A Hudson Booksellers Best Non-Fiction Book of the Year, with foreword by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy High Fidelity meets Killing Yourself to Live when one man searches for his lost record collection. As he finds himself within spitting distance of middle-age, journalist Eric Spitznagel feels acutely the loss of… something. Freedom? Maybe. Coolness? Could be. The records he sold in a financial pinch? Definitely. To find out for sure, he sets out on a quest to find the original vinyl artifacts from his past. Not just copies. The exact same records: The Bon Jovi record with his first girlfriend's phone number scrawled on the front sleeve. The KISS Alive II he once shared with his little brother. The Replacements Let It Be he’s pretty sure, 20 years later, would still smell like weed. As he embarks on his hero's journey, he reminisces about the actual records, the music, and the people he listened to it with—old girlfriends, his high school pals, and, most poignantly, his father and his young son. He explores the magic of music and memory as he interweaves his adventures in record-culture with questions about our connection to our past, the possibility of ever recapturing it, and whether we would want to if we could. "Memories are far more indelible when married to the physical world, and Spitznagel proves the point in this vivid book. We love vinyl records because they combine the tactile, the visual, the seeable effects of age and care and carelessness. When he searches for the records he lost and sold, Spitznagel is trying to return to a tangible past, and he details that process with great sensitivity and impact."—Dave Eggers, New York Times bestselling author of The Circle

Sinatra. Streisand. Dylan. Pavarotti. McCartney. Sting. Madonna. What do these musicians have in common besides their super-stardom? They have all worked with legendary music producer Phil Ramone. For almost five decades, Phil Ramone has been a force in the music industry. He has produced records and collaborated with almost every major talent in the business. There is a craft to making records, and Phil has spent his life mastering it. For the first time ever, he shares the secrets of his trade. Making Records is a fascinating look "behind the glass" of a recording studio. From Phil's exhilarating early days recording jazz and commercial jingles at A&R, to his first studio, and eventual legendary producer status, Phil allows you to sit in on the sessions that created some of the most memorable music of the 20th century -- including Frank Sinatra's Duets album, Bob Dylan's Blood on the Tracks, Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company and Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years. In addition to being a ringside seat for contemporary popular music history, Making Records is an unprecedented tutorial on the magic behind what music producers and engineers do. In these pages, Phil offers a rare peek inside the way music is made . . . illuminating the creative thought processes behind some of the most influential sessions in music history. This is a book about the art that is making records -- the way it began, the way it is now, and everything in between.

Musician's Record It takes many years to excel at recording (whether at home or in a commercial facility), and if you desire to become a professional recordist then that's what's required. But if you're a musician who wants to garner a reaction to your song, then you don't have time for that. You need to make a Killer Record right now. But how? First, stop thinking like a recordist. If you're a musician, and you record, this book will prove an invaluable resource (I encourage you to read the reviews. People love this book). I explain all the things that I've learned as a high-level professional recordist, mixer, and producer over the course of decades, but as they relate to you as a musician, your songs, and the long view of your recording career. The Goal The stated goal of this book is to convert recording decisions into musical ones, and technical decisions into practical ones. Not only do I explain the musical strategies for making a Killer Record, I also break the technical information down to its core so that you can strategize based on your recording reality. So long as you have what you need to make a record, I can help you make it a Killer Record. This is the only additional gear you'll require to greatly improve the quality of your records. Who am I? I'm Mixerman, a gold and multi-platinum award winning producer, mixer, and recordist. I was in precisely your position at the early stages of my career. I was a musician, frustrated that I could write a good song, only to feel the record itself fell short of it's potential. Over the course of my decades recording, I noticed that the performance and arrangement had a far greater impact on the sound than anything I did on the engineering side. The more musical my decisions, the better my results. What You Can Expect This Studio Field Manual is chock full of recording, mixing, and producing strategies designed to keep recording a fun and focused process. You will return to this manual time and time again to help you overcome any impediment--technical or musical--that might prevent you from achieving the results you seek, regardless of your recording environment, regardless of what equipment you're using, and regardless of your current skillset. You can make a Killer Record under nearly any circumstance. It just requires the right mindset.

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.