Steve Albini, born July 22nd, 1962 in sunny
Pasadena, California. Steve Albini is not only a great record producer, but he
is also a singer-songwriter, guitarist, audio engineer, and music journalist. As
a child, Albini was forced to move around a lot. Yet, at a young age, he was
introduced to the world of punk rock by one of his friends at the age of 15.
Albini soon found himself learning to play guitar, bass, and other instruments.
His musical interest leaned towards The Stooges, the Ramones, Fugazi, and the
Killing Joke. It only took one week of bass lessons at his high school before
Albini was already performing with bands. "I spent my formative years
obsessed with punk rock, and the bands that I've been in have all been punk
influenced Albini (Decker).
At the age of 18, Albini was in a car crash that gave him a “deformed
leg” as he likes to refer to it. His leg
was hurt so badly that they had to rebuild it with metal. Because of this,
Albini stepped off of the music scene for a while. After graduating from
Hellgate High School, Albini went on to move to Illinois to attend the Medill
School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Once he received his degree in
Journalism, he moved to Chicago where he wrote for many magazines such as Matter and The Boston Magazine.
However, at this time, Albini was not only focused on writing
for magazines. Around 1981 he began recording artists and by 1982 he was in a
band called Big Black (1982-87). During the 80’s Big Black was one of the
biggest bands to come straight out of college and completely rock. The band had
quite a few EPs out during their career including Lungs EP, Bulldozer, and Racer-X. By 1987, the band was close to
dissolved. Albini moved on with his independent work at the other members went
their own way.
Albini worked with many artists right after his third band
experience like the Pixies, the Breeders, Tad, and the Wedding Present. Albini
was quickly gaining a reputation of being a pain to work with, but it was also
widely known that he brought out the best in the alternative artists he worked
with. Chuck Crisafulli added in a Guitar
Player article, "[Albini's] sound may be brutal, but it's undeniably
straightforward and undoctored." (Decker) In between producing for
artists, he began another band by the name of Rapeman. Their first EP released
but it was as far as it could go. Companies and people were complaining about
the name and refused to have anything to do with it. Soon, that band dissolved
as well, but it didn’t have too much of an effect on Albini’s income. At the
time, he was hired to produce for major label bands such as the noted,
legendary Nirvana, PJ Harvey, and the Auteurs.
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| Albini with Nirvana (1993) |
Of course, Albini could not let go of his work. By 1992,
Albini had teamed up with another producer to form the band Shellac which is
still around today. They initially released three EPs: The Rude Gesture: A
Pictorial History, Uranus and The Bird is the Most Popular Finger. Soon they
followed these hits with four studio albums At
Action Park (1994), Terraform
(1998), 1000 Hurts (2000) and Excellent Italian Greyhound (2007). Rolling
Stone called Shellac "Steve Albini's latest power trio from hell" and
added that they "make a superb, corrosive Wire-ish thunder on the twin EPs
the Rude Gesture (A Pictorial History) and Uranus." (Decker).
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| Albini with his band Shellac
As a producer or “recording engineer”, Albini has recorded
at least 1,000 albums for underground rock bands in the 1980’s and 1990’s
(Decker). In fact, Albini was mainly known for working for the underground bands
so when he went on to work for Nirvana, a mainstream band, took a toll on his
career as he was accused of “selling out.” However, this phase passed and Steve
Albini remained a noted producer for talented alternative rock bands. He also found time to create his own recording studio called Touch & Go. Albini
was very well known for being a perfectionist. He would create a great record
and continue to try and fix it. Albini has stopped fiddling around with his
creations and noticed a positive change in the music quality. "In the last
few years, I've learned to leave things alone," he remarked in Billboard.
"Now when I set up a microphone and like the way it sounds, I consider the
job done." (Decker)
Albini has certainly left his mark in Indie Rock and
Alternative history. Albini does not like to refer to himself as a producer, more
of a “recording engineer.” Unlike most big name producers, Albini does not like
to collect royalties from the music or albums he produces. In his opinion, the
recording engineer should remain strictly technical in the studio, only there
to help the artist reach their goals. One of Albini’s favorite things to do in
the studio is to experiment with his guitar, searching for new and exciting
sounds. "I get as much satisfaction out of making the instrument squeak or
sound like rattling chains as I imagine some players get from bona fide soloing,"
he pointed out in Guitar Player. (Decker)
Steve Albini's Original Mix of "Heart-Shaped Box" produced for Nirvana.
Sources Cited
Bush, John. "Steve Albini Biography." AllMusic. AllMusic, 09 Mar. 2009. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.allmusic.com/artist/steve-albini-mn0000023358/biography>.
Decker, Ed. "Steve Albini Biography." Steve Albini Biography. Musician Guide, 05 Jan. 2005. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://www.musicianguide.com/biographies/1608001481/Steve-Albini.html>.
Huff, Jeff. "Steve Albini - Biography." Amoeba. Amoeba, 11 Feb. 2006. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
"Steve Albini." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 Aug. 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Albini>.
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