Our growing list of our glowing reviews. Please select a review to jump to it.

• Mix Magazine Review, Nov 2002
• Tape Op Review, Nov 2002
• Illinois Entertainer, Oct 2002
• Sound On Sound Review, Oct 2002
• Performing Songwriter Review, June 2002
• Rick Fowler, Professional Musician/Engineer, May 2002

...like having your own private tutor Mix Magazine, Nov 2002

Novices and experts alike can pick up valuable tips from A Musician's Guide to Pro Tools, the first in a series of progressive guides for using this ubiquitous workstation. Written by producer John Keane, this $39.95 "anti-manual" provides detailed step-by-step lessons with illustrations to help users get the most out of tracking, overdubbing, mixing and editing. Bonuses? A lesson "session" CD-ROM, cut out cheat sheets and function key labels. It's sort of like having your own private tutor, without someone hanging over your shoulder.

...the third chapter is worth the cost of this book alone Tape Op, Nov 2002

This past year has seen not one, but two well written books on how newbies to hard disc recording can decipher Pro Tools. When Producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools from Berklee Press came out, I was eager to get a copy to help me learn the program. But I found the book too basic, covering not only Pro Tools but the basics of recording. I've already spent many years recording and wanted to cut to the chase so the book didn't work for me, but my friend Matt Levine who'd just bought a 001 really liked the book and got a lot out of it. (reviewed in Tape Op #29).

From the title, I thought Athens, GA recording engineer (R.E.M., Cowboy Junkies, Indigo Girls, etc.) John Keane's book might be similar, but this book, while only 116 pages, gets right down to business. If you already know how to record onto analog tape, this book will quickly and easily walk you through how to record with Pro Tools. The basic stuff like different modes of overdubbing and punching in, as well as how to efficiently manage your hard drive space are covered in the first chapter.

The second covers mixing.

It's the third and final chapter, Advanced Editing Techniques, that is worth the cost of this book alone. In this chapter, Keane walks you through how to edit a shitty drum track. Whether you think this is an OK thing to do or not, it's pretty much become an essential skill for anyone who wants to make a living recording bands. Using audio files on a CD provided with the book, you'll learn how to cheat the devil and do tricks like fixing dragged snares, rushed tom fills, out of tune bass notes and squeaky guitar tracks, making you the hero of every pop-punk band that records in your studio.

This is an excellent book for any engineer or home recordist just getting into Pro Tools and it should be noted that Keane went the DIY route and self published this book. There's a more advanced Book 2 on the way, and I'm eager to check that one out as well.

JB

Keane demystifies the recording process Illinois Entertainer, Nov 2002

With the release of Digidesign's Pro Tools, Digi 001, the computer-based recording software, home-recording hobbyists have clamored for help wading through the technical learning curve that Pro Tools presents. A Musician's Guide To Pro Tools, a new book by producer/engineer John Keane, is designed to help beginners get off the ground with Pro Tools. It provides tutorials containing very specific step-by-step instructions for recording, editing, and mixing a home demo. The book includes a CD-ROM with a Pro Tools session as part of the tutorial. Written in a user-friendly and humorous style, Keane demystifies the recording process. Keane's resume includes serving as recording engineer with R.E.M., Cowboy Junkies, The Indigo Girls, and Widespread Panic. He began working with Pro Tools soon after its introduction in the early-'90s, and has amassed a great deal of knowledge on the subject. A Musician's Guide To Pro Tools is available for $39.95 and can be ordered online directly from the web at www.supercatpress.com.

David Gedge

...it's obvious Keane knows Pro Tools like the back of his hand Sound On Sound, Oct 2002

All the major MIDI + Audio sequencers now have at least one third-party book to call their own, but the quality of some is distinctly variable. Too often they come across as hastily rewritten rehashes of the manufacturers manual, existing solely to help out those with pirate software and no documentation. John Keanes book on Pro Tools is a very welcome exception. For one thing, Keane is an excellent writer; I can't remember another music technology book making me laugh out loud. For another, it's obvious that he knows Pro Tools like the back of his hand, having used it in the studio since 1991. Perhaps most importantly, however, he's found a way of structuring and writing the book which makes it immediately useful. What you get here is not a rewrite of the manual, but insight into the ways in which a professional engineer uses Pro Tools to record, edit and mix music.

I can't imagine any official Digidesign product manual ever kicking off with "The Preferences are settings your computer stores to keep track of the way you like to work. For reasons no-one has ever been able to fully explain to me, they get corrupted every few months and have to be dragged into the trash." But this is exactly the sort of advice that experienced Pro Tools users should be able to provide, and A Musician's Guide to Pro Tools is stuffed full of it. Where Digidesign's official documentation provides exhaustive details of all the program's functions, Keane explains how they're actually used in typical engineering situations.

From tracking and overdubbing to basic editing, fixing up dodgy instrumental parts and setting up a mix, the book takes the reader through a typical session where Pro Tools is used to record and mix a band. The band's performance is supplied as a Pro Tools session on a CD-ROM to help you through. Keane is sometimes entertainingly opinionated, but it's hard to argue with his strong views on the importance of learning key commands, or keeping your data tidy. There are other ways of using Pro Tools than the ones presented here, but this book is about as close as you can get to actually standing behind an expert and watching him or her work.

Thirty-five pounds may seem like a lot for a book that's scarcely 100 pages long, but this one definitely sits at the right end of the quality/quantity spectrum. Because everything is explained so concisely, you spend less time wading through pages and more time recording music. This book is billed as Beginner/Intermediate, and I for one can't wait.

Sam Inglis

Highlights include an invaluable section entitled "Managing the Session" in which Keane covers some common mistakes by directing the reader to thoroughly foul up the session and then he clearly explains how to get out of the mess. Lesson Three includes a CD-ROM with a humorous, if all-too familiar scenario: A late night session with a local bar band hasn't quite turned out as well as it seemed after a few drinks and several hours of takes and now it's your job to make it sound decent before the band and returns for overdubs - moving some late snare hits, shifting a pitch here and there and the ever-important "squeak removal."

...written by a professional who plays and records music everyday Rick Fowler, Professional Musician and Audio Engineer

Within the past few years, digital recording has reached a level that allows its positive aspects to far outweigh its negative ones. There are many of us, including some analog die-hards like me, who now gladly embrace the affordable computer-based digital recording system Pro Tools from manufacturer Digidesign.

The beauty of Pro Tools is that it is capable of doing so much with recorded sound. Ironically, this almost limitless capability can be the horror of Pro Tools. There are so many routes to take and so many ways to apply the software’s features in order to achieve a variety of results. The support manuals shipped with or purchased from Digidesign are comprehensive but do not include an “only what I need to know to do this job” section.

Most of us using Pro Tools simply want to make multi-track recordings of our music, fix musical mistakes in the recorded tracks, edit, and mix them. We want this and nothing more. However we must sift through countless pages about the program’s advanced features in the manufacturer’s manual in order to find the information needed to accomplish our relatively easy goals. The Pro Tools manual is more of a look-what-all-you-can-do rather than a how-to guide.

Not so with veteran musician/producer/engineer John Keane’s new book, A Musician’s Guide to Pro Tools. As the title suggests, this book is all about recording and editing music. It is written by a professional who plays and records music every day and the text never bores the reader by wandering off into “I do not really need to know this” territory. Keane’s intense, focused approach provides the best way for a musician or studio engineer to learn to use Pro Tools. The book includes a helpful CD as part of the training course, allowing a truly hands-on experience for those new to this complex program.

I was impressed by the fact that chapter one gives clear instructions on configuring your computer to work properly as a multi-track recorder / editor. Otherwise the computer owner will quickly find that Pro Tools demands exact tweaks within both the computer’s settings and its own preferences. Pro Tools cannot be just another program on your home computer. It must rule the computer. If not configured properly, it will make sure that both the computer and the other software programs quickly learn who is boss.

Pro Tools is a wonderful program but it does suffer from the unavoidable flaws of computer-based recording, such as latency in monitoring and delays caused by the use of several plug-ins (compressors, reverbs, and other signal-processing software programs). The software requires a computer with tons of ram and a fast processor in order to function yet it can still manage to drag even the fastest computers down to a crawl. These points are addressed in the Pro Tools user’s manual. However Keane’s book provides very easy instructions and illustrations for setting up auxiliary sends and returns, using automation tricks, and applying other valuable CPU-relieving techniques. All instructions are well explained for both Windows and Macintosh users and specifically address the different versions of ProTools.

Throughout the book’s lessons, Keane suggests appropriate points for the reader to consult the Pro Tools manual for more detailed explanations. Therefore the book works in concert with the manufacturer’s user manual, making things even more evident and easy to understand. The end result is that one can avoid becoming distracted by the manufacturer’s often-unneeded technical information and proceed to quickly learn to record and edit music.

Lesson One quickly dives in, allowing the reader to easily set up and begin to record some initial tracks. Packed with illustrations, the narrative provides a step-by-step procedure for working with these tracks and completing a simple multi-track recording. This zero-fat, direct to-the-point method allows one to remain focused, fully understanding each step along the way. Although the book covers all of the major aspects of recording and editing with Pro Tools, it never throws a huge chunk of information out at once. It unveils the information only as needed, which is exactly the way a good instructional guide should be written.

Keane left nothing out, including the all-too-common musician’s mistake, such as a bad note or a missed beat. Many manuals provide excellent instructions as long as all is right with the world. However music is not usually free of flaws. This is where this book shines far above others of its type. Keane actually puts musical mistakes into the training course and teaches the reader how to fix them. Even more impressive is that his fixes remain natural sounding and he stresses the avoidance of sterile over-editing.

If I could have purchased this book/CD training course before I started recording with Pro Tools, I could have saved countless hours of brain wrenching and profanity spouting. If you want to spend your valuable time creating music and not cussing your computer, A Musician’s Guide to ProTools is an absolute must-have.

Rick Fowler