RIP Steve Albini

andare said:
Steve's letter to Nirvana outlining his views on production https://news.lettersofnote.com/p/nirvana?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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paulcalypse said:
Here’s an op-ed by Albini from a few years back that gives you a window into his Letters for Santa cause. He brought a lot of good into this world and used his words to punch up, especially in more recent years.
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I've always known him as an unparalleled producer and killer musician and knew generally that he was a good dude, but reading things like this makes me happier that there are people like this in the world and at the same time sadder that we now have one less.
 
chris.knudson said:
I look at it the other way -- I am always thankful that I managed to live longer than the ones who where lost young. My best friend died at age 54. I'll be 57 this year, and every time I have a birthday, I think about him.
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My buddy Bob worked at Paramount studios as an A/V tech (he had an EE masters degree). He had great health insurance but never went for checkups. He had the widow-maker heart attack at 51 years old in 2010 a week before Christmas. Talk about a bummer.

A 15 minute EKG followed by a 15 minute operation to insert a stent would have saved his life. For those that don't know, they make a small incision in an artery and use the artery cam and ultrasound to snake a tubular spring to the artery that has the blockage. When it is released it props open the artery and you're better than new. It's an almost instant life saver.

Moral of the story, if you're over 45 get a full physical every few years including an EKG. Your family will literally thank you for decades.

My cousin had his stent 20 years ago and is still chugging away.

My last EKG shows I'm gonna live to at least 100 if I don't get hit by a meteor in my sleep.....

The technician asked how old I was and said DAAAAMMMN you have the heart of a 40 year old (I'm 68)
 
When I was 2?2, we brought him into our AE school in Nashville
I was school AES prez and organized fundraisers(battle of the bands stuff) to pay his DAY RATE.
He came down from Chicago for his day rate plus $500(airfare, per diem)
I was his "second" that day per choice by the school.
We spent 9 hours in studio with him dumping out every bit of his knowledge he could upon us. In the world of "accomplished" engineers, this is all unheard of on so many levels. This guy loves good music more than anything else. He wanted others to make and capture it.
I absolutely hated hearing this today but I was kinda wondering when the YT videos kinda stopped abruptly, post covid.

And tongue anyone who's not that familiar, Steve showed up and worked all day in coveralls. I think it's his cheeky nose to the labcoats of Abbey Road. But he mentioned "showing up to work in work clothes"
He has his reasons... You can carry a lot of mics around in coveralls.
Rest in Punk Steve
 
This hits too close to home (literally) here in Chicago. I was devastated yesterday when I heard but WXRT (used to be a killer radio station here in Chicago) spent the whole afternoon doing Albini tribute stuff. I was stuck in a brutal commute for 2-1/2 hours in my car and it was the best radio I've ever heard. Struck me as a shame that you just don't get good radio anymore and even more brutal that you have to lose someone so cool just to turn the airwaves into something special.

Albini was a very special guy to say the least.
 
Sad.

DIdn't realise he's not much older than me; yet he's accomplished so much more...
For me, his producer-hat efforts (and engineer's-hat) were the gateway drug to exploring his own music.

Thanks for all the great music and positive influence Mr Albini.
 
I was familiar with his name from audio engineering circles but not really familiar with his production. I do respect what I read about his philosophy though, even if I don't follow the same things (regarding audio engineering).

Production wise not much I'm familiar with that he's done, one High on Fire album but I don't like the production on that one. I did give 1000 Hurts a listen and actually liked the album much more than I expected, Prayer to God is a great song.

Edit: Also, I've got the Antithesis next in line for building and it's apparently based on the Harmonic Percolator, really interested in seeing how it works for me.
 
I have a percolator (Chuck’s mosfet version) in my jlc cart, been there for a week. Bittersweet! I’m considering doing a run with all the proceeds going to something good Captain Albini was a part of. Keep his momentum going…gotta remember the good in this world and stay on top of it, it gets blurry so quickly.
 
Damn. Now I officially have to give up my rock 'n' roll fantasy of one day coming up with the $100K to record with him
 
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