John Keane: The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools

We reviewed the original version of this book in Tape Op #31, and back then I felt it really helped get me through my introduction to Pro Tools. Now, six years on, Digidesign keeps moving ahead with new software versions (7.4.1, as of this writing), and with every version, there are new features to learn. John's second edition of this book came out this year, and made it up to Pro Tools 7.3, so we end up missing some of the newest features-but don't let that turn you away! This book covers so much ground, acts as a primer for recording in general, and offers so much sage advice for setting up and running (and troubleshooting) Pro Tools-advice you will never find in the manual. Chapters deal with getting started, creating sessions, tracking/overdubbing, editing, mixing, fixing drums, audio-quality issues, using a click, loops, recording whole bands, and more. A CD-ROM is included with a demo session to practice on (along with the lessons in the book), as well as some cheat sheets. There's so much detail in these 364 pages that many subjects can be tackled with the book's help; I use it like a manual, so the index and table of contents get a lot of action. Along with the also well-written, Producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools by David Franz, The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools makes dealing with Pro Tools quite a bit easier. I can't imagine not owning a copy for both my home and commercial studios. ($39.99; www.osborne.com, supercatpress.com