Steve Albini has passed away, aged 61. One of the most respected producers in alternative music history, Albini worked on records by many of the biggest names in rock history, including Nirvana, Pixies, PJ Harvey, The Breeders, and Page and Plant was also renowned for his musical output with his outfits Big Black and Shellac.
A hero of the DIY scene, Albini was infamous for his policy of not taking royalties or 'points' from the records he worked on and for his unease with the term 'producer', insisting on instead being credited with the phrase 'recorded by Steve Albini'.
Born in California and raised in Montana, Albini ultimately fell in love with Chicago while studying journalism at the prestigious college Northwestern. It was there, after being drawn into the DIY ethos of the city's '80s punk scene that he formed his first band, Big Black, recording all the instruments on their debut, pioneering the use of a drum machine and ultimately leading him deep into audio-engineering, which he would go on to make his life's work.
Albini was steadfast in his belief that his job was to record the band, not shape their sound, which inspired his decision to not claim royalties, but rather charge a flat rate for his expertise, believing it unethical to continually draw money from a musician's work. Sticking to this policy, regardless of the scale of success some of the records he worked on, cost him financially, but earned him near universal respect from the acts he worked with. Albini also kept his rates lower than many of his supposed contemporaries, allowing him to work with a diverse array of acts from across the industry.
Albini's most noted success commercially speaking, was Nirvana's third full-length In Utero. Before embarking on the journey of making the record with them, he wrote a letter to the band in which he stated that "I think the very best thing you could do at this point is exactly what you are talking about doing, bang a record out in a couple of days, with high quality but minimal ‘production’ and no interference from the front office bulletheads. If that is indeed what you want to do, I would love to be involved.”
Albini's '90s successes allowed him to establish the studio Electrical Audio in 1995, opening in 1997 and working out of that space for the remainder of his career. Even a glimpse at his discography yields a mind-melting collection of artists from Neuroris to Godspeed! You Black Emperor!, to Jawbreaker, The Jesus Lizard, Superchunk, Bush, Flogging Molly and Code Orange.
Steve Albini passed away at age 61 on Tuesda, 7 May, 2024 from complications following a heart-attack.
