Random House New Releases - Music - Recording & Reproduction

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

2011-11-08T00:30:00-05:00

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks
Written by Dave Tompkins

Trade Paperback, 352 pages | Stop Smiling Books | Music - History & Criticism; Music - Recording & Reproduction; Music - Electronic & Computer | $25.95 | 978-1-61219-092-1 (1-61219-092-8)

The history of the vocoder: how popular music hijacked the Pentagon's speech scrambling weapon

The vocoder, invented by Bell Labs in 1928, once guarded phones from eavesdroppers during World War II; by the Vietnam War, it was repurposed as a voice-altering tool for musicians, and is now the ubiquitous voice of popular music.

In How to Wreck a Nice Beach—from a mis-hearing of the vocoder-rendered phrase “how to recognize speech”—music journalist Dave Tompkins traces the history of electronic voices from Nazi research labs to Stalin’s gulags, from the 1939 World’s Fair to Hiroshima, from artificial larynges to Auto-Tune.

We see the vocoder brush up against FDR, JFK, Stanley Kubrick, Stevie Wonder, Neil Young, Kraftwerk, the Cylons, Henry Kissinger, and Winston Churchill, who boomed, when vocoderized on V-E Day, “We must go off!” And now vocoder technology is a cell phone standard, allowing a digital replica of your voice to sound human.

From T-Mobile to T-Pain, How to Wreck a Nice Beach is a riveting saga of technology and culture, illuminating the work of some of music’s most provocative innovators.

From the Hardcover edition.

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

2011-11-08T00:30:00-05:00

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks
Written by Dave Tompkins

eBook | Stop Smiling Books | Music - History & Criticism; Music - Recording & Reproduction; Music - Electronic & Computer | $22.95 | 978-1-61219-093-8 (1-61219-093-6)

How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era by Ron Fair

2010-06-02T00:30:00-05:00

How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era
Written by Megan Perry
Foreword by Ron Fair

eBook, 256 pages | Billboard Books | Music - Business Aspects; Music - Recording & Reproduction | $15.99 | 978-0-307-87525-9 (0-307-87525-3)

The insider’s guide to becoming an insider. Want to become a record producer? Get this book. It’s the authoritative, up-to-the-minute guide to getting what it takes to become a success in today’s exciting, hyper-competitive music business. For musicians interested in hands-on record production, for aspiring pros, for anyone with an interest in the business aspects of producing, author Megan Perry has the full inside story. With full information on developing skills, building a clientele, and managing a business, plus interviews from industry insiders and tips on negotiating with record labels, artists’ managers, and artists themselves, How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era is the go-to guide for any aspiring music pro.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Life and Death of Classical Music by Norman Lebrecht

2008-12-18T00:30:00-05:00

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made
Written by Norman Lebrecht

eBook, 352 pages | Anchor | Music - Classical; Music - Recording & Reproduction; Music - History & Criticism | $15.99 | 978-0-307-48746-9 (0-307-48746-6)

In this compulsively readable, fascinating, and provocative guide to classical music, Norman Lebrecht, one of the world’s most widely read cultural commentators tells the story of the rise of the classical recording industry from Caruso’s first notes to the heyday of Bernstein, Glenn Gould, Callas, and von Karajan.

Lebrecht compellingly demonstrates that classical recording has reached its end point–but this is not simply an expos? of decline and fall. It is, for the first time, the full story of a minor art form, analyzing the cultural revolution wrought by Schnabel, Toscanini, Callas, Rattle, the Three Tenors, and Charlotte Church. It is the story of how stars were made and broken by the record business; how a war criminal conspired with a concentration-camp victim to create a record empire; and how advancing technology, boardroom wars, public credulity and unscrupulous exploitation shaped the musical backdrop to our modern lives. The book ends with a suitable shrine to classical recording: the author’s critical selection of the 100 most important recordings–and the 20 most appalling.

Filled with memorable incidents and unforgettable personalities–from Goddard Lieberson, legendary head of CBS Masterworks who signed his letters as God; to Georg Solti, who turned the Chicago Symphony into “ the loudest symphony on earth”–this is at once the captivating story of the life and death of classical recording and an opinioned, insider’s guide to appreciating the genre, now and for years to come.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

The Life and Death of Classical Music by Norman Lebrecht

2007-04-10T00:30:00-05:00

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made
Written by Norman Lebrecht

Trade Paperback, 352 pages | Anchor | Music - Classical; Music - Recording & Reproduction; Music - History & Criticism | $16.00 | 978-1-4000-9658-9 (1-4000-9658-8)

Random House New Releases - Music - Recording & Reproduction

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine SpeaksWritten by Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck a Nice Beach by Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine SpeaksWritten by Dave Tompkins

How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era by Ron Fair

How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era Written by Megan Perry Foreword by Ron Fair

The Life and Death of Classical Music by Norman Lebrecht

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever MadeWritten by Norman Lebrecht

The Life and Death of Classical Music by Norman Lebrecht

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever MadeWritten by Norman Lebrecht

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks
Written by Dave Tompkins

How to Wreck a Nice Beach The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks
Written by Dave Tompkins

How to Be a Record Producer in the Digital Era
Written by Megan Perry
Foreword by Ron Fair

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made
Written by Norman Lebrecht

The Life and Death of Classical Music Featuring the 100 Best and 20 Worst Recordings Ever Made
Written by Norman Lebrecht