Alan Parsons’ Art & Science of Sound Recording: The Book, published by Hal Leonard, is a complete rewrite and reappraisal of the award-winning video series. Parsons takes his approach to sound recording to the next level as the book provides ample space to present more technical background information, more detailed diagrams and more in-depth discussion on each of the 24 topics, from “A Brief History of Recording” to the now-classic “Dealing with Disasters.”
Written with the DVD’s co-producer, musician and author Julian Colbeck, ASSR: The Book offers readers a classic “big picture” view of modern recording technology in conjunction with a near-encyclopedic list of specific techniques, processes and equipment. The book has a logical flow of chapters, looking at how sound is created and how it behaves before moving on to the different processes of manipulating sound recordings, such as EQ, reverb, delays, compression. It covers how to work and record with live musicians as well as the art and science that go into the mixing process.
“With the videos, we strove to keep you visually and aurally entertained. Now, you can be reading this at home, or in a busy Starbucks, or on a plane. You can read one page at a sitting or one chapter, or just dive in here and there using the index or the glossary,” said Parsons.
Alan Parsons and Julian Colbeck presented ASSR: The Book at AES in Los Angeles, with a book signing having taken place October 10 at the Hal Leonard booth.