Howard Tremaine’s Audio Cyclopedia is the most useful technical reference book we’ve ever come across. It’s really a must-read for anyone interested in old audio equipment and the history of sound recording technology. The format of the book is really cool: Tremaine starts each section with a basic question (eg “What is an Equalizer?”) and answers it with a clear concise definition, then he digs deeper with followup questions until you get into something very deep indeed (eg “Describe the four basic bridged-T equalizers most commonly used in audio work”).

We have the second edition from 1969, finished shortly before the author died. Its 1757 pages cover everything from the theory of acoustics to light-based optical film recording to various approaches to vinyl disc cutting. Sadly, the book is out of print and tends to be expensive at online used book stores–but I’ve noticed it does show up on eBay fairly frequently for next-to-nothing.

A photo of an acoustical disc recording session

Tremaine's description of the Teletronix LA-2A part 1 of 3

Tremaine's description of the Teletronix LA-2A part 2 of 3

Tremaine's description of the Teletronix LA-2A part 3 of 3

One Response to “The Audio Cyclopedia by Howard M. Tremaine”

  1. K.L.Chan Says:

    Dear Sir, I am looking for a page on Audio Cyclopedia describing how to compensate a tube power amp’s bass response by putting a R.C decoupling circuit to the phase splitter or front end tube to solve my problem on tube amp.
    Much appreciate your help,
    Best regard
    King Lun Chan

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