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Renegade Review: 'The Recording Engineer's Handbook'

In this review I'm taking a look at 'The Recording Engineer's Handbook' by Bobby Owsinski.

Bobby Owsinski has worked as a producer and engineer, a guitar and keyboard player and song writer. He's also written loads of great music production books including 'How to Make Your Band Sound Great', 'The Mastering Engineer's Handbook', and of course the one we are looking at today, 'The Recording Engineer's Handbook', among other titles.

The Recording Engineer's Handbook is all about, as the title suggests, recording.  More specifically it reveals to you the tools and the techniques used by top recording engineers, so you can take that and apply it to your own music and recording.

The author gives you in-depth information on various microphones, how microphones work and the basic recording equipment you'll come across and use.  It also has a chapter on DAW recording.

The bulk of the book consists however of individual instruments and mic techniques for these individual instruments.  You'll find almost every instrument you can imagine included, and you'll find multiple mic techniques for each instrument.

So, it's a great reference book to have on hand if one day somebody strolls in with a didgeridoo and you've never recorded a didgeridoo.  You grab this book, quickly go over the section for didgeridoo recordings and get some ideas. That may help you get the better sound, you never know!

The Recording Engineer's Handbook is a great practical reference book to have on hand and it's perfect for beginners who want to get a great view of getting a great sound, even if you have inexpensive gear.  Use these microphone techniques and your chances are much better of getting a decent sound down on to tape.

You'll learn about the most popular microphones used by pro recording engineers.  You'll also learn how to choose the best microphone for the job, which is quite an important decision you make when you're busy recording.

I think every producer or engineer or musician who would like to record at home should have a copy of this on hand for reference. Definitely check it out!

I'd like to thank Cengage Learning for sponsoring the review copy of this handbook.


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