Getting Great Sounds: The Microphone Book

How to choose and use microphones was once a skill passed down from senior sound engineers to their assistants as they would listen and learn by observation. Today, few large studios have assistant engineers, and an overwhelming number of studios are operated by their owners who are self-taught and do not have the benefit of the big studio tutelage.

Getting Great Sounds: The Microphone Book imparts these microphone tips and tricks of the pros to make them available to any sound engineer or home studio enthusiast. It explains all aspects of all kinds of microphones, how they work, and how to use them in session recording. The conversational narrative style presents technical aspects in an easy-to-understand, humorous fashion, based on the real-life experiences of its author, a well-known recording engineer.

Contents
Intro - A Place To Begin
Chapter 1 - The first link in the sonic chain - Early microphone development
Chapter 2 - Microphone types and pick-up patterns
Chapter 3 - Polarity and phase - what it is and what it means
Chapter 4 - High- low impedance/ Balanced-unbalanced microphones
Chapter 5 - Other types of transducers - direct boxes, guitar pickups, etc
Chapter 6 - Accessories & necessary hardware - stands, booms, shockmounts
Chapter 7 - Stereo microphone techniques
Chapter 8 - Setting up a session
Chapter 9 - Good sound- Bad sound
Chapter 10 - Miking drums
Chapter 11 - Miking guitar
Chapter 12 - Miking pianos
Chapter 13 - Miking solo instrument and vocals
Chapter 14 - Miking classical sessions
Coda - Vibrations in the universe

About the author
Tom Lubin has held numerous positions in the recording and educational spheres throughout his long and illustrious career. Most recently, he was the Western Australian representative for the Australian Film Television and Radio School, after working as head of professional development and training at the Film and Television Institute in Western Australia. Before working as an educator, Tom worked as field sales manager for Fostex, and as part of their design team, he helped introduce some of the first recordable multitrack and digital recording systems. Tom has also worked as managing editor of Recording Engineer/Producer magazine (at the time the premier music and sound production trade publication in the U.S.), where he had the opportunity to interview some of the most prominent music producers of the time. Tom has also held positions at CBS Records Studios - San Francisco, The College of Recording Arts - San Francisco, Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios, and Gold Star. He is a lifetime member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.