While no books are required for this course, I have two book recommendations. I use these for my own reference.

Stanley Alten’s Audio in Media is a text book that offers an excellent overview on Audio Production. It’s an expensive book, but older editions are perfectly fine and much more affordable. My copy is an eighth edition (2008). The main differences in editions has to do with sections on DAW (digital audio workstation) software, but basic principles for audio are the same across editions. Used copies are available from Amazon, etc. We will be reading two chapters from this book in class, but it has useful sections on using microphones and more.

Frank Cook’s Pro Tools 10 Power is a comprehensive reference with a lot of tips on using Pro Tools version 10. I find it useful to look up how to do certain things in Pro Tools. Be aware that version 11 of Pro Tools is available now, but we will be working with Pro Tools 10 in class. Core functionality is essentially the same between both versions.

As far as equipment, portable digital audio recorders and microphones are provided. Some work (particularly early in the semester can be done on your own computer. You should have a good sized (16GB or better) flash drive or hard drive to keep a backup of projects when you are working in the lab.

Many inexpensive headphones use a 1/8″ Stereo plug, suitable for mobile music players. The digital audio recorders use a 1/4″ jack, so you may need to purchase an adapter. If your headphones work with your mobile player, you will need a 1/8″ to 1/4″ stereo adapter. Radio Shack sells one that is available in their store. They only publish the part number for the one they sell online, but you can go to a Radio Shack and ask and they will find it for you. You will also see these available at places like Sam Ash Music and Guitar Center – I think even Best Buy sells them.

Speaking of which, you should have is a decent pair of headphones. We all wear earbuds most of the time when listening to music on a mobile device. Their portability makes them ubiquitous.  But most do not do a great job of reproducing audio, and offer poor audio isolation. I highly recommend investing in a pair of over the ear (covers the ear) headphones. A decent (if not stellar) pair of over the ear headphones are better than none at all. The Sennheiser HD 201 headphones are $24.00 a pair on Amazon.  I own a pair of Beyerdynamic DT 231’s, (now DT 235’s) which are less than $50.00. Going up in price will get you a pair that are more accurate. The Sony MDR7506 are less than $100, and are highly regarded. With less money comes some compromises, but the better sound isolation and larger diaphragm in even the cheapest of these headphones listed will help when editing audio.