About the Book
A new edition of this definitive guide to the Pro Tools system for new and professional users. Extensively illustrated in colour and packed with time saving hints and tips the book takes a real-world approach and shows how to build the right system to suit your needs. Detailed chapters on recording, editing and mixing blend essential knowledge with tutorials and practical examples from actual recordings.
This edition features a wealth of new and updated material, including HD systems and Pro Tools 8 software.
About the Author :
Mike Collins (Author)
Mike Collins is a studio musician, recording engineer and producer with more than 30 years experience of making records. He has many credits on UK chart singles and albums, for radio and TV broadcasts, advertising jingles and movie scores.
Mike was awarded a BSc Degree in Electroacoustics-with-Music from Salford University in 1979, became a Member of the Audio Engineering Society in 1980, and was awarded an MSc Degree in Music Information Technology, with Distinction, in 1989.
After graduating, he spent 14 months working on transducer designs for Standard Telephones and Cables (STC), followed by a couple of 6-month stints as a Planning & Installation Engineer for Neve Electronics and as a Film Sound Consultant for Dolby Labs, before joining Yamaha's London R & D Studio in 1986 as Senior Recording Engineer and Music Technology Specialist.
Working freelance since 1988, Mike has regularly reviewed music and audio software and hardware and written about a variety of audio and music production topics, with more than 2000 articles and reviews published in Pro Sound News Europe, Future Music, Computer Music, Macworld, MacUser, Personal Computer World, Sound On Sound, AudioMedia, Studio Sound, Electronic Musician, EQ, MIX and similar publications.
In parallel with this, Mike established a career throughout the 1990's as a studio musician, MIDI programmer, recording engineer and producer working on Top 40 albums and singles in the leading London recording studios including Abbey Road, Mayfair, Townhouse, Eden, Strongroom and Sony Whitfield Street Studios, CTS and Lansdowne Studios. In 1997, Mike set up a project studio equipped with a high-end Pro Tools system and has since been involved in everything from dance remixes to TV ads, background and featured music for TV and video, album editing and compilation, and, since 1999, producing jazz, blues and soul recordings. Notable projects include working on music for a Deutsche Bank promotional video, co-production credits on Ayetoro, an experimental jazz/Afrobeat album, and, in 2010, working as a freelance audio transfer engineer at Iron Mountain's studio facility in Slough, helping to digitize Universal Music's vast library of master tape recordings. Most recently, Mike has set up a 'boutique' record label to release recordings he has produced - see http://rudenoterecords.com/author/rudenoterecords/
Review :
Praise for the first edition of Pro Tools for Music Production: "A must-read for anyone involved with Pro Tools." Linda Taylor, Rubicon Music "Whether a Pro Tools rookie or expert, this book will teach you something. No Pro Tools user should ever be far away from a copy." David Fanning, Macworld "Totally everything you want to know on the subject - its the full-bandwidth book on Pro Tools, taking you from a simple mono session all the way through to a full 32-track mixing session. The many steps along the way to creating a finished audio production are very well explained. This is the one book you should definitely have by your side when you need to know which way to go with Pro Tools. Bedside reading for all users!" John Leckie, Producer (Radiohead, Simple Minds, Baaba Maal, Dr John and many other famous bands and artists). "A relaxed and practical overview of Pro Tools - a must-read for all levels of users. The Recording section has a useful beginner's guide with lots of tips, with the sections on Editing and Mixing offering progressively more advanced information. The step-by-step examples, complete with detailed computer screenshots are excellent. The guide to setting up your computer system is just fantastic, especially the practical tips on how to use the Norton Utilities to fix problems." Phil Harding, Chairman of the Music Producer"s Guild and Producer (Boyzone, East 17, Pet Shop Boys, Jesus Jones, Donna Summer, Kylie Monogue, Jason Donovan). "A must for anyone involved in recording music. You will instantly feel at home with this book - lots of great colour screen shots, terrific advice - and thoroughly professional in every way. Take it in small doses or heavy chunks and you will come away feeling that you have really learned something." Barry Stoller, Composer, 'Match of The Day' "Mike Collins is a seasoned trainer as well as an experienced user of technology and this background is reflected in the book"s intensely down-to-earth and practical approach. The book blends exactly the right amount of technical and anecdotal information to maintain both the reader"s interest and sense of being involved in an "actual" learning situation. I can recommend this book to students knowing that they will be able to simply pick it up and get on with it - without losing themselves in empty technical detail or practical blind alleys. It covers just about every aspect of Pro Tools you will need to know about for music production." Jim Barrett ,Music Technology Course Leader, University of Glamorgan "If you want to know what is possible with Pro Tools and how it works this book will tell you. More than that it really helps you understand what you are doing and why. It"ll be living in my briefcase from now on." Roger Askew, Broadcast Audio Engineer, Sky TV Praise for the second edition of Pro Tools for Music Production: "Mike Collins has done it again! This book is a comprehensive guide to Pro Tools HD systems and clearly illustrates the variety of options available. From the straightforward guide to MIDI recording, editing and playback, to digital audio recording, monitoring, looping and overdubbing, this book has it all. I particularly valued the many new practical examples about editing, mixing and transferring projects ? and the extremely useful explanations of how to use Reason and Live with Pro Tools. A bible for all Pro Tools users." Geoff Smith, Producer (Boosey Media / Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishing Ltd) "I was impressed with Pro Tools 5.1 for Music Production, which I bought last year, and I have been eagerly awaiting this new edition to help me plan my next upgrade. Sure enough, this book ?hits the spot? by explaining everything I need to know about the Pro Tools HD hardware and Pro Tools 6.1 software for Mac OSX. It is extremely readable, well laid out and easy to follow. The hints and tips are great if you need to get up to speed quickly, and Mike's personal experience and advice is always useful and consistently reliable. This is a book that will stay very close to my computer!" Neill Strickland, Technical Director (Sound & Comms, BBC World News) "Some of the most commonly asked questions about new hardware system set-ups are answered clearly and straightforwardly, and the excellent, detailed new chapter on MIDI is packed with useful tips and hints that go well beyond what you'll find in the manual. The book also has a useful overview of the Virtual Instruments now available for Pro Tools systems and includes great advice on how to successfully run Reason and Ableton Live with Pro Tools. The final 'piece de resistance' is the excellent Appendix all about transferring projects between software and hardware platforms. This used to be a nightmare ? but no more!" Phil Harding, Producer / Engineer / Songwriter (East 17, Pet Shop Boys, Boyzone, Kylie Minogue)
