I’m rereading Composing Electronic Music currently. It’s an excellent book.
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I’m reading the Dummy one now, SAW2 and Homogenic are also so good! I went to check out if 33 1/3rd got its own thread here and realized I already liked your post 
They always scour interviews for process (over obsessive technologizing, which forum conversations often seem to go in the direction of to my dismay) and I enjoy the contextualization of whatever peers in their orbit contributed quietly to a work.
Just wanted to thank you, I’m currently reading Composing Electronic Music which I bought on a whim based on your post and I’m thoroughly enjoying it!
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I missed the kickstarter for the reprint of Strange, does anyone know where the reprint might be available to purchase now?
I don’t know… but there is a topic about:
Wondering what top books made a profound impact on the way you approach your art form of creating music? Maybe books on music or maybe books that seem wildly off-topic at first. What did it teach you?
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Following this thread closely!
Not sure if this will be a great answer but I really enjoyed Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. The audio book is read by the author and is great.
It’s about how many aspects of our current era are systematically tuned to “Steal” your attention. Social Media and big companies, etc.
It sheds a light on the idea (that I happen to agree with) that so much of this is simply outside of our control and not something we can expect any individual to self regulate to a reasonable degree.
Huge forces are making billions keeping us scrolling and clicking and it’s not enough to ask the average person to “opt out.”
I feel like this ties a good amount into the current moment of music production and influencer culture.
The book itself helped me realize that I’m being preyed on by a machine that just wants my money and attention.
I’m not going to do anything cold turkey, live in the woods, banging on goat skins for my music…
… but this was the kick in the butt I needed to shift my attention away from the next “hot box” and just focus more on my craft and the music I want to make with the amazing bit of kit I’ve already got.
E: oh I will say, the book starts a liiiiitle slow and the author almost sounds a bit out of touch. But stick with it. It gets way better. He does a ton of interviews with professionals from many fields to draw his conclusions and it gets to be really engaging maybe a quarter way in and beyond.
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Perhaps these:
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This is probably the answer I need to hear, and definitely not the answer I want to hear.
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Bob Katz - Mastering Audio - The Art and The Science
A deep dive into all things audio theory, not just mastering, but covering a broad range of topics in analogue and digital audio systems. Quite technical at times, but also includes some great digressions and anecdotes to illustrate his points, brimming with history and a superb reference book to have around.
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Making Music Cycling 74 book is good even for diehard Logic users like myself.
Brian Eno’s card deck of Oblique Strategies
Fux book on Fugue’s, practice the counter melody exercises, gives a great starting point for baroque / hip hop syncopation
Instant Mastery, teaches you how to approach practice and self learning exercises
Secrets of the Mix Engineer, the chapter on compressors is excellent
Rick Rubin’s recent book is probably best for producers working with and for bands and singer song writers rather than a production engineers p.o.v. I haven’t finished reading it.
This reminds me there was an interesting book on hand/finger drumming MPC style I need to look up.
There’s a bunch more I’m forgetting I need to look thru my bookshelf
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It’s all in what you make of it. Nothing wrong with enjoying some new boxes.
I read or heard from someone, possibly on here, something else that stuck with me. I’m a terrible paraphraser but something to the extent of “Do you want to be a musician or a music machine technician.”
This isn’t at all slamming the use of technical boxes, but rather being up front about your goals. I’m an engineering tech and work with a lot of different technologies and processes daily. A huge part of me DOES love to get into a new piece of music kit and learn how it works and what I could do with it. I could do this with a new box every week, make some cool noises, and be happy.
But when (more like if, because my goals are always shifting) I want the pendulum to swing more towards musicianship, I’d be better off spending more time getting to know the gear I have inside and out rather than spending time learning something new that I may not stick with. Something something, nobody is good at the violin right away, etc.
This absolutely can apply to learning a complicated electronic setup as well. I’m in no way implying musicianship can’t come from that realm. This is all extremely personal as well, and just my own take. You can absolutely make music even while trying many machines.
It’s just that for my own, personal journey, I’ve decided that I need more time exploring the nuances of my kit and less time worrying about what the next piece is.
I’m rambling but these kinds of ideas are also things I’ve arrived at from another book suggestion I have.
Essentialism - Greg McKeown
I know neither of these books have been explicitly musical in nature, but for me, my problems are more in the focus / effort / goal oriented realm, especially because I’ve made some music in semi-professional capacity.
The book can be a bit repetitive and maybe “preachy” at times but it left me with some lasting ideas that my time and how I choose to spend it is a zero sum game. (Time spent trying a new box is time lost getting to know my Rytm more.)
It had me question what I actually want out of these bleep bloops I make and thinking of the greater picture of the creative work I want to pursue, a rhetorical exercise I promptly ignored for the better part of the last year while I continued to waste more time watching demo vids and reading forums and manuals for potential purchases than I spent making music with my kit.
But the point is I was now more aware of this tendency I have and could tune my focus to the behavior / impulses. And now I’m taking some active steps away from that direction (NGNY.)
Sorry for rant. This subject has been on my mind a lot lately.
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“On Photography”, by Susan Sontag. It’s a book I’ve read at 3 slightly different points in my life and was able to digest in 3 slightly different ways.
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I’m reading this now BTW
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Kitchen Confidential; I think I read it for the first time about 15-20 years ago, have re-read/audiobooked it many times since.
I don’t work in kitchens, but I do work in a similar environment of shitheels, scary sweethearts, hustlers, good ol’ honest day-jobbers, and a soupçon of genuine artists.
Don’t know if I can break down exactly what I get out of it, but the older I get, the more I get.
Def worth the quick read
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I read a book on synthesis. The types, what is used to do what. https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=470232597
I messaged they guy about a VST I had started using to ask him what he thought of it and he had never heard of it.
His book on Analog Synthesis just used subtractive VST’s that are commonly used. And so he told me he just works with a few instruments and gets familiar with those. It was nice the guy answered some questions.
I learned a lot about the components of sound design using synthesis. And that I should try to keep it to just a few key pieces to keep my focus. Now to just keep myself actively just doing.
Though not a book, I’m also inspired by interviews of artist’s I enjoy or relate to.
One I think of is Rob Zombie, he had said in a Rolling Stone interview that, ‘Seeing the acts that were playing at the time, I thought if they could do it, so could I.’
He didn’t want to see himself as put into the Popular category and thought that would be a bad thing societally if he was. So many interesting view points inspire me.
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