Understanding Records, Second Edition: A Field Guide to Recording Practice, Paperback

The revised edition of Understanding Records explains the musical language of recording practice in a way any interested reader and student can easily understand. Drawing on readily available hit records produced since 1945, each section of this book explains a handful of core production and engineering techniques in chronological record-making sequence, elucidates how those techniques work, what they sound like, how they function musically, where listeners can hear them at work in the broader Top 40 soundscape, and where they fit within the broader record-making process at large. As the only book to introduce music production and its practical elements with no assumed prior knowledge, the revised edition includes:
- Exclusive print and video interviews with emerging and established recordists, including: Alex Chuck Krotz (Drake, Three Days Grace, Mother Mother); Kevin O' Leary (Shawn Mendes, The Glorious Sons, Monster Truck); Alastair Sims (Rush, The Tragically Hip, Barenaked Ladies); Matt Shelvock (kingmobb, san holo, bitbird, DROLOE); and Russ Hepworth-Sawyer (Billy Ray Cyrus, Steve Earle, Amadou & Miriam)
- Numerous "real word" audio examples, organized into easily accessible streaming playlists, culled from Juno-nominated sessions the author himself worked on, and numerous other professional sources.
- Easy to understand explanations of each facet of the record production process, which avoid technical jargon and clarify terminology.
- Information on new developments in recording practice and updated musical references.
Completely reworked and expanded sections on mixing and audio mastering.

Jay Hodgson is Associate Professor of Popular Music Studies at Western University, Canada. He is author or editor of numerous books, including Audio Mastering: The Artists (with Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, 2018) and Mixing Music (with Russ Hepworth-Sawyer, 2016). He was awarded a Governor General's Academic Gold Medal in 2006, primarily in recognition of his research on recording practice. He has mastered two records nominated for Juno awards, and contributed music to films recognized by the likes of Rolling Stone and which screened at the United Nations General Assembly.