Two Awesome Music Reviews

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Good Vibrations, Second Edition: A History of Record Production
Mark Cunningham

Mark Cunningham created Good Vibrations which is a fun and fascinating journey through the history of record production. If focuses on a particular studio and the musicians who produced albums there. It gives insight as production evolved for many of the major pop recordings in our history, including Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pet Sounds, The Dark Side of the Moon, Telstar, Bohemian Rhapsody as well as others. It shows how the productions evolved, gives insights and images not found elsewhere and on the whole, tells an interesting story.

Some of the interviews are of Sir George Martin, Les Paul, Trevor Horn, Hugh Pagham, Tony Visconti, and scores more. The interviews are really fascinating and create a sense of the entire world of record production.

Mark Cunningham's Good Vibrations is an insightful book but fell a bit short with American record productions. Because it was based on a particular studio, I believe much American innovation of music production was left out of the store. Good companion of a book that covered the entire world's record production history.
Sanctuary Publishing

The Techno Primer
Tony Verderosa

The Techno Primer is a superb introduction to techno trends and engineering. The writer, Tony Verderosa, does a one-man techno/remix show, called VFX, and certainly understands the subject. The book includes a multi-media CD which has samples of numerous techno styles, together with a few videos with the creator playing as well as demonstration variations of a bit of music software.

This publication is split up into three parts. Part 1 offers a bit of framework for the techno genres. Verderosa begins with a short background of digital music. This offers enough to newbies to be aware of exactly where techno originated from, without becoming a dissertation. Then the writer discusses the impact of today's technology on dance tracks, which includes computer systems and platters.

Verderosa additionally features a section which does a great job at detailing most of the apparently limitless styles of electronic music. He offers a brief description of every style, along with a small demonstration of the particular styles which he includes on the included CD. For numerous styles, he gives samples of both songs and artists. For instance, his Hip-Hop model brings together low-fi vinyl examples and Acid loops.

Section 2 in the book describes producing Techno Music by computers. It is an extremely high-level overview, yet offers sufficient material to supply individuals serious about starting to create their own techno music certain focus about how to start. It offers short conversations about lots of the well known audio/MIDI programs, and views a bit of the computing devices required for generating audio. Additionally, it includes a brief intro to sound synthesis, along with a conversation on the way the writer produces live techno.

Section 3 is an accumulation Musician Interviews. Verderosa interviews people who take part in techno in a number of capacities. The writer is not a powerful interviewer - he uses the identical set of queries with all of the musicians, even if they don't make a lot sense. Lots of the interviews are with musicians which readers might not have been aware of.

Even so, the interview part is among the finest areas of the book. The interviews demonstrate there are all sorts of individuals creating in electronica, using a variety of talents, skills and passions. For anyone thinking about creating digital music, it is useful to note that there are numerous folks building careers from this, and they're all engaging in various things.

In general the guide will do an excellent job of presenting techno styles. It is mainly geared to people who would like to explore the types of electronic music and producing their very own loop-based audio. Verderosa's The Techno Primer is superb for young techno enthusiasts and musicians, since the book supplies a framework for the different styles of digital music, along with highlighting a number of recent methods to producing electronica.

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The Hunger Games Soundtrack Review

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The Hunger Games Soundtrack: Songs from District 12 and Beyond will be released March 20, 2012!

This is such a highly anticipated, hyped up soundtrack, and for good reason. The movie itself, coming to theatres March 23rd, 2012, is very highly touted and is likely to be THE movie of 2012. It's based on Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games trilogy, which features the books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and the third and final book in the series Mockinjay. The film is based on the first book of the harrowing saga The Hunger Games.

Suzanne Collins highly acclaimed trilogy has won numerous writing awards including:
New York Times - Book review Editors' ChoiceBarnes & Nobles - Best books of 2008 for Teens & KidsAmazon - Best books of 2008: Top 100 Editors' Pick & Top 10 Books for Teens

The executive producer is none other than renowned Oscar and Academy Award winner, T Bone Burnett. You will be blown away by the rich and diverse sounds and talents which resonate throughout the album. Hooking up to assure that this soundtrack will garner a huge cult-following now, and likely for years to come are: beautiful, mega-talented, chart-topping, Grammy Award winning Taylor Swift, The Civil Wars, Kid Cudi, Jayme Dee, Miranda Lambert, and many more. It's a roster chalk-full of uber-talented artists that will not disappoint.

Check out the final tracklist:
Arcade Fire - Abraham's DaughterThe Secret Sisters - Tomorrow Will Be KinderNeko Case - Nothing To RememberTaylor Swift - Safe & Sound (Feat. The Civil Wars)Kid Cudi - The Ruler and The KillerPunch Brothers - Dark DaysThe Decemberists - One EngineThe Carolina Chocolate Drops - Daughter's LamentThe Civil Wars - Kingdom ComeGlen Hansard - Take The HeartlandMaroon 5 ft. Rozzi Crane - Come Away To The WaterMiranda Lambert - Run Daddy Run (Feat. Pistol Annies)Jayme Dee - RulesTaylor Swift - Eyes Wide OpenThe Low Anthem - Lover Is ChildlikeBirdy - Just A Game

Taylor Swift did a masterful job in the lead video, "Safe & Sound," from the film soundtrack, which she debuted on MTV.

Arcade Fire will also be contributing to the soundtrack with the song Abraham's Daughter. Don't leave the movie early and miss it because it plays during the final credits.

You are able to pre-order the soundtrack now, through Amazon. And don't worry about a thing, because they protect your purchase with their Pre-order Price Guarantee, which assures that even if the price drops, between your pre-order date and the actual release date, you still are guaranteed the lowest price... Enjoy!

Pre-order now for The Hunger Games Soundtrack here, and to find out everything else you need to know about The Hunger Games trilogy check out The Hunger Games review blog.

Oliver Sack's Musicophilia - Book Review

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Oliver Sack's Musicophilia bridges the gap between music and the brain by using case studies he has personally dealt with and otherwise. The stories range from the totally bizarre to the horribly tragic. Music can affect the brain in peculiar ways. The studies cover how music cannot only be a miracle for the brain but also a torturous thing that haunts it.

The book is organized with chapters that focus on specific ways in which music affects the brain. The book primarily focuses on telling the stories of those affected by music. However, it also analyzes the stories to an extent and talks about how our knowledge of music and the brain has grown because of the case presented. The conclusions that Sacks draws throughout the book are interesting and engaging.

One particularly engaging story was about a Parkinson's patient who used the mesmerizing sounds of a drum circle to calm the tics. His circle consisted of other Parkinson's patients. Sacks recalls watching this inspiring group all sit down at their respective drums, doing their best to not let their tics get in the way as they waited for the leader to start. As soon as he did, the tics stopped almost instantaneously. It was as if some unexplainable force of nature had somehow seeped into the bodies of these patients and enraptured them in serenity and control. It has been proven that a steady, predictable drumbeat, when played in the presence of Parkinson's patients, can almost completely prevent any tics for the duration of the drumming. Even so, we have not even scratched the surface when it comes to using music in a therapeutic setting. That being said, Sacks uses this case and many more to prove that the beneficial effects of music are simply overwhelming and must be investigated further.

For anyone who is interested in music, psychology, or just wants to be amazed, Musicophilia is an excellent read and is extremely informative. This book hopefully will encourage many to see the importance of continued research in the field of music psychology.

Oliver Sacks is currently a physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology and psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center. He has written ten books including Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. He has been involved with a number of feature films, documentaries, and stage adaptations that have been based off of his case studies. Take a look at his website at http://www.oliversacks.com/.

Erika St. Denis is a music education major and studies on the saxophone privately at Ithaca College. She has a considerable amount of performance and teaching experience and hopes to continue that trend. She has a great interest in music psychology as evidenced by this book review! Check out Erika's professional website and blog which she updates frequently at http://www.erikastdenis.com/.