And Techniques, Toys, Dance Music Manual: Tools

If you are serious about making music & committed to spending the time to actually learning about the theory behind music then this is the book for you.
Where as other books with titles like 'Best ever secrets of dance music revealed' try to pretend they have information that no one else does, Rick tells it like it is.
Whether you are a beginner or have been making music for a while put cant just seem to get that polished sound, this book will help. Everything you could need to know is covered in the manual.
The online support is excellent & the audio examples convey the theory laid out in the text perfectly.
I have no reservations about recommending this book. Essential for producers.

Fantastic book- Rick Snoman really knows his stuff. I've been making dance music for 12 years now, but it's really nice to hear the formal know how behind what I'm already doing. He also covers a lot of things that I didn't already know and was very happy to learn. Every producer should own this book.

Maybe too much depth. i bought this to learn about dance music styles, and what differentiates house from trance, etc. book starts with an analysis of the technology and a history of synthesis. while this is tremendously informative, i found the detailed discussion of perfect settings for a hi-hat or bass synth sound to be farther under the hood than i cared to go. could be just me, but nowadays, factory presets and present day plug-ins seem to have made this analysis, while fascinating, kinda like memorabilia. that said, there's a depth of understanding here that is certainly the very valuable result of years of practice. and especially the discussion of effects DOES convey clearly how, say, the various controls and settings on a compressor create a desired result.

so in sum, this a compendium of very useful information, almost encyclopedic in scope. if you're trying to get RIGHT TO making music, no, this is a reference you'll need to take considerable time with to glean the gems, and there are many.

This book is absolutely packed with great content. Plan on re-reading it a couple of times, and sitting down at your DAW whilst playing with his suggest synthesizer and compressor settings. If you're thinking about doing dance music production, you need this book.

The reason I give it 4 rather than 5 stars are threefold.

The first is, this edition starts out full-bore music theory, whilst prior editions saved it for the end. I had some music theory in college, and my eyes still glazed over. I think it would be better to put this information later in the book (after hooking the reader, or someone perusing the table contents or a PDF) and refer to the topic by example throughout the book.

Secondly, in the "I don't think this word means what you think it does" department, the word "atypical" is used frequently throughout the book, but incorrectly. "atypical" is not-typical. In this book, it means "extremely common", such as "the atypical four-four time signature of dance music". I checked with a number of British friends before writing this review and they had never heard of it used that way. Maybe he meant archetypal? Maybe meant "typical" but search-and-replaced an extra a at the beginning?

Finally - this book really needs an editor. They would have caught the atypical use of atypical. There are many places where sentences are incoherent. You could tell they started out and were partially edited. Most of the time I could suss out the meaning whilst scratching my head, other times I just gave up and moved on. An editor could also suggest other words for "whilst" which appears many times on every page. Not being a Brit, that word jumped out at first reading, and continued jumping out throughout reading of the book. The word is ok, but it'd be nice having some variety whilst reading.

I was attracted to the language referring a concept of different styles of dance music but I get technical information, basic forms and production. Not helpful as to how I perceived the pitch when I first saw the book.

The content in this book is generally good. While the level of coverage is inconsistent (some section go deep, others only gloss over subjects), I found the content valuable. Others have covered that, so I won't reiterate it here.

Instead, I wanted to point out the lack of editing in this book. Poor editing (for grammar, spelling, structure) can make a book like this very awkward to read. Using the wrong "your/you're" in big bold print in the opening to a chapter is unforgivable. The frequent use of the wrong its/it's, combined with bad pluralization and overuse of apostrophes makes it even worse. It's not a stray typo, it's a fundamental lack of understanding of grammar and spelling. If you were to load the book text into MS Word, you'd see lots of squiggly lines.

In addition, there are editing mistakes where chapters were obviously moved around. For example, in chapter 9, the text says something along the lines of "don't panic, we'll cover that in chapter 4". I can forgive things like that, but an editor would have caught them.

As an author myself, I can tell you how much value a good editor, plus the review of copy editors, can bring to a book. Don't make it hard for people to read and enjoy your writing. The mistakes are very distracting from the content and message.

I'd rate it 3 1/2 stars for the lack of editing, but partial stars aren't supported.

I started to read this book after an extensive year of getting my hands dirty on producing dance music. I can also say that I own the 2nd edition of this book and will compare the two side by side.

Firstly, the second edition seems outdated from when I first picked it up. As the first book I read, a lesson in synthesizers and such was a bit overwhelming for me but I embraced it and did a lot of researching into what Rick was talking about. After going thru this route of learning about the technical aspects of production, I found that although the second edition was amazingly informative, I couldn't help but cringe at the way the author had written the book. Is synthesis really the first thing a beginner needs to understand when composing music?

After a year of getting my hands dirty on all the books I can find, and figuring out all the things that go into making dance music or producing music, I had finally began to see the bigger picture. Understanding frequencies and synthesizers and equalizers and compression and such. It didnt come without a fight tho because I had nooooo clue what they were. If you bought the second edition as a new producer you would understand what I meant by it being kind of out dated. The examples used for musical references I had never heard of so it was very hard for me to grasp what was going on. It seemed more like a intermediate book aimed at people with an already basic understanding my how the music works.

With that said, this edition goes back and updates all of the references to music made. It is absolutely amazing. In the first chapter instead of talking about synthesizers the author goes into basic and fundamental music theory that is the fundamentals of good music in my opinion. The entire book is revamped to flow in a different pace than previous editions. Mostly when I think of an edition change, I think of maybe the author decided to do a reprint with some example changes here and there. The flow of the book is incredible. Chord progression and melody writing is something that all producers aim to achieve to create good music. By diving into the music first aspect of the book, I was blown away that Rick decided to go into music theory.

I know what most people think, theory is boring, but I can tell you that after going thru synthesizers and learning all about the basics, I found that music theory is something that most people will struggle with especially because most people concentrate on the technical aspects of music production. It is MUSIC after all firstly and most importantly, then production.

Reading up on music theory, and being a musician in piano and saxaphone, I found the refreshing link the author makes from actual musicianship to the production of the music we hear currently on the radio.

5 Stars MUST HAVE BOOK. If you buy any book it is this one. Its up to date and incredibly easy to understand with the examples given. Focus on the music first people and the production second. When I got started, I trailed behind a bit because I had focused all my time on learning the mixing aspects and synthesis aspects of production. I wish I had started with this book first because the chapters go in order of what you need to understand firstly before moving on. Rick, If your reading this, I can't thank you enough! Incredible update, everyone who has the second edition, go out and check the 3rd edition. It will absolutely blow you away.

Someone who doesn't know how to use apostrophes should not be writing books... The grammar and overall writing "style" is horrendous... Grammatical errors are so frequent that, at times, they completely distract from the content of the book, or worse-- at other times the point he is trying to make is incomprehensible (due to grammatical errors alone). ALSO, and possibly more importantly, he incorrectly and frequently uses terms that are similar (but not the same) interchangeably. This is particularly dangerous in such a delicate and nuanced subject as music. Advanced musicians will definitely see a red flag when he says something that's not right, but beginners beware... You don't want your first exposure to musical concepts from this book. You don't want to be absorbing information that is simply inaccurate.

I found several things in the book that are wrong. So, I can't trust the things he teaches which are new to me.

I am new to creating Electronic Dance Music so at every turn I am confronted with more I have to learn; like programming synthesizers, programming sequencers, drum machines, sub-harmonic dissonance, recording, mixing, compresasion, mastering...aargh. So, when I purchased this book I began reading in earnest right away. The author begins the book with a three chapter lesson in music theory. That is one area I am familiar with as I studied music composition formally at a university and even taught a second year music theory class, though I took my degree in another discipline. I think Mr. Snoman's treatment of the subject is misleading. I understand that he is trying to keep it simple but that is no excuse for being wrong...repeatedly. Some of his overall concepts are allright, but he blows it when he tries to explain in more detail. For example, he makes repeated discussions of "Dominant" harmony, but then calls a Dominant Seventh chord a Major Seventh chord. A Dominant seventh chord has a Major third and a Minor seventh. In his lenghthy discussions of Dominant harmony and the Major seventh chord, as he calls it, he appears to be totally unaware of the pivotal role that a Dominant seventh chord plays in Dominant harmony. If you are going to put in the effort required to learn music theory then your source should be worthy of that effort.

I decided, however, to give the author a second chance. Afterall, he's a producer of EDM and not a musician, and I want to learn from a producer. So, I read on. His fourth chapter is titled, "Basic Electronics and Acoustic Science." This is new material for me so I was taking him at his word, though I did have niggling doubts because of the music theory errors. Then the author decided he needed to cover sub-atomic theory and the structure of atoms to better explain what he is teaching. When I encountered his sentence, "The (atom's) central nucleus consists of positively charged protons and negatively charged neutrons," I quit reading. A NEUTron has a NEUTral charge. I looked it up to be sure that physicists haven't changed their minds in the last thirty years since I was in high school. Neutrons have no net charge. They are neither positively nor negatively charged.

I can't trust anything he has to teach because, if I didn't know better, I would now believe things that are not true. What else is he mistaken about?

I have all three editions of Snoman's `Dance Music Manual' and find it interesting how the book has evolved in response to both the growing technical fluency musicians and producers bring to the table as well as an increased emphasis on music theory as a tool to craft richer musical content.

While the rhythmic component of EDM - metronomic four-on-the-floor - remains largely unchallenged I sense a growing restlessness with the safe and overused palette of harmonic and melodic clichés. While the proof of the EDM pudding will always be in a track's ability to move bodies, minimal texture need not imply minimal musical interest That's where a book such as Snoman's makes a useful guide to the commonality as well as the distinguishing features of various EDM genres.

Right up front are three theory chapters that can best be thought of as tools, not rules. There's no traditional music notation; everything is laid out in piano roll or simply `DAW arrangement' view. These chapters broadly cover how melody is derived from scales, along with a good introductory explanation of traditional harmony including modulation and harmonic rhythm - which is nice to see in a book not focused exclusively on harmony. To round things out, of course, is a chapter on rhythm as commonly experienced in EDM.

The theory presentation is by no means exhaustive - and logical next steps for anyone interested in drilling deeper (while avoiding heavy immersion in notation) might be Michael Hewitt's `Harmony for Computer Musicians' and `Composition for Computer Musicians'.

The chapter on musical form appears later: While it's a welcome and important topic I don't feel Snoman does it justice - even as an introductory overview. A couple of paragraphs on sonata form doesn't amount to much more than introducing the topic in hope that readers might be intrigued to look elsewhere for more depth.

Yet overall Snoman does a very good job getting the ball rolling by constantly emphasizing creating actual music over contemplating theoretical possibilities or wallowing in gear-lust.

That said, there is still plenty of updated info on MIDI, DAWS, sound design and the standard production tools (compression, reverb, EQ).

The core of earlier editions, Snoman's survey of EDM genres, provides both historical background and `DAW-agnostic' tutorials in analyzing and creating - if not fully-produced tracks - than at least some of the essential components in `demo' form. I confess I miss the list of sample tracks from the first edition that provided a real education in EDM for me years back.

Overall, `Dance Music Manual' remains, in my opinion, the most complete book on creating EDM for people looking for a one-stop soup-to-nuts starting point. You'll obviously want to branch out and follow your interests, but it's worth knowing the vastness of the musical ocean before you set your sights on particular destinations.

This book is amazing for anyone who wants to produce dance music or any type of music.
BE MORE SPECIFIC next time.
In Chapter 2, it talks about side chaining. He tells us how to set it up and everything but doesn't specify WHICH compressor you lower the threshold on.

For example, the book says "Place the mix into one channel of a sequencer and drop the kick drum onto a second channel. Set up a compressor on the kick drum channel, use the kick as a side chain and feed the mix into the main compressor's inputs. Set the ratio 4:1, with a fast attack and release, and if the compressor features it, set it to Peak (or turn RMS off). Begin playback of both channels and slowly reduce the threshold; the entire mix will pump with every kick."

I use Ableton Live 8 Suite and this is what I did. I had the Drum Loop on one Audio Track and the Pad on another Audio Track. I put a compressor on both the Drum Loop and the Pad. Then I Side Chained the Pad's compressor to the Drum Loop compressors inputs. I started to reduce the threshold on the Drum Loop's compressor and I was thinking, "why the hell isn't my loop pumping with every kick?" then I realized that he wasn't talking about the kick drum's compressor but the PAD'S (or melodies) COMPRESSOR! So I reduced the threshold on the Pad's compressor and finally moved onto the next concept!

I recorded my first electronic album "Ian North - My Girlfriend's Dead" in 1980. That was before midi - when my Korg MS 20 had no memory, no presets...Done tons since then (see Beatport: Darkjet), so...when my girlfriend gave me this as a Chistmas present, I rolled my eyes. What could this guy know that I didn't...? PLENTY. OMG, this book is phenomenal. Even that which you already know is explained in a manner that will give you a deeper understanding. Rick Snowman knows a few tricks recording engineers in world class studios would benefit knowing. So whether you're a beginner or have been doing this forever - this book is ESSENTIAL. And another thing...many of the principles explained in this book apply to recording any kind of music. If you record music; this book is for you.

This is the definitive text on EDM (electronic dance music). It covers everything from basic hardware and synthesis techniques to the history and hallmark traits of many of the most common forms of EDM. Each chapter includes a list of recommended listening that is very useful. I have been performing and recording music for many years before entering the EDM genre and this is by far the best source of information that I have found. I have read my copy cover to cover and reference it often. Plenty of room in the margin to make notes which I highly recommend because there is a lot of information in here. An excellent book which I highly recommend. Also check out the related website which has even more advanced and specialized DVDs. [...]

I recently purchased the book from the store after reading the online reviews. I like this book, I produce trip hop and drum n bass and this book codifies just the essential techniques to produce and distrubute the musics. As vol. 2 is on the way, I hope more genres are covered like industrial and IDM, jungle and drum n bass( no info on it, surprisingly he mentions the genre many times throughout the book). This is not a book for acoustic music recording techniques and the author acknowledges the fact, but the amount of detail on electronic music styles is comprehensive and to the point.

The chapter on music theory is a disaster as the terminology, the charts, and the staff notation are misguiding or just plain wrong. This proves that having a Phd in Audio engineering( which rick does have) doesn't garauntee a strong grounding in musical basics, and thats a shame. Hope that vol. 2 improves on the facts and features.

Also on the chapters on mixing, he meanderes a lot on frquency specific details which is good, but not all encomapassing as I have learnt from other books on the subject. [Production , Mixing and Mastering] by Anthony Egizii does a much better job, and also focusses on acoustic styles like rock and country, plus the session files for major software sequencers. The CD provided with this book doesn't come close. But considering the depth and coverage I think Rick has done justice with providing essential information.

Unfortunately I didn't really like this book. It covers a lot of topics, mostly in not much depth, and in many cases not especially well ! Also the biggest flaw, is that it doesn't really teach you how to do anything. The book consists of mostly introductory theory, definitions and background information. There isn't much in the way of tutorials in the entire book. After finishing this book, you might know some more background information, but you won't have got your hands dirty actually making dance music, and unfortunately for many people (if you already have a beginner's level of background knowledge), you won't be any closer to achieving your goal of making music.

So in conclusion if you don't know anything at all about music theory, synthesis, and the technology of music production this will give you a bit of background information and key definitions. But if you are looking for tutorials and actually making different kinds of tracks this book is a big failure. I'm sure someone will come along and tell me I was mistaken about the purpose of this book, but whether or not that is true, I didn't find the book useful and in fact was quite annoyed because I was looking forward to it. I'm going to look for another book and will update this review if I find some good tutorials.

Seriously, you can get almost all of this information elsewhere. it's the digital age after all. The true strength of this book is that it collects almost every subject that an aspiring or mid-level electronic composer could need, and presents it in a clear, concise way.

There are certainly some parts that come off as dated, and, sure, there are grammar issues throughout that lend a sort of amateurish air to the proceedings, but if what a person is looking for is a reference work that describes processes and reasons for those processes to someone who is relatively new to the genre, this is the best thing out there that I've seen.

The author's love for the subject is palpable, and this comes across in the subjects that re covered, from programming theory to synthesis, to genre characteristics.

If the editing was bumped up a notch, I would give this a five-star rating because it really does hit all of the necessary points in a solid, respectable fashion.

Excellent book. Easy to read, and extensive to say the least.

Some things that disappointed me though (and they are minor): The examples of drum rhythms, bass lines, and basically constructing a track are brief.

Another thing I was disappointed with was that almost a quarter of the book was devoted to HTML and making an audio website. That was upsetting because I don't care to make websites. I care to make MUSIC!

I was also disappointed that the book picked a few sub-sub-genres to work composition/production examples from. I would have preferred the book focused more on how to make something that gets people onto the floor and DANCE.

I can see though, that without much knowledge at all about dance music production, this is a fantastic starting point and would get a reader up to speed to read the more in depth books on audio production specifics such as synth programming, drum programming, and software/hardware specific manuals.

I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who is a dance music hobbyist or just starting out with the dream of getting hearing your name backannounced on the radio when you drive home from work.... "Yep, that's my track."

Buy this book and the dream will be a LOT closer.

This book is a great source of information wether you are starting out to someone that has been making dance music for a while in they're home or computer. It goes into detail from midi studio setup to different styles of techno not just trance. This book also goes into a little theory, basic music chords, recording, hardware, sampling, editing, mixing, mastering, sound design, publishing, copyrighting and even making your own web page and promoting. It also goes into a little history of the different styles of techno. This book or any other for that matter is never going to be able to tell you the secret formula of creating the perfect lead or beat for that matter but this one will give you ideas and suggestion on how create one and push you in the right direction. Dance music changes so much and goes thru trends that if anyone could make that secret formula it would probably be out dated by the time they were able to document and publish it! This is a must have and I can't wait to see what he is going to have the second volume. If your a know it all and don't want to learn something new don't buy since you already know it all and your selling a million albums a year but those of us that are not this is a great source of knowledge and great advice!!!!!! Buy this one before you buy the remixer's bible cause that is geared for more advanced producers!!!!!!

Very good summary of electronica. He starts with a detailed description of MIDI. He has a brief summary of chords and scales, which is very basic, but no longer has mistakes like some older additions. Then he goes into Effects, Sound Programming, Mixing, and Mastering. There is also a section on sequencing the most popular genres of electronic music. In short, this will get you up and running in no time. This is indispensible whether using hardware or software. A great book, and the accompanying CD is very useful too.

This book is packed so full of practical tips and tricks, it is astounding. I have several years of experience doodling with electronic music, and using the techniques described by Rick Snoman kicked my production up to seriously competitive amateur.

Order a highlighter with this book, because I found single sentences with "AHA!" tips stuck in the middle of long paragraphs. Visually, looking at the page, it would not stand out. Also order a pickaxe, so you can mine all the treasures in this amazing compendium covering all aspect of music production.

I had this book spiral bound at FedEX office, which works great because it lays open flat, I used it so much that the pages were falling out. The point is, this is a textbook, including interesting EDM history and backstory--a rare glimpse into the mind of an industry expert and skilled mentor.

This book is really quite a treasure. I highly recommend everyone interested in dance music production, or really electronic music in general get this book. For me, it seems like the thing i have been looking for on the internet for all this time. This book quickly jump starts you through the most basic knowledge if you happen to be a beginner, then it just blasts off into a comprehensive coverage of just about everything you might ever want to know. It tells you in depth about every effect, and guides you step by step on how to produce several variety's of the most popular dance sounds. One of the most impressive parts is that it contains about 100 pages about how to make the most prominent dance genres.

Overall the book is very comprehensive and written at the level of a college textbook. The theme of the book is generally, music theory and music production all in the light of dance music. Every other theory/songwriting book doesn't help you too much when you're trying to create dance music, and thats about all there is. this book is the only one ive covered which covers the electronica side of things. Amazing book.

The Dance Music Manual is very well-written, with the right balance of technical and hands-on knowledge. Every chapter presents enough practical information for a person to try out things on his own.

Most people will find that the author's inside view of the industry is worth the price of the book alone. Furthermore, he has an impressive range of experience and understanding of music.

Although its title explains that it covers the modern music dance genres, it's actually a goldmine of information on other topics pertinent to all musicians, such as: a thorough-yet-concise explanation of mixing and mastering, how to record vocal tracks, practical synthesizer programming, the use of compression, processing and effects, how music may be tampered with by radio stations, why it may be a good idea to release different demos, the ins-and-outs of hardware and software--all things which every musician nowadays should know thoroughly.

I've seen some other reviews complaining about this books music theory so here's the scoop.

Don't

-get this book if you are trying to learn music theory

-get this book if you think it'll magically give you a great idea for a song

Do

-get this book if you want to learn how to synthesize the sounds you want

-learn the vital tools and effects involved dance music production (i.e. compression, reverb, delay ect.)

In short, this is an awesome book and any serious producer of any genre NEEDS to know this material whether they get it from this book or not. I couldn't recommend this book more.

Sometimes you buy a book and understand very quickly that it has been written by someone who's looking for 2 things : a bigger bank account and a bigger ego...
This is not the case here. Very serious stuff very well written.
Though I've been a recording musician for decades, I have learned a lot of things here.
Best book on music production I've ever read.

Anyone with an interest in DAW home recording should buy this book as a general reference. Its stunning - it fills in a lot of the gaps for all that crappy hardware/software documentation out there. There are little factoids in here which will blow your head off.

I have a good knowledge already of how to engineer and produce tracks but this book taught me a thing or ten. Layed out in very logical chapters, it explains everything really clearly (simply but not simplistically) with great illustrations and examples.

I am about to buy another two copies of this book to give to friends. :o)

The Dance Music Manual is required reading for anyone who wants start producing dance music and doesn't know where to start. Snoman attempts to cover several genres and many overarching techniques that could be applied to several genres, so anyone looking for particulars of their genre or specific advanced techniques would probably have better luck elsewhere.

Wow! I am so impressed with the amount of information packed into one book! Snoman really knows his business. I particularly liked the sections on synthesis and mixing. I have been a recording engineer for some time now and found that I still had some things to learn when it came to dance music.

I bought this book based on the many excellent review. This book delivers! I was just about speechless the first time I opened the book. I felt as if all of my problems I had encountered and so many questions I had about producing just seemed to have some light shone on them as I flipped through the pages. From hardware to software to mixing and mastering, this book is definately a requirement for Joe Producer. Highly recommended.