STEVE ALBINI

albini is such a joy to read, and a great dude all around.

I think albini's point is that if you're recording a rock band, it should sound like a rock band

also maybe it's the cynical in me but weird that this is circulating the week of the in utero reissue

uh, i think it's explicitly part of the promo (included in the box set)?

also <3 beau and his twitter.

the fugazi session he mentions was scrapped though, and, ironically, he kind of failed to make them sound like themselves. Everyone has their artistic failures I guess.

it should sound like a rock band

which sounds like what exactly?

There's likely a bit of an underlying sales-tactic angle to all that though, don't you think?

― Evan, Thursday, September 26, 2013 12:38 PM (55 minutes ago)

Not really as Kurt had approached Steve about recording the follow-up to Nevermind... not the other way around.

the fugazi session he mentions was scrapped though, and, ironically, he kind of failed to make them sound like themselves

Nah, they sound like themselves on it

Albini made good records in part because he had an approach that he believed in and stuck to. He talks about it dogmatically as though it is *the* approach, which it isn't, but the fact that he was so adamant about it made him a better engineer/producer imo.

This sounds like ass:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBnDrIxjz8A

the drums are all pushed out and the guitars, which are what really drive the band, are kind of crushed

Yeah, they definitely didn't sound like that live. Weird choices on Albini's part. And arrg weird panning on the drum kit. Hate that.

Yeah it doesn't sound that different than the Kill Taker version to me.

Keep in mind those are DEMOS

sounds way different from Killtaker

i don't like the slint stuff with albini because it sounds too albini. and yet i don't mind the same albini touch on the breeders/pixies stuff. sometimes it works for me and sometmes it doesn't.

otm. Breeders' Pod is my favorite Albini production.

so how much did Nirvana paid him eventually?

since albini refuses to take points on albums he records, nirvana paid him by giving him several points on hole's live through this.

lol

he got paid like $100K iirc

SUCKER!

Didn't he say he went broke soon after though?

regardless

i think Surfer Rosa was one of his best works, and iirc he didn't like the record so much at first.

so i take with grain of salt his remark about the correlation between the quality of the result and the mood of the band.

Albini made good records in part because he had an approach that he believed in and stuck to. He talks about it dogmatically as though it is *the* approach, which it isn't, but the fact that he was so adamant about it made him a better engineer/producer imo.

feel like this is a real truth bomb about a certain kind of artist in general

he also knew how to choose good bands to work with most of the times..

Bush...

if he would've made a masterpiece with Backstreet Boys, he was now the truly the god of all producers lol

of course he is a great producer, but it's easier to be good with Jesus Lizard than with Bush

He would probably admit that!

i don't really care about notions of "good bands" and i don't think it's relevant to Albini's process - he worked with whoever he chose, whether that be for financial or aesthetic reasons

i always dreamed about a collaboration between SY and Albini. that could have been their last masterpiece..

i guess he fucked it with that Rapeman song..among other stuff..

true, i'm talking about the result
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The 18th Dye record sounds fantastic!

I imagine that letter being typed out live on a sturdy but analog typewriter with no edits and no click track.

lol

my faves would probably be pod, surfer rosa, goat, songs about fucking, rid of me. and the first shellac album. kinda glad he didn't do helmet's meantime and spiderland. oh and dial m for motherfucker. i like how that sounds. too far into the 90's and i probably didn't hear whatever he did.

I don't like how the jawbreaker record sounded but apparently during the recording process the console caught on fire so good excuse?

i'll add Man Or Astro Man, and some more i probably forgot..
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seamonsters, dogs...

silkworm

All of the Silkworm albums he worked on sound amazing but especially "Firewater." My favorite drum sound.
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Nina Nastasia's records, those are good.

oh yeah! those are some recent records i love. don't know how much of that is albini and how much of that is liking her a lot though. they sound fine. he is good with strings on some of those records.

taking a good band and not fucking it up is harder than it sounds -- there are plenty of crappy-sounding or overworked records by good bands

if you listen to the recent nina albums they don't scream albini or anything. which is a good thing. they shouldn't. i like tar's jackson too. forgot that one. just a great rock guitar sound.

i still dream of a new orleans brass band recording with albini.

or great punk guitar sound anyway. you have to dig albini drum sound to like the tar album though.

every time i hear a shittily digitally recorded metal album i kinda wish i could hear it recorded by someone like albini. just to get some sort of room sound and some contrast.

From outside the world of rock, he did a really good job on The Thing's Bag It! a few years ago.

Wonder if he's still insisting on the no royalties with the 2013 mix and all that.

I wish more jazz artists hired him cuz yes that Thing record sounds great.

Steve is a genius at documenting what bands actually sound like, which seems like it would be really easy to do but is not. I am in a band that made a record with him and he was a pleasure to work with and I think it sounds closest of all of our records to what we actually sound like live & in the practice space.