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What I've Been Doing the Past Year: 3 New Books!


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I"m really stoked to announce three new eBooks!! I"ve been working on them for a year, and they"re downloadable from Sweetwater. Perhaps the coolest aspect is that to keep them current, they"re treated like softwareâregistered owners get revisions for free (just like software point updates), and can buy new editions (like new software versions) at a reduced price.

 

Max Your Mix! is 292 pages, and covers the entire mixing process: the initial mixing mindset, using plug-ins such as EQ and dynamics effectively, virtual instruments, monitoring, mixing with MIDI, automation, sidechaining, mix referencing, and much moreâincluding the art of mixing. The goal of How to Record and Mix Great Guitar Tracks (280 pages) is to be the most comprehensive, guitarist-friendly book on recording and mixing guitarâwhether electric or acoustic. Its 280 pages start with how strings, picks, and pickups affect sound, ends with highly advanced processing techniques, and takes you through everything in between. The Huge Book of Studio One Tips and Tricks is 492 pages of updated, consolidated, and categorized tips from my 'Friday Tip' posts in the PreSonus blogâover 170 tips in all, with links to 83 preset files and over 60 audio examples.

 

Because they"re eBooks, with no printing, shipping, etc., they"re priced at $19.95 each. I"m really happy with these books, and I hope y"all enjoy them!! Any questions?

 

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That Studio One eBook looks pretty amazing!

 

 

Well, I kinda think it is :) But jeez, remind me not to do 492-page books in the future...every time I made a change and exported to PDF, I had to go through the PDF, page by page, to make sure some kind of layout glitch hadn't been introduced.

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LOL. I have to share this. I went to Amazon to do a quick search for Max Your Mix, just to see if it is available to read on Kindle. What did I find instead? Amazon search sent me to a trashy romance novel. "Grumpy Cowboy: A Hot Single Dad, Enemies-to-Lovers Romance" Craig, if you wrote that you have really had too much time on your hands. :)

This post edited for speling.

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LOL. I have to share this. I went to Amazon to do a quick search for Max Your Mix, just to see if it is available to read on Kindle. What did I find instead? Amazon search sent me to a trashy romance novel. "Grumpy Cowboy: A Hot Single Dad, Enemies-to-Lovers Romance" Craig, if you wrote that you have really had too much time on your hands. :)

 

I wonder how their algorithm translated "Max Your Mix" to that! No, it's not Kindle, it's a PDF and not copy-protected. I trust that people won't steal it...

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it's a PDF and not copy-protected. I trust that people won't steal it...

 

I really like the PDF idea mostly due to the fact that I'm attempting to scale back and consolidate for our upcoming move. If they were actual print books I would not have bought them, at least at this point in time.

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And I like a book so I can have it open in front of me when I'm puzzling with whatever it is that I was trying to figure out from the book,

 

I originally published my Mackie HDR book as a spiral edge bound print book so it would lay flat when open. The secondary reason was that a PDF is easily pirated (this was from 2004, I think) and I was afraid of losing sales.

 

I did have many requests for a PDF and granted a few, though eventually the publisher decided they weren't going to print any more paper books, so I gave up and it's now a PDF download. I don't know that I've lost any sales, but since I've already paid off the Ferrari from book sales ;) who cares? ;)

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Sorry to admit this Craig, but I'm a person who looks for information on a "need to know" basis. ..... just little bits and snippets to get the job done. I would seldom read an entire instruction manual and the INDEX is my favorite place to look.

 

I haven't done much with Studio One lately, and even though I may be doing a little DAW mixing , most of it will be with analog mixers. My wife ordered a used "AutoHarp" from Ebay a month ago and that is about as close as I will get to guitar !!

 

I hope you sell a $#!+load !

 

Is Sweetwater better than Amazon , for this ?

 

I also need to add here that as a result of Craig's decades of advice in magazines such as Electronic Musician and Keyboard, I am the better for it !! While working on the line at Chrysler , I read many articles from EM and learned a great deal ! His articles helped to shape my approach to recording, arranging and orchestration.

 

Thanks Craig !

 

 

Dan

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And I like a book so I can have it open in front of me when I'm puzzling with whatever it is that I was trying to figure out from the book

 

I talked to several people who buy technical eBooks, and it's common to look at the book on an tablet (e.g., iPad) so the computer screen isn't obstructed. It seems to me that's not substantially different from having a book open in front of you.

 

I originally published my Mackie HDR book as a spiral edge bound print book so it would lay flat when open. The secondary reason was that a PDF is easily pirated (this was from 2004, I think) and I was afraid of losing sales.

 

The books aren't copy-protected, because I'm stupid :) Actually, the PreSonus books aren't copy-protected, and sales didn't drop over time, which would indicate piracy was happening. I've come to the conclusion over the years that most people are honest, and are willing to pay for something if they feel they're getting value for money - and the people who steal are going to steal, because there's always a way to defeat copy protection. But also, the books are under $20, so most people will find them affordable.

 

A 500-page softcover book would cost about $50 each if you're printing 100 of them. Add in the costs of shipping, returns, storage, paying someone to pack and ship, etc. and you're probably looking at $70 in expenses, and that's before anyone makes any money from it. I think I'd sell 10 copies at that price :) And of course, the big deal is that people who buy the book get free downloads of revised versions, which would be impractical with paper.

 

Streaming has taken over from DVDs and people going to movies...I think downloadable books will become the norm going forward, except for coffee table books where the graphics have to be fabulous.

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I know you can't download it on a Kindle, but I'm telling you....

 

"Craig Anderton's 101 Guitar Pedal Projects Experimenter Kit"

 

9v clip, pre-cut wires, pre-mounted resistors, caps, 4550, FET and some pots with spring-loaded posts like the old Radio Shack kits, designed so it (pots pre-placed) can be slide-in mounted in an (optional) Hammond 1590 medium square pre-drilled enclosure (with plug-play 9v adapter)... <$10 of parts, sell for $50, maybe a tie-in with Sweetwater/Surack, or sell direct through Amazon....

Guitar Lessons in Augusta Georgia: www.chipmcdonald.com

Eccentric blog: https://chipmcdonaldblog.blogspot.com/

 

/ "big ass windbag" - Bruce Swedien

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I know you can't download it on a Kindle, but I'm telling you....

 

"Craig Anderton's 101 Guitar Pedal Projects Experimenter Kit"

 

Oh, I have NOT forgotten about that!!! It's more than just on my radar. Hopefully the books will do well enough to buy me some time, so I can set up an electronics lab again.

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And I like a book so I can have it open in front of me when I'm puzzling with whatever it is that I was trying to figure out from the book

 

I talked to several people who buy technical eBooks, and it's common to look at the book on an tablet (e.g., iPad) so the computer screen isn't obstructed. It seems to me that's not substantially different from having a book open in front of you.

 

Yeah, but first you gotta have the tablet. And I think that a book might be easier to move around than a tablet if it gets in your way. Seems like every time someone hands me a tablet, I touch something and the display goes into the ozone.

 

The books aren't copy-protected, because I'm stupid :) Actually, the PreSonus books aren't copy-protected, and sales didn't drop over time, which would indicate piracy was happening.

 

I don't think my book (in PDF version) was pirated enough to worry about if at all. I asked people to be honest and I think they were. But software piracy was a big issue at the time my book first came out, so I was concerned. And most people liked the printed copy.

 

A 500-page softcover book would cost about $50 each if you're printing 100 of them. Add in the costs of shipping, returns, storage, paying someone to pack and ship, etc. and you're probably looking at $70 in expenses

 

I used a print-on-demand shop as my publisher (until they decided to stop printing books). It was super convenient for me. The customer ordered from the publisher, paid them, and the book was shipped to them. Every couple of months they would send me my money. The book is about 100 pages and cost me about $12. Selling price was $25, and for an extra $2 they could get a CD with some useful files on it (until the publisher decided that they didn't want to make CDs any more).

 

So I could tell people how they could get a printed copy of my book, I got an estimate from Fedex Office a year or two ago, and it was about $15, printed and bound. Not too bad.

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So I could tell people how they could get a printed copy of my book, I got an estimate from Fedex Office a year or two ago, and it was about $15, printed and bound. Not too bad.

 

Was it black-and-white, or four-color? When Kinko's printed up a copy of the 121-page vocals book I did a couple years ago, it was $70, because all the pages had four-color illustrations. Or maybe they were just ripping me off. :)

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A single copy of a full color book is EXPENSIVE!

 

Question - Is there much in the Max Your Mix book to apply to someone jamming a DAWless setup, Roland MC707, Electron devices, Korg Wavestat, etc... In my eyes, mixing is important or your jam is going to be very out of balance and mushy. No one ever talks about it. A lot of people on Youtube jam with two devices or maybe 4 tracks. I like to get a lot of stuff going so I figure that mix is important.

This post edited for speling.

My Sweetwater Gear Exchange Page

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Was it black-and-white, or four-color?

 

Except for the front and back covers, black and white, for a couple of reasons. One was cost - and in those days color printing was more expensive than it was today. The other reason was that I modeled it loosely after the Mackie manuals of the day (I worked on a few) so that's what I was used to seeing and working with. Besides, there really isn't much to see in color that's better than in black and white. There are only a few photographs, and screen shots were of dull looking screens.

 

If I was doing an electronic-published book today, I'd almost certainly make it in color because the cost is the same either way.

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A single copy of a full color book is EXPENSIVE!

 

Question - Is there much in the Max Your Mix book to apply to someone jamming a DAWless setup, Roland MC707, Electron devices, Korg Wavestat, etc... In my eyes, mixing is important or your jam is going to be very out of balance and mushy. No one ever talks about it. A lot of people on Youtube jam with two devices or maybe 4 tracks. I like to get a lot of stuff going so I figure that mix is important.

 

The focus of the book is mixing in a studio, so there's info about acoustics and such, as well as plug-ins. However, there is a lot about the artistic elements of mixing - I didn't want the book to be only about technology. Also, virtual stuff is based on physical stuff, so if you use EQ in the hardware world, it correlates to using EQ in the software world. There's a fair amount about mixing with MIDI and control surfaces, but the primary thrust of the book isn't about jamming with hardware. Probably 40% would be applicable to what you're doing...maybe more, maybe less.

 

If you want, PM me and I'll send you a download link. Then if it works for you, you can buy it from Sweetwater.

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Thanks for the offer Craig. I went ahead and ordered it a few minutes ago. Getting ready to try downloading it to my iPad. I've read that you can read pdf files in the Apple Books app. I'm sure there will be plenty of good information. Hey, maybe you should jump on the DAWless setup craze and release a book on that. I mean, really, if you are done with the other three books you are probably looking for something to do. :)

This post edited for speling.

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Thanks for the offer Craig. I went ahead and ordered it a few minutes ago.

 

If you think it has merit, a review would be great :) I don't think there are any reviews up there yet for the boos.

 

Getting ready to try downloading it to my iPad. I've read that you can read pdf files in the Apple Books app.

 

When I had an iPad, I kept all my PDF manuals in the Bookshelf app. Not sure if newer iPads have that or not, but enough people have told me they read PDFs on their iPads that if must be possible.

 

Hey, maybe you should jump on the DAWless setup craze and release a book on that. I mean, really, if you are done with the other three books you are probably looking for something to do. :)

 

Ha! I'm already working on my next books - one on the Line 6 Helix, and one on recording vocals that's similar to the one on recording guitar.

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Well, looks like they edited out the parts where I critiqued your hair style, claimed that you live under the Shelby Street Bridge, and blamed you for the current state of Nashville traffic. They only left the good parts. That is not going to do anything for my rep as tough and ruthless. :P

This post edited for speling.

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But at least they left in the part where you said "not much character development, and a weak plot that revolves solely around combining sounds together in a pleasing way. I certainly don't expect to see it turned into a major motion picture, with James Earl Jones playing the Darth Fader role."

 

Still, I appreciate the kind words :) You're the only person who's ever mentioned explicitly that my writing is compact. Most of my time spent writing involves editing out the non-essentials, and streamlining the copy. I'm a terrible first-draft writer, but thankfully, I'm a decent editor.

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