At almost 600 pages, this is a hefty book, and I just finished reading every word of it. Mixerman is Eric Sarafin [Tape Op #34]; an engineer, producer, mixer, musician, and writer with many decades of real experience making records. Subtitled "Everything You Need to Know About Producing, Recording, Mixing & Mastering Music at Home or in the Studio" and noted as "The Antidote to Misinformation," Mixerman's Ultimate Guide to Producing Records, Music & Songs basically supersedes his 2012 book, Zen and the Art of Producing [#93], smartly updating to the changing times we work in these days. It also points out a lot of the crap information foisted on us by the inexperienced goons that seems to flood the internet these days. Whereas Zen… was oriented more towards doing work for hire in rented studios, this new book takes in a wide scope of how personal studios, shrinking budgets, and working methods have evolved over the last 13 years. Eric covers a lot of ground in this book, and every chapter is full of his earned wisdom and straight-to-the-point information. With a similar number of years in the studio as Eric, I was constantly saying, "Yup. That’s the truth," as I read these pages.
This book is dead on the best practical, hardcore advice about real-life record-making that I've ever read. My only fear is that the people who need to read this most will be the ones who skip past it, thinking they already know it all or that someone else's experience won’t relate to their own recording paths. These people are completely wrong, as this book offers an incredible amount of insight that they could harness and use! I would recommend Mixerman's Ultimate Guide to Producing Records, Music & Songs to every single person who is involved in making records or recording music, even if they are under the delusion that they can remain just a songwriter or musician. Understanding the nuances of the possible processes, when to use what tools and why, and learning that songwriting, arrangements, and performances are what make a record "better" sounding are among many of the key points discussed here that we all need in order to make the best recorded music.