First off, I am not a professional engineer or producer, but when I went out and bought the Digi 001 with Pro Tools LE it was like a whole new world had opened up to me. I installed the hardware and software and thumbed through the rather substantial software reference manual. In a matter of no time I was able to lay down tracks and play with plug-ins. If I had a question I could search through the manual - if I had questions about recording in general I would ask friends for advice. For the most part this was good, but the focus of my questions was me trying to duplicate what I had experienced while recording in traditional analog studios. Yes, I could get quality results this way, but in no way was I truly taking advantage of what Pro Tools could really do. This is where David Franz's Producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools comes in. It gets you focused in an understandable, easy to read way on all the key concepts involved with recording in the digital environment. Yes, many concepts are the same such as trying to get the best take on any given performance and general mic placement concepts - however, many are not and the differences are important to know. Things like nudging notes, automated and destructive punching, and setting up a MIDI network. The book begins by getting you started with your home studio, setting it up and recording new ideas, as well as the basics of producing. It takes you deep inside the fundamentals of digital recording and editing. Later the book also includes a chapter on more advanced studio configuration options. I really appreciate this separation. It structurally highlights the difference between things you actually need to get started, to the things that might be very helpful but are not required. It then takes you through the key concepts of pre- production, defining in detail the roles of the producer and engineer, their specific responsibilities in increasing the likelihood of your project turning out successful. Next, it goes over the actual production of your project, how to improve your systems performance and efficiency, the role of the producer in production, as well as production considerations for engineers. Finally it details the post-production or mixing and mastering of your project. How to put on all the finishing touches so that it sounds the best that it can. I think that this book is definitely useful for people like myself who aren't seasoned engineers and whose main body of recording experience is with analog studios. And fear not if you don't have Pro Tools on your computer because this book comes with a CD-ROM with a free copy of Pro Tools Free, along with some cool useful pdf files, so now you have no excuses! (www.berkleepress.com)