Audio Made Easy: Or How to Be a Sound Engineer Without Really Trying

by Ira White

(Book). Now updated to cover digital mixing and signal processing, this established beginners guide to live sound has been the first book for many students and self-taught sound technicians. Ira White presents information in a very accessible, casual, down-to-earth way. This handy manual for musicians, studio engineers and audio pros contains valuable information on using EQ, speaker specifics, mics, and techniques for recording, live recording, club and concert sound, church sound, theatrical sound and much more, without page-filling formulas or mind-boggling abstractions. Includes lots of helpful diagrams, an index, and a CD so you can hear the techniques demonstrated in the book.

Genres: Music, Reference

104 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1997

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.0 of 5

Audio made easy? Yeah...that's something I need since I have an interest but zero background in it. But ... wait a minute ... where's the 'easy' part?

To be fair, author Ira White does a nice job of explaining the equipment an audio engineer would likely use, in the simplest of terms. But he does also presume that the reader already has a basic background in sound as some basic terms are not define, leaving me scrambling to understand them. They may be basic for the average sound engineer, but for the person interested in getting started in audio...? Not so much.

I did get some valuable information here but nearly enough to feel confident to even start to think about going in to some sort of sound engineering.

Also... while it might seem to be the obvious direction, this book really focuses on sound engineering for music recording. Recording for audio books is one of the largest growing industries and is in fact why I was interested in this, and it didn't really address this (other than the basic audio engineering terms).

The subtitle is clever ("Or How to be a Sound Engineer Without Really Trying") but is in fact misleading and definitely not true.

Looking or a good book? Audio Made Easy (5th Edition) by Ira White is a good primer for audio engineering work, but does expect the reader to come in with a general sound knowledge.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

[Rod · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended for people looking to go into recording or sound engineering as a serious hobby or even a career. Be forewarned though: The title is a little misleading. I'm not sure how "Easy" a lot of this stuff is! For such a short book, Mr. White goes into quite a few details and a LOT of very techie stuff that you need to keep up with. In fact, if I had any complaint about the book it's that it doesn't have a glossary of terms at the end. True, you can pick up most of the definitions in context, but that would have made things that much "Easier". Still, he knows his stuff, and a lot of the tips and tricks here I find very useful -- including lots of suggestions for specific brands and models. Good when your head spins from the number of choices you have out there. (On caveat: The edition I read is almost 20 years old now, so the section on recording media is WAY out of date. Everything else still seems to apply though).

[Dwight Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has an audio CD of the author walking person throgh chapters re dB, EQ and effects. I got a lot out of it as a musician who had been recorded in a recording studio or been in churches with large audio systems I had to plug into or be mic-ed up for. I also played in bush bands with microphones and later bought my own pickup for violin so was used to levels and acoustics but this took it to the next level re tinny effects and how to correct them like out of phase etc. The book when one first sees it seems a bit simplistic and has few diagrams but the CD makes it worth getting and learning that way rather than reading every single word on every page. There are cross references and simple index in the back to help find the relevant chapter. The author has a sense of humour judging from self-deprecation in his diagrams etc.

[Mark Yoshida · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book informative and easy to read, but maybe a little short on some details. I haven't had the chance to put the info to use yet, but it was a SOUND investment of time.