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Bruce Swedien
Make Mine Music
(Hal Leonard)
 The role of the studio engineer in music recording is never discussed when conversations arise about great music. Bruce Swedien could be heralded as the best engineer in the business by his association with Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson alone. However, after reading his autobiography, Make Mine Music, it becomes clear that he had as much to do with the success of albums like Off The Wall, Thriller and Back on the Block as the songwriters, arrangers or musicians. Swedien is an engineer in the purest sense: he realizes what goal he wants to achieve, sees the tools in front of him and finds uncanny ways to manipulate those tools to achieve his goal.
Here he provides an incredibly insightful read on his unique recording techniques, from the innovative multi-tracking technique known as the Acusonic Recording Process to building a giant wooden drum platform to eliminate echo. He speaks highly of his closest confidants and mentors—Jones, Jackson, Duke Ellington and his wife Bea—interjects colorful stories involving his collaborators and details the intricate technical procedures and terminology to the reader in a narrative that's easy to follow, thus giving us a better understanding of a virtually ignored aspect of music making. By the end of the book, you'll have a newfound respect for recording engineers, if only this one. —Matthew Allen
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