Dance Music Manual: Tools, Toys, and Techniques

awesome book ! tank u so much !

I bought the Third Edition through Amazon Marketplace to save money, and while it's an excellent book, it is riddled with typos / punctuation problems and other annoying (to some people, me included). That aside it's easily the best book I've read on music creation, packed with information, experience, insight and tips. I'm not at all into EDM, but 90% if not more of the text would apply to anyone making music with a computer and synth. It's one of the most informative books I've ever read on any subject and I recommend without reservation.Only 4* because of the lack of editing, if that doesn't bother you it's easily 5*, or maybe get the later edition.

the dance music manual try's to cover a lot of ground in one book, which is both its strength and its weakness, it covers areas as diverse as music theory to publishing and promotion. its a great book if your looking for a gate way to dance music production in general, but if your looking for a genre specific book then its not for you. an example of this would be the chapters on specific dance genres which other reviewers have been critical of. they are an overview of the general components of each genre and in my reading are not meant to be definitive, but rather give the reader a basic insight. also, its worth pointing out that music (especially dance music) is in flux from year to year, so trying to define a genre is always going to be subject to changing currents.from a personal point of view the booked served as an induction in to the wider world of music theory and production, introducing me to topics like synthesis, midi, sampling and recording. each of these topics are obviously detailed more thoroughly in specific literature, but as i pointed out in the case of the genres i don't think the book is meant to be an exhaustive account of each subject.I think the people who will benefit from this book the most are those who fall under the category of "bedroom producer", who has access through a digital audio work station to the means of making music but is limited by knowledge. the dance music manual opens up the door to this knowledge and sets a good foundation for a comprehensive understanding of music production and related topics.

This is a really comprehensive book, with everything you need to know about EDM, from the basics to advanced. The great thing too is that after the "component" chapters, there's chapters each on a range of styles: drum n bass, techno, house etc, with clear deconstructions of the style, and great examples of how to build them up. The diagrams could be clearer (for example midi drum patterns), but they're readable. The publisher or printer's fault - not the author. I upgraded from the last edition and it was worth the upgrade, lost of additional info and improved structure.This and my Cubase manual are the only 2 references that I have permanently to hand.

The book has not landed on an editor’s desk that’s for sure. Content is sound but the grammar and punctuation is appalling,

This book explains in great detail how to create dance music. It is clear and at times it is compelling. I feel that it flows easily from topic to topic. I am a complete novice to dance music and it's production but I feel this book takes you from the start with very little knowledge to helping you build a clear understanding of how dance music is produced. Thank you Rick Snoman for inspiring me and giving me the courage to even believe that I can understand this topic.