the steve albini sound
 

i recently discovered this band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SMwRWsj80g

and after a few listens, thought i recognised that unique room kind of sound and i was right, it was albini -- so apart from In Utero and Attack On Memory (the album the youtube link features on)

could anyone else point me in the right direction of some good rock music with similar albini room styled tones?

oh and ofcourse feel free to post/rant about albini's infamous production techniques

I did not see a link

Neither did I.

But Oh God, you haven't heard a real record until you'd listened to P.J Harvey's Rid Of Me. Albini recorded it in 1992 I believe. Apart from being a great ****ing album of great ****ing music, sonically it's also my holy grail.

Real simple, just a trio of guitar bass drums, and it's just teeming with intensity. Do it up.

I could list a ton of amazing sounding albums by Albini, but here's one he didn't record that has a similar kind of sound;
Spiderland by Slint

Man, when Albini is matched with a good, like-minded band--like PJ, the Pixies, or the Breeders--the results are pretty effin' electrifying.

And then there's Bush ...

Chisel. Drill. Hammer. was a band in the late 90s that Albini recorded rather well.

Some of his best work.

if you like that band, go back and listen to Albini's band, Shellac.

John Congleton does some Albini techniques, try his work and his band The Paper Chase.

There's a great article with Albini on Sound on Sound, you should do a search for.

I Love Steve Albini but, even by his own words, he's an engineer trying to CAPTURE a band's sound and support what they do, he's not trying to change it... I have 2 friend's who've done albums with him (both bands were really happy with the outcome) but there was a lot of discussion in the studio that would go "Hey Steve, what do you think of my guitar tone" Steve: "That's what your guitar/amp sounds like, that's how you played it..." I agree with Shellac - that's probably really "his" sound.

The best advice to sound more like Albini is to discount about 90% of what Albini says about sounding Albini. :)

Don Caballero American Don is my favorite piece of Albini's work. Great tones that really work for the music.

No one going to mention The Breeder's Pod or any of the Shellac albums? Pod in particular is a stunning album, a sort of sincerity to the songwriting that the production allows be. Many a man would have made the mistake of stuffing them full of syrupy garbage but let's, like, the space "Be", man, you know?

The Frames - "For The Birds". Not their greatest selection of songs but terrific sounds...

Tony

Someone who never ever seems to get attention around here is Bob Weston. He plays alongside Albini in Shellac and is a huge talent as RE and ME as well. Sometimes achieves similar results as the "Albini" sound.

He recorded most of the catalog of Polvo, some of his best work. I highly recommend the album Exploded Drawing, prob my favorite album of all time, for both it's songwriting and production. And I'm not prone to hyperbole.

Check out the 'Paradise' record by My Disco. Room sounds on the drums are fantastic!

+1 for the my disco post! same goes for the Jesus lizard goat post! albini rules and you can absolutely tell that he is a big proponent for making a band sound how they do live. check out neurosis "times of grace" and "a sun that never sets" two phenomenal sounding recordings that are also quite sonically different.

Such a good album and it really does sound incredible. There's photos from the sessions and info on mics used here- American Don recording session pictures

One of my faves too.kfhkh

It's about time Polvo got some play on GS.kfhkh

Awesome! Thanks for sharing this.

I've gotta say, I really don't like the "Albini sound"

Brian Paulson recorded Spiderland.

i forgot he did tweez not spiderland. crap! i'm never wrong!

He did a tons of records !
There's a great ITW in the last Tape op

Tape Op Magazine > Articles > Steve Albini

Greatness..
 

Agreed about a personal sonic holy grail, top 5 for sure. the room sound of her voice and the way the loud passages seem to bow the room when played louuuuud is craziness(great way to laugh at physics in a room with ridiculous monitoring). the vocal, the space its in! emotionally the shit ****in' slays my heart , like, 17 years later, but most of her next 3 records do that too...

I think it was recorded in the same stay at pachyderm as when he did In Utero. like, feb 1993.

My favorite Albini recordings were the Jesus Lizard albums.

Here's the channel list for Goat, with all microphones used- Channel List for "Goat" | David Wm. Sims

The highlight is definitely the SM98 he supposedly taped to David Yow's head while the band was tracking live and he was doing scratch vocals.

Not mentioned yet -

Low's "Things We Lost In The Fire" is one of my favourite Albini recordings.

I agree. It's never been my cup of tea either, but it is interesting. You have to give then man that!