

Ask HN: Any book recommendations to learn sound engineering/editing? - anujkk

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.<p>Any recommendations for books that teaches both theoretical and practical aspects of sound editing?
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jdietrich
The 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.

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cnvogel
I 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).

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OgaBinary
I 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.

