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

[KenElevenShadows]

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?

 

 

These look great, Craig! I am sure they are going to sell quite well. They look quite appealing.

[Greg Mein]

Well I "lost" these books already. Monday we were burglarized, my wife surprised the culprit (a woman) and actually saw her as she slipped away but wasn't aware at the time that she'd come out of our basement window! She got away with my main 2013 MBP, the 2015 MBP I recently bought for our music act along with some associated gear we use in that computer bag, another computer bag that had an old Dell laptop in it and my travel CPAP. It's still unnerving and incredibly odd when and how she got in and what she took but it's also quite fortunate she didn't get much more valuable loot!

[Anderton]

Very sorry to hear you lost your computers, I sure hope you didn't lose your data. But as to the books, I think you may be able to just re-download them. I know the books are set up so that when there's a free revision, you can just download it from your account.

 

If that doesn't work, contact your sales engineer, and explain what happened. Drop my name and say to come into the forum, and I'll confirm that you're a stand-up guy.

 

And if by some chance that doesn't work, which is HIGHLY doubtful, send me a PM and I'll give you download links.

 

Then when you write your review you can mention how eBooks are sooo much better than print Also, just as a note for the future, you can back them up, load them into an iPad, or whatever. The model is trusting the customer.

[Greg Mein]

Very sorry to hear you lost your computers, I sure hope you didn't lose your data. But as to the books, I think you may be able to just re-download them. I know the books are set up so that when there's a free revision, you can just download it from your account.

 

If that doesn't work, contact your sales engineer, and explain what happened. Drop my name and say to come into the forum, and I'll confirm that you're a stand-up guy.

 

And if by some chance that doesn't work, which is HIGHLY doubtful, send me a PM and I'll give you download links.

 

Then when you write your review you can mention how eBooks are sooo much better than print Also, just as a note for the future, you can back them up, load them into an iPad, or whatever. The model is trusting the customer.

 

Thanks Craig. I'm left with my Dell desktop (several years old but I use it a lot) and I dug out this 2010 17" MBP I hadn't planned to unpack until we'd moved. My wife retired on June 30 and tomorrow is my last day at work. We've been working towards this goal since before we were married nearly 5 years ago but we've had to deal with unexpected setbacks, primarily, last Augusts derecho storm and now this only weeks before we'd hoped to list.

 

On the music front we have one more gig in this area at the end of July when the huge bike ride (RAGBRAI) does an overnight in the area we're playing. Losing my gig computer is bad. I've ordered a refurb MBP and will scramble to install programs, configurations, licences, etc. plus I need to replace some associated gear that was in the bag with the stolen computer. Really sucks!

 

I was able to download the books again but it appears that the only clear cut way is via the original "Software Activation Instructions" email from Sweetwater.

[Anderton]

I was able to download the books again but it appears that the only clear cut way is via the original "Software Activation Instructions" email from Sweetwater.

 

Thanks for the update, good to know that works in case someone else runs into that problem.

[RABid]

I'm surprised they don't have a tab under the user section that lists your digital purchases. This would be handy for books, sample sets, patch sets and purchased software. Amazon has a digital purchases link that makes it easy. But, it is easy to go to order history and click the link, as long as you remember which order it is on.

[Doerfler]

some guy named Mitch interviews CA about these books

 

 

[Greg Mein]

I sent them to my iPad/Kindle via an email address you can find when you go to Amazon and "Manage Your Devices".

[Anderton]

I had no idea, but if you load the books into Microsoft Edge, it will read them out loud!! The text to speech conversion is amazingly good, and you can choose from multiple voices. I'm impressed!! Acrobat can read out loud too, but it's nowhere near as good.

 

Amazing. I think doing some audio books can't be far behind...

[KenElevenShadows]

I hope it reads them in the voice of Sam Kinison or Pee Wee Herman.

[Anderton]

I'm looking for a James Earl Jones plug-in.

[Anderton]

I just had to brag (sorry)...the three books hold down the #1, #4, and #11 positions of the most popular books that Sweetwater sells. Finally! A publisher who knows how to sell technology eBooks!

 

Okay, enough bragging. Apologies.

[RABid]

Congrats. When is the new cookbook coming out?

[Anderton]

I'm hoping to have the Helix book out in October...

[Mike Rivers]

I just had to brag (sorry)...the three books hold down the #1, #4, and #11 positions of the most popular books that Sweetwater sells. Finally! A publisher who knows how to sell technology eBooks!

 

Looks like they also know how to sell businesses, too. I saw recently that, while Chuck is keeping his job as CEO, a majority of the company ownership is in the works to be sold to a venture capitalist group. We're assured that, as customers (and, I suppose, for you, Craig, as a supplier) that things will remain as they are. Hope so. I'm not a major Sweetwater customer, but I've always had good service from them when they're the right dealer for what I'm looking for.

 

A news article about it

[KuruPrionz]

I just had to brag (sorry)...the three books hold down the #1, #4, and #11 positions of the most popular books that Sweetwater sells. Finally! A publisher who knows how to sell technology eBooks!

 

Looks like they also know how to sell businesses, too. I saw recently that, while Chuck is keeping his job as CEO, a majority of the company ownership is in the works to be sold to a venture capitalist group. We're assured that, as customers (and, I suppose, for you, Craig, as a supplier) that things will remain as they are. Hope so. I'm not a major Sweetwater customer, but I've always had good service from them when they're the right dealer for what I'm looking for.

 

A news article about it

 

 

Wow, I hope they keep it like it is too. I've had only great experiences buying from Sweetwater, I'd hate to see that change. But, as Cyndi Lauper once sang - Money Changes Everything. Let's hope any changes are good ones!

[Anderton]

I wonder if they need the capital because plans are afoot to buy Guitar Center...hmmm... (BTW that's not based on anything other than total random speculation).

[spokenward]

I hadn't heard of the investor. They were one of the firms in the 2005 WMG IPO and they have a number of entertainment and media interests. The chairman is the richest guy in the smallest state. Looks like an unflashy and established partner with some long-lasting relationships - so, probably a good match.

 

Their statement is careful:

https://www.provequity.com/news/providence-agrees-to-invest-in-sweetwater

 

...Sweetwater has a strong track record of sustaining long-term, scalable growth by identifying and capitalizing on new market opportunities. The company recently announced it had achieved $1 billion in annual revenue and served over 1.5 million unique customers and added over 400 new jobs.

 

(I've used Sweetwater for years, and I don't hate them. I would be really surprised if they went into retail.)

[Anderton]

I would be really surprised if they went into retail.

 

After seeing how Providence views this, I think you're right. They seem more interested in multiplying what's already there, which I think is a smart decision.

[RABid]

Sweetwater management is too smart to throw away money into the black hole that is Guitar Center.

[Chip McDonald]

I wonder if they need the capital because plans are afoot to buy Guitar Center...hmmm... (BTW that's not based on anything other than total random speculation).

 

 

He would gain nothing from their real estate footprint. I could see a "Sweetwater East" (Nashville), "Sweetwater West" (L.A.), "Sweetwater North" (New York). Contrarily, it would be a cheap way for Amazon to have a "small general goods" storefront: there is no reason to do brick-and-mortar without trying to go bottom dollar. Continual Optimization Past Utility wrecks everything in the 21st century.

[Greg Mein]

I saw recently that, while Chuck is keeping his job as CEO, a majority of the company ownership is in the works to be sold to a venture capitalist group.

 

Between that and the dreaded covid19/20/21/22 rev D, E, F ad infinitum I wonder if we've seen the last Gearfest? I really enjoyed the two times I was there, met Craig and attended his seminar at one but I'll soon be living too far away to make attending practical anyway.

[Anderton]

Again, no inside information, but I would bet money that as long as GearFest can be held safely, it will continue to be held.

 

As to you living too far away, the virtual GearFests were quite successful. It wouldn't surprise me if future GearFests (and NAMMs, for that matter) go for a combination of physical and virtual.

[Greg Mein]

 

As to you living too far away, the virtual GearFests were quite successful. It wouldn't surprise me if future GearFests (and NAMMs, for that matter) go for a combination of physical and virtual.

 

There's a plus and minus to that; when I actually attend I'm gonna spend money, often on things I don't actually need while with the virtual I was able to check on what I actually wanted and when I discovered no deals on that I could log out and get back to the 10,000 other things I needed to be doing.

[Anderton]

 

As to you living too far away, the virtual GearFests were quite successful. It wouldn't surprise me if future GearFests (and NAMMs, for that matter) go for a combination of physical and virtual.

 

There's a plus and minus to that; when I actually attend I'm gonna spend money, often on things I don't actually need while with the virtual I was able to check on what I actually wanted and when I discovered no deals on that I could log out and get back to the 10,000 other things I needed to be doing.

 

My understanding is that the sales for virtual GearFest held up as well as the real one. I guess people just like to buy gear

[Greg Mein]

I guess people just like to buy gear

 

I'm sure you'll find no argument there!

[Chip McDonald]

YouTube is lit up with "Sweetwater has been bought out" stories.... interesting to hear the different angles people are presenting. Hope Chuck isn't subject to people wanting to eke out Even More Money, I can't see an investment firm running it as well as a single person. "There will be a few minor changes" heard in the corridors can be enough to ruin companies...

[Anderton]

Here was my comment in a related thread in the Keyboard Corner:

 

What matters is looking at the owners' portfolio: Hulu, Warner Bros., Tempo Music, Song Networks, Tait (live performance), UFO Moviez (largest digital movies platform in India), Verio (internet service provider), Vector (digital training solutions), wireless communications companies, Univision, TVB (largest broadcaster in Hong Kong), Superstruct (live music platform), etc. etc....compare that to Bain Capital, who bought GC. Not even close. The Providence VCs own a lot of companies that could be VERY helpful for Sweetwater. And vice-versa.

 

Chuck is a super-smart guy. Sweetwater is coming from a position of strength, and he could choose whoever he wanted to buy out a controlling share. I can't imagine him making a wrong decision at this point, after making so many right ones.

 

He and his wife owned the company privately. That's a perilous position, from many different angles. When a company becomes that big, probably the quickest way for a doomsday Sweetwater scenario to occur would have been if they hadn't sold controlling interest.

 

I'm no fan of buyouts. I saw what it did to the magazine business, Musician's Friend, and so many others. And of course I'm nervous, since I'm helping to put together a Sweetwater publishing division. But I really don't see this as a "strip 'n' flip" situation at all. I see it more like a band without a good keyboard player, who found a good keyboard player that gets along musically with the band. For Providence, it's an acquisition that bolsters their other acquisitions. Those kind of acquisitions tend to multiply what a company can do, because multiplying that company affects what the other parts of the business can do.

 

Fingers crossed, but if anyone can pull this off, Sweetwater can.

[RABid]

I think it is sad when people wait too long to retire. Chuck seems like a genuinely nice person and I'm hoping this is all about being able to take the time to enjoy life after working hard for so many years. No matter how this turns out I would like to see him take the money and run to the furthest secluded beach and enjoy the sunsets.

[Anderton]

I think it is sad when people wait too long to retire. Chuck seems like a genuinely nice person and I'm hoping this is all about being able to take the time to enjoy life after working hard for so many years. No matter how this turns out I would like to see him take the money and run to the furthest secluded beach and enjoy the sunsets.

 

Chuck is a genuinely nice person on many levels, I know him fairly well. But I don't think he's the kind of person who could sit on a secluded beach and drink Mai Tais...he'd figure out how to improve the Mai Tai making process, and make sure the bartenders were being compensated properly.

 

Chuck has a real fondness for Fort Wayne, and is very active from a civic standpoint. I believe he plans to use at least some of his time to contribute more to the city. But I also don't think his being on the board is a ceremonial position. Not only is Sweetwater is in his DNA, he's in Sweetwater's DNA.

 

I'm sure he'll enjoy not being involved in the day-to-day after 40 years. He's assembled quite a team, so I'm quite sure he's comfortable in knowing his "baby" will be in good hands, no matter what his level of involvement.