Anyone have the Dance Music Manual by Rick Snowman?

[Jome7]

It was recommended on some site I was checking out and am thinking of picking it up. Is it really that good and do you think it would help out with the overall quality of my music?

I saw some good reviews on it but am wondering if a lot of people here have picked it up. I'm interested in improving the sound quality and learning new techniques etc, but would like to get more than little things like "just use mastering software" that I find online a lot of places.

[Dr. Fluffenstein]

I really liked it. Found a very generous preview of it here: http://books.google.ca/books?id=NzfaPAj ... &q&f=false

[Tone Deft]

it's a joke. find it in a store and read a few pages without laughing at the author.

[Dr. Fluffenstein]

it's a joke. find it in a store and read a few pages without laughing at the author.

The content is probably basic from a seasoned producer's pov, but as a beginner I found it pretty handy (but maybe I don't know any better). What exactly did you dislike about it?

[Tone Deft]

don't get me wrong, I'm a hack hobbyist.

I'll quote from it when I get home, it has some advice that's really shallow and just dumb. this topic came up before, after I bought it and I took a closer look, I LOL'ed at some of the things said in it.

BUT too much knowledge won't hurt you. if you can't find a better book then go for it.

[The Northern Contingent]

Yes - got to agree with Tone Deft. I unfortunately bought it after reading a lot of high recommendations for it but its nothing to write home about unfortunately. There's nothing int here you can't find out on the web.

Out of curiosity, and at the risk of stealing the thread, does anyone know any Max books?

[Tone Deft]

Out of curiosity, and at the risk of stealing the thread, does anyone know any Max books?

max books are few and far between. there's something about that language that makes teaching via books unattractive. maybe because there's 8 ways to do any one thing.

actually, the Cycling 74 site is packed with lots of great reading on max/msp. once I started digging into their site I was amazed, they're pretty humble about presenting how much content they've stored.

start here:
http://cycling74.com/docs/max5/vignette ... intro.html

of course the max/msp tutorials are amazing.

also ask in the max4Live forum. I've been out of the m4L loop since summer started, go figure. time to get OUTSIDE and play.

[The Northern Contingent]

Out of curiosity, and at the risk of stealing the thread, does anyone know any Max books?

max books are few and far between. there's something about that language that makes teaching via books unattractive. maybe because there's 8 ways to do any one thing.

actually, the Cycling 74 site is packed with lots of great reading on max/msp. once I started digging into their site I was amazed, they're pretty humble about presenting how much content they've stored.

start here:
http://cycling74.com/docs/max5/vignette ... intro.html

of course the max/msp tutorials are amazing.

also ask in the max4Live forum. I've been out of the m4L loop since summer started, go figure. time to get OUTSIDE and play.

Too right - I'm spending too much of my life staring at a frikkin screen. That said, I'll definitely take a look at the Cycling 74 site - cheers for link!

[antarktika]

it's an okay book, but it mostly just compiles information you can find elsewhere, and then sort of breaks down the general aspects of various genres, omitting jungle/dnb for whatever reason.

[skipkent]

I'm reading the Kindle version right now and am finding it very informative and good reading overall. I don't come from an electronic music background, so for me it does a great job describing in great detail the thinking and structure behind a lot of music that I hear all the time but don't otherwise know very well, if that makes any sense.

For people who have been living and breathing this stuff all along it's probably no big deal, but I'm very happy to have paid someone else to collect all this information into one highly-readable book. I'm not really a fan of dance music (it was a perjorative term when I was growing up) but have come to really admire the craft and creativity in a lot of this music. I've also come to find, as have many, that as simple as the elements of much of it may be, making a driving and entertaining track is no simple task, not by a long shot.

Just an added thought on the 'perjorative term' comment. I remember seeing 'House Music' as an irritating invasion into the night clubs where I used to enjoy dancing to punk, rock and roll and new wave. I always enjoyed the sudden change in feel from one song to another and have never come to fully appreciate the who concept of 'beat-matching' songs so that they slide effortlessly one into the other. Then again, I guess they call it 'Trance' for a reason!

[Jome7]

Ok, thanks. What about this one: "Music theory for Electronic Musicians by Hewitt"? Or if anyone has any other suggestions? I am thinking of getting both.

[skipkent]

There's a lot of common ground between the two. I'd go with the Snowman and just settle down with that for a while and take it all in.

[Tone Deft]

Mastering Audio by Bob Katz is a well like general book on audio. it won't teach you how to make drum and bass but it shows you the ropes of audio.

ever read the tips and tricks stickies?? TONS of free, great info in there.

[carrieres]

what about the Simon Cann books ?

[Goddard]

Buy Hewitt and forget Snoman... The only chapter I found interesting in Snowman's "Manual..." was about clearing samples. Since then: no samples
On contrary Hewitt book is very usefull...