Best acoustic engineering books according to redditors
We found 92 Reddit comments discussing the best acoustic engineering books. We ranked the 30 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 92 Reddit comments discussing the best acoustic engineering books. We ranked the 30 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Understanding the data provided by a dual channel FFT audio analyzer is something that takes a ton of practice and experience - you're sort of learning a new language. The definitive work on the subject is Bob McCarthy's treatise Sound Systems: Design and Optimization. That's a serious read. For some more digestible resources, I would start with the Smaart v8 user manual.
This article is decent. This Jim Yakabuski article is great as well.
Also check out Merlijn van Veen's website and my post archive, particularly my first BTL post on the phase trace.
Speakers:
Amplifiers and other goodies:
Morgan Jones will get you into building with tubes, but also check the books from Bruce Rozenblit at Transcendent. For free books, Pete Millett has a lot of them at his site. I recommend Norman Crowhurst's books for an excellent intro for laypeople.
If you want components, you can get resistors, capacitors, etc. from Digikey, Mouser, Newark, Redco, and Antique Electronic Supply.
For speaker supplies, look to Madisound, Speaker City U.S.A. and Parts Express. Madisound and Parts Express sell kits, so you can knock off a build without tools.
There's a lot more, but this will give you things to chew over for a few weeks at least. Please come back and ask here if you want advice or need help with anything.
sound reenforcement handbook for fundamentals
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Reinforcement-Handbook-Gary-Davis/dp/0881889008/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0881889008&pd_rd_r=CCG9CPVAPDH3ECTFGHMA&pd_rd_w=C5R8y&pd_rd_wg=5hRnU&psc=1&refRID=CCG9CPVAPDH3ECTFGHMA
system set up and optimization
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Systems-Optimization-Techniques-Alignment/dp/0415731011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1496423594&sr=8-1&keywords=sound+system+design+and+optimization
deeper fundamentals and underlying theory behind systems,
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-System-Engineering-Don-Davis/dp/0240818466/ref=pd_sim_14_10?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0240818466&pd_rd_r=HSPA70XSS4QNR9DZF1P5&pd_rd_w=5ywPt&pd_rd_wg=X1Td5&psc=1&refRID=HSPA70XSS4QNR9DZF1P5
approachable fundamentals, but not too much deeper theory - kind of a up and running style of book
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Operators-Handbook-Guides-online/dp/1617805599/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8
When you've gotten through those, and have a handle on the material, I'd recommend Bob McCarthy's Sound System Design and Optimization, Davis' Sound System Engineering, and Ballou's Handbook for Sound Engineers.
It sounds like you are looking at building a pair of speakers.
You need to buy the latest version of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580109
And read it front to back. Twice. It will answer many of your questions; it's well worth the price. I studied the first edition way way back.
Parts Express and Madisound are fine for parts.
Expensive? Let's put this in perspective. How many hours would it take you to build as good a set of cabinets as you can buy for $130 each on Parts Express? I assume that's what you're looking at. Trust me, unless you're a woodworker (or don't care what they look like) the cost in time is worth WAY more than that to get a good cabinet.
Want to 'cheat'? Get yourself a pair of cabinets from a thrift store or garage sale -some old pair with walnut veneer that are heavy and maybe have blown drivers. Seriously. You can ditch the drivers, add some material inside the cabinet to reduce the volume to what you need, put in a new front plate and drivers, and oil up that old walnut and you're in business.
What makes a speaker $10 and one $200? Engineering and quality construction and performance. Bear in mind that you reach a point of diminishing returns with drivers; you might get 95% of the performance of a $200 woofer with one that only costs $150. Is that extra 5% worth the cost?
Check out this man's work:
http://www.linkwitzlab.com/
Engineers don't come any finer than this man, he's amazing. Read everything he writes and check out his projects.
What you need to do to make your project sound good is do tons and tons of reading and research into what others have done. Find projects that have been built and refined and are known to be successful. Build one of those first. Remember, your time is valuable. You could waste a lot of money and time on something that sounds disappointing.
I built some speakers and subwoofers (more suited to DIY for beginners than 2-3 way designs) and came to realize that it's a mix of sound engineering and art. And lots of time.
Good luck!
Entire books have been written on this subject. Big, meaty books with lots of information. Here is the bible on the subject.
Any short answer you get here is going to be couched in various assumptions and anecdotes.
Speakers are a bit too complicated to learn much by just taking them apart and asking questions about what you find. This goes double for any commercial product with active electronics inside.
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If you want to learn, I'd read a book on the subject. This one is a good one.
I think it was unwise to make such a drastic change to R17 from your circuit of two days ago. It used to be 50 ohms; now you've changed it to Infinity ohms???
If you're using Bob Cordell's textbook please refer to pages 64-67. If you're using Douglas Self's textbook please see pp. 143-4 and especially Fig 6.4(b).
I also think if your output power is 150W RMS per channel, you had better split Q14 into 3 parallel transistors (each with its own emitter resistor). Same with Q15. This will reduce the power dissipation per transistor by 3X, and since Ic per transistor is 3X lower, beta droop at high currents (and fT droop at high currents) are less.
If you really want to get into audio electronics design, I would pick up a book called Small Signal Audio Design. It's long, and it's technical. But it will be a wealth of information for a very long time. https://www.amazon.com/Small-Signal-Audio-Design-Douglas/dp/0415709733/
http://www.amazon.ca/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580478/ref=pd_sim_b_2/183-8888456-1909825 is probably the introductory tome to speaker design.
> Then I have to spend time relearning to get somewhere, then I get busy with other stuff, spend a month away from the bench, and when I return, I have no idea how to bias the damn transistor again lol. It's so discouraging.
Perhaps the problem lies in not knowing why. I've spent 15 years or so, mostly as a hobbiest, learning what a BJT does. I still have active questions about how they work. There's loads of information on the internet about how to use them, but virtually none on how they operate, few looks into the intuition needed to be comfortable with scribbling a sub-circuit down on paper and having some idea whether or not it does what you want it to.
I frequently wonder if most of the information I come across is from someone who understands just enough to present the efforts of others without glaring mistakes, that they don't have any idea what's going on.
I can't be much help with digital circuitry, but for analog, a few folks to read/watch are
For digital, I follow Jeri Ellsworth, but again I tend to avoid digital.
When you build a 300 watt stereo amplifier that operates in the audio frequency band, the majority of cost is going to be the power supply and the power output stage. You'll need a power transformer rated approximately 800 VA like THIS ONE which will set you back about a hundred bucks including shipping. You'll also need some big ass filter capacitors rated for >9 amperes ripple current, such as THESE. You need to create +76VDC and -76VDC (assuming an 8 ohm load and Vpeak = Vsupply minus 6V due to rectifier+ripple+emitter follower drops). The supply voltage will be higher if you user power MOSFETs instead of power BJTs. To handle 300 watts per channel you're probably going to need at least 4 power-PNP transistors and at least 4 power-NPN transistors, per channel. Representative transistor prices HERE and HERE
You'll also need big ass heatsinks, big ass fuses, and big ass rectifiers.
Have a look at books by Randy Slone, Bob Cordell, and Ben Duncan. AMAZON-1, AMAZON-2, AMAZON-3
Since the majority of cost is in the high-power circuitry which you absolutely require, you won't save much money by deliberately making the amplifier "low fidelity" rather than "high fidelity". Sorry.
The mixing part is the same. If you are solely the FOH mixer, and you don't want to be in charge of the bigger picture, you have no concerns - just make it sound good and know the consoles you are working on. The system tech is there to make sure that the rig sounds good everywhere in the room, and the PM and riggers are there to make sure it is run and hung safely and efficiently.
If you want to PM on bigger rigs like that, you need to start learning the details of all those people's jobs - not necessarily so you can tell them what to do, but so that you can spot safety issues and inefficiencies, and work hand-in-hand with them to meet your goals.
Here's a good book to start on power: https://www.amazon.com/Electricity-Entertainment-Electrician-Technician-Richard/dp/0415714834
And here is a good book on audio systems: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415731011/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I haven't read this one on networks yet, but it's probably my next read...maybe others can chime in on wether it is a good one.
https://www.amazon.com/Show-Networks-Control-Systems-Entertainment/dp/0692958738/ref=asc_df_0692958738/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312115090752&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=449842820588414772&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9061129&hvtargid=pla-415287733133&psc=1
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And of course, nothing beats experience, so weasel your way into bigger jobs and watch what everyone is doing.
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> BTW, that wiki song structure article is a mess
Agreed. I linked to that wiki article without even really looking. Personally, I like the following books that go into a lot more detail in regards to production and EDM:
All the above are solid books.
If you have the time and want to really dig into this I'd really recommend this book, it covers pretty much everything you need to worry about for line/phono/mic level stuff for consumer and professional use.
http://www.amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580478/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348090449&sr=8-1&keywords=loudspeaker+cookbook
Look at Sound Systems Design & Optimization If you're looking for theory behind how sound systems work.
Recording Studio Design. Philip Newell
Acoustic Absorbers and Diffusers. Cox/D'Antonio
Room Acoustics. Heinrich Kuttruff
Sound System Engineering. Davis/Patronis.Jr/Brown
Home Recording Studio. Rod Gervais
Master Handbook of Acoustics. F.Alton Everest
Some are heavy on the acoustic theory some are more practical but all really good resources. I'd also second the John Sayers forum.
As someone who has actually consulted on rooms that I had to answer for, as opposed to just hawking products, I find Winer to be a stooge.
Since there’s also a trumpeter by the name Helmut Fuchs, I should’ve included his middle initial, Helmut V Fuchs. It’s not specifically a book on monitoring environments for recording, so be aware of that.
You will NEVER learn everything. I guarantee it.
This book is a great place to start on speaker design.
Kit speakers are a fun construction project but if you really want to learn, design your own from scratch. It will consume hundreds of hours of your time to do it well.
For mixing, as already mentioned: Mixing Engineer's Handbook (Bobby Owsinski), Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio (Mike Senior) and also Mixing Audio (Roey Izhaki).
For mastering: Mastering Audio: The Art and the Science (Bob Katz)
And here are some great books that are not strictly about mixing, but which are very insightful about music production in general:
Set up the guitar so it's coming in orange... In general, yes, this is what you're doing to all inputs. An example of when not to do this might be if you know a musician will get hit with adrenaline and play twice as loud during the show as they might at soundcheck.
A caveat: signal coming in nice and hot at your preamp will NOT optimize your signal to noise ratio if you compensate by turning your output faders way down. This still means your PA will amplify however much Johnson noise is contributed by your mixer. Run your faders at unity, but turn down your PA if necessary. I know I've said it before but so many people refuse to follow this practice that it makes my head spin.
Methinks you went to school for this... Nope! My formal training in sound amounts to a two-day lecture on system optimization using Smaart.
I work in IT, so part of this is very similar to what I do. Awesome! I'm working on my Network+ certification right now. Being able to set up a reliable LAN for your PA control/monitoring is a requirement for professionals these days. I rarely put more than 20 devices on network, but I want to make sure I'm ready for the phone call asking me to do something ten times bigger. A lot of IT people I know (my father among them) are fantastic autodidacts thanks to a career of keeping up with the newest technology, so you likely have what it takes if you're interested enough to put in the work here.
Are there online resources for system optimization? Well, yes, there are always online resources. I'm sure there are some regulars on this sub who can direct you to some, but I can't offhand. Personally, and for most people you'd ask, the best resource for this is Bob McCarthy's book on the subject. Not an online resource, but you'd be selling yourself short if you didn't read it from the man who started it all.
Black Book first
Yellow Book Second
Green Book Third
The first two can be found on Half.com quite often for cheap, the third is a new edition and worth the money.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sound-Systems-Optimization-Techniques-Alignment/dp/0415731011
That's like asking "how many different ways can you prepare, cook, and present a steak dinner".
One good read if you are curious in the "loud speaker design cook book" https://www.amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580109
I remember literally wearing the cover off of that book back in the olden days..:)
Podcastia itseä kiinnostavista aiheista? Tee sitä mistä tykkäät niin kiinnostuneet ja uskolliset seuraajat löytävät sinut.
Jos tuo tuntuu hyvältä ajatukselta, lukaise vaikka The Complete Guide to Maverick Podcasting: A Manual for Nonconformists.
Newer edition is actually cheaper!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0415731011/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile
Hi /u/breyvinclaw - and welcome to the world of digital filmmaking! I would spend $15 and download [The Location Sound Bible] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATOUXBI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00ATOUXBI&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20) - or, if that's too much, I'd spend $8 for ["Roll Sound" - A Practical Guide for Location Audio] (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HO5USC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004HO5USC&linkCode=as2&tag=battleforthew-20) [Referral Links].
These books will save you a lot more money than they cost.
Good luck!
Bill
I found this at my local library The Complete Guide to High-End Audio, and might be what you're after.
>If you like your Klipsch then I'm happy for you.
I did for a time but your shared happiness is much appreciated.
>Personally, I wouldn't spend money on them. Yes, their efficient. They practically use a megaphone for the tweeter housing (60°x90° tactrix tweeter). They SHOULD be efficient. At high volume they are incredibly harsh across the entire line.
Thr first is totally your prerogative of course but that last part's actually not correct either by measurement or review.
>But that's expected from aluminum dome tweeters. Listening fatigue sets in before a movie finishes and the subs are big and sloppy.
I never had any such fatigue after a movie with mine in an untreated but slightly dead room albeit I dont listen near Reference level. I had other issues but mine weren't the newer RP series.There's a well known subwoofer manufacture and designer who posts here often recommending one of those big and sloppy Klipsch sub's but in general I agree they arent the best value sub you can buy.
>But if you're a person who doesn't take into account Sensitivity Levels and Wattage required to reach 110/115dB at or before reference levels and you're just gonna throw any old 125 watt receiver into your system because it has enough HDMI ports then Klipsch are definitely for you. They pair with run of the mill AVR's like peanut butter and jelly.
Almost any 8Ohm nominal speaker with a < or = to 87dB sensitivity fit that peanut and butter analogy assuming an average seating distance from the mains. Plus actual Reference level was never meant for the home environment which is why -10dB is more the norm in the home for maximum playback levels not 0dB Relative.
>I prefer smoother, silk dome tweeters. You can listen for much longer at high volume without the listening fatigue.
I prefer a ribbon style but I also like my silk dome bookshelf speakers.
>I would rather buy less efficient, sealed cabinet speakers and dump 200+ watts into them. Why would I want a hole in my box attempting to help my low quality drivers hit a frequency range they don't play well when I could just buy better quality speakers?
Or better yet buy a dedicated subwoofer with its own built in amp that can be strategically placed in room in pairs to minimize nodes? Very few if any tower speakers are actually full range. Location and Hoffman's Iron law is a major part of it as well.
>Ceramic drivers? Great! Let's add resonance to my audio. No thanks.
They are composite aluminum drivers dude😕. Infinity also uses a similar design as well with no resonances. Your welcome.
>Ported 10", 12", 15" subs? I'm good thanks. Again, gimme a sealed cabinet, high excursion 8" active + 8" passive paired with a 1500 watt amp. I want bass that'll make my eyes jiggle not a system that just rumbles through all the action scenes. Bass should be able to switch from 'tight and punchy' to 'earthquake' as the director intended.
If that setup is in your closet or a sealed breakfast nook/work station then yeah I'm ok with my eyes jiggling but put that into a 4000^3 open concept space and it's a vibrating footrest/massager not a sub. You can also design a ported subwoofer with those same director desired effects. It just takes good engineering and quality components. Luckily I have ported sub's designed by an Electrical Engineer who loves both movie and accurate music reproduction. One of the larger movie mastering studios use several of his sub designs for the audio.
>I guess if I could buy some speakers without breaking the bank I would be looking at DynAudio towers and Sunfire subwoofers. Atlantic Technology is another brand worth looking at that you won't need to refinance your home for.
One of those 2 speakers is dealer only and the other specializes in studio monitors and don't seem very inexpensive for even a a pair of books but I might be missing some Google fu on that one if you can point me to a more affordable pair of the DA's. As for Sunfire sub's.
>But again, if you're enjoying your Klipsch speakers I'm happy for you.
As I'm sure they are for you and your overpriced foot massager of a sub😉.
>After working in A/V for 23 years and listening to everything from Bose to Vienna Acoustics and everything in between I like to think I have developed an experienced listening ear. Unfortunately there will always be a die-hard fan out there that believes everything sounds good on Klipsch.
Steve Guttenbergof CNET and Mark Fleischmann of Sound and Vision have been doing this a long time as well. There are always die hard fans with every speaker make. I think lots of things sounded good with my Klipsch's but some things I cared about equally didn't.
This book is really great for mixing. Currently making my way through it. It is very dense and thorough
This book has been recommended to me a lot for mastering. A very good producer told me this was the standard for wanting to learn proper mastering techniques. I haven’t read it yet
It's difficult to recommend anything as most commercial publications are full of voodoo like expensive cables and power conditioners.
That said, I enjoyed Robert Harley's The Complete Guide to High-End Audio https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978649362 even though it's guilty of the same. It still gives a good overview and explains how things work together.
http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/an_early_history_of_modern_power_amplifiers/studyhall
Doug Self has a book on power amplifier design that has a history chapter as well as several notes on the history of various topologies:
http://www.amazon.com/Audio-Power-Amplifier-Design-Douglas/dp/0240526139
I found this to be a great introductory book that explains all the basics:
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio 5th Edition by Robert Harley.
Here in PDF form is the table of contents.
Start with reading every thing you can find and then make informed decisions from there.
https://www.amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason/dp/1882580478/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1468992574&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=loudspeaker+design+cookbook+7th+edition
https://www.amazon.com/Speaker-Building-201-Comprehensive-Course/dp/1882580451/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1468992780&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=speaker+building
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Building-Testing-Speaker-Projects/dp/007069429X/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1468992806&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=speaker+building
Thanks, I'm actually currently reading Mixing Audio: Concepts, Practices, and Tools.
Any feedback on what I could do to improve the mix? Did anything sound off in particular?
Two very classic books. They're a touch dated, but acoustical physics haven't changed much.
Start with this one: amazon.com/Designing-Building-Testing-Speaker-Projects
Then read this: amazon.com/Loudspeaker-Design-Cookbook-Vance-Dickason
If you get through those a couple times, and muck around with the included (ancient) software, you'll be ready to build a damn clean set of speakers. And a very good start for all the bits and parts is: parts-express.com It's totally worth the work. Have fun!
In that case, I bet you'll want to take the custom route. Have a pair custom made for yourself and you'll never go back to the generic ones. Here are a few resources to get started. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5].
I read this book to help get me started out before:
The Complete Guide to High-End Audio https://www.amazon.com/dp/0978649362/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_mUJUDbZ4QWTD0
You could use the mtx ones. It would get you over the crossover design, but you would still have to find a place for them in your design. Also, its hard to tell your design specifically, but it looks like the woofers are just attached to tubes. If thats the case, the woofers are going to be lacking a ton of base. In a proper enclosure, 5 1/2 in drivers could probably be expected to reach down to somewhere in the 50Hz range, possibly a little lower if you have the right set up. If I have your design correct, I would guess that your lowest bass would be somewhere up in the 150 - 200 Hz range, or right around the end of the human vocal spectrum. There would be no base below that and the speaker will sound very hollow.
This would be the reference I would send you to to get the information you need, but be warned that the information is very technically, it took me 2 - 3 reads to understand the information, and then go back and follow along with the calculations.
Loudspeaker Design Cookbook
The possibly meta answer to this is what's most important is you learn the idea of an open process that examines and attempts to extinguish errors in the manner of self correcting feedback.
For a specific example, I think Olson's textbook on acoustics remains one of the best comprehensive introductions on the subject, but it's now stupid hard/expensive to get ahold of for no good reason at all.
Well, the guy was not a real pro...
Like I said, it seems that you look more for feedback than for learning anything - there are enough free resources out there to learn anything.
Tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEjOdqZFvhY like this - it looks cheesy, but is most informative full course on youtube
Channels of plugin companies like Fab filter, Waves, Izotope etc.
Many genre producers have posted breakdowns of their tracks on youtube...
I suggest getting some stems of released tracks and analysing them.
https://www.amazon.com/Mixing-Audio-Concepts-Practices-Tools/dp/1138859788/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1540366561&sr=1-1&keywords=mixing+audio&dpID=41e%252BBcVrTZL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Btw, for the price of something like a berklee course you can get an album mixed in a "pro" studio (considering that you are noone, they shouldn't charge much - something like 100 usd per song).
I suggest focusing on the your music, you will get more from a composition course - see Avicii's early tracks were dogshit in terms of mixing, but they were good musically and later he could afford way better mixing engineers to do all the technical work. (From what I've heard, even the best mix won't get your posted songs to become excellent.)
BTW, many EDM songs are just layers upong layers of compression to get it loud, which is considered a bad mix. If you just want to get loud, learn more about limiters, multiband compression and clippers, and saturation.
Sound System Engineering (Don Davis / Eugene Patronis / Pat Brown): https://www.amazon.com/Sound-System-Engineering-4e-Fourth/dp/0240818466/
Acoustic Absorbers & Diffusers (D'Antonio/Cox): https://www.amazon.com/Acoustic-Absorbers-Diffusers-Theory-Application/dp/0415471745/
Sound Systems Design & Optimization (Bob McCarthy): https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Systems-Optimization-Techniques-Alignment/dp/0415731011/
pdf:
https://www.sendspace.com/file/ny2ios
https://www.sendspace.com/file/xyoa7j
Jeff Bagby has a good excel spreadsheet with baked-in formulas. However, it's difficult to use unless you have a good base understanding of what you're doing. Some good books to get you started are the Loudspeaker Design Cookbook and Speaker Building 201.
Keep in mind that it is absolutely necessary to have measurement equipment if you want to design anything and be able to point out what is wrong. Even if you have perfect pitch, actually quantifying what you're hearing in a speaker is really hard to do, and honestly can probably only come from lots of experience listening and then measuring to be able to recognize what is off.
Still, I recommend you just build an existing design.
Books wise, when I started from nowhere I used Robert Harley's, "The Complete Guide to High-End Audio" and it was very useful for me to bootstrap.
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-High-End-Acoustic-Engineering/dp/0978649311/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1325027596&amp;sr=8-1-spell
This guy has been around for a while:
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-High-End-Audio-ebook/dp/B00U58R0Q4