A few months ago, JP Ruggieri and I were enjoying a pint of Guinness in an English pub and talking music…
During the conversation, we got to talking about books that changed our musical lives.
I want to share them with you.
I judge a book’s success if a year later I’m still using at least 1 thing from the book.
Takeaways from my 10 favorite music books:
- What good music sounds like.
- There’s nothing new under the sun.
- Fixed vs. growth mindset.
- Stay in the goldilocks zone.
- How to fix a broken song.
- How to thwart mix overwhelm.
- How to choose a microphone.
- The emotional power of the auto 3D Effect.
- How to visualize a mix.
- Developing your own production aesthetic.
- Is the artist happy?
- Accentuate what makes the artist different.
Guitar Rigs: Classic Guitar & Amp Combinations – Dave Hunter
- The amp is more important than the guitar.
- There are less than 10 basic guitar tones. Start there and then make your own.
The Ultimate Drum Tuning Revolution DVD – Udo Masshoff (Okay, it’s a DVD)
- Tuning drums is an easy system.
- There are less than 10 basic drum tones. Start there and then make your own.
- How to not be fooled by your monitoring system.
- Using early reflections to take your mixes to the next level.
- More speaker volume = less compression and vice versa.
- How to think like a mixer and not a musician. (hint: think A-B NOT A+B).
- Where to place EQ’s in the signal chain.
Happy Reading!
Chris
Note: When I first read these books, I was reading at the avg. human reading speed which is about 200 words per minute (wpm). It was a slog to get through them all. Most books are around 90,000 words. You can do the math…
Then, I took Howard Berg’s Maximum Power Learning courses. Howard is The World’s Fastest Reader. Because of his courses, I’ve more than doubled my reading speed.
When you take his course, you’ll be able to read these books at least twice as fast as your peers. Which means, you’ll be on the FAST TRACK to a sustainable music career.
If you’re tired of not being able to craft your musical vision, you need to read these books. And you need to read them FAST.
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