Lots of interesting books about this year, both technical and semi-technical. Firstly there are the two books available from Barrie White - you may recall the leaflet describing them along with an order form that went out with the Autumn Newsletter.
Now two more books of special interest to people in movies have appeared.
An Autobiography Of British Cinema tells the story of 50 years of British Film making in the words of those who made them. Written by Brian McFarlane from interviews with 180 actors and film makers from all crafts. Surprise, surprise, even sound is included, however don't get too excited as only five out of 656 pages are devoted to the author's interview with Peter Handford.
Flickering Shadows is another look back at the British Film Industry covering the production of 156 features as seen through the eyes of a sound man. Flickering Shadows is production mixer John Mitchell's story, from entry into the film business in 1933 until his retirement in 1986. Many members, I'm sure, know John, indeed many will have worked with him over the years, others probably know his name from the long list of prestigious movies for which he was in charge of production sound.
The hard cover book is a handsome 320-page volume printed on art paper. It is copiously illustrated with black & white production stills. The text is well written and contains humorous anecdotes and tricks of the trade, such as the uncooked ham skin used to suspend a microphone on a piano wire, enabling it to follow a actor walking backwards down a stair case (who thought radio mics were troublesome?). Despite the fact that the book is written very much with a general readership in mind, it's still a jolly good read for those in the industry, and even those in sound.
A couple of other new books on the technical side have been taken from new publications listed in the very comprehensive Focal Press 1998 catalogue.
Sound For Film & Television - There must be quite a few books around now with this or a similar title. This one is by Tomlinson Holman, an associate professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinema & Television but is perhaps better known as Tom Holman - THX developer, and the man behind many of the technical developments at Lucasfilm. According to the Focal Press catalogue, 'The book is claimed to provide an overall introduction to the field of recording, editing and mixing audio for film and TV productions. A balance is struck between artistic and technical content combining theory and practice as no other text has done before.' An accompanying audio CD contains examples demonstration key concepts.
Handbook for Sound Engineers - This is the second edition of the New Audio Cyclopedia, published in the USA by Howard Sams and edited by Glen M Ballou. It claims to be the most complete source of audio information. Ideal for most audio professionals it includes the latest technological advances covering MIDI, cinema sound and compact discs; this plus all the acoustic and electronic information you're ever likely to require.
by Nicholas Pasquariello (Port Bridge Books ISBN 0-9653114-7-3, 25.00)
by Don Atkinson (Blueprint Chapman & Hall ISBN 1-085713-028-6, 30.00)
The above books are available UK post free from Barrie White, Tel/Fax 01446 771016
by Brian McFarlane (Methuen, 16.99)
by John W Mitchell (Flicks Distributors, 24.00, UK post paid)
To order call Tel/Fax 01242 518857
by Tomlinson Holman (Focal Press ISBN 0-240-80291-8, 25.00)
Edited by Glen M Ballou (Howard Sams ISBN 0-672-22752-5, 75.00)