This CD-ROM will teach you about recording

By Steve Langer, added February 17, 2003

The Interactive Guide to Home Recording is the best product for learning about recording that you've likely never even heard about.

It's a CD-ROM for your computer. At first glance, I wanted to give the Interactive Guide to Home Recording a "very highly recommended" rating. After using it for a few months, I can't think of a better accessory for the home studio.

The two meaty sections of the CD-ROM are the basic principles section and the instrument section. Here you'll learn about production and session planning, microphone selection and placement, compression and limiting, reverb and effects, signal flow, level setting and equalization.

The equalization section is the single most useful section of any recording reference on the market. There are different parameters in mixing. When I hear an amateur mix, the one thing that usually tells me amateur when everything else seems fine is the EQ.

EQ is perhaps the most difficult thing to describe to a newbie. The Interactive Guide to Home Recording tells you about EQ and then lets you hear how EQ changes affect a sound.

The next thing I find lacking in amateur recordings is the judicious use of compression. The Interactive Guide to Home Recording takes you through the standard parameters found on most compressors and explains their function and how to dial in the desired sound.

The CD-ROM contains an instrument index which tells you how to track musical instruments. What microphone? Does the track need compression? Is EQ normally used? If so, then what setting?

I get asked all the time how to improve recordings made at home. Even though I'm a gear freak, I tell people the answer they don't want to hear: "Improve your skills." I can't think of a finer or faster way to improve recording skills than the Interactive Guide to Home Recording.

The Bottom Line: The finest source available to teach newbie and intermediate recordists the skills of recording and production. At $39, it's one of the best values in pro audio. Very highly recommended.

Link relating to this review: Pomona