Listen Up!

“This is one of those books readers can’t put down, and Howard has perfectly calculated the effect to linger after the last note has ended. This title, like much of Howard’s recorded work, sets the perfect tone. Highly recommended for music lovers.” — Library Journal“Howard’s insider music history will be of equal interest to music fans and those who sit behind the mixing board.” — Publishers Weekly“Reading the lively and revealing new book Listen Up! by Grammy winning Canadian recording engineer and producer Mark Howard (with his author-painter brother Chris Howard), one is struck by the peculiar and particular needs of A-list artists while they make their records.” — Globe and Mail“Mark Howard’s fascinating memoir pulls the curtain back to reveal the mysteries of how our finest songwriters — Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams — create magic in the studio. Howard’s rebel-like recording style, his mastery of the ‘mental’ art of making music, and his vivid recollections of these enigmatic artists are revelatory for fans of real and authentic music, as well as required reading for any aspiring sound man. In Howard’s world, music making is a high-stakes game, as he dodges hellbent Mexican Federales, deadly scorpions, and equally volatile musicians.” — Austin Scaggs, contributing editor for Rolling Stone“Mark Howard’s Listen Up! provides secret studio access from the ’80s to now, featuring some of the most creative and influential artists the music world has ever heard. Mark’s storytelling is straightforward and unflinching; we hear how things really went down in the studio with some of these quirky musicians. Chapters go into detail on the settings Mark created to work in, and into the technical process a bit, but the book never drags or slows down in documenting these creative endeavors and the results. It’s a must-read for studio professionals like me, and a rare, honest glimpse behind the recording studio’s curtain for the rest of you.” — Larry Crane, editor for Tape Op: The Creative Music Recording Magazine and engineer/producer“As an overall backstage pass of sorts … Listen Up! offers rare glimpses into the great lengths Howard and the musicians he worked with would go to in order to achieve that all-important great album.” — London Free Press“For the dad who can rock an (air) guitar solo so epic it’ll melt your face off, Listen Up! (ECW Press) by Mark Howard will be a shining note on top of the holiday gift pile.” — All Lit Up

Born in Manchester, England, Mark Howard is a Canadian record producer, engineer, and mixer. He has worked with Neil Young, R.E.M., Willie Nelson, Peter Gabriel, U2, the Neville Brothers, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Marianne Faithfull, and the Tragically Hip, among many others. He currently lives in Burlington, Ontario. Chris Howard is an author and painter.

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