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Do you have any suggestions for books / courses / YouTube videos / other content around sound engineering? I've been interested in learning how to play this li

Do you have any suggestions for books / courses / YouTube videos / other content around sound engineering? I've been interested in learning how to play this little sythnthesizer I have but I also edit video and have no idea what I'm doing with the mixing the audio (including music sometimes).

ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago
In sound, nothing beats personal experience, experimentation and hours of deliberate listening. Spend a couple of hours with a basic compressor built-in your DAW and try to get the feel and understanding of how each parameter affects different sounds (from sine wave and noise to voice to drums, etc.). If you feel it's not fruitful, read, watch videos, listen, work on your stuff and come back to it after a while. Regarding books, there's lots to choose from. For some quick applied wisdom, Bobby Owsinski's Mixing, Recording and Mastering Handbooks (separate) are recommended. Zen & The Art Of Mixing by Mixerman is very good, as well as his classic The Daily Adventures. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method is very good if you're into recording. For Youtube videos, some random things I can vouch for: I'd suggest watching Monty's Digital Show and Tell [1] as a primer for digital audio as a form. Steve Albini has been putting out some very solid and entertaining videos on recording lately [2]. There's also of course a few hyped (but deservedly so) channels such as @DanWorrall, @Producelikeapro or @ProductionAdvice. Nothing I can suggest for courses as I haven't been interested in them for a while. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM [2] https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricalAudioOfficial/videos https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricalAudioOfficial/videos
- f0e4c2f7 4y ago
  Thank you very much for these suggestions! Looking forward to checking out some of the books and videos but the suggestion of time with the DAW makes perfect sense and is something I should be doing more of. Excited to follow up on some of the resources from this and the other comment.
baristavibes 4y ago
I have two suggestions but they might not be strictly what you're looking for, just musician learning material. I have found the book "The Secrets of Dance Music production" [0] published by Attack Magazine very nice to read with many anecdotes on how to produce. It is focused on dance music as the name suggests. Additionally, Adam Neely's YouTube channel [1] has many infotainment videos about music, music theory, composing, etc. pick any videl where the title seems interesting, they're all well-produced and comprehensive for the general public. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/0956446035 https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/095... [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ
- f0e4c2f7 4y ago
  These both seem great thank you so much!
password4321 4y ago
It would be really cool if there was something that provided before and after samples then walked through the changes that were made to improve things. Even just cleaning up a podcast.
- ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago
  That is a great idea! What form do you envision it's in? Video/Article or some kind of an interactive thing? What topics do you think are the most important to present this way? BTW, here's an article specifically about recording and processing Voice: https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/ https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/ There's some examples in the part on denoising. Tell me if it's something you had in mind, and if not, in what ways it's not good enough.
  - password4321 4y ago
    My personal preference would be an article or both article + video; reading can be faster. Doing something interactive might mean audio processing in the browser, that's a big ask. I don't have enough experience to know what the most important topics / common issues would be, sorry. The NPR link below covers a lot of ground relevant to their reporters; podcasters might have a subset of those issues. You entered this discussion due to its focus on music production which has its own priorities. The denoising example you provided is a step toward I was looking for. I think showing the waveform at each step would be an improvement, like at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-recipe-for-great-audio https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-r... and https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-for-audio-producers/#mixing https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-f... I think the example shows one step in the process but it could be fleshed out starting with the raw recording and documenting each step in turn (adjustments done including specific software settings along with audio clip + waveform at that current step) plus the rationale and potential gotchas to watch out for. PS. My notes recommend Noise Removal > Compressor > Normalize in that order but I can't remember where that recommendation came from. I will have to try putting Noise Removal last.
kimburgess 4y ago
Since this is HN, for a dive into the engineering side of sound engineering http://soundsystemengineering.com http://soundsystemengineering.com is an absolute tome of knowledge. Sadly, the author also passed away this week :( For mixing https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ covers a good set of interesting techniques. It edges into a few pseudoscience-y domains that are best left ignored, but the majority of the content is solid.

ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago

In sound, nothing beats personal experience, experimentation and hours of deliberate listening. Spend a couple of hours with a basic compressor built-in your DAW and try to get the feel and understanding of how each parameter affects different sounds (from sine wave and noise to voice to drums, etc.). If you feel it's not fruitful, read, watch videos, listen, work on your stuff and come back to it after a while. Regarding books, there's lots to choose from. For some quick applied wisdom, Bobby Owsinski's Mixing, Recording and Mastering Handbooks (separate) are recommended. Zen & The Art Of Mixing by Mixerman is very good, as well as his classic The Daily Adventures. The Bruce Swedien Recording Method is very good if you're into recording. For Youtube videos, some random things I can vouch for: I'd suggest watching Monty's Digital Show and Tell [1] as a primer for digital audio as a form. Steve Albini has been putting out some very solid and entertaining videos on recording lately [2]. There's also of course a few hyped (but deservedly so) channels such as @DanWorrall, @Producelikeapro or @ProductionAdvice. Nothing I can suggest for courses as I haven't been interested in them for a while. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIQ9IXSUzuM [2] https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricalAudioOfficial/videos https://www.youtube.com/@ElectricalAudioOfficial/videos

f0e4c2f7 4y ago
Thank you very much for these suggestions! Looking forward to checking out some of the books and videos but the suggestion of time with the DAW makes perfect sense and is something I should be doing more of. Excited to follow up on some of the resources from this and the other comment.

baristavibes 4y ago

I have two suggestions but they might not be strictly what you're looking for, just musician learning material. I have found the book "The Secrets of Dance Music production" [0] published by Attack Magazine very nice to read with many anecdotes on how to produce. It is focused on dance music as the name suggests. Additionally, Adam Neely's YouTube channel [1] has many infotainment videos about music, music theory, composing, etc. pick any videl where the title seems interesting, they're all well-produced and comprehensive for the general public. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/0956446035 https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/095... [1] https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnkp4xDOwqqJD7sSM3xdUiQ

f0e4c2f7 4y ago
These both seem great thank you so much!

password4321 4y ago

It would be really cool if there was something that provided before and after samples then walked through the changes that were made to improve things. Even just cleaning up a podcast.

ZoomZoomZoom 4y ago
That is a great idea! What form do you envision it's in? Video/Article or some kind of an interactive thing? What topics do you think are the most important to present this way? BTW, here's an article specifically about recording and processing Voice: https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/ https://indiscipline.github.io/post/voice-sound-reference/ There's some examples in the part on denoising. Tell me if it's something you had in mind, and if not, in what ways it's not good enough.
- password4321 4y ago
  My personal preference would be an article or both article + video; reading can be faster. Doing something interactive might mean audio processing in the browser, that's a big ask. I don't have enough experience to know what the most important topics / common issues would be, sorry. The NPR link below covers a lot of ground relevant to their reporters; podcasters might have a subset of those issues. You entered this discussion due to its focus on music production which has its own priorities. The denoising example you provided is a step toward I was looking for. I think showing the waveform at each step would be an improvement, like at https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-recipe-for-great-audio https://theaudacitytopodcast.com/tap005-my-secret-audacity-r... and https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-for-audio-producers/#mixing https://training.npr.org/2017/01/31/the-ear-training-guide-f... I think the example shows one step in the process but it could be fleshed out starting with the raw recording and documenting each step in turn (adjustments done including specific software settings along with audio clip + waveform at that current step) plus the rationale and potential gotchas to watch out for. PS. My notes recommend Noise Removal > Compressor > Normalize in that order but I can't remember where that recommendation came from. I will have to try putting Noise Removal last.

kimburgess 4y ago

Since this is HN, for a dive into the engineering side of sound engineering http://soundsystemengineering.com http://soundsystemengineering.com is an absolute tome of knowledge. Sadly, the author also passed away this week :( For mixing https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ https://mixingwithyourmind.com/ covers a good set of interesting techniques. It edges into a few pseudoscience-y domains that are best left ignored, but the majority of the content is solid.