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Ask HN: Any book recommendations to learn sound engineering/editing?
I'm interested in learning sound engineering. To be more specific I want to learn how sound editing softwares like audacity works and theoretical things like what is compression, equalization etc.
Any recommendations for books that teaches both theoretical and practical aspects of sound editing?
- jdietrich 14y agoThe definitive reference book is "Modern Recording Techniques" by Huber and Runstein, which covers all areas of recording, editing and mixing in a rigorous manner. Plausible alternatives would include Paul White's "The Producer's Manual", or if you have no interest in recording techniques, Mike Senior's "Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio". You should also take a look at the archives of Sound on Sound magazine, which are freely available via their website. SoS is a superb resource and they have serialised some really substantial tutorial pieces, most notably "Synth Secrets" by Gordon Reid, which is by far the best introduction to synthesis. You'll want to abandon Audacity ASAP, because it's basically awful. The Digital Audio Workstation software du jour is Cockos Reaper, which costs just $60 and has a completely unrestricted trial version available. Comparable alternatives to Reaper are available, some of which are better suited to specific use-cases, but they're all vastly more expensive. I highly recommend reading the user guide of whichever software you choose, as all modern DAW software is extremely complex.
- anujkk 14y agoThanks. What are your views about Ardour DAW?
- cnvogel 14y agoI second the recommendation for Reaper. For the technically inclined user it's extremely powerful, but it (and the included powerful, but even more abstract plugins) often lacks useful defaults. I use and like it a lot. It should be said that a Reaper-License costs $250 if you use it for commercial work (which is still nothing compared to the established DAW vendors).
- OgaBinary 14y agoI was thinking about developing something a bit similar,but was more focused on chip-tunes (8-bit)music and beats creation.A sort of Amateurish fruity-loops clone.Any pointers on sample code and tutorials would be much appreciated.