Top 10 Music Books About Music Production

Every song you’ve ever listened to exists because of music producers. They’re the unsung he

roes of our world, bringing beautiful beats and combining them with godly lyrics to our ears.

But music production is vastly different from any other aspect of the industry. Sure, we’re quick to praise artists for coming up with the lyrics to make the next top hit, but what about the men and women who shape the industry, co-write songs, and lead musicians and artists through the music-production process?

The role of a music producer is essential in the music production process. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn about music production. Some ways to get up to speed are watching YouTube tutorials and series, signing up for courses, and observing producers as they create something extraordinary from nothing.

But there’s a different, more accessible way to learn all there is about music production – reading music books. This guide will list the top ten music books for eager and upcoming music producers. So with that said, let’s jump right into it.

10 Music Books for Eager Music Producers

The music production books on our list provide readers with an in-depth look at the music production industry as a whole but from different perspectives. These books are a must-read for any music producer who wants to learn the process behind creating good music. The list is in no particular order. Let’s start.

Making Music: Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers

As the name of the book says, Making Music is your all-in-one handbook for the creative process issues in the electronic music genre. The book was written by Dennis DeSantis and published in 2015.

The book focuses on the many creative problems you’ll encounter in the industry and ways to solve these problems. In total, the book outlines 74 creative problems, with each being a separate chapter.

Making Music covers these issues in-depth and can be an excellent starting point for eager computer musicians. DeSantis even offers many of the book’s chapters, for free, on his website. But you can get the whole book on Amazon as a hard copy or Amazon Kindle in the form of an eBook.

Live Music Production: Interviews with UK Pioneers

Have you ever wanted to go behind the scenes and learn how professionals do it? If so, Live Music Production by Richard Ames is a journey in time when rock music in the UK was at its peak.

The book is full of interviews and anecdotes from UK pioneers of legendary music from the 60s to the 80s. Live Music Production is different from other books as it takes a different approach to learn about music production.

The book doesn’t offer any insight into the creative process. Instead, it sheds light on the people who pioneered UK rock, where they came from, and their day-to-day lives. It’s a real eye-opener and one of the best books for beginner music producers who want to know more about the stuff happening behind the scenes.

You can find the book on Routledge and Amazon in paperback, hardback, and eBook.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook: Learning to Make Musical Choices

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook is one of three Bobby Owsinski books that look at music production as a whole with the other two being The Recording Engineer’s Handbook and Mastering Engineer’s Handbook.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook is a bestseller and is beloved by seasoned professionals and beginners alike. Written by Bobby Owsinski, the book will teach you how to create music from your home studio.

It includes fundamental and advanced techniques music producers use to make themselves stand out from the rest of the music industry. After reading this book, you’ll have firm music production knowledge and an understanding of mixing.

In addition, the book includes interviews with music industry professionals and celebrated audio mixers from varying genres, giving you even more relevant insight into what it means to be a music producer.

The book is available on Bobby Owsinski’s website.

Rick Rubin: In the Studio

Author Jake Brown follows the legendary music producer’s long and successful career around the studio and gives detailed insight into the world’s most legendary music producer, his music theory, and the unique recording philosophy that made him successful.

Rick Rubin is a name every eager music producer should know by the time they’re ready to give into music production. He is quoted by Rolling Stone as “the most successful” record producer and MTV put him on the top of its “most important producers in the past two decades” list.

He’s worked with world-renowned artists such as Red Hot Chilli Peppers, System of a Down, Rage Against the Machines, Metallica, LL Cool J, Slipknot, Jay Z, and many others. The variety of artists Rubin has worked with shows why he’s so highly thought in the music production industry.

The book largely follows Rubin’s personal and professional life. In addition, the book will give you a detailed insight into his music recording process, with emphasis on producing music, his mixing process, studio recording, mastering audio, and running record labels. You can purchase the book on Amazon.

Record Label: Beginner Guide of Start, Manage, and Run Independent Record Label

Simply put, this book is all about starting your first record label. Written by Perry Anderson, the book is an all-in-one handbook about what it means to start and run a record label. It addresses some of the most difficult issues around funding, signing talent, and promoting the label to attract more talent.

Record Label looks at music production from a different perspective. Instead of learning how to create cool tracks and produce music, it teaches you everything about the music business. While this book isn’t aimed at beginners, it is a must-read when you decide to take the next step in your music career.

With a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship, this book will teach you how the most legendary studios came to be and what it means to manage one. You can find the book on Google Books.

The Art of Mixing: A Visual Guide to Recording, Engineering, and Production

David Gibson’s 1997 classic takes us through the technical aspects of recording any musical instrument and creating art. In music production, mixing is as much an art as it is a revolution. The Art of Mixing uses visuals to describe how different music sounds trigger and create a single cohesive unit.

The book has gone through several editions, but the main points remain. The mixing blueprints from the first edition are still there, but the latest edition includes modern recording techniques to take your mixing game to the next level.

Simply put, it’s a brilliant book for music producers who love visual learning and want to create great-sounding masters on their own. You can pick up The Art of Mixing on Amazon.

Innovation in Music: Future Opportunities

Innovation in Music takes you through the music history eras. Written by several researchers and music practitioners, this book largely focuses on the different technologies used throughout the years.

Again, this book is largely different and doesn’t teach you about the creative process and making cool tracks. Instead, the book is a guide to music production technology, performance, and the business aspect.

If you want to know more about how technology has changed the music production world, this book is definitely for you. You can pick up the book in paperback, hardcopy, and in the form of an eBook on Routledge.

Master Handbook of Acoustics

The Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest and Ken Pohlmann teaches everything there is to acoustics in music production. This book is as important to mastering music production as audio engineering, uncovering mixing secrets, tracking, and editing.

The book also teaches us that proper soundproofing and sound treatment are vital for taking your mixing and mastering to the next level. A particularly interesting aspect of this book is achieving playback optimization.

Even if you put the world’s most high-profile recording engineers in a room with the world’s biggest artists, you won’t achieve playback optimization across your studio without perfect room acoustics.

Simply put, this book covers absolutely all the knowledge available on the subject of acoustics. It takes input from many audio engineers and includes modern best practices to create the best mixing/mastering environment.

Oblique Strategies

Oblique Strategies isn’t a music production book. Instead, it’s a set of over 100 cards that outline many creative problems and different ways to resolve them. The reason we’ve included Oblique Strategies to our music production books list is that many popular artists and producers have used them in the past.

The cards are designed by the duo Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt to help artists create boxes to stimulate creative workflow. These cards don’t specifically apply to music production, but they’re a clever resource to keep around your home studio.

Oblique Strategies is in its fifth edition, meaning there are plenty of cards to help with different time-tested techniques. These cards have been previously used by artists, mixing engineers, and even band members. 

Popular examples include Coldplay and MGMT, and they were famously used by Brian Eno during the recording of David Bowie’s triptych – Low, Heroes, and Lodger back in the 70s.

You can find Oblique Strategies on Enoshop.

Mixing Secrets for the Home Studio

Mixing Secrets for the Home Studio is a music production book every beginner should read. Considering we all start small, this book will teach you everywhere there is to choose the right music production equipment, from monitors to soundproof panels.

It is a book by Mike Senior where the author outlines different audio engineering problems in each chapter. Therefore, the book will help you when you stumble upon a particular problem. It includes all the essentials for beginning your music production career and is on par with books experts consider “best sellers.”

You can pick up the Mixing Secrets for the Home Studio book on Amazon in paperback, hardcover, or in the form of an eBook.

Conclusion

That concludes our list of the ten books about music production that eager producers should read when beginning their careers in the music industry. Books are an excellent way to get better at anything, and the same rule applies to the music production industry.

We’ve included books that outline production tips and look at the music production industry from abroad. What’s left is for you to pick up the book that appeals to you the most and jumpstart your music production career.