Recording, Mixing, and Sound Engineering

A Practical Guide to Studio Systems, Live Sound Reinforcement, and the Acoustics of Loudspeakers and RoomsBy Desmond Achterberg

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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

1Recording, Mixing, and Sound Engineering

2Foreword

3Preface

4About This Book

5Chapter 1: Sound, Level and the Decibel

Mostrar todos os capítulos

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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