The Home Studio Guide to Microphones by George Petersen, Loren Alldrin, Michael Molendra (1998, Paperback)

I've played bass and guitar for nearly 40 years and have been involved with recording demos with various band (all of them unsuccessful to date) for about 30 of those years. In that time I've bought and read many books on audio engineering and can recommend a few, but sometimes all you really need is a basic book that covers the nuts and bolts that will condense dozens of books of material into one easy to use guide. THIS IS THAT BOOK for Microphones! There are a lot of good ideas covered here, you don't need a degree in audio engineering or a dictionary and a few calculus books, there are nice pictures and graphs (a must for staying interested and for that "one picture is worth a thousand words" approach) and you can read it one short chapter at a time, essential if you're currently reading a dozen books and are working for a living with next-to-no-time to add another book to the list. The thing is you can collect all the cool instruments, microphones, recording devices and PCs you think you need to make that next blockbuster recording in your home, but unless you KNOW how to use all that stuff you're wasting your time. Get this book first and get started to learn HOW to use this stuff first. Any musician or engineer worth the title will tell you it's all about the microphone - if you can't get a good sound using the right mike for the job, you're wasting your time here.