Musician’s Survival Guide – Table of Contents

© 2018 All Rights Reserved
Welcome! My upcoming book Musician’s Survival Guide to a Killer Record is complete!
In April of 2018, I ran an Indiegogo Campaign to fund the book, and raised $16,000 essentially through pre-sales. That may seem like a lot of money, but not when it comes to producing a book, my friends. And sure, I could have approached my publisher with this book, but if I’m going to write to Independent Musicians, then I think it makes more sense to write as an Independent author.
The book clocks in at about 103,000 words, and it took me the better part of 4 months to write, mostly because I’ve never written a book like this specifically for musicians. As such, many of my suggestions for those who would be engineers, have been turned on their head. The whole point of hiring an engineer is to keep the technical out of the musicians way. But how do you do that for yourself? You simplify things, that’s how.
In this Survival Guide, I break down recording decisions to musical ones, and technical decisions to practical ones, so that any musician, regardless of skill, regardless of recording environment, and regardless of gear, can make a record they can be proud of. That is to say, a Killer Record. You have what you have, and what you have is going to change.
This book addresses how to make a Killer Record now, using only the resources available to you. That is what a Survival Guide is for, after all. The Kindle version of the book is currently available for advance purchase, and you’ll be happy to know that I have priced it aggressively at $9.99, because I want as many musicians as possible to benefit from it. That said, it’s a temporary price. So, if you like reading books on your computer, pad, or phone, now would be the time to pick it up.
Musician’s Survival Guide to a Killer Record Table of Contents
- The Intro 1
- Mindset 6
- Keep It Simple, Stupid 10
- Intent 12
- F.E.A.R. 14
- Technology 20
- Exceptions 22
- Expectations 23
- Mindset 6
- The Music 27
- The Song 27
- The Performance 32
- Discipline 36
- Arrangement 40
- Musical Function 41
- Melody 41
- Harmony 42
- Rhythm 42
- Response 42
- Countermelody 43
- Bass 43
- Mixerman’s Five Planes of Space 45
- Panning—Left to Right 46
- Frequency—Up to Down 50
- Contrast—Sparse to Dense / Bright to Dark 51
- Reflectivity—Far to Near 53
- Balance—Front to Back / Large to Small 55
- Relativity in Balance 56
- Proportionality in Balance 57
- Frequency 58
- Harmonic Series 61
- Frequency Range of Instruments 63
- Frequency Tonality 65
- Low End 65
- Lower Midrange 65
- Upper Midrange 66
- High End 67
- Tempo 67
- Click 68
- Instrumentation 70
- Simple Arrangements 72
- Voice Leading 74
- Forward Motion 74
- Prosody 76
- Musical Function 41
- The Basics 79
- Sample Rate and Bit Depth 80
- Gain Staging and Bussing 85
- The 2-Bus 89
- Monitoring 93
- The Interface 99
- Microphones 101
- The Capsule 101
- Pick-Up Patterns 101
- Cardioid 102
- Omnidirectional 102
- Figure-8 103
- Powered Microphones 103
- Tube Microphones 103
- Microphone Types 104
- Condenser Microphones 104
- Small Diaphragm Condenser (SDC) 104
- Large Diaphragm Condenser (LDC) 104
- Dynamic Microphone 105
- Ribbons 107
- Speaker Mic 108
- Stereo Mic 109
- USB Mic 110
- Direct Box / Direct Injection 110
- Pad and Roll-Off 111
- Seemingly Arbitrary Notes Section 111
- Microphone Attributes Cheat Sheet 112
- The Capsule 101
- Mic Preamps 113
- Distortion 114
- Distortion Flavors 116
- Clipping 117
- Bitcrusher 117
- Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) 117
- Overdrive 118
- Crunch 118
- Buzz 118
- Fuzz 118
- Woolly 119
- Tape Saturation 119
- Saturation 120
- Spitting 120
- Tube Distortion 120
- Tube Screamer 121
- Breakup 121
- Distortion Levels 121
- Distortion Flavors 116
- Processing 123
- Equalizers (EQ) 123
- Bell Curve 123
- Shelf 124
- Filters 125
- The Q Factor 127
- Tilt 128
- Frequency Analyzers 128
- EQ Strategies 129
- EQ in Solo 131
- Exciters 131
- Sub-Frequency Generators 132
- Compressors 132
- VCA Compressor 133
- FET Compressor 133
- Valve or Tube Compressor 133
- Optical Compressor 134
- Compressor Operation 134
- Ratio 135
- Threshold 136
- The Knee 136
- Attack and Release Times 136
- Auto Release 138
- Audible Compression 139
- When to Apply Compression 140
- Compression in Series 141
- Multiband Compressor 142
- Limiters 143
- Stereo Compressors 145
- Sidechain 145
- Parallel Compression 146
- Analog Compression 147
- De-Essers 148
- eƒx Sends 150
- Reverb 154
- Natural Space 156
- Intimacy 157
- Choosing a Reverb 157
- Delays 158
- Time 159
- Feedback 159
- Delay Filters 160
- Mono Delay Tails 161
- Short Delays 161
- Taps 162
- Stereo Delays 163
- Programmable Delays 164
- Modulation 164
- Reverb 154
- Tuning 165
- Comping and Punching 168
- Editing 170
- Time Stretching 172
- MIDI 173
- Equalizers (EQ) 123
- The Process 177
- Source Room 178
- Source Instrument 181
- Source Player 183
- The Whole Source 185
- Stereo Miking 187
- Polarity 189
- Time Differential 192
- Why Mono Might Matter 193
- Stereo Miking Techniques 196
- X-Y 201
- Drums 203
- Drums in an Undersized Room 205
- Kik 208
- Snare 209
- Toms 211
- Gating Drums 212
- Sample Replace 213
- Drum Tuning 213
- Programmed Drums 214
- Bass 216
- Acoustic Bass 218Electric Keyboards 219
- Drums in an Undersized Room 205
- Electric Guitar 220
- The Amplifier 223
- The Virtual Amp 225
- Patterns 226
- Acoustic Guitar 231
- Mono Acoustic Guitar 232
- Acoustic Guitar / Vocal 233
- Piano 235
- Piano / Vocal 237
- Organs 238
- Synths 239
- Percussion 240
- Horns 242
- Strings 245
- Vocals 246
- Stereo Vocals 253
- Background Vocals 254
- Any Other Instrument 256
- Outro 259
- The Business 260
- The Product 262
- Making a Connection 265
- Bringing It Home 267
- Referencing 269
- Mastering and Mixing 272
- Producing 276
- The Coda 279
- The Review 282
- The Business 260
- Mixerman Recommends 287
Enjoy, #mixerman
