Studying Sound's greatest accomplishment is being an excellent introduction to sound design。 （Yes， sound design。 Not music creation or just putting sound to image。） Collins introduces not only the basic tools of the trade but also the theory and craft involved。 You will learn about low-pass filters and amplitude modulation alongside embodied cognition， hyper-real design and audio-only storytelling。 The main software required is Audacity which is completely free。 Moreover， there are also plenty o Studying Sound's greatest accomplishment is being an excellent introduction to sound design。 （Yes， sound design。 Not music creation or just putting sound to image。） Collins introduces not only the basic tools of the trade but also the theory and craft involved。 You will learn about low-pass filters and amplitude modulation alongside embodied cognition， hyper-real design and audio-only storytelling。 The main software required is Audacity which is completely free。 Moreover， there are also plenty of exercises that will train your ears and refine your craft。 So， if any of that is new to you， then this is an excellent book to read。A big complaint is that Studying Sound is clearly designed to be read in an academic setting。 The chapters assume you are reading them for a class at about one chapter a month。 Many exercises build off of the previous chapters' exercises and assume you have completed them。 That wouldn't be too much of a problem if the exercises didn't require access to a sound library， a paid plug-in or a type of microphone。 All of them cost money so the book assumes you either have access to these from a university or have very deep pockets。 Then， there things that just irk me。 Many times an exercise will mention a specific plug-in in Audacity but not say what it is or where to find it。 I didn't use Audacity for the exercises myself but， for people who would， it would make doing them just a bit more inaccessible。 There are also quite frequent inaccuracies。 For example， the book mentions that the ratio of two octaves is 3:1 when it is in fact 4:1。 Additionally， the sounds 'bouba' and 'kiki' are， according to the book， thought of as round and sharp， respectively， across all cultures; but that is not entirely true （I would recommend the excellent Tom Scott video on Youtube about that very subject）。 The result being that it throws the book's credibility into serious doubt。 So I had to take everything the book said with a grain of salt and I suggest you do to。However， Studying Sound was still a great read。 Despite being familiar with many of the concepts beforehand， I did learn a lot and the exercises genuinely helped me。 It brought a wealth of new perspectives to sound design that I was unfamiliar with。 So， as long as you have a healthy dose of skepticism， then I would recommend Studying Sound。 。。。more