Mirror Sound: The People and Processes Behind Self-Recorded Music

by Spencer Tweedy, Lawrence Azerrad, Carrie Brownstein (Foreword)

A visual portrait that delves into the people and processes behind self-recorded music, featuring some of the biggest names in music today.

Everywhere you look, musicians are creating, recording, and selling their music without the help of big-name studios, producers, or labels. This book offers tangible--and visually stunning--proof that self-recording is a path to artistic freedom. Each chapter takes on a specific aspect of self-recording through original interviews with musicians and all new photography, revealing the joys and complications of recording music on one's own terms. You'll learn how some of your favorite musicians charted their path to self-recording and how they use emerging technologies to make exceptional music. The book features intimate shots of artists recording in living rooms, backyards, and garages--such as Eleanor Friedberger, Mac DeMarco, Vagabon, Tune-Yards, Yuka Honda, and more. The first book devoted entirely to the practice of self-recording, Mirror Sound charts a way forward for any musician who aspires to make their own music and those who just love to listen.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Mason Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a beautiful book, with wonderful photographs, and the topic is dear to my heart. But the text just didn't do it for me overall. The initial text is fun to read but felt like it skipped around with ever reaching conclusions. It could have been more focused and told a deeper story about self-recording. The section of interviews was both too much and too little: I think it would have worked better with longer, more in-depth interviews with fewer people. Instead I felt like I was reading a series of brief chats without learning that much. It's still a nice book to have, but it's a bit of a missed opportunity.

[Melting Uncle · Rating 4 out of 5]

beautifully photographed and designed
w/ interviews from some great talented musicians
Spencer son of Jeff has documented for the whole world to see that people can record their own good music
If you "self-record" then there's no reason you won't like this book which is a fairly quick and inspiring read
I subtracted one star because at times I felt it painting a too-positive, rosy picture of the creative process... a touch too precious or sanctified. Like I get it, recording music is great, but musicians are not all gods and much self-recorded music is bad+could probably benefit from professional assistance.
Honestly this book seems like the kind that would go onto the internet and read its own reviews.
So if Spencer Tweedy, Michael Azerrad, Jeff Tweedy, any of the people interviewed, any of the people who were involved are reading this...
Just know that I bought your book the day it came out, I enjoyed it, and it inspired me to make music.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This slick coffee table book fits really nicely into a certain niche, namely musical hobbyists and aspiring self-recorders who love poring over their favorite songwriters’ gear lists, and so if that’s you, there’s a lot to love here. The pleasant surprise for me was Spencer Tweedy’s focus on his interview subjects’ personal philosophies around work ethic, creativity, spontaneity, etc., and so there is an ample theoretical and technical yield. So, there’s the niche: people who love to fantasize about being productive while appreciating gorgeous photography of sun-dappled Tascams and patch cables on nice oriental rugs.

[Jay Gabler · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gratifying celebration of artists who set up their own studio spaces. For The Current's Rock and Roll Book Club, I interviewed the book's co-creators.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

alright, but artists with famous musician/celebrity parents talking about how they managed to figure out to self-record using expensive equipment is a bit annoying

[Stephen Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gorgeous book that is comfortable on a coffee table or a night-stand. Designed by Lawrence Azerrad, it has a tactile satin finish on the cover which feels good and contains a beautifully balanced and eclectic layout of photos and text. The heart of the book would seem to be Daniel Topete’s intimate photos of home studios, closeups of the recording equipment and personal mementos of the artists. If you are a musician or have an interest in music, there is joy to be found in scouring the photos for clues of what each artist uses - boxes, effects, keyboards, racks, mics. The pictures are so rich with detail. Unexpected for me was Spencer Tweedy’s writing- I had thought this was a book of photos only. Tweedy, the son of a famous musician who has become a fantastic musician himself, describes his own journey into learning how to record, and he weaves in the artists’ stories and how they figured out the magic they could make happen in their own spaces. The last fifty pages contain interviews with the artists who invited Tweedy et al into their studios. Tweedy’s interview questions help to de-mystify the process of creating a song - from idea to which tracks the artists put down first: do they start with a vocal idea or a melody or drums or something else. In describing how artists have been able to move from recording only in expensive professional studios to their own spaces, Tweedy seems to be showing what is possible for anyone with a creative idea and how they can actualize it. Mirror Sound is a wonderful piece of art, and it would be a perfect gift for anyone who has an interest in music and how it’s made.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read about how many respected indie artists go about recording. Some of this was too technical for me, but I enjoyed each segment, especially those featuring Emitt Rhodes - someone I'd heard of before, but had never really delved into. Definitely my loss. At a minimum, the introduction to his late-60's/early 70's self-produced McCartney-esque DIY records were a watershed moment in my music education. This was worth the price of admission for the interview section alone: Jim O'Rourke, Sharon Van Etten, Blake Mills, Rhodes, Dan Deacon, Eleanor Friedberger - among others - were all fascinating music nerd deep dives. I love music, the making of music, the thought process or artists, etc. as a general rule and these interviews were insightful. The downside is that I'm ignorant to the technical side of music, including specifics on gear, so I was on the outside looking in at times. Fun, lazy afternoon reading though.

[Clara Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful look into the self-recording processes of musicians I admire greatly - Vagabon, Open Mike Eagle, Sharon Van Etten, Frankie Cosmos, Foxygen, Sad13, Jay Som, Nnamdi & many more.

Plus some really great stuff about interdependence vs. independence that I think is really valuable: "The term independent music was only ever meant to refer to music that rejected the four record label conglomerates of the world - Warner, Universal, Sony and EMI - not music that rejected the help or participation of anyone else together. (Even independent record labels band together in distributorships to deliver their records to stores and streaming platforms.) Interdependence describes the decision to work with equitable, human-scale businesses instead of big, overly influential ones. Independence perpetuates the old myth of rugged individualism."

[Cameron Carr · Rating 2 out of 5]

While entertaining for someone fascinated by DIY recording or these artists, it didn’t live up to my expectations. I found the interviews disappointingly lacking in depth and the photos visually appealing but minimally useful in terms of documenting approaches to recording. Would recommend a quick perusing through TapeOp (which has done excellent interviews with several of the included artists) instead.

[Julie Gagné · Rating 5 out of 5]

Je l'ai adoré. C'est un peu l'équivalent d'un livre d'art style coffee table book, mais avec des interviews super intéressantes avec des artistes indépendants qui enregistrent leur musique eux-mêmes. Ils expliquent leurs méthodes de travail autant du point de vue créatif que technique. Une excellent idée cadeau pour les musiciens, très inspirant!

Fun fact : J'ai gagné le livre dans un concours alors que je pensais déjà l'acheter.

[Craig Winneker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cool exploration of home recording studios of famous to not-so-famous musicians. The text is concise and conversational, and the photos and graphic design are excellent.

[Winnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5