In 1974, the people at Yamaha asked me to write some spec sheets for a dozen or so new guitar amplifiers and small mixers. As soon as that job was done, they showed me a new product. It was a console, one intended to be a major departure - a leap into the heart of the professional sound reinforcement market - for a company then known primarily as a musical instrument manufacturer (or a motorcycle manufacturer, if you were not a musician). Yamaha said they wanted to firmly establish themselves as a leader, and they felt that a comprehensive instruction manual for the new console would help do the job. We had only a prototype board and some sketchy specs, but no detailed drawings or data, so I contacted engineer John Windt, and we measured the performance. Working with pencil and portable typewriter, I created the first draft of the PM-1000 Operating Manual.
The PM-1000 console did put Yamaha on the map, insofar as the professional sound reinforcement business is concerned. The manual was so popular that it had to be reprinted many times (far exceeding the number of consoles built). It became a standard text in several college courses due to its detailed discussions of the basics of sound reinforcement.
During the ensuing decade, Yamaha asked me to write manuals for a variety of amps, signal processors, mixers and so forth, and to maintain the same standard of excellence we began with the PM-1000 manual. Unfortunately, it is very expensive to produce and print 30 to 60 pages of instructions for every product, and it is difficult to justify - especially when only 8 to 16 pages contain the "hard core" operational data. For this reason, both Yamaha and I had pondered the concept of a generalized guide for sound reinforcement, apart from any individual operating manuals.
Finally, 10 years after the PM-1000 manual was published, Yamaha decided to move forward with this project. We anticipated a book of 96 to 160 pages in length, and expected it would take a year to complete. The first edition of The Sound Reinforcement Handbook was comprised of 384 pages, some 256 illustrations, and took three years to complete. The first printing of 10,000 copies sold out in a year, and while we were completing this second edition, another two runs totalling nearly 5,000 more copies had to be printed. Clearly, the book has been well received, and we're grateful.
The Sound Reinforcement Handbook is the largest project I have ever undertaken. It would not have been possible without the support and patience of the people at Yamaha Corporation of America, and at their parent company, Yamaha Corporation of Japan. All of us were able to endure the strain of gathering data, editing it, and producing this book for one reason: we had an important goal to achieve.
That goal was to create a useful reference for anyone who is interested in learning the basics of sound reinforcement. In this second edition, we have improved many of the illustrations, and added entirely new topics, corrected a number of minor errors and typos (perhaps created new ones). We
have made the book much easier to use by completely reorganizing the chapters and creating an index.
We had originally planned the first edition for looseleaf binding, with the intent to publish updates periodically. The cost, however, would have been
prohibitive, and so this soft cover format was adopted, with the prospect of a new edition when the need arises. We all hope you enjoy and learn from
this one.
Gary D. Davis
Santa Monica, California
June, 1989
This Handbook Is Dedicated To The Sound Reinforcement Industry, And To All Those People Who Have Worked So Hard To Bring Better Sound And Music To The World. We Particularly Wish To Acknowledge The Late Deane Jensen For His Advancement Of Sound.