Re-Making Sound is concise and flexible primer to sound studies. It takes students through six ways of conceptualizing sound and its links to other social phenomena: soundscapes; noise; sound and semiotics of the voice; sound and/through/in text; background sound/sound design; and sound art. Each chapter summarizes the history and scholarly theoretical underpinnings of these areas and concludes with a student activity that concretizes the historical and theoretical discussion via sound-making projects. With chapters designed to be flexible and non-sequential, the text fits within various course designs, and includes an introduction to key concepts in sound and sound studies, a cumulative concluding chapter with sound accompanying podcast exercise, and an extensive bibliography for students to pursue sound studies beyond the book itself.

Dancing to the Drum Machine is a never-before-attempted history of what is perhaps the most controversial musical instrument ever invented: the drum machine. Here, author Dan LeRoy reveals the untold story of how their mechanical pulse became the new heartbeat of popular music. The pristine snap of the LinnDrum. The bottom-heavy beats of the Roland 808. The groundbreaking samples of the E-MUSP-1200. All these machines-and their weirder, wilder-sounding cousins-changed composition, recording, and performance habits forever. Their distinctive sounds and styles helped create new genres of music, like hip hop and EDM. But they altered every musical style, from mainstream pop to heavy metal to jazz. Dan LeRoy traces the drum machine from its low-tech beginnings in the Fifties and Sixties to its evolution in the Seventies and its ubiquity in the Eighties, when seemingly overnight, it infiltrated every genre of music. Drum machines put some drummers out of work, while keeping others on their toes. They anticipated virtually every musical trend of the last five decades: sequencing, looping, sampling, and all forms of digital music creation. But the personalities beneath those perfect beats make the story of drum machines a surprisingly human one-told here for the very first time.

Like all double albums, "Songs in the Key of Life" is imperfect but audacious. If its titular concern - life - doesn't exactly allow for rigid focus, it's still a fiercely inspired collection of songs and one of the definitive soul records of the 1970s. Stevie Wonder was unable to control the springs of his creativity during that decade. Upon turning 21 in 1971, he freed himself from the Motown contract he'd been saddled with as a child performer, renegotiated the terms, and unleashed hundreds of songs to tape. Over the next five years, Wonder would amass countless recordings and release his five greatest albums - as prolific a golden period as there has ever been in contemporary music. But "Songs in the Key of Life" is different from the four albums that preceded it; it's an overstuffed, overjoyed, maddeningly ambitious encapsulation of all the progress Stevie Wonder had made in that short space of time.
Zeth Lundy's book, in keeping with the album's themes, is structured as a life cycle. It's divided into the following sections: Birth; Innocence/Adolescence; Experience/Adulthood; Death; Rebirth. Within this framework, Zeth Lundy covers Stevie Wonder's excessive work habits and recording methodology, his reliance on synthesizers, the album's place in the gospel-inspired progression of 1970s R'n'B, and many other subjects.

Pro Tools First: Fundamentals of Audio Production introduces users to the power of Pro Tools software and marks the first steps toward developing core skills in audio production. The book covers the basic principles you'll need to complete a Pro Tools First project, from initial setup to final output, and it is designed for those who are new to professional audio production and also for experienced users who are unfamiliar with Pro Tools software. This book is laid-out to mirror the creative process of audio production-from set up, to the recording process, editing and mixing, and then creating the final files. Interspersed within each chapter are short hands-on tutorial exercises which give users a chance to explore the concepts and techniques being discussed and hear the results. For those interested in gaining official Avid certification, this book is also a valuable introduction for further learning and through the Avid Learning Series curriculum.

The revised edition of Understanding Records explains the musical language of recording practice in a way any interested reader and student can easily understand. Drawing on readily available hit records produced since 1945, each section of this book explains a handful of core production and engineering techniques in chronological record-making sequence, elucidates how those techniques work, what they sound like, how they function musically, where listeners can hear them at work in the broader Top 40 soundscape, and where they fit within the broader record-making process at large. As the only book to introduce music production and its practical elements with no assumed prior knowledge, the revised edition includes: * Exclusive print and video interviews with emerging and established recordists, including: Alex Chuck Krotz (Drake, Three Days Grace, Mother Mother); Kevin O' Leary (Shawn Mendes, The Glorious Sons, Monster Truck); Alastair Sims (Rush, The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies); Matt Shelvock (kingmobb, san holo, bitbird, DROLOE); and Russ Hepworth-Sawyer (Billy Ray Cyrus, Steve Earle, Amadou & Miriam) * Numerous "real word" audio examples, organized into easily accessible streaming playlists, culled from Juno-nominated sessions the author himself worked on, and numerous other professional sources. * Easy to understand explanations of each facet of the record production process, which avoid technical jargon and clarify terminology. * Information on new developments in recording practice and updated musical references. Completely reworked and expanded sections on mixing and audio mastering.

From the Fairlight CMI through MIDI to the digital audio workstations at the turn of the millennium, Modern Records, Maverick Methods examines a critical period in commercial popular music record production: the transformative digital age from the late 1970s until 2000. Drawing on a discography of more than 300 recordings across pop, rock, hip hop, dance and alternative musics from artists such as the Beastie Boys, Madonna, U2 and Fatboy Slim, and extensive and exclusive ethnographic work with many world-renowned recordists, Modern Records presents a fresh and insightful new perspective on one of the most significant eras in commercial music record production. The book traces the development of significant music technologies through the 1980s and 1990s, revealing how changing attitudes and innovative techniques of recording personnel reimagined recording processes and, finally, exemplifies the impact of these technologies and techniques via six comprehensive tech-processual analyses. This meticulously researched and timely book reveals the complexity of recordists' responses to a technological landscape in flux.

Mute Records is one of the most influential, commercially successful, and long-lasting of the British independent record labels formed in the wake of the late-1970's punk explosion. Yet, in comparison with contemporaries such as Rough Trade or Stiff, its legacy remains under-explored. This edited collection addresses Mute's wide-ranging impact. Drawing from disciplines such as popular music studies, musicology, and fan studies, it takes a distinctive, artist-led approach, outlining the history of the label by focusing each chapter on one of its acts. The book covers key moments in the company's evolution, from the first releases by The Normal and Fad Gadget to recent work by Arca and Dirty Electronics. It shines new light on the most successful Mute artists, including Depeche Mode, Nick Cave, Erasure, Moby, and Goldfrapp, while also exploring the label's avant-garde innovators, such as Throbbing Gristle, Mark Stewart, Labaich, Ut, and Swans. Mute Records examines the business and aesthetics of independence through the lens of the label's artists.

Create and compose production-quality music with the power of FL Studio 20 along with MuseScore and Wwise Key Features Develop widely applicable music composition techniques and create full orchestral scores Leverage the power of FL Studio to create your own production-level soundtracks Use cutting-edge tools to fuel your creative ideas and launch your composer career Book DescriptionFL Studio is a cutting-edge software music production environment and a powerful and easy-to-use tool for composing music. In this comprehensive guide, you'll discover how to use FL Studio's tools and techniques to design exciting soundtracks for your films, TV shows, video games, and much more. You'll start by understanding the business of composing, learning how to communicate, score, market your services, land gigs, and deliver music projects for clients like a professional. Next, you'll set up your studio environment, navigate key tools, such as the channel rack, piano roll, playlist, mixer, and browser, and export songs. The book then advances to show you how to compose orchestral music using MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) programming, with a dedicated section to string instruments. You'll create sheet music using MuseScore for live musicians to play your compositions. Later, you'll learn about the art of Foley for recording realistic sound effects, create adaptive music that changes throughout video games, and design music to trigger specific emotions, for example, scary music to terrify your listener. Finally, you'll work on a sample project that will help you prepare for your composing career. By the end of this book, you'll be able to create professional soundtrack scores for your films and video games. What you will learn Compose production-ready music for films and video games Plan and deliver a soundtrack music score for clients like a professional Apply practical music theory using themes, leitmotifs, scales, and modes Compose orchestral music with MIDI programming Design music for specific emotions Create sheet music with MuseScore, score music for films with Fruity Video Player, and make diegetic music Design interactive music by leveraging horizontal resequencing and vertical remixing Who this book is forThis book is for musicians and programmers who want to take their music composing skills to a professional level. Film directors and game designers who want to get involved in scoring music for their own productions will also find this book useful. All you need is a computer and FL Studio to get started.