Basic Microphones

This book delivers what it promises. It would be of little or no use to a recording engineer of someone who already knows a lot about recording but that is not the target audience of this little tome. The target is people who want to learn more about microphones but who know little or nothing to begin with. The book starts off with a little bit of basic information on sound and then turns to a discussion of different types of microphones. The pros and cons of each type are briefly reviewed. This is in terms of directionality and in terms of type of recording elements. From there, the book moves on to discussion of how best to mic different situations like vocals, strings, piano and drums. My one complaint is that there is nothing on wind instruments. One peculiarity of this book is a result of it coming from Britain. That means that some terms may not be familiar to American readers. Condenser replaces capacitor and valve replaces tube. This should not cause any problem but it may throw some people at first. For many people, this may well be the only book ever to be needed on the subject of microphones. At the very least, it is a good introduction at an excellent price.

This a very informative book, especially for the price and size. It is a good book to through in your gig bag or have around for a quick reference but I would not rely on this book totally because some things are left out.