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BOOK
REVIEW
THE EXPERT ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RECORDING
• Rick Clark
Full of passion, insight, humor, and an unprecedented depth and array of expertise, this is one fantastic read. Whether you have a small home studio or a plush multi-platform tricked out tracking haven, this book is an absolute must have, must read. Let me go further than that--if you're even remotely interested in how records are made, and remarkable and funny conversations with the mavericks in the field, this is the book for you.
I was reading it with coffee in the morning before the day began, and it always put me in a good and resolute mood. I've been slowly putting together some choice gear over the past year, and so I was interested in checking out this series of in-depth interviews with many of my engineer or producer heroes on subjects like their favorite microphones for different applications, compression, production philosophy and approach, how they like to record drums, all kinds of things.
But what makes the book so special is what the author and interviewer brings to the table. Rick Clark is a very fine and experienced musician himself from Memphis, and a respected music journalist, to say the least. His six page passionate introduction to the book is perhaps the greatest intro I've ever read in any book of any kind, and I've read it a number of times for pure inspiration. His love for music and respect for the musicians who changed his life are so primally and powerfully communicated that it shook me up, and assured me I was in for a helluva ride.
That sounds pretty emotional for a book with this title, but that's what I'm talking about. As lofty as it sounds, it's emotionally understated. Because what the book ends up doing is firing the reader up about their creativity and their own ideas, because the author is talking to individuals who changed the world by being themselves, encouraging artists who changed the world to do the same, and bringing that event to tape for the world to witness. It's really a rare opportunity to walk into the tracking and control rooms of so many legendary sessions and hear first hand what actually went on, in the room and in the mind of the engineer or producer of the moment.
We give The Expert Encyclopedia of Recording a most enthusiastic thumbs up, and encourage you to buy it here. • FG
