In 1915, Thomas Edison proclaimed that he could record a live performance and reproduce it perfectly, shocking audiences who found themselves unable to tell whether what they were hearing was an Edison Diamond Disc or a flesh-and-blood musician. Today, the equation is reversed. Whereas Edison proposed that a real performance could be rebuilt with absolute perfection, Pro Tools and digital samplers now allow musicians and engineers to create the illusion of performances that never were. In between lies a century of sonic exploration into the balance between the real and the represented. Tracing the contours of this history, Greg Milner takes us through the major breakthroughs and glorious failures in the art and science of recording. An American soldier monitoring Nazi radio transmissions stumbles onto the open yet revolutionary secret of magnetic tape. Japanese and Dutch researchers build a first-generation digital audio format and watch as their "compact disc" is marketed by the music industry as the second coming of Edison yet derided as heretical by analog loyalists. The music world becomes addicted to volume in the nineties and fights a self-defeating "loudness war" to get its fix. From Les Paul to Phil Spector to King Tubby, from vinyl to pirated CDs to iPods, Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever pulls apart musical history to answer a crucial question: Should a recording document reality as faithfully as possible, or should it improve upon or somehow transcend the music it records? The answers he uncovers will change the very way we think about music.

The Beautiful Music All Around Us presents the extraordinarily rich backstories of thirteen performances captured on Library of Congress field recordings between 1934 and 1942 in locations reaching from Southern Appalachia to the Mississippi Delta and the Great Plains. Including the children's play song "Shortenin' Bread," the fiddle tune "Bonaparte's Retreat," the blues "Another Man Done Gone," and the spiritual "Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down," these performances were recorded in kitchens and churches, on porches and in prisons, in hotel rooms and school auditoriums. Documented during the golden age of the Library of Congress recordings, they capture not only the words and tunes of traditional songs but also the sounds of life in which the performances were embedded: children laugh, neighbors comment, trucks pass by. Musician and researcher Stephen Wade sought out the performers on these recordings, their families, fellow musicians, and others who remembered them. He reconstructs the sights and sounds of the recording sessions themselves and how the music worked in all their lives. Some of these performers developed musical reputations beyond these field recordings, but for many, these tracks represent their only appearances on record: prisoners at the Arkansas State Penitentiary jumping on "the Library's recording machine" in a rendering of "Rock Island Line"; Ora Dell Graham being called away from the schoolyard to sing the jump-rope rhyme "Pullin' the Skiff"; Luther Strong shaking off a hungover night in jail and borrowing a fiddle to rip into "Glory in the Meetinghouse." Alongside loving and expert profiles of these performers and their locales and communities, Wade also untangles the histories of these iconic songs and tunes, tracing them through slave songs and spirituals, British and homegrown ballads, fiddle contests, gospel quartets, and labor laments. By exploring how these singers and instrumentalists exerted their own creativity on inherited forms, "amplifying tradition's gifts," Wade shows how a single artist can make a difference within a democracy. Reflecting decades of research and detective work, the profiles and abundant photos in The Beautiful Music All Around Us bring to life largely unheralded individuals--domestics, farm laborers, state prisoners, schoolchildren, cowboys, housewives and mothers, loggers and miners--whose music has become part of the wider American musical soundscape. The hardcover edition also includes an accompanying CD that presents these thirteen performances, songs and sounds of America in the 1930s and '40s.

For decades performers, instrumentalists, composers, technicians and sound engineers continue to manipulate sound material. They are trying with more or less success to create, to innovate, improve, enhance, restore or modify the musical message. The sound of distorted guitar of Jimi Hendrix, Pierre Henry’s concrete music, Pink Flyod’s rock psychedelic, Kraftwerk ‘s electronic music, Daft Punk and rap T-Pain, have let emerge many effects: reverb, compression, distortion, auto-tune, filter, chorus, phasing, etc. The aim of this book is to introduce and explain these effects and sound treatments by addressing their theoretical and practical aspects.

A visual portrait that delves into the people and processes behind self-recorded music, featuring some of the biggest names in music today. Everywhere you look, musicians are creating, recording, and selling their music without the help of big-name studios, producers, or labels. This book offers tangible--and visually stunning--proof that self-recording is a path to artistic freedom. Each chapter takes on a specific aspect of self-recording through original interviews with musicians and all new photography, revealing the joys and complications of recording music on one's own terms. You'll learn how some of your favorite musicians charted their path to self-recording and how they use emerging technologies to make exceptional music. The book features intimate shots of artists recording in living rooms, backyards, and garages--such as Eleanor Friedberger, Mac DeMarco, Vagabon, Tune-Yards, Yuka Honda, and more. The first book devoted entirely to the practice of self-recording, Mirror Sound charts a way forward for any musician who aspires to make their own music and those who just love to listen.

This reader collects primary documents on the phonograph, cinema, and radio before WWII to show how Americans slowly came to grips with the idea of recorded and mediated sound. Through readings from advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles, popular fiction, correspondence, and sheet music, one gains an understanding of how early-20th-century Americans changed from music makers into consumers.

Since its publication in 1990, the first edition of Music, Sound, and Technology has enjoyed wide success and has become a popular text in musical acoustical studies at the university level. In preparing the new edition we have included recent developments in all aspects of music and sound technology, and we have added data on acoustical characteristics of musical in struments. The first edition has been cited for the scope and clarity of its graphics; we have emphasized this to an even greater degree in the second edition. /ME xi Preface to the First Edition This book is about music. the instruments and players who produce it. and the technologies that support it. Although much modern music is produced by electronic means. its underlying basis is still traditional acoustical sound production. and that broad topic provides the basis for this book. There are many fine books available that treat musical acoustics largely from the physical point of view. The approach taken here is to present only the fundamentals of musical phys ics. while giving special emphasis to the relation between instrument and player and stressing the characteristics of instruments that are of special concern to engineers and tech nicians involved in the fields of recording. sound reinforcement. and broadcasting. In order to understand musical instruments in their normal performance environments.

Leona Lewis, Lily Allen, and Colbie Caillat all became famous after their self-produced music was posted on the Internet. And now anyone who’s ever practiced in front of the mirror for hours wants to try it too. This guide shows aspiring musicians how to turn their computers into a music studio. Professional musician Marc Schonbrun leads you step-by-step through the basics of home recording, including: Tips on how to make—and stick to—a recording budget The best digital recording software Microphones, mixers, and electronic hardware Recording for individual instruments and virtual instruments Mixing, mastering, and advanced recording techniques For a fraction of the cost of recording, you can become their own engineers. You’ll learn to create tracks complete with digital effects, virtual instruments, and sound quality that rival professional studios. In no time, you’ll be ready for your time in the spotlight!

This book provides a true A to Z of recorded sound, from its inception to the present day, outlining how technologies, techniques, and social attitudes have changed things, noting what is good and what is less good. The author starts by discussing the physics of sound generation and propagation. He then moves on to outline the history of recorded sound and early techniques and technologies, such as the rise of multi-channel tape recorders and their impact on recorded sound. He goes on to debate live sound versus recorded sound and why there is a difference, particularly with classical music. Other topics covered are the sound of real instruments and how that sound is produced and how to record it; microphone techniques and true stereo sound; digital workstations, sampling, and digital media; and music reproduction in the home and how it has changed. The author wraps up the book by discussing where we should be headed for both popular and classical music recording and reproduction, the role of the Audio Engineer in the 21st century, and a brief look at technology today and where it is headed. This book is ideal for anyone interested in recorded sound. “[Julian Ashbourn] strives for perfection and reaches it through his recordings... His deep knowledge of both technology and music is extensive and it is with great pleasure that I see he is passing this on for the benefit of others. I have no doubt that this book will be highly valued by many in the music industry, as it will be by me.” -- Claudio Di Meo, Composer, Pianist and Principal Conductor of The Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra, The Hemel Symphony Orchestra and The Lumina Choir

Providing vital reading for audio students and trainee engineers, Sound and Recording is the essential guide for anyone who wants a solid grounding in both theory and industry practices in audio, sound, and recording. This updated and comprehensively restructured edition includes new content on DAW configuration, effects processing, 3D/immersive audio systems, object-based audio, and VR audio technology. This bestselling book introduces you to the principles of sound, perception, audio technology, and systems. Sound and Recording is the ideal audio engineering text for students, an accessible reference for professionals, and a comprehensive introduction for hobbyists.

Comprehensive and accessible, this foundational text surveys general principles of sound, musical scales, characteristics of instruments, mechanical and electronic recording devices, and many other topics. More than 300 illustrations plus questions, problems, and projects.