Recording, Mixing, and Sound Engineering
A Practical Guide to Studio Systems, Live Sound Reinforcement, and the Acoustics of Loudspeakers and RoomsBy Desmond Achterberg
Length15h 3m
About this audiobook
Stop copying settings. Start understanding sound.
Most recording advice is a list of settings that worked once in someone else's room. This book gives you the reasons instead, so the settings follow. You will learn how level, wavelength and room modes decide what a microphone can capture, why two microphones on one source comb filter and how to place them so they do not, and how polar patterns and proximity effect change a tone before any processing happens.
From there you work through gain staging, converters, latency, compression time constants, filter behaviour, reverb parameters and a full mix structure with automation and monitoring discipline. Closing chapters cover loudspeaker directivity, monitor placement, live reinforcement, system alignment and gain before feedback. For audio engineers, students and studio operators who want the physics behind the practice.
What you will learn:
• How sound level, the decibel and psychoacoustics shape every recording decision
• How room acoustics and treatment control what reaches the microphone
• How polar patterns, proximity effect and microphone technique alter tone before processing
• How stereo and immersive capture techniques create width and depth without phase problems
• How signal flow, impedance and gain staging keep noise low and headroom intact
• How digital audio, converters and latency affect tracking in the DAW
• How compression time constants, equalisation and filters work on real sources
• How reverb, delay and modulation parameters build space and movement
• How to structure a mix with automation, monitoring discipline and loudspeaker directivity in mind
Whether you are an audio engineer, a student of recording, or a studio operator moving between the control room and live sound, this guide connects the physics to the practice. If you want to make decisions from understanding rather than memory, this book is for you.
Audiobook details
GenreTechnology, Science and Nature
Length15 hrs 3 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateSep 27, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Recording, Mixing, and Sound Engineering
2Foreword
3Preface
4About This Book
5Chapter 1: Sound, Level and the Decibel
Show all chaptersShow less
61.1 Sound Pressure, Particle Motion and Power
71.2 The Decibel as a Ratio, and the Scales in Use
81.3 Weighting Curves and Frequency-Selective Level
91.4 Inverse-Square Behaviour and Distance Loss
101.5 Wavelength, Frequency and the Audible Band
111.6 Phase, Interference and Comb Filtering
12Chapter 2: Psychoacoustics
132.1 Loudness, Equal-Loudness Behaviour and the Phon
142.2 Critical Bands and Masking
152.3 Localisation Cues
162.4 The Precedence Effect and Fusion
172.5 Distance, Timbre and the Room Cue
18Chapter 3: Room Acoustics and Treatment
193.1 Room Modes and Modal Spacing
203.2 Reverberation Time and the Sabine Relation
213.3 Critical Distance and the Direct-to-Reverberant Ratio
223.4 Porous Absorbers and Their Limits
233.5 Bass Traps and Pressure-Zone Treatment
243.6 Diffusion, Scattering and Small-Room Strategy
25Chapter 4: Microphones
264.1 Dynamic, Condenser and Ribbon Transduction
274.2 Polar Patterns and the Pressure-Gradient Principle
284.3 Proximity Effect and Low-Frequency Behaviour
294.4 Sensitivity, Self-Noise and Maximum Level
304.5 Directional Microphone Construction and Interference
31Chapter 5: Microphone Technique
325.1 Distance, Direct Sound and Comb Filtering
335.2 Multi-Microphone Phase and Polarity
345.3 Drums and Percussion
355.4 Electric Guitar, Bass and Amplifiers
365.5 Piano, Strings, Brass and Woodwind
375.6 Voice and the Spoken Word
38Chapter 6: Stereo and Immersive Capture
396.1 Coincident, Near-Coincident and Spaced Arrays
406.2 Mid-Side and Matrix Techniques
416.3 Orchestral and Ensemble Capture
426.4 Ambience and Room Capture
436.5 Surround and Height Considerations
44Chapter 7: Signal Flow, Impedance and Gain Staging
457.1 Balanced and Unbalanced Interconnection
467.2 Preamplifier Gain, Noise Floor and Headroom
477.3 Console and Summing Architecture
487.4 Inserts, Sends, Buses and Patching
497.5 Grounding, Hum and Interference
50Chapter 8: Digital Audio
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