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
• 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
• 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
  • 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
  • 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
    • Tuning   165
    • Comping and Punching   168
    • Editing   170
      • Time Stretching   172
    • MIDI   173
• 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
  • 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
• Mixerman Recommends   287

Enjoy, #mixerman