Bookshelf

Here's some Dino-recommended books on various subjects from recording, to history, to biography, that may be of interest to you. Books are rated like CDs, a review is included, and more are usually available at Amazon. If you want to add a book/review to the bookshelf, send me an email at dave@dinosaurrockguitar.com

The Recording Guitarist: A Guide for Home and Studio - All of you Dinos who are into home recording (or thinking about it) should AT LEAST thumb through this book if you see it in Barnes and Noble or Borders. It's only $20 (less from Amazon) It is a very broad, comprehensive look at recording. What's different about this book is that rather than being for producers or engineers, this one REALLY IS sharply focused on the guitarist's perspective. It covers every aspect of recording guitar, and while it doesn't go too deep in any one area, it does a GREAT job on zeroing-in on the KEY aspects of each subject (including some of the juicy secrets and tricks). There's a lot of material covered, but the book's organizational stucture is both brilliantly logical, and simple -- it traces the whole signal path from guitar to the final output media. And the book is so well-written, clear, concise that it also makes a good cover-to-cover read. There is some material geared toward the professional studio session man that is probably overkill for most of us. But in these cases, this is interesting reading nonetheless, and there ARE details in the material you can apply to your own situation. There is also material geared to the "home recording" hobbiest. More importantly, there's a lot of info that ANY guitarist will find valuable in ANY recording situation. If you're like me and have spent some time in studios and home recording, there's a lot of info here that you probably already know, but what I found was that it contained a LOT of very useful little details that you typically only learn through experience. And it doesn't bog you down with a lot of stuff you won't ever need to know. So if you're new to recording and feel overwhelmed, this is a GREAT place to start--there's a TON of value here. For me, I found that it reinforces some things I already knew. But since there is SO MUCH to absorb and retain about recording, I don't mind getting that positive reinforcement--it keeps me sharp. But more importantly, I find it fills in some of the gaps and details where I might know something conceptually, but not how to achieve it. And while there's a lot of "food for thought" there is also plenty stuff of a practical reference nature, like micing techniques, tables of delay settings and artificial harmonics, etc. Note: The book is more geared toward more traditional guitar recording methods than to plugging a DMA directly into 4 track. But even if that's your approach, there's a lot of stuff here that's applicable and worth knowing. Whether you know a lot or a little, for $20, it's hard to go wrong with this one. I give this book the highest Dino rating: V V V V V. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

The Mixing Engineer's Handbook Pretty good "conceptual" material. It is not a real "handbook" in the traditional sense of the word (i.e. a handbook used by mixing engineers), but rather conceptual ideas that point out the key elements of mixing for the beginner. The reality of this book is that the content is based on a series of pretty informative interviews that are transcribed verbatum in 2nd half of the book. The first half of the book is the author's summary of the usable data culled from the interviews, and presented in a organized fashion. The 6 aspects covered (that comprise a good mix) should certainly help beginners start thinking about mixing in ways that don't ordinarily occur to beginners. In essence, what this book does best is to tap into the experience of very experienced engineers, and then present "what the experts do" in various scenarios. There are NOT so much specifics as there are general guidelines. It is not so much "step-by-step instructions" or "hard reference" as it is a "starting point." There ARE useful things like where to start the mix from, and tables that show where to find the EQ frequencies that effect different instruments--for example, to bring out the slap sound on a bass guitar. Further guidelines suggest, which effects and settings (in broad terms) to use to emphasize/de emphasize other aspects. I'm a beginner, and it has been a good resource for me. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

An Introduction to Digital Mixing: Extremely basic conceptual material for the very green beginner. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Basics of Mixing: A Beginner's Guide to the art of Mixing: Excellent. The most valuable freebie I've found for the novice home recorder. Covers a lot of valuable ground clearly and concisely. Print it out and keep it handy in your home studio. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Compression 101 As the title suggests, an article on compression basics. Conceptual material, PLUS some practical settings to start from. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

The Compressor's Secrets Conceptual material on a higher level, for the more experienced person. Outlines some "gotchas" to watch out for. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Compression (article by Rick Snoman) A more in-depth article on compression covering both the coneptual basics plus some more priactical guidelines. The text points to examples on some CD we don't have access to, but the info presented is still plenty useful. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Secrets of the Mastering Engineer This is some of the best general conceptual material I've seen on mastering, but doesn't have a lot of specifics or practical advice. (back)

The Finishing Touch article by Loren Alldrin. & Sound Advice on Effects and Processing - Neville Wake - Short artcle on the basics of mastering. Very basic conceptual material. A good place to start if you know nothing. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Sonusman Ed (multi-subject transcript) This was acually a bunch of posts by one engineer in a single forum thread over at the "homerecording.com bbs." It's mostly on mixing, but he covers a lot of ground. This thread received over 13,000 views -- you may find it useful too. I did. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Motley Crue - The Dirt: This book chronicles the career of the Crue starting from their early days all the way up through now. It's written from the perspectives of each of the guys themselves, so frequently you'll get multiple takes on the same events, which makes for interesting reading. You also get chapters from ex-managers, ex-band members (John Corabi was included and his perspective on taking Vince Neil's place is a pretty cool read), current managers, etc. Basically, these guys are very lucky to be alive. Nikki and Tommy tend to dominate a lot of the book, but in my opinion the most interesting stuff comes from Mick Mars. Mick is at least 10 years older than the other guys although I'm thinking it's closer to 20 (he never actually states his age). He never got into the drugs or extracurricular activities the way the other guys did. Mick was stricken with a rare genetic bone disease when he was 19, that causes the bones of his spine and body to fuse together. He is in constant pain and has been for many years. I know I used to rag on the guy for not being a real good player, but I have a new appreciation for him because of his attitude and the fact that he was able to make it in the business despite being too old, and overcoming a debilitating illness. He also writes and arranges a lot of the riffs, even though Sixx has always taken credit for being their primary writer. This is worth a read. You won't really glean much musical value from it, but it will give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes in the music business. Review by John Walker. (back)
I just finished reading the Motley Crue biography entitled The Dirt. I've never been a big Crue fan (I liked them for about a year or two after Shout at the Devil was released) and I thought everything after that was pretty horrible pop-rock that was no better than Poison, Warrant, etc. But it's a really interesting book. The Crue were disgusting heroin-addict alcoholics even before the Too Fast for Love record was released. No punches are pulled, names are named (for example, Vince Neil vomited on Kelsey Grammer and took pain pills from the Joe Isuzu guy), and ex-wives took them for all they had. Motley Crue are a bunch of dysfunctional drug-addicts; their early childhoods were horrible and they never really recognized until their late 30s why they acted so recklessly. Part of me thinks they're disgusting drug-addled pigs; but another part of me wonders if their lives and disfunction are more of the norm in America. The book is written by the band with assistance from Neil Strauss (who also helped out Marilyn Manson on his book, which by the way, is also a good read). Nikki Sixx usually has the most outrageous tales; sometimes I wonder if he's bullshitting or exaggerating a bit. The book gives an interesting behind the scenes look into the music industry, and the strong roles that managers (i.e. drug dealers) and record execs (i.e. you will fire people if I tell you to) play in the life of a band. If anything, the book is a solid reminder that rock stars have the same faults (even more) than us little people. Review by Venomboy. (back)

Phil Lynott : The Rocker: This is a good one. Lots of stuff on the traveling circus that was Thin Lizzy, but the focus is on Lynott. If you're into Lynott and Lizzy, this is a must-read. Might have to try Amazon.UK to find a copy. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

The History of Marshall: A great reference but still light on text. Great pix and stuff, bit it still left me wanting more content. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Amps! : The Other Half of Rock 'N' Roll: A great book for learning the basics of amp history and design philosophy. For the layman, not really technical. Covers the big companies and some of the small of the early boutiques. I always wanted Fliegler to do a Volume two on the later boutiques. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Beauty of the 'Burst: Drool over guitars you'll probably never own. Awesome pictures, PLUS a lot of nitty gritty details like only the Japanese provide. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

The Gibson Les Paul Book: A very good reference and history. Try to get the latest edition. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

The Fender Book: A very good reference and history. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Ian Gillan: Overall, it's a pretty good read and insight into the Purple madness, but the story bogs down at the points in Gillan's life when he wasn't in Deep Purple. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Jeff Beck : Crazy Fingers: A great book on the man. Very interesting. I found I really knew so little about him. A must read for Beck fans. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)

Cream : The Legendary `60's Supergroup: I would have killed for this book when I was 16. Glad someone finally took the time to write a book like this one. Review by Dinosaur David B. (back)