Bruce Swedien

I recently ran across the work of another audio engineering legend that is worth checking out.  The names of the people he has worked with are too many to list, but when one mentions musicians like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Eddie Harris, Quincy Jones, Jennifer Lopez, and even Michael Jackson, a great deal is immediately understood.

Mr Swedien wrote a book in 2004 called Make Mine Music that gives away detailed information from his lifetime in the studio-from a musical, technical, and very personal perspective. This book has something for everyone who is interested in music, especially those curious about the stories behind the scenes of some of the best music to ever come out of the recording studio.  I came across the book in 2005 but had forgotten I even owned it.  Upon rediscovery, there are too many pearls of audio wisdom in this book to list.

Being such a fan of Bruce, it was with great interest that I found this snippet a few weeks ago on ProSoundWeb from the book that is solid content for anyone who practices this artform of mixing modern music.  Here Bruce writes about developing your own “audio personality” for how you evaluate what you hear and translate it into an actual mix “product”.

Do yourself a favor and check this out. If you’re like me and the article resounds with you, pick up the book.  I think you’ll be glad you did!