Product Description Audio productions are made or broken by the quality of the recording engineer's ears. The ability to properly discern sounds, identify subtle problems, and act accordingly to apply the necessary fix makes all the difference in the quality of the final tracks and master. The good news is that these crucial skills can be learned. The ability to instantly identify frequencies, hear hidden distortions, and instinctively reconcile conflicts in the EQ of instruments, audio elements, vocals and more are traits of those who have mastered the art of audio production. The best engineers have trained their ears to immediately recognize audio problems that the consumer and those new to recording arts would likely not hear, but that, if left unresolved, would result in an amateurish final product. For more than two decades, students of F. Alton Everest's Critical Listening and Auditory Perception courses have rapidly developed these skills by using the intense lessons found in this book and on the CD. Unfortunately the books and CDs included with the course were usually too expensive for aspiring engineers to purchase and were often available only in colleges, universities, or school libraries. Now for the first time these indispensable training sessions are available with this release of Critical Listening Skills for Audio Professionals. Through hundreds of illustrations and an accompanying disc containing high-resolution MP3 files with nearly five hours of narration of the entire course, you can acquire the audio discernment skills of a seasoned recording engineer by studying this course at your own pace, in your own home.
CD corrupt August 13, 2008 1 out of 7 found this review helpful
Another review mentioned that the CD was corrupt. I hoped to get lucky and ordered it anyway but, alas, the CD delivered to me was corrupt, too. The book looks good but it is pointless without a CD. Has anyone figured out how to get a working CD?
Review June 29, 2008 0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Great book for begginers looking to understant the basics of sound. Clear and easy to understand.
mp3 files on cd???? May 29, 2008 4 out of 11 found this review helpful
i just tried to listen to the track lessons on my very expensive and revealing audio system, and to my surprise the tracks on the cd lessons are on MP3!!! WHAT??? a book made for critical listeners can't hear it on a high end cd player! i dont believe this. they have the nerve to say this in page 4: "if you cannot hear these extreme tones, it may be either the fault of your ears or the fault of you equipment" ....so my $20,000 cd player is responsible for not hearing you crappy mp3 files?
essential tool for all audio students May 4, 2008 10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is acutally a compilation of two of Alton Everests ear training books. The first, Critical listening skills, plays different frequencies, amplitudes, bands, filters, amount of total harmonic distorion, and revervbs. Then you are forced to recognize changes within these different areas. These are crucial ear training skills for anyone trying to break into the world of audio. It's not somehting you can go through once and leave. The book should become part of a routine of ear training.
The second book, Auditory perception, discusses issues relating to the differences between how sound occurs and how we actually perceive it. Another valuable tool for understanding how sound works.
Aparantly this book has been around for a long time but was, until this edition, only available in very expensive editions that were catering toward institutions. This is done by puting the 6 cd's onto 1 mp3 cd. This is my one complaint about this book, that people trying to become audio pros shouldn't use compromised quality files when training there ears. That is why I use the cd's as a guide and for the projects that require more acurate listening I use a tone generator in my DAW to recreate the sounds at a higher quality.
All in all an excellent tool that has, in a short time, already proven very helpfull.
Definetely, the book for improving your audio listening skills! May 2, 2008 11 out of 11 found this review helpful
This book contains some clear and self explanatory audio exercises. I hate to acknowledge that most of the exercises could have already been performed by using a 'free' (computer) tone generator to explore the different frequency ranges. Beware, it will require time to learn to listen properly. I was very wrong to believe that by listening to the contents once, I was set. I would suggest to make copies of use a separate sheet of paper to answers the exercises. This way you can repeat it, over and over. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in improving his/her audio listening skills.
*PROS: -Good and helpful exercises -Nice correlation between the audio exercises and the freq. graphs on the book. -If you have no patience to play with a tone generator, this book is well suited for you.
*CONS -The CD without the book or the book without the CD become useless. -You need to read the book while you listen to the CD. -The CD is in fact an MP3-CD, so you may not play it anywhere you want. -I have the impression that the book is kind of expensive. Many of the exercises can already be performed by anyone using a (free) tone generator. - The book is kind of bulky to take it anywhere.
All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a trademark of Amazon.com Information about prices, products, services and merchants is provided by third parties and is for informational purposes only. Caribbean Travel Books does not represent or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information, and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.
