Steve Albini lecture...

[R Tyck]

Originally posted by Produceher


Hell, I'll record any of you punks if you pay me enough. He won't. He is a true artist and I am a mere media slut and money grubbing *****. But that's the way I like it. LOLThe whole Spectrum)

Not true- he will record ANYONE who pays him. And as far as being an artist, I believe that he considers himself more of a technician/craftsman when he is behind the board. He is an artist when his band is being recorded.




He has his schtick- and it has served him well. I disagree with a lot of what he has to say, and I think he has a tendency to mistake his own personal inclinations for absolutes. Personally, I am not a fan of dogma, whether it be religious, recording or otherwise.

But...

I also recognize that sometimes it is those extremists, tilting at windmills on the fringes, who keep things safe for those of us who choose to occupy the middle ground. And dangit...he has made some records that I absolutely love.

Rob

[Manfriday]

Not true- he will record ANYONE who pays him

Yup.
300 bucks a day for his time, plus 600-800 a day for the room.

[LTA]

Originally posted by Manfriday
Yup.
300 bucks a day for his time, plus 600-800 a day for the room.

Given that i know of monitor engineers that get paid 200 a gig, and that the sound company they work for gets paid well over 800 a gig, that seems like a pretty good deal. You could spend the better part of a month in the studio for the cost of one major live event.

Sure you could go to a small local project studio for 100 dollars a day, but you won't get that Albini flavor. Its like the difference between a 12 dollar haircut and a 50 dollar one. One is simply going through the motions; the other is art. And in the end, it is still your own hair. Fine craftsmanship is an art. There is creativity in overcoming obstacles that manifests itself in the design. But, in the end, even the finest carver can not turn cherry into maple. That would be the art of the tree itself (and its dna template)

[cdog]

Steve is very very good at capturing live sounds... he is at his best as a recording engineer, not as a mixer, IMO. I've always been more utilitarian than dogmatic - best tool for the job, etc, don't worry about the "right" way to do it...

Some of his opinions about digital audio need... um, clarification.

He's words and actions do not always align... re: compression. He's totally addicted to tape saturation and compression... not a bad thing at all, but I'd like to watch him to try to get a good sound out of a DAW with a high track count... the acid test for engineers IMO...

[transfiguration]

Originally posted by cdog
I'd like to watch him to try to get a good sound out of a DAW with a high track count... the acid test for engineers IMO...

BINGO!

Let's see ya make some magic happen with the lowest common denominator.


trans