By Jim Yakabuski
MixBiiks
www.artistpro.com

In this useful book, veteran front-of-house engineer Jim Yakabuski presents hundreds of practical tips and insights on a wide range of sound-reinforcement topics. The book began as a collection of notes Yakabuski wrote to himself while touring the globe with acts such as Van Halen, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and the Gin Blossoms, and mixing for Las Vegas stars Engelbert Humperdinck and Julio Iglesias. He created the book by organizing the notes into six sections that follow the flow of a live-sound engineer's day: Pre-Production, Load In, Setup, Tuning the P.A., Soundcheck, and Showtime.

Along the way, he explains the use of signal flow diagrams and stage plots, discusses mic selection and EQ, offers tips on using outboard processors, proposes solutions to drum-miking and -gating problems, discourses on the mysteries of mixing, and more. There are even sections on team-management skills and “political” considerations.

The author doesn't promise his techniques will work for everyone in every situation, only that they have worked for him. I'll go further and say that although there are lots of tips on specific technical matters, much of the information is generally useful across a range of audio applications, and some of the anecdotes are wonderful. Highly recommended.