In the 1970s and 1980s, no one in the record business could claim higher standing than Alan Parsons. As a studio engineer or record producer, he worked closely with The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Hollies, Al Stewart, Ambrosia and his own Alan Parsons Project, racking up record sales and awards.
A few years ago, he was involved in an educational DVD project utilizing his studio and production skills, “The Art and Science of Sound Recording.”
Now that project has been put to print and more in-depth material added. The result is “Alan Parsons’ Art & Science of Sound Recording: The Book.”
A release describes it as offering “readers a classic ‘big picture’ view of modern recording technology in conjunction with an almost encyclopedic list of specific techniques, processes and equipment.” It also looks at “how sound is created and how it behaves before moving on to the different processes of manipulating sound recordings such as EQ, reverb, delays, compression; covering how to work and record with live musicians as well as the art and science that go into the mixing process.”
Parsons describes the project, “With the videos we strove to keep you visually and aurally entertained. Now, you can be reading this at home, or in a busy Starbucks, or on a plane … you can read one page at a sitting or one chapter, or just dive in here and there using the index or the glossary.”
The book was co-authored with musician and music technology book author Julian Colbeck.
Parsons and Colbeck will be at the AES show in Los Angeles for a book introduction and signing, Oct. 10, at noon at the Hal Leonard booth (#1141).
