Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Book Recommendation: Behind the Glass - Top Record Producers Tell How They Craft The Hits


This one was recommended to me by my friend Craig as a book he found interesting when he was going to school for audio engineering. And after reading it, it's clear to see why. At the risk of being hyperbolic, this is one of the best books on recording and producing I've ever read.


Far from an academic explanation of various terminology and techniques, this book is actually comprised of a series of interviews with legendary producers like Alan Parsons, Brian Wilson, George Martin, Phil Ramone, etc. regarding their techniques and experiences making some of the most well-known albums of all time. Generally, similar questions are asked of each producer so it is easy to see how each has their own unique way of doing things. I know this description doesn't sound like anything special necessarily, but trust me when I say this is a treasure trove of information.

If you are new to recording and mixing, I don't recommend starting with this, as it assumes a general familiarity with basic studio techniques and terms. But if you've been recording on your own for awhile and want to have a rare peek into how the big boys (and girls) do it, you'd be hard pressed to find a better resource. True, most of the producers here aren't making electronic music (although Stephen Hague and a couple others are present), but that misses the point. There are certain techniques that are universal to all forms of music, and the more techniques you can add to your arsenal, the better your music is going to sound. Plus, it can be humbling to realize George Martin made the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper" album on only a paltry 4-track machine, or that Glen Ballard recorded Alanis Morrissette's mega-selling "Jagged Little Pill" in his home studio using a couple of ADAT machines.


I only have two gripes with the book. First, it's about 10 years old, so already some of the equipment and techniques put forward as being 'current' are already out of date a bit. This doesn't make the info any less useful, but it does stand out how much has changed since the book was written. Secondly, reading all these fascinating interviews only made me want more. Why no Trevor Horn or Mark Ellis (aka Flood) or Brian Eno? In the foreward, Mr. Massey does provide an email address to submit who you'd like to see covered in the next volume, but being that it's been ten years since this one came out, I wonder if another volume will see the light of day? I certainly hope so!

Overall, the most valuable lesson this book demonstrates is that there is no 'right' way of doing things. Some of the interviewees claim that recording on anything but 1/2" tape is unacceptable, while others sings the praises of digital and the incredible flexibility it offers. Some may be against using compression in general, while others believe in squashing everything. Indeed, at the end of the day, what is the 'right' way of producing an album is simply what sounds best to you.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I picked this up at a Barnes and Nobles around a year ago. Great book!

Anonymous said...

I know for a fact that the second version is being put together as we speak. Tony Maserati just finished mixing tracks on my band's album and his manager told me that he was asked for an interview for the second edition.

Also for a great Eno interview, check out Keyboard Wizards. It's a synth nerd compilation of articles from keyboard mag put out originally in 1985. I got a new back issue of ebay.

Tom said...

That's great news, Tom! Thanks for sharing...

Anonymous said...

I've just ordered this book based on your recommendation.

Anonymous said...

I've also now ordered the "Mixing Engineer's Handbook" by Bobby Owsinki that you've listed in your "I Recommend" widget on the right hand side of the blog page (can't recall if you had a specific blog entry for that or not, I can't find one at the moment anyway, but I need a good mixing book right now).

Anonymous said...

Both "Behind The Glass" and "Mixing Engineer's Handbook" turned out to be good purchases.

"Behind The Glass" is tightly packed with candid and useful tips & tricks from the masters, but it is somewhat old school so the advice is mostly given in a general and engineering approach/philosophical sense, and then you have to apply that to your current DAW, etc, yourself. And like you said, this book is very clear in showing how there is no one right way of doing things, but several potential good ways depending on your artistic and aesthetic goals.

"Mixing Engineer's Handbook" is a solid workman-like book including modern specific advice like tricks for getting better encoding results from low quality MP3s, 5.1 surround mixes, etc.

The two books seem to complement each other well in that respect, there isn't much overlap in their approaches. Both great books that I think will help most folks sound better to some degree in their final mix, and are nice books to have on the shelf in the studio when faced with a creative block.