GET SMART

Nov 1, 2002 12:00 PM, By Marty Cutler

POMONA PRODUCTIONS, INC.

Pomona Productions' Interactive Guide to Home Recording (Mac/Win; $59.95) is a CD-ROM that covers basic recording principles using text, graphics, and audio examples. The topics range from production and session planning to creating an effective mix. The course covers signal flow, mic selection and placement, level setting, dynamics processing and EQ, reverb, and other effects.

A second component of the CD-ROM is the Instrument Index, which covers suitable mics and placement, EQ and compression settings, and other information for the most commonly used instruments. The CD-ROM includes a pop-up glossary, printable track sheets, EQ charts, and more. Pomona Productions; tel. (585) 582-1128; e-mail ighr@pomona1.com; Web www.pomona1.com.

BERKLEE PRESS

Berklee Press's Arranging in the Digital World ($19.95) is a guide that introduces arrangers to MIDI and synthesizers. The book integrates music notation, Standard MIDI File (SMF) examples, technical definitions, and tips. MIDI examples arranged for General MIDI instruments accompany the book on floppy disk.

The book starts with a list of definitions and moves quickly to musical styles and instrumentation. The chapter “How to Build an Arrangement” starts with song form, instrumentation, and tempo as it relates to setting up your arrangement in a sequencer.

Chapter 4 deals with instrument families and how to effectively re-create them on synthesizers. You also get brief chapters about MIDI and production techniques, a list of suggested songs for listening, and range charts for various instruments. Berklee Press; tel. (617) 747-2146; Web www.berkleepress.com.

JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS

It's easy to forget that making music has always been in part a mechanical process. Contemporary music technology further obscures the dividing line between musician and mechanism. Editor Hans-Joachim Braun presents an eclectic exploration of the relationship between electronics and music in Music and Technology in the Twentieth Century ($24.95).

Topics covered range from the player piano to the modern synthesizer, and the development of vibrato technique on the violin to the aesthetics of sampling. An essay written by Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco contrasts the development of synthesizers by Moog and Buchla and posits that the synthesizer's eventual focus on keyboard technology limits its creative freedom.

Author Rebecca McSwain recounts the evolution of the solid-body electric guitar, the eventual rise of feedback as a part of guitar technique, and the sociological implications of the acceptance of noise as music. In all, the book covers fascinating and unusual ground, invoking artists as diverse as Orpheus and Guitar Slim to Fritz Kreisler, Conlon Nancarrow, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Johns Hopkins University Press; tel. (800) 537-5487; Web www.jhupbooks.edu.

MACAUDIOLAB

From MacAudioLab, The Complete Digital Performer 3 ($95) offers instruction for MOTU's Digital Performer 3.0. The course covers everything from basic file-management and navigation skills to advanced topics. Each of the five CDs holds well over an hour of tutorials.

The course provides tips and advice on, for example, the use of Markers with film, bouncing tracks to disk, and dithering. Intermediate sections include a DSP primer and coverage of audio transposition, time compression and expansion, and audio scrubbing. Advanced sections explain song construction using Chunks, the Drum Editor and its tools, and the use of instrument plug-ins such as Propellerhead Reason.

The fifth CD focuses on Digital Performer 3.0's surround capabilities, the use of 5.1 audio files and AC3 encoding, audio and video sync, hardware control surfaces, and third-party plug-in coverage (including Audio Ease Nautilus Bundle and Metric Halo Channel Strip). MacAudioLab; tel. (877) 587-2164; e-mail feedback@macaudiolab.com; Web www.macaudiolab.com.