kossae on Monday October 01, 2018 @04:01PM (#18116274)

Check out the Mixing Engineer's Handbook by Bobby Owsinski. This has been my de-facto go to for everything from acoustics, studio construction, mixing, mastering and more. Great read, and a wonderful reference to have at your desk.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by patricklouys on Monday October 01, 2018 @05:50AM (#18111228)

Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio by Mike Senior is what you are looking for.

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Re:Ask HN: What are the best textbooks in your field of expe... by PascLeRasc on Monday October 01, 2018 @11:03AM (#18113159)

Alex Tumay has several great video lectures on Youtube on mixing/mastering.

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