The Recording Engineer's Handbook

by Bobby Owsinski

Bobby Owsinski's The Recording Engineer's Handbook has become a music industry standard, and this fully updated fourth edition once again offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date introduction to the art of audio recording. Written with special emphasis on today's technology and the evolving marketplace, The Recording Engineer's Handbook Fourth Edition includes a complete overview of recording as it's done by most musicians and producers today in their home studios. In the book's first section, you'll learn everything from how microphones work to specific techniques for recording drums, individual instruments, vocals and much more. In the second section you'll benefit from the wisdom and down-to-earth practical advice offered by a host recording professionals including all-time greats like Al Schmitt, Eddie Kramer, Frank Filipetti and many other others.

Topics covered include:

An overview of recording elements, including microphones, preamps, compressors and DAWs
Recording techniques and placement guidance for just about any musical instrument or vocal
Prepping and recording drums and percussion
Basic tracking and overdub advice and strategies, and stereo and immersive audio recording techniques
Interviews with some of the world's best hit-making engineers, and much more Learn the art of recording with renowned author, teacher, producer and engineer Bobby Owsinski, and, in the interviews, explore the creative processes behind not only today's hits but the classic cuts we've enjoyed for years. See for yourself why The Recording Engineer's Handbook, Fourth Edition is the book that's a standard text in college courses all over the world.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Reference

330 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was educational and enjoyable, though it took me a while to get through. It's very readable, but the sheer quantity of information makes it dense.

I learned a lot here. One thing I learned is that I don't want to be a recording engineer. But I also learned a lot not only about miking techniques, which the bulk of the book is concerned with, but also about instruments in general, including ones that I play and thought I knew well.

The first section is about general microphone theory, miking techniques, models, etc. The second section has specific advice for miking a wide variety of instruments, including one or two I've never heard of, and I've been playing music for over thirty years. The third section is interviews with very famous recording engineers — like, if you know much about the field, you'll know a lot of these names. I barely know it at all and even I know some of them.

I didn't expect to be into the interviews, but I was. There's an array of perspectives, from people who like to use a ton of mics and record everything and process the hell out of the sound to people who really just want to set up a few mics and call it a day.

One MAJOR takeaway for me: I listen to quite a bit of punk, the scene for which has a thing for authenticity and tends to distrust post-processing. But really, there's no such thing as a "true" studio sound. Absolutely every record's sound reflects deliberate choices in how it was recorded; you have to make those choices one way or another, and your choice will change the sound from the way it would sound if you'd made a different choice.

While I rated this highly, I can only recommend it if you're interested in the nitty-gritty of the topic. It's quite good, but a general-interest book it is not.

[Matt LeFevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five stars for the main part of the book. Excellent info, comprehensive explanations, and detailed suggestions for how to mic every instrument I’ve ever heard of (and some that I haven’t). A joy to read and a reference manual I intend to come back to again and again.

Two stars for the section of interviews at the end, which is almost entirely baby boomers reminiscing about how recording was better before computers came along, singing the praises of $10,000 microphones, and talking about how everyone overcomplicates this recording thing — all you really need to do is throw up a few mics live in the room and then work with the most legendary artists who’ve ever lived. Easy!

The book is terrific, honestly, it’s the second of Owsinski’s that I’ve read and I look forward to more. The self indulgent dad rock interviews left a bad taste in my mouth but they comprise maybe 20% of the total length of the work. Definitely worth reading (most of) this handbook.

[Ralf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is focused on microphone technique and how to smoothly and efficiently run a recording session. As such, it's fairly light on technical background, only superficially explaining the operating principles of the major microphone types. Instead, it includes a long list of ”classic” microphones without much explanation as to why they supposedly exhibit superior performance. Its discussion of stereo and surround techniques is also quite basic. The real ”meat” of the book lies in the 100+ page list of suggested microphone positions for various specific instruments, which can be useful as a starting point in popular music recording. This information is rounded out with some advice on how to conduct a recording session and a long section of mildly interesting interviews with some well-known recording engineers.

[Shaun Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Read it at the same time I read Recording Secrets for the Small Studio. Both great. Expected to like that one better due to it being more dense and containing slightly more theory and method, but ended up liking both for different reasons.

This book is more of a short overview of recording gear and methods, and then moves toward a Cookbook approach. This is useful; the sheer number of per-instrument ideas will keep you experimenting for quite awhile. Very useful as an idea-generator when you want to try something new.

Overall I felt it was a little light in some ways, but conversely a fun and easy read. Recommended.

[Leyla Zebda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good percentage of this is not directly applicable to those who have zero to little studio recording experience (Like the extent of microphones listed and described) but generally on a whole, an incredibly concise collection of tools and advice to help you in your recording needs. Seems to be something that is incredibly useful resource to have on hand since sitting and trying to digest and retain it all is never really going to happen.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great info for beginners and non-beginners alike. Owsinski covers a wide range of techniques and instruments which, in a lot of cases, can only be gained from trial and error experience. I read this and took many notes but am also keeping it near my mixing console as a reference when needed.
Recommend.

[Roy]

I use the information in this book regularly when trying to figure out how to record a new instrument I have not worked with before. For example, I recently acquired a Marimba and had tried several ways of mic'ing it before opening the pages of this book and finding two very good suggestions, that have worked out well.

[Michael Purser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read, re-read, and re-read again. All of Owswinski's works follow me everywhere from the studio, to the coffee shop, to work, to the bathroom, to the classroom and more. Great thorough reference book for budding engineers. A plus plus

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great comprehensive overview of the recording process, whether you want to be a professional recording engineer or record in your own home studio. Lots of practical, easy to follow advice from a seasoned pro.

[Ojo Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for mic techniques

[Michael Joe Vitale]

Great read and great reference to have around!