September 2020 Book update!

Dear WaveShapers!

I hope all is well with you. Attached is the September 2020 update to my ever expanding book...

The biggest change is one I hope you won't see:  I've been using Mac Pages up until now and it has become so sluggish as the book has grown that it's just not usable, so I moved everything to Microsoft Word, and naturally that did not go smoothly. Hopefully I've uncovered all of the bugs, but if you see something is off - please let me know!

I tried Adobe InDesign first, and then immediately closed it after the initial shock seeing its home screen. And I thought Ableton Live was complicated...

Aside from that, I started out this month writing a chapter about hardware setups, and found that just the mixing part was big enough for two updates, so we'll start with that. 

I think it's appropriate to split mixing in to two - recording and mixing basics, and then more advanced topics like EQ and compression because, while they can greatly improve a mix, advanced tools might hold back many musicians due to the increased level of complexity and options.

When writing this chapter I consulted with audio engineers I trust, and my goal was to aim for the most important things for two reasons: (1) whole books can be written about the topic and that's not the goal here, and (2) to give confidence that once the basics are covered, it's possible to move on and finish a track, rather than endlessly tweak a mix.

I read somewhere that Billy Jean by Michael Jackson was mixed 91 times (!) and eventually they went with mix #2 - and I assure you mixes 3 thru 91 were all done by the best engineers money can buy, continuously tweaking and refining every bit of the mix to perfection... 

Anyway - here's what's new!

• Added a new chapter with recording tips and ideas.
• Added a new chapter - Mixing Part 1: The Basics, and moved the previous segment about insert and send effects into this chapter. Part 2 with more advanced topics (EQ, compression and more) is coming next month.
• Added a tip about bridging Eurorack levels to line levels, and two small additions to the audio interface buyer’s guide.

That's it for now - thanks to all the ongoing supporters and welcome to the new ones!

All my best,

Ziv (endlessly tweaking and refining every aspect of this book, based on a YouTube channel called "Loopop"...)