Sound for Film and Television

The book covers comprehensive topics about its subject: from psychoacoustics to (for example) sound editing techniques to (for example) film sound synchronization methods to (in the last chapter) dynamic range for various media for master prints. First that comes to mind when I remember the accompanying CD is the demonstrations of various microphone directivity patterns (but there is something more in it). The topics aren't discussed in very deep levels (but are good enough), but are reinforced with author's wide experience I would like to admit (examples how the sound was worked out are taken from such films as "Jurassic Park", "Star Wars"). I found this book very interesting as I didn't know very much about film sound techniques, for specialists this book is of lower interest I think (although it contains some handy material, e.g. comparisons of various sound recording formats, etc.) Contains some errata, but I cannot find it right now.

This is an excellent book though it contains many errors in the mathematics of decibels. The other 2 greats books are: Audio in Media by Stanley R. Alten and Sound for Picture by Tom Kenny.

An easy to read, logical guide to practical production sound. If you only ever read one book on audio this should be it.

As a newcomer to the world of audio for video productions, I found this book to be an excellent introduction. The author has struck a very nice balance that explains the technical and science aspects without getting bogged down in complexity. The book covers everything from sound and how people perceive it, to equipment, to techniques, and it even has a CD that demonstrates principles discussed in the book. The author makes liberal use of examples from popular films that I found very helpful in gaining insight into the topics under discussion. In addition to being a terrific overview, I've found myself going back to it as a reference due to the clear explainations it contains on a wide variety of topics.

Having read almost every book out on sound for film and television, from the most contemporary to the classics, it was a surprise to find both the theoretical/aesthetic use of sound and technical sound information (from one who really knows, the author, creator of the THX sound system.) The innovative thinking Homan put into the design of the THX system has been equally applied to this book. The book gives countless examples of both classic and contemporary films demonstrating practical application of sound theories.The information in the book has been of great value to me in my film work and to several students I know from USC School of Cinema-TV and its Summer Production Workshops. I also found the CD in the back of the book extremely helpful in actually "hearing" principles discussed in the book, another innovation from the author.