An interesting book on Listening Skills

[rsaavedra]

I have a good book by Alton Everest, the "Master Handbook of Acoustics."

Just realized that same author published a very interesting new book last year:

Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals

Quote:

Book Description Audio productions are made or broken by the quality of the recording engineer's ears. The ability to properly discern sounds, identify subtle problems, and act accordingly to apply the necessary fix makes all the difference in the quality of the final tracks and master. The good news is that these crucial skills can be learned. The ability to instantly identify frequencies, hear hidden distortions, and instinctively reconcile conflicts in the EQ of instruments, audio elements, vocals and more are traits of those who have mastered the art of audio production. The best engineers have trained their ears to immediately recognize audio problems that the consumer and those new to recording arts would likely not hear, but that, if left unresolved, would result in an amateurish final product. Through hundreds of illustrations and an accompanying disc containing high-resolution MP3 files with nearly five hours of narration of the entire course, you can acquire the audio discernment skills of a seasoned recording engineer by studying this course at your own pace, in your own home. About the Author The late F. Alton Everest (1909-2005) was the most respected audiologist in the professional recording industry. His revered works and courses produced more than twenty books and editions in his lifetime, including The Master Handbook of Acoustics, Audio Techniques for the Home and Studio, and How to Build a Small Budget Recording Studio from Scratch ... With 12 Tested Designs. As the supervisor of UC San Diego?s Listening Section Laboratory during WWII, Everest conducted underwater sound research experiments for the war effort. For 25 years he produced science fi lms for the renowned Moody Institute of Science, followed by years teaching and working as a highly sought after audio consultant.

I added it to my always growing shopping cart just in case I want to include it to my next Amazon purchase. Anybody has this book, or have heard of it?


PS. I'm not related at all to the author or publishers in any way. Just thought this might be of interest, and some might have it already and might comment on it.

 

[ken36]

Good find. Thanks. I wish I had the energy to read it.

 

[plainsong]

Wouldn't these books help people who've taken theory and ear training a bit more? It's tough to understand critical listening if you couldn't look at a score, hear it in the mind's ear, and then immediately pick out mistakes.

Wouldn't a book like this assume you can hear intervals between notes and know at once what the notes on the page should be, or that you can hear chords and say what they are?

It's tough to learn just from a book, and tough enough when you're in a class - but all these audio engineers had to take the same theory stuff performers do - and then they go to their mixers and we go to our practice rooms.