Steve Albini lecture...

[Hiwatt]

I don't know if anyone has posted this yet, but I found a cool link to a recorded lecture he did. Talks about why he likes analog, why digital is an inapropiate medium for making records, and tons of other intersting stuff. It's pretty long though, about an hour or so...


http://www.mtsu.edu/~nadam/downloads...albiniweb.html

[JonCraig]

yeah... i was one of the guys who helped put that lecture on. he's a very intelligent (and perhaps more opinionated) guy. the lecture is great.

[jazzius II]

cool guy......

[alphajerk]

and hour of his bullshit?.... ive heard his recordings. wouldnt matter if they were analog or digital. still suck.

[bloodsweatfire]

Originally posted by alphajerk
and hour of his bullshit?.... ive heard his recordings. wouldnt matter if they were analog or digital. still suck.

So how do you really feel?

Honestly, which albums did he record?

[squizz]

alphajerk

thats awful big words from somebody who probably hasnt sold 1/4 of what he's sold. you may not like him but im pretty sure he's doing something right. maybe you should check your ego and actually listen to the lecture and learn something from him.

[Bob Olhsson]

He has some romantic illusions about when the "project studio revolution" began. It was really around 1970 when Sony and Teac first released sync-equipped 1/4" 4 tracks. I was into it big-time by 1972.

[ron florentine]

Thanks for the post to that lecture-spent the evening cleaning my console and listening to an evening of Steve Albini!!....anymore of these types of lectures?interviews available?

Ron Florentine
Soundswest Studio

[RKrizman]

Originally posted by Bob Olhsson
He has some romantic illusions about when the "project studio revolution" began. It was really around 1970 when Sony and Teac first released sync-equipped 1/4" 4 tracks. I was into it big-time by 1972.

Wow, that brings back memories. In 1972 I was clueless about everything. But in 1976 I was doing multitrack synth work bouncing back and forth on a stereo Revox. Got into the Teac 4 track about 2 years later. I think we had a Tapco mixer.

Very much a project studio.

-R

[ozraves]

Originally posted by ron florentine
Thanks for the post to that lecture-spent the evening cleaning my console and listening to an evening of Steve Albini!!....anymore of these types of lectures?interviews available?

Ron Florentine
Soundswest Studio

Rupert Neve

[RichT]

Originally posted by Kent
Bob's post reminded me of this. You wanna know why? I can tell you what I was into 'big-time' in 1972... Pampers!

That's right, rub it in for the old guys

[DannyDay]

Originally posted by alphajerk
and hour of his bullshit?.... ive heard his recordings. wouldnt matter if they were analog or digital. still suck.

Sorry I have to disagree. I refuse to worship him as some folks do, but he's a first rate AE.

Sure, he's made a few crap recordings but we all have (at least I have) on occasion, yes? Most of the stuff he does, as far as sound quality is concerned, is pretty fantastic.

He may be a dick at times, but he's a pretty damn good AE.

DD.

[drew]

the irony in him saying that the AE should not put their "sound" into recordings has always made me laugh. otherwise I could care less about him.

[jazzius II]

You gotta admit, he's pretty narrow minded....i mean, according to his credo, he'd probably find Jimi Hendrix or the Beatles over-produced, let alone 99% of todays stuff.......still......

[warhead]

I agree with his statements that digital is a bad medium to store music on, or anything.

War

[JonCraig]

Originally posted by drew
the irony in him saying that the AE should not put their "sound" into recordings has always made me laugh. otherwise I could care less about him.

i don't see any irony in it. as he stated repeatedly, his only job is to accurately capture the sound that the band has. "historical recordist". compare the danielson famile, for example to nirvana. no "signature albini" sound--just the band's sound.

[zimv20]

Originally posted by jazzius II
You gotta admit, he's pretty narrow minded

how so?

[Zoesch]

Originally posted by alphajerk
and hour of his bullshit?.... ive heard his recordings. wouldnt matter if they were analog or digital. still suck.

Don't know... he's done some great stuff not only in my book, but according to a lot of other people... of course, he's the tall poppy that all indie engineers love to hate and hate to love simply because they'd love to be in his position.

Whether or not you think they suck, his ideas are not BS, narrowminded or not.

[pounce]

i can't figure out why thread like this and similar recent ones show so little respect for seasoned AEs with great credentials. walter sears got skewered here too. sure albini and he are opinionated, but they have skills like crazy. they have specific recording philosophies, and that's cool. maybe it's not what you are into. but i'd rather listen to albini and decide which approaches to AE work i could bring to my prjects then read a ten page thread on whether or not you plug di's into di's. really, you don't have to agree with everything albini or anyone else says, but i think the quality of his work is reason enough for a certain amount of respect. and if it isn't for you, than so be it. but yes, people with no album sales to speak of have to jump on this thread to piss all over him? gimme a break. it's not all about what gear to buy or whether or not you like all the bands he's recorded, it's about the fact that the length and breadth of albini's career and info are good reason to at least hear him out. i'll be listening to it to in a day when i am going to be cleaning up the studio, should be an interesting listen. i say enjoy the info!

[drew]

Originally posted by JonCraig
i don't see any irony in it. as he stated repeatedly, his only job is to accurately capture the sound that the band has. "historical recordist". compare the danielson famile, for example to nirvana. no "signature albini" sound--just the band's sound.

he's said that when you hear a record you shouldn't "hear" who recorded it, yet his are some of the most identifiable recording's out there. That's ironic.

[drew]

Originally posted by pounce
i can't figure out why thread like this and similar recent ones show so little respect for seasoned AEs with great credentials. walter sears got skewered here too. sure albini and he are opinionated, but they have skills like crazy.

Sear and Albini share something. arrogance. Look at the love Shipley gets on the guest forum.

[isa215]

Both Steve Albini and Walter Sear (also fairly vocal!) are simply expressing their opinions based on their own (considerable) experience.

However, I don't really think it's wise to try and assess their opinions' worth simply by the record sales / success they have had in the past. Better to actually listen to what they have to say and draw what you can from it.
I don't feel for a moment that I have to agree with everything they say - what works for one person or is important to him/her doesn't necessarily translate to everyone else.

[vtone]

I don't really think it's wise to try and assess their opinions' worth simply by the record sales / success they have had in the past. Better to actually listen to what they have to say and draw what you can from it.

WELL SAID.

[alba359]

After watching the film I didn't find Albani to be the least bit arrogant. I perceived him as sort of humble. He didn't seem to have a huge ego as I expected. (For what it's worth).

[sismundi]

Indeed and it's quite disingenuous that someone who doesn't take points and works for modest rates can be called arrogant. Doubly so given the modus operandi of some of the people making the claim.

[pounce]

Originally posted by drew
he's said that when you hear a record you shouldn't "hear" who recorded it, yet his are some of the most identifiable recording's out there. That's ironic.

does that mean that they all sound alike? or are they identifiable in that the bands he works with choose to have their actual sound be more directly translated through the process and therefore his work is bucking the trend to autotune and beat detective everything? anyhow, my point isn't to discuss albini's style as the only way to do it. it's just that his intent seems noble and his opinions are backed with relevent experience. it's a neat philosophy to consider. he and walter sears have recording approaches that i think are very important to reflect upon as AE's, regardless of how much of their style can be integrated into your workflow.

ps: i've learned things from curmudgeons. but getting some internet jerks simply chiming in that all his recordings suck doesn't seem to help anything. isn't that the kind of arrogance you were complaining about?

[Ted Nightshade]

Originally posted by Bob Olhsson
He has some romantic illusions about when the "project studio revolution" began. It was really around 1970 when Sony and Teac first released sync-equipped 1/4" 4 tracks. I was into it big-time by 1972.

Well I got my 1968 Sony 854-4 sync-equipped 1/4" 4 track way back in 2003... It's a pretty damned nice machine, couldn't ever touch it with the HEDD converters and process, but it's looking to go into the mothballs with this SLAM! here.

Was just looking at the tech manual for the thing, and talking about how they introduced the sync feature after the first machines were out. What's funny is, I still have never used the sync feature yet- never did do an overdub on the thing. I can though, if I ever want to!

[Thermionic]

Thanks for the link Hiwatt.

I didn't agree with everything Mr Albini had to say, but it would be a hell of a mathematical probability if I did wouldn't it? I found the lecture entertaining, food for thought.

Am particularly in agreement with his sentiment on mobile phones - I hate 'em, wish I could afford to put mine in the crusher.

Justin

[doorknocker]

Originally posted by Thermionic
I didn't agree with everything Mr Albini had to say, but it would be a hell of a mathematical probability if I did wouldn't it? I found the lecture entertaining, food for thought.

Same here, after a kind of -ish start, he is quite entertaining, nice dry sense of humor (liked the one about not getting emotionally too involved in a recording, sort of like a gynecologist shouldn't get turned on..)
He sticks to his beliefs and style , I respect that.

Andi

[chap]

I think that if you want to be good at something,
you need to make decisions and choices.
It would seem like Albini has done just that.
He strikes me as a very ethical guy but a guy
that I would not record like. I've made my own choices. I think if you get good results and can justify your choice, that should be enough.

I can't compare a Teac 3340s (my first machine)
to PTHD3 and expect to justify the analog recording. There is nothing permanent about analog. People are discovering new ways to archive all the time and the analog/digital componant is just part of the equation.

I know that I can't sit around and listen to my 78s without going through a great deal of trouble.

All formats will change but good work habits and ethics will survive. Go Albini.
chap