Multimedia Sound and Music Studio

Multimedia Sound and Music Studio

Jeff Essex (1996, Random House, 201 East 50th St., New York, NY 10022, 404 pp. with CD- ROM, $45)

Audio should never play second fiddle to images in multimedia productions. Whether authoring for CD-ROM or the Web, Multimedia Sound and Music Studio shows how to integrate quality digital audio into multimedia -- with special attention to keeping files small.

Since the majority of multimedia producers author on the Macintosh, the book covers the basics of digital audio sampling, recording, capture, editing, output, integration, and playback on that platform. Included are reviews of audio editors, mixers, utilities, processors, and MIDI sequencers.

Studio owner Jeff Essex shares his expertise in using digital audio to create music, sound effects and voice-over. He has created 25 CD-ROM titles for clients like Time-Warner.

The book includes a Mac/Windows CD-ROM that's packed with cool stuff like samples of work by multimedia luminaries, sound software utilities, clip media samples, software demos, a hypertext version of the book, and helpful tutorials. This book is required reading for videomakers interested in this hot new area of digital production. (5)

The Video Production Organizer

Aleks Matza (1995, Focal Press, 313 Washington St., Newton, MA 02158-1626, 224 pp. with software disk, $29.95)

Producing effective and cost-efficient video programs is the goal of all videomakers. Using a non- technical approach, The Video Production Organizer emphasizes better management as the key to better videomaking.

Major topics include managing scriptwriters, production companies, editing services and talent, plus a helpful section on production evaluation. The book offers sample production forms, and information on video organizations, publications and software.