Wow! eBook
How Does It Sound Now?: Legendary Engineers and Vintage Gear 2nd Edition
Author(s): Gary Gottlieb (Author)
- Publisher: Focal Press
- Publication Date: June 4, 2025
- Edition: 2nd
- Language: English
- Print length: 370 pages
- ISBN-10: 1032857099
- ISBN-13: 9781032857091
Book Description
How Does It Sound Now? features 32 interviews with top engineers and producers who have contributed to hundreds of millions of albums and CDs throughout their combined careers, including a new interview with Leslie Gaston-Bird for this second edition.
Winner of the 2010 Association for Recorded Sound Collections’ Award for Excellence in Historical Recorded Sound Research, the second edition of How Does It Sound Now? allows readers to benefit from the collective experience of 32 industry heavyweights, whose interviews provide a comprehensive overview of the changes in methodology and equipment over the last 60 years. The collection focuses on engineers who made the transition through different technologies―analog to digital, wire to tape, and CD to mp3―and explores the methodology they employed when confronted with new and evolving technology. With a wide range of interviewees, from Phil Ramone to Geoff Emerick, discussions are centered around how producers and engineers retain quality and continue to create a product that conforms to their own high standards in the face of changing technologies.
The techniques described will be valuable to students of audio history or theory and recording courses, and will also be of interest to audio professionals, including home recordists and studio owners, who can use this book to educate their staff and offer to clients.
Editorial Reviews
Review
HOW DOES IT SOUND NOW? LEGENDARY ENGINEERS AND VINTAGE GEAR, SECOND EDITION
By Gary Gottlieb (Focal Press). First published in 2010 and now back for a second round, Gottlieb’s epic book is simultaneously a time capsule, motivating discourse, history lesson and more. Sitting down with a who’s who of recording—including numerous icons who have passed away since the first edition—Gottlieb deftly interviews every top-name pro you can imagine.
It’s the kind of book that casually picks the brains of legends like
Al Schmitt, Phil Ramone, Alan Parsons, Ed Cherney, Bob Ludwig, Geoff Emerick, Cowboy Jack Clement, Chuck Ainlay, Paul Stubblebine, Elliot Scheiner, Bob Clearmountain, Frank Filipetti, Leslie Gaston- Bird (a new addition for the second edition), Bil VornDick and many others who are just as instrumental in the history of modern pro audio (32 in all!).There’s insights and anecdotes for days, from
Lou Bradley sharing how he used mic leakage to his advantage on an Andy Williams hit, to Geoff Emerick explaining that he used mic selection and placement to his advantage while recording the Beatles, to Danny Leake discussing ways he used skill and pluck to overcome systemic racism in the early 1970s Chicago recording scene. There’s something to learn on every page and it’s a welcome, tech-heavy addition to any serious recording bookshelf.About the Author
Gary Gottlieb is a long-time engineer, producer, writer, photographer, and music business professional, who refers to himself as a music generalist. As a recording engineer and music producer in New York, Gottlieb’s long and distinguished career includes numerous Grammy Award winners and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. After earning his Master of Audio Aesthetics & Technology from Marlboro College, Gottlieb accepted a full-time faculty position at Webster University, where he created and chaired their Department of Audio Aesthetics & Technology. During his fifteen years at Webster he published three books. He has remained active in Audio Engineering Society leadership for over 20 years. He is currently the President of AES and resides in Ukiah, California with his daughter, their dog Bean, and their cat Silver, who makes frequent appearances during Zoom calls.
