Product Description
About Electronic Percussion is a beginner's guide to the exciting new world of electronic percussion. The book explains the fundamentals and benefits of electronic percussion, and presents introductions to drum pads and triggers, percussion sound modules and much more. Helpful "how-to" sections guide the newcomer through the process of setting up electronic percussion systems, and explains the MIDI technology the electronic percussionist needs to know. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Ereview
Great insight into edrumming and background of Roland and their contribution to it.I have seen the quality difference in their product and the less expensive kits available.I also learned a lot about piezos and have even started building my own ecymbals!Great book! ... Read more

Product Description
An authoritative chronicle of the people, places, and social forces that comprise the newest and most innovative music form to impact on the waning years of the 20th century, Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk tells the story of the development and growing popularity of the music known as "techno" or "electronica," from its genesis in Detroit to its expansion worldwide. A synthesis of stark European synth-pop and Midwestern funk, techno has emerged as one of the most dynamic music forms today. Here is the whole story of techno's birth, development, and ongoing move toward worldwide acceptance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Discusses Detroit's role in the foundation of techno and electronica
Techno has revised what can be defined as music to much of the country. "Techno Rebels: The Renegades of Electronic Funk" is an updated second edition of the book that discusses Detroit's role in the foundation of techno and electronica, expanding on the history and the major figures who took this genre and made it their own, pioneering their own brand of music. "Techno Rebels" is a must for anyone interested in music history and for community library music collections.

still the best printed document on techno
though admitedly flawed and incomplete in ways pointed out below, sicko's book is still, somewhat unfortunately, the best written historical document of the conception and evolution of what "those who know" call techno music. i still reference my trusty, dog-eared copy quite often all these years later. it's a pity that some type of compilation cd couldn't have been included with the book--that would solve some of the problems mentioned below. perhaps a new edition is in order?? props to dan sicko.

Educate!!!!!
Most will not understand this book, esp the rich little newbie surburbans who only know moby and oakenfold types. Take a time machine back in time to early 80's chicago (south side) , detroit (inner city) , Newyork (Bronxs) and grow up a under privilaged minority and you will understand where techno funk really came from. if you can't get in that state of mind then stay away from this book. because names like Ron hardy, Derrick May ,juan atkins, etc will mean nothing to you, because you were not part of the struggle, so all those who say it is boring because it does not reflect a big Ibiza rave or love parade. you will go to grave never knowing where it all started. Techno is no different then anystyle that has been badly emulated and shaped by cultures who bring to it there own exeperience and have the capital to make it go pop and ruin what use to be a very funky underground style. the same will eventually happen to Hip Hop. and to the reviewer who said your professor gave you this to read, Hermind is totally on a different level then yours.and also books like this dont explain gear no reason to, you want to know gear go buy some magazines. the soul makes the music not the machines, there just brushes to paint what you are saying from your subconcious.

Black and Gifted making electronic music.

Techno?
Is this a joke?Anyone in their right mind who spends enough time listening to electronica, would know that "techno" is its own genre of music in the electronic world.American techno music?Errr no...If you really want to understand what types of music exist in the electronic world, take yourself to a rave, club, or huge european massive event.Look on the net for info on dj's, email music producers such as Satoshi Tomie or Shinichi about what type of music they produce for the crowds, or by magazines like BPM, URB, etc...This book, and many others like it, depict what a pioneers view on the music is that has changed drastically over the years....

Mowtown gets it's Props
Sicko's coverage of Early techno and it's developments
is both thorough and entertaining.The subject matter is extremely ambitious, and yet he pulls it off.
A good painting of 80's subculture in terms of its social and musical aspects. Perhaps the best part of the book is the "Discography" at the end in which he lists scores of techno records with the artist, date, label, and availability. ... Read more

Product Description
Power Tools: Software for Loops focuses on creating music using samples and loops via popular software tools such as Sonic Foundry's Acid, Ableton Live, and Apple's Soundtrack. The book also covers technical issues specific to sample-based music, such as selecting soundware libraries and sample clearance, as well as mixing, processing, and editing techniques. Finally, the book explores specifics of performing live with these tools, using a laptop or portable computer rig. The accompanying CD-ROM includes free sampled loops and trial versions of software referred to in the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

great introduction; tips for old hands as well
What a great little book! This slim volume has more genuinely useful information than many larger (more expensive) books. If you are beginner to creating music from sampled loops, this will be a great introduction, giving you an overview, reviewing the various tools, and passing along tips. (I was initially put off by the multiple reviews - for example, of Live versions 1, 2, and 3 - but they do actually build upon each other.) Both beginners and pros will benefit from the no-nonesense sections on copyright, creating your own loops, suggested libraries, mixing, and other tips and tricks. The writing style is very friendly - this is not a textbook - but again, manages to tell you want you really need to know without wasting your time. The CD contains demo versions of some of the programs mentioned, and free loops. An excellent find. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn to play America’s 30 greatest songs, including a haunting Danny Boy, a blues-inspired America the Beautiful, and a side-splitting, lipburning Turkey In The Straw. A compendium of harmonica lore including a special section on the blues. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

THE choice to learn with
I got several books on learning to play the harp from my local library.This one is head and shoulders above all the others I checked out.It's written simply and wittily.The techniques are well explained and the song selection is really good.I'd highly recommend this to anyone interested in learning to play.

A Good First Purchase for the BeginningPlayer
A great book for beginners.Gets you playing, and enjoying the familiar folk tunes in no time.

INCREDIBLE
This book is amazing.I play guitar, and wanted to start up on the harp.Within the first week, I was playing them together better than I ever thought I would.The book is a great tutorial, very detailed, including an excellent history of the harp.The pictures couldn't be better, and guitar chords are shown.It's just a very effective book.And then, put in the cd's and you find that "Doc" Gindick gives even more instruction.You really feel as if you're with a very patient, relaxed private instructor who really loves what he's doing.The second cd has gorgeous renditions of the songs notated, and really sets goals for you to reach.If you have any interest in harmonica, this is the book to get, it's well worth it.

Best Choice
If you are new to the harmonica and do not care for (or understand) a lot of theory, this is the book and CD to begin with and keep for future reference.I have tried several other books and CD's and got totally lost in the mucical notes and theory.I keep coming back to Jon's publications.

Great book to work with
This is a great working book to learn to play Harmonica for the Beginners ( i.e. me). The edition with the two CD's where you can hear the author play the harmonica and also sing the songs is really useful ( it's worth the extra cost!) as you can then hear what you want to sound like. Great book guys. Just work with it and you will feel the same. Also don't give up too soon, the exhilaration you get when you can get the harmonica to do your deed is worth all the agony. Good luck. ... Read more

Product Description
Remix is an exciting global look at this rapidly growing segment of the music industry. With practical explanations of what actually happens in a remix, along with featured tools of the trade, this book explores the origins of the genre, its trends and its culture along with a detailed look at where it's headed. Features interviews with some of the top producers, artists and DJs on the scene today, like Paul Oakenfold and John Digweed. Learn practical applications such as how to get started, the equipment needed, releasing your own material, and how to promote yourself as a remix artist. This huge underground market has an intricate relationship with the Internet and this first-of-its-kind book takes an in-depth look at everything from underground radio to electronica websites to the proliferation of MP3 files and electronic promotion. Also features extensive contact info, recommended reading and other invaluable reference material. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A product of its time
So, it's 2002 and you want to know what Jungle is, what gear you should buy to make Drums N Bass, or where to go to learn more about ambient music? Yeah, this book would have been a decent choice. Odd and outdated today though.

A great book to read
If you like Electronic Music, this is the perfect book to read

My Friends All Want to Borrow It!
Fascinating and quick read. This book is great for anyone with an intrest in the electronic music history and/or anyone trying to get started. The Evolution/history of electronic music section is wonderful and explaines a lot. The coolest part isthe definitions of electronic music genres. Ever wonder what the heck"gabba techno", "old school/old skool", "hardcore", "diva house", "dub", "goa trance", or "bhangra" is? Thankfully, I finally know the distinctions.

There are also sections on history of electronic instruments, gear, getting started djing or creating electronic music, promotion, the internet, and artist interviews.

A great resource and quite interesting.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I found a few typos. Oops! ... Read more

Product Description
A guide to the confusing array of musical instruments, from guitar synthesizers to computer programs and the MIDI interface, which not only explains how they work but gives advice on how to choose the right one and get the most out of it. ... Read more

Product Description
Opening with David Mancuso's seminal "Love Saves the Day" Valentine's party, Tim Lawrence tells the definitive story of American dance music culture in the 1970s—from its subterranean roots in NoHo and Hell's Kitchen to its gaudy blossoming in midtown Manhattan to its wildfire transmission through America's suburbs and urban hotspots such as Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark, and Miami.

Tales of nocturnal journeys, radical music making, and polymorphous sexuality flow through the arteries of Love Saves the Day like hot liquid vinyl. They are interspersed with a detailed examination of the era's most powerful DJs, the venues in which they played, and the records they loved to spin—as well as the labels, musicians, vocalists, producers, remixers, party promoters, journalists, and dance crowds that fuelled dance music'stireless engine.

Love Saves the Day includes material from over three hundred original interviews with the scene's most influential players, including David Mancuso, Nicky Siano, Tom Moulton, Loleatta Holloway, Giorgio Moroder, Francis Grasso, Frankie Knuckles, and Earl Young. It incorporates more than twenty special DJ discographies—listing the favorite records of the most important spinners of the disco decade—and a more general discographycataloguing some 600 releases. Love Saves the Day also contains a unique collection of more than seventy rare photos. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

for any serious reader of music history, and it's fun!
Not only is this important narrative non-fiction that blends music history, sociology and politics, it's a total blast.I came of age in the 70's yet was never a huge fan of dance music or disco at the time. I wish I had paid more attention because after reading LOVE SAVES THE DAY, I clearly felt like I missed something really special.The development of the story from the earliest discotheques of the mid 60's in midtown Manhattan grew the inevitable birth of discos in the 70's where gays, straights, blacks, Latinos and whites got all mixed together with the magic elixir of dance music.For the most part it didn't matter who you were or where you came from in the pulsating, hot, hedonistic dance clubs of downtown and midtown, that quickly spread all over America and the world.Many of the key dj's are sadly no longer with us but their legacy will live forever in this marvelous book.

I was there...... Billy Smith (NYC)
I did it all and loved it all! also got paid for all of it....LOL! - Billy Smith (NYC) still hanging out and traving the world! 3/17/07

The Truth About Disco
Thank you Tim Lawrence.This book is the antedote to all the haters out there who still believe that "Disco Sucks" after the post-Comiskey Park backlash.This book is such an amazing and wonderfully readable document that I would recommend anyone interested in 20th century American musical history, or the [...]/black urban experience of the 1970's, or relatively recent New York history read it.Of course if you're interested indisco music or dance music the book is absolutely essential.

This book goes much deeper than the usual Studio 54 cliches that people associate with the genre (although Studio 54 is included, of course) and discusses the origins of the sound and the largely unhearalded people who made this scene happen.David Mancuso is described as a pivotable person here, and the folks who were there will confirm it.The book begins in his legendary club, The Loft, and lovingly details his obsession with sound and the disco experience.Other innovators from the early 70's are also featured including Francis Grasso, Steve D'Acquisto, Bob Casey, and many more.The scene is chronicaled from humble beginnings through the glory years of the mid 70's and ends the decade with the backlash in full swing in mainstream culture but continuing to thrive in clubs like Paradise Garage and Better Days.Along the way you meet producers like Walter Gibbons and Tom Moulton who made some of the classic recordings of the era, and Lawrence takes the time to explain what is so remarkable about their work.You also get delightfully naughty stories about some of the key players in the scene including DJ's, artists, and of course, the patrons that illustrate some of the excesses of the time .Personally, I think that it's this superb combination of detailed research and bitchy gossip that makes the book so thoroughly readable and fun.

I loved reading this book; the only drawback for me was that I couldn't help pining for the days when New York club culture was this incredible before AIDS and Rudy Guilliani conspired to very nearly kill it off (fortunately they weren't entirely successful).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

Historical review of a great era!
Lawrence is an academic, and he did not experience the 1970's himself, but he interviewed everyone still alive who did.He concentrates on the DJ's and clubs in New York City, rightly so, but he does branch out to the rest of the U.S. as disco did the same.Of special note are the great discographies in each chapter, presenting the club hits played by the DJ's in each particular year.He proves that disco is not a four letter word!

Fun and informative
This is a really fun book to read while also being informative. ... Read more

Product Description
* For musicians, songwriters and producers
* Use Nuendo creatively and make music
* Set up the program
* Design a program set-up for your studio
* Record and edit audio and MIDI
* Use plug-in effects and virtual instruments (VSTi)
* Thorough, real-world, hands-on examples
* Takes you from set-up to 2-track master

Making Music with Steinberg Nuendo has been written for musicians, songwriters and producers who are looking to exploit the features of Nuendo for song creation: all the way from songwriting and composition, through recording and editing, to the production of a 2-track master.

Nuendo’s ability to edit and combine audio is second to none, and the book describes the techniques for using it in a studio production environment. It enlarges upon the Nuendo manuals by emphasising the creative uses of the program to help you achieve your goal of Making Music with Steinberg Nuendo.

Complete with a quickstart section intended to get you up and running in the shortest possible time, the book clarifies the use of key Nuendo concepts like events, clips and parts, the unique and powerful 'undo' feature, importing and exporting audio, and Nuendo projects. It presents a detailed explanation of latency as it affects your studio, and leads you via hands-on examples which explain the processes involved in MIDI and audio recording and editing, the use of effects and virtual instruments (VSTi), synchronisation and mixing - all designed to help you put the program to creative use.

All this plus checklists of Nuendo features like keyboard shortcuts, lists of plug-ins and effects, Nuendo hardware, and resources, and invaluable hints and tips gleaned from the author’s experience in using the program daily in his studio.

If you are serious about music, audio-visual, multimedia and post production you should read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
48 pages. Includes sheet music for Christmas favorites in an easy to play format. Deck the Hall, The Twelve Days of Christmas, O'Christmas Tree, Up on the Housetop, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, We Three Kings, The First Noel and more. ... Read more

Product Description
Experiencing Disco, Hip Hop, House, Techno, Drum 'n Bass and Garage, Discographies takes a revealing look at the transatlantic dance scene of the last twenty-five years.Tracing the history of ideas about music and dance in Western culture and the ways in which dance music is produced and received, the authors assess the importance and relevance of dance culture in the 1990s and beyond.
The book considers both the problems posed by contemporary dance culture for various forms of writing, academic and cultural, and their origins in the long history of opposition to music as a source of sensory pleasure.The authors offer a framework for understanding the bodily nature of musical experience using a range of theorists including Derrida, Irigaray and Judith Butler, and consider the limits placed on contemporary dance culture as exemplary of the modern regulation of social space.
Discussing such issues as technology, club space, drugs, the musical body, gender, sexuality, and pleasure, Discographies explores the ecstatic experiences at the heart of contemporary dance culture.It suggests why politicians and agencies as diverse as the independent music press and public broadcasting are so hostile to this cultural phenomenon.Discographies breaks new ground in considering important cultural phenomena not only in terms of a politics of identity, but a politics of experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A "must read" book for those who love music and sociology.
This book is a "must read" book for those who love music and sociology. And by the way, also love electronic alternatives cultures and the history of modern music BEYOND ROCK.
Music, sociology, philosofy, history, culture and constant revolution.
Adeep book that you will probably read twice if you like deeep analisys of music and people.

Hey DJ!
Loving this walk back to the past.Great history of clubbing and music-anyone who was dancing or dj'ing in the 70's,80's and 90's will enjoying this dose of house history-good references to tunes as well.

A World of Music, Drugs and Pacifiers.
This book was required for my Audio Visual Arts class at LSU. I had know idea there was such a book. Discographies catagorizes each type of dance music, (ie: House,Jungle,Trance), describing its roots and history.
I highly recommend this book for the avid music listener. This book is great addition to anyones library. It may come in handy someday when you explain to your children, why you are messed up in the head.

DEEPER THAN ONE WOULD THINK.
Think Sociological text.This book discusses many of the finer aspects ofdance culture in an almost clinical manor by someone intigrated in theculture.However this book will take some time to read unless you read agreat deal at college level.This book has the ability to not onlyconverse but help define and expound on the intangables derived by theactivities associated with dance/raving.A very good book however for me asomewhat slow read.The bibleographies after each chapter is probablyworth the cost of the book alone.Keep Movin'! ... Read more

Product Description
An international overview of the most innovative and exciting examples of graphic design created for electronic music and club culture in the 1990s, Discstyle is a visual journey of incredible variety. Its predecessor, Technostyle, was reprinted several times and won wild applause from both music industry publications and mainstream media.

The primary message that Discstyle conveys is that the electronic music scene has undergone enormous change - with the emergence of new genres such as Dopebeat, Drum'n'Bass, Triphop, Big Beat and the very latest of all, Electro, Techno no longer dominates party culture and club life. Like the music, design has branched out too, and as Discstyle's remarkable collection of record covers, CD booklets, labels and flyers show, achieved even greater heights of creativity. The book features an updated timetable of the genesis of electronic club music and a preface by founder of the Designers Republic and master of visual beats, plinks and plonks, Ian Anderson. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Markus Weisbeck master of underground knowledge.
Seriously. Markus Weisbeck is one of those obsessed guys who just gets so deep into a topic that if he claims something is the way it is, you better trust him. If you are looking for a super comprehensive source of excellent design then trust Mr. Weisbeck. This book contains all the good stuff... from Eike to Stardax, Karl Kliem and meso's "involving systems'. And if you ever wondered how certain styles of club electronic house and techno electro are interconnected, Weisbeck and Pesch provide you with a very exact two page family tree of music styles.This 12inch softcover is technically a volume two to Pesch and Weisbeck's "Techno Style",...Well, and one more thing. This book contains some of the work of the master himself. Markus Weisbeck likes to include his own design in his books. He is the creator and the critic in one person. Everydesigner should have his books in their collection. Learn from Markus Weisbeck. He is a good designer and he is good for design. This book is fresh. Get it.

*slick, simple eye candy that comes from the beats...*
I found this book at the Virgin Megastore in NYC and I have yet to see it elsewhere, but it should be picked up wherever it is found.For those who find the graphic design of 'electronic' music a style of its own, Discstyle provides the best in book thats a example piece itself. The CD covers,vinyl sleeves, flyers, and fine art pieces of many different designers allcontain the same concept of big-time visual impact with their simplicity.The layouts may contain nothing but a few words and a picture, but itreflects the music- for those who love the infectious beat, you know what Imean. With a guide in the beginning that traces the short history oftoday's house, trance, breakbeat, jungle, etc. the book shows where it'scontents came from- getting down all night long. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Flat, Negative, Empty.
I'll echo what the others have said. This is written like a critic's review of the band. Critical, then somewhat repentant not about the music, but their own writing. Like many other music critics before him, Stump takes that same path. But unlike what TD fans really clamor for, Stump's book isn't that well researched, and is surprisingly thin and empty. Much of it taken from Krautrock, and other written pieces the past, or stories well known to most TD fans. The one aspect that keeps it from being a 1-star book is that it does a fairly comprehensive job of listing a chronological order of events in the TD history and family.

I had the lucky chance to meet two TD members in my life at separate times (without naming names) and can guarantee you that there are omissions in this book that should be in a comprehensive book on the band. I also heard Edgar Froese once say in an interview that he he doesn't really like books like this, and had no intention of writing a TD autobiography. He likened it to the famous Elvis Costello comment about "dancing about architecture", and would much rather just have fans listen to the music or see the band live, than dig into his personal life. I concur.

NotA Book ForTangerine Dream Fans
The author does an admirable job via trying to encapsulate Tangerine Dream's enormous musical discography. However, he only has a few accolades for Edgar Froese, the inimitable and indomitable leader of the Band. The author knows nothing about the Froese family. For example, Edgar, Monika and Jerome Froese are all vegetarians, wildlife and nature lovers and interested in saving the planet. I am especially disappointed that the author does not consistently commend Edgar Froese's incredible talents and ability to create great music after losing so many incredibly gifted bandmates. Sure, Tangerine Dream has had a few below average albums but none of them are as bad as this author states they are. It is high-time for a captivating and comprehensive book about Edgar Froese and Tangerine Dream. They are the music industry's seminal and pioneering electronic icons !

Ugh! Too bad...
I was very excited to get this book in hopes it contained new insights (so little has been written in depth) into one of the great electronic bands of our times but unfortunantly he really doesn't have any. Problem for me was Paul uses WAY to many quotes from Julian Cope's hyperactive book on Kraut rock- I already have that book and think it's pretty ridiculous itsself. When Paul steps out and writes his own opinion the book starts to have meat. But it lacks real depth and insight. Too much is skimmed over and he has an annoying style of writing two versions of every chapter, one skimmed one so-so. The British writer Miles wrote an excellent book on Pink Floyd and he also wrote the program notes for the Stratosfear tour book. It's REALLY too bad he never wrote a book about T.D. But bottom line this is it for now. The book does make you want to check out some of their more lame recordings- but tread carefully overall.

Written like a music critic
Mr. Stump has written Digital Gothic like a long and tiring review of the bands work. And in 'formula' critic fashion he has something bad to say then retracts it a few paragraphs later. Though some of the insites into T.G. are interesting, they seem second, third, forth hand at best. First hand personal interviews with the band would have been nice. I suppose the biggest disappointment of all is that such a ground breaking band with such a rich history has so little written about them. This can be due to T.G.'strade-mark 'cool' mannerisms that they adopted (and warmed a bit with age) as they became older but none the less, Mr. Stump definately did not dig very deep. Repeating himself often by simply rewording his intent and direction as if to fill the pages so the thin book wasn't 10 pages, the author simply likes to read his own writing.
Tangerine Dream has to be my favorite band in modern history but I found the book boorish.
It only deserves a rating above two due to the fact that it helps feed the fans of T.D. who have to pick at bits and scraps to indulge their interest in the facinating artists that truely desearve the title.

Franke & Froese
I still find it difficult to understand how these two blokes supposedly weren't close buddies? I was pretty astonished when I first read about this in Paul's great little book.So does that mean those times when I queued up in the cold to see my heroes after a gig and watched them sign their autographs in amazement,that all was not rosey in TD's garden? And how did Franke & Froese exchange their musical ideas so well if this was so.Great book! ... Read more

Product Description
Trance Composition and Arrangement From song conception and composition to instrumentation and arrangement, down to the ins and outs of breakdowns, fill-ins and mix-outs, you'll walk through each step, up close and personal. Mixing and Production In The Box You'll discover the finer points of mixing and production "in the box." From the basics like instrument and vocal levels and on through to the mastering process, every phase of the process is described in deep detail, so you don't miss a thing. Signal Processing Techniques Since The Trance Experience is an OpenMix interactive course, that means you get all of Torsten's original session files. YouÂ’ll see each and every one of the effect settings used to create the tracks. Tweak them gently, take them to extremes or use them "as is" on your own productions! Adventures in Sound Design Want to know how to create a kick drum from a sine wave? Curious about FM synthesis? Or why this string part goes with that guitar pattern? You'll get the information you need in a way that makes perfect sense to beginners as well as seasoned veterans. Get Into the Loop Get the lowdown on loops: Slicing, dicing, or mangling - find out how and then experiment in actual musical settings. Sessions in Three Styles: Vocal Trance, Remix, and Chillout Since electronic music has so many different categories and sub-genres, you'll get an expansive overview of all the leading Trance styles---not to mention practical hands-on experience using three popular genres: Vocal Trance, Remix, and Chillout. Full Multi-Track Sessions for Major DAW Platforms Whether you use Pro Tools, Logic, Sonar, Cubase or Nuendo, The Trance Experience gives you everything you need to simply pop the sessions into your DAW and get started. Sounds and Samples for You to Use As an extra-added bonus, we've included a selection of original copyright-cleared, royalty-free sounds and samples for you to use in your own music. Think of it as a way to virtually collaborate with the author, DJ Torsten Fassbender. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The CDs are stored horribly inside the book
The book is good but not for begginers. It will teach you how to use vst plugins mostly which is very important but, I gave it one star only because the Cds are stored in a really stupid way, uncoverd and face down to the rough surface of internal side of the book hardcover. The result is, all the dvds are totally scratched and three are damaged. the book is expensive, couldn't they pack it in some plastic.

Not for beginners, so expensive for the contents.
The title "The trance experience" doesn't matter really because you can apply to other dance styles, but don't expect to learn with this book all the "know how" about producing music, is more some lessons to use Waves plug-ins to mastering a song. You can find better tutorials in a lot of computer music magazines. ... Read more