Rating: 
Summary: Bad dog !!
Review: ...The reason I bought the book was because the manual provided with Pro Tools is a reference manual and I was in search of a "how to" guide with useful examples and real-world applications. And I'm still looking! This book simply mimicks much of what is convered in Digidesign's supplied reference manual and adds little additional content except for an odd emphasis on the producer and engineer's role in the preproduction and production process. And frankly I bought the book as a Pro Tools primer, not as a generalization of the production and engineering process---there are books far better than this which are dedicated to those topics. Additionally, the "bonus CD" included with the book is the equivalent of a "bonus" copy of AOL --- nothing more than a copy of Digidesign's "Pro Tools FREE", available as you would expect FOR FREE from their web site. As in music, books are subjective so you may glean far more than I from this book. Just buy at your own risk (or buy mine used...).
Rating:
Summary: Producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools
Review: Don't waste your time or money. This book will not show you how to use Pro Tools. Most of the book is dedicated to music business related stuff. If you want general information on how to become a record producer this book is for you. If you want to learn how to use the software program, this book is not for you.
Rating:
Summary: Not what I expected
Review: I agree with other reviews. Too much info. on production, types of mics to use, where to place instruments, etc. All I wanted to know was how to use Pro Tools. This book didn't do it. It gives some pretty basic info. on ProTools. I was looking more for a "How To" book that would explain how to do a session from start to finish. If it walked you through doing a track, how to patch sub-tracks, more in-depth of editing tracks, "bouncing" to CD, what to do, what not to do... it just was not what I expected. Maybe I'll write my own book on this since I've run into other user's who are just as frustrated with trying to learn this software.
Rating: 
Summary: I Love This Book!!!
Review: I am a musician, and I've wanted to produce and record my own music at home for a long time. I'm not very technically savvy, so I really needed something in addition to a manual to help me. This is the perfect book for me! It showed me how to set up my studio, gave me advice on microphone set up, sound in the room, and Pro Tools session work from start to finish. I don't know of a more perfect book for someone out there who is just getting into home recording. EXCELLENT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: I Love This Book!!!
Review: I am a musician, and I've wanted to produce and record my own music at home for a long time. I'm not very technically savvy, so I really needed something in addition to a manual to help me. This is the perfect book for me! It showed me how to set up my studio, gave me advice on microphone set up, sound in the room, and Pro Tools session work from start to finish. I don't know of a more perfect book for someone out there who is just getting into home recording. EXCELLENT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: I bought this Pro Tools book because it's been on Digidesign's home page for the past few months. It goes past what the manual talks about, and has a bunch of examples in text, pdf, and also on the CD rom. Another nice plus is that ProTools Free comes with it. Beats waiting for my modem to download it. It shows a lot of the more technical side of producing on ProTools, but also It basically teaches the reader how to be a successful producer and engineer. There's chapters on preproduction, miking, running a recording session, and a bunch of other topics. I got the most out of the chapters on Improving
System Performance and Efficiency, which explains ways to maximize your computer's processing power while using Pro Tools. My computer is kind of slow, so this made things quite a bit faster. Also, the chapter on mixing techniques explained things much more clearly than I've seen before. All in all, a good read. I highly recommend it for Pro Tools users of any level.
Rating:
Summary: Get this if you need Pro Tools help!
Review: I got an MBox for my laptop just to demo up some songs I have been working on (so I don't have to shell out at the studio). This book got me hooked up and recording in no time. Everything is explained really clearly and logically, definitely for home studio users. This book got me through more than just the manual that came with the MBox that's for sure...
Rating:
Summary: Get this if you need Pro Tools help!
Review: I got an MBox for my laptop just to demo up some songs I have been working on (so I don't have to shell out at the studio). This book got me hooked up and recording in no time. Everything is explained really clearly and logically, definitely for home studio users. This book got me through more than just the manual that came with the MBox that's for sure...
Rating:
Summary: BEST book there is for Pro Tools users...
Review: I just took an online Pro Tools class at berkeleymusic.com, and Dave Franz (the author of this book), is the most knowledgable person on Pro Tools around. We used his text to supplement the online course. But I bought his book months before the course began. Immediately, I was learning about sound fields and phantom images so I could get my monitoring and recording environment set up correctly (which I had set up VERY incorrectly to begin with). Next, he goes step by step into simple recording, and helps you out with input signals and example setups for all of DigiDesign's hardware (Digi001, Digi002, MBox, even PT Free) so you get good signal flow in through you whole system. From there, he progresses to more advanced recording techniques like punching and auto-punching and the different record modes. Also included in this book are system settings that will let you get the most out of Pro Tools from your current machine and chapters on mixing and basic plugin usage. The best are the example sessions included on the CD that allow you to see what he does in real time as compared to what's beign taught in the book. There are also trials of popular third-party plugins on the CD so you can sample some really powerful RTAS plugins while working in Pro Tools. Make sure if you buy this book, you are running Pro Tools 6.x. He has an earlier version of this book for users still running PT 5.x.x. All in all, if you are a beginner, this is the place to start, hands down, and more advanced users will find juicy tidbits here and there as well.
Rating:
Summary: david franz turns an artist into a producer
Review: I love coming up with creative pieces for my community radio show, but I'm an artist, not a producer. Being an artist, and having a solitary nature, the idea of producing quality recordings at home with Pro Tools sounded right up my alley. (Right. Now to figure out how to use the program... ) So I get a copy of David's book, and I immediately notice that his writing style is very natural and down to earth. His explanations of the various technical details are straightforward and clear, and the screen shots and graphs are very easy to understand. Unlike the manual, David includes chapters on all the areas that someone like me, a person with no formal training or education in recording, needs to learn about in order to produce a quality recording. Mastering the technical details can be the most challenging part for an artist exploring a new medium. This can certainly be done (painstakingly) with the manual and a lot of practice. But that's not the only challenge the artist faces. Besides covering many technical details, David addresses many challenges a home recording artist/producer like me could face, and fills in the detail about the recording process that is missing in the manual. For example, he explains what roles the producer and engineer, working in a home studio with Pro Tools, take on throughout the entire production process. Fortunately for me, he also describes many recording techniques, the steps to build a mix and and master it in Pro Tools, as well as how to optimize Pro Tools to run on my now outdated computer. To sum up, I highly recommend this book. It has given me the knowledge I need to build a successful home studio and make high quality recordings. If you want a book that integrates the technical details of the software manual with the realities of the whole recording process, and accomplishes this in a natural, straightforward, and often humorous way, then this is the book for you.
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