Masterclass with Steve Albini

Steve Albini is one of the most respected figures in the international independent music scene. As a renowned artist, music journalist, industry commentator and recording engineer, Steve is a champion of independent business models for artists to thrive and to release their work outside of the corporate music industry structure.
He has engineered over 1500 albums, including for some of the world’s most seminal and pioneering rock acts such Nirvana, the Pixies, PJ Harvey and The Stooges.

[@harrisonwintergreen1147]

Albini has recorded, mixed engineered some mega-selling albums. But he charges a flat fee, does not demand the common royalties/points. How many people can say they declined millions 💰💰💰on principle, because they consider common practice unethical? Very few.

[@okirrama3587]

Kurt blew up his head for millions of dollar....how many can say that?

[@pez---]

The guy is realness incarnate. Absolute don.

[@carstarsarstenstesenn]

recording engineers are not in it for the money, it's not a high paying job to begin with.

[@placebojesus5652]

Lol it varies a huge amount and most the pop producers are making bank

[@benjaminb.6424]

@@okirrama3587 oh you were there

[@aliya_punkenglish]

RIP Steve. You really were one of my heroes. Gonna miss you much.

[@avinashlalwani1475]

“If you have a any further questions feel free to send me an email or whatever, I’m always around” RIP Steve 😢

[@matturner6890]

props to the cameraman for persevering thru a severe bout of parkinsons

[@GearStuffandThings]

Mat Turner love ❤️

[@rarelycomments]

I was so afraid the whole video was going to look like that

[@Seriouslycantplayguitar]

@@rarelycomments was just listening and looked over and saw the shaking, oh good, it looks like they werent monitoring the camera at first and just assumed it was all set.

[@Cap_tain_Cave_man]

Avantgarde

[@emilezoulette882]

@@Cap_tain_Cave_man hahahaha

[@ksiggich9308]

This is terribly a huge fucking loss....I'm not musician or any sort, but I have utmost respect for him. The fact that I will not hear anything from him ever again is unimaginably hard to swallow.

[@NolalanD]

Steve should teach art ethics. His are impeccable.

[@cameronharvey5801]

yeah, so impeccable that he used to run bands called "Rapeman" and "Run Ni***r, run"

[@crystalbepis]

RIP to one of the best to ever do it, music today simply would not be the same without him

[@ThePeytondoug]

There is a great juxtaposition between Steve and the moderator in this video: Steve is humble and makes a solid argument in favor of not passing judgment upon tastes whereas the moderator often makes condescending comments similar to many industry snobs I’ve met in my career (the space echo USB joke, correcting grammar in the questions segment). Steve really sticks out to me because he’s always extricated himself from the norm, in this case, the professional engineer who belittles in order to counteract their insecurity. Steve is comfortable and confident and never arrogant. I’ve learned so much from listening to him talk about the philosophy of music production, as opposed the the onslaught of gear marketing content disguised as informative/inspirational production advice. Stay golden, Albini-boy.

[@lauradownunder2009]

1:25:27 that warm analog sound is IS not ARE otherwise it would be THOSE analog soundS, he is actually correcting grammar wrong

[@lassebang]

Exactly why I seriously don't like that moderator. Seems like someone trying to impress his boss instead of emerging himself in a conversation with an absolute legend.

[@Skraboing649]

​@lassebang I think you meant "immersing" , not "emerging" 👍

[@sephfox5518]

a room full of sound engineers and no mic for the audience

[@Jason75913]

Lol

[@billbradleymusic]

Except.... the only microphone is for the mains.

[@Bencarelle]

@@billbradleymusic woosh

[@axidhaus]

They’re not known for their musical skills

[@placebojesus5652]

Well they’re good at producing music not producing videos lol which is what this kind of thinking is. Plus they know they can just toss the mic around, they’re not concerned with the superficial appearances

[@rembertmontald524]

Rip Steve, Thank you for all your amazing work

[@terrypussypower]

I met Steve back in 1986 at a BIG BLACK/HEAD OF DAVID gig at Manchester's Archway club (across the road from the Haçienda) that I was bootlegging. He was out front in the crowd waiting for HEAD OF DAVID to come on and I struck up a conversation and asked him if it was okay if I taped BIG BLACK and he said go ahead! He even introduced HEAD OF DAVID on my tape recorder just as they came on stage! What a no bullshit artist. I still have those recordings on the TDK SA 90 cassettes they were recorded on (with a Sony Pro Walkman) and they sound the same today as they did back then. Those tapes are bulletproof!

[@Sonificade]

That's awesome!! Are they available to hear anywhere?

[@terrypussypower]

@@Sonificade Yes, in my house! Lol! I’ve got loads of gigs I’ve bootlegged back in the 80’s and really need to upload them before I drop dead and they all end up dumped in a skip and lost to posterity! Some belters too! Most of them I’ve never seen recorded by anyone else.

[@ptathholroyd4128]

@@terrypussypower thtas a cool story! would love to hear the tapes as well, lol. cheers

[@terrypussypower]

@@ptathholroyd4128 If you sub my channel then you’ll be notified when they get uploaded as I’m starting the long and tedious process of mastering them before uploading them to my KZbin channel. I was initially going to master them all first and then upload them all in a one-er, but I’ve been talked out of that, and now I’ll upload them as I finish each one.

[@Leo9ine]

Reminder to hopefully archive those for everyone while you can! :)

[@rocketnewton]

Steve - we miss you so much already. ❤

[@bankirt8498]

goodbye, sir. rest in peace.

[@terrypussypower]

Maybe they should think about a Masterclass for video production!

[@creamcannon825]

Masterclass for holding a goddamned camera

[@ScottMasson]

Man….he was something truly special.

[@HiFi-Yeah]

When Steve talks it becomes clear that he was a student of history and philosophy - loads of perspective, beyond your typical modern person.

[@tonyhall3365]

if he had only ever worked with the Pixies & Nirvana he'd still be a legend

[@creamcannon825]

His recordings with those bands have some of the GREATEST sound of any musical recordings ever done. I also adore his works with HUM, Jawbreaker, Pegboy, and I really wish he'd have worked with Smashing Pumpkins in their early days, but that didn't ever happen as far as I know.

[@iwanttoseemrshow]

he DID work with Nirvanna.

[@aliya_punkenglish]

Even if he didn't record Nirvana and the Pixies, he'd still be a legend.

[@topofthemornintoya]

@@iwanttoseemrshowyou DIDn’t read the comment did you

[@THESLOWDEATHHOOKS]

steve is such an eloquent speaker, it's a joy to listen to him speak.

[@mcblahflooper94]

1:05:33 "I think it's a mistake to presume things need to be made better all the time. I think a lot of things are fine just the way they are." This pretty much encapsulates his philosophy (as I understand it), and applies to much more than just recorded music

[@palmerlp]

I love how Steve is both a ruthless pragmatist about the nature of his industry, and a total romantic about analog recording.

[@KelsoBradshaw]

this is incredible content. this interview made me a fan of steve albini solely because of his ideas.

[@carvinblack]

All those years of wisdom pouring out. 👏

[@egattignolo]

have you checked out any of his music yet? I have loved big black for most of my life.

[@shreddedvegetable]

31:55 Such an awesome thing to hear an engineer say. A lot of engineers I think get caught up in knowing what is best for the people they work with. Very refreshing to hear of someone who is not afraid to allow people to be creative even in ways the engineer doesn't like the sound of.

[@hermitthelog6758]

"It's always worth a listen," Steve is a true master of capturing the true sound of an artist

[@jc.1191]

Steve is generous for sharing so much. I appreciate SAE for documenting this event.

[@night_speed]

This is an amazing interview I have a Big Black album in my record collection but was never a huge fan. Nor am I a big Nirvana fan but I still have a huge amount of respect for the way he thinks and works. I'm always amazed at all the 'how to build a studio' channels on youtube. It's always these sterile environments with sound proofing everywhere and bass traps with giant mixing boards going into a DAW. Those giant mixing boards are essentially a glorified mouse. Also think about all the pictures you've ever seen of The Beatles at Abbey Road or Hendrix at Electric Lady. You don't see people in glass boxes. You see people hanging out on couches in living rooms or big open rooms with pianos. Use your space for its unique character. Blood Sugar Sex Magik was recorded in a rented house. Led Zep in a haunted castle. Lou Reed recorded the original vocals to The Velvet's self titled album in a closet. So anyone out there who is interested in music production and home studio recording don't let these social media influencers make you think that you need thousands of dollars worth of gear you can't afford. They are being paid to sell a product. Your living room, bedroom, bathroom or garage might sound amazing. Especially right now. Lo-fi is all the rage. There are tons of pedals and plug-ins that try to emulate the sounds of older, less than state of the art gear. I also found out recently that Steve Albini doesn't earn royalties on albums that he's produced. I was stunned when i heard that and it gave me even more respect for the man. I also like his transparency as a producer. Like he says he's very hands off as far as the band and it's sound. I love Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails but every album of another artist that he's produced has his fingerprints all over it. I happen to like that but not all bands would sound good with NIN DNA inserted into it.

[@allaboutdatGDA]

one of the ironies of this is that he is in one hell of a band, Shellac. He doesn’t reference his musical career in the beginning (and throughout) which is of mega cultural importance. Yet he describes himself in the beginning as a guy who didn’t go broke recording bands. He is a true artist and craftsman.

[@duprie37]

Everyone needs to hear Atomizer & Songs About Fxxxxxg by Big Black. I definitely didn't think in 1988 I'd be sitting here in 2021 watching this lol.

[@0oidiedinatimemachineo024]

@@duprie37 love Big Black

[@firdeye2681]

I absolutely love the way Steve expresses his thoughts and stuff, he's right on the money about physical copies and stuff will stay around forever. This man is a gem.... a legend of the highest standard (not to sound corny)

[@quogir1]

Humble as it gets. Cheerio Mr.Real One

[@michal.ochedowski]

A real eye-opener when it comes to digital archiving. It was so obvious and yet I didn't realize it.

[@lastdaysguitar]

Such a loss to musical world! RIP, Steve - so much respect for this brilliant and generous man!

[@creamcannon825]

I thought analog was campy and outdated until I got into Steve's work. His expertise and genius work educated me and changed the very foundation of my understanding of audio recording. Steve is a legend

[@artbremer4076]

If Noam Chomski was a recording engineer, he'd be Steve Albini

[@dommurruga]

same energy

[@artbremer4076]

@@DVDFRMN what a dummy! If you cant understand allegory then stop embarrassing yourself....you know how many people wrote to me that they got the same vibe? Just go to Barnes&Noble and buy all brainteasers they have, buddy.

[@neilhillis9858]

Seems like he doesn't put down imitation or comparison, but does at least implicitly put down putting down such things. Seems to me David here's comment is worth ignoring.

[@j_freed]

Neil Hillis - the David or whoever comment was not registered in any meaningful way. In neurological terms, Broca's region discounts such comments as nonessential.

[@mordantfilms]

Good call... lots of valuable insight, sounds like he was woken up to speak.

[@Mrpsblobsoflowendmung]

I’ve watched it again , as much as possible in the past few days ! So sad , such a loss ! R.I.P Rocker ❤

[@TheLateBoyScout]

This has been a fantastic interview. Great job by the host for getting Steve talking and just letting him go. Such great information from such an experienced guy.

[@SAEInstituteAUS]

🔥Thank you!

[@ethermod307]

Guys, you don't really get Steve, do you? He's talking about the physicality of tape. That it is an object and it's always there for you. It exists and it carries history. Digital files are not objects, they are easily removed from memory, just like 99% of the popular music of today, which in a few months is gone completely from our collective memory, cause it's made to be consumed and not to be appreciated as a piece of art that defies time. Steve's approach is a philosophical one, but also a pragmatic one.

[@AlexH8280]

Sorry. The memory storage devices that digital files exist on is as real as tape. You can touch it and hold it in your hand. What you can't hold on either is the actual music track held within. The notion that the music is more "really there" on tape than a thumb drive is an illusion propagated by Gen X gate-keepers like Albini. Tape deteriorates, tape is easily damaged. The fact that somewhere is the only original take or master of a song on one reel of tape should be terrifying and anxiety inducing.

[@dailyflash]

Tape deteriorates and digital copies don't get worse each generation they are copied.

[@FromNothingICome]

@@AlexH8280 yeah I found that rather odd, when he's talking about how great TAPE is, and saying "analog doesn't degrade over time," since tape most assuredly degrades over time... Unless he was mixing that up with something like vinyl, or the master for cutting vinyl, perhaps?

[@matthughes9617]

As someone that has lost an entire library of work from a failed HD. This speaks to me, profoundly. I will never ever be able to get the time, energy or actual work back.

[@sharonraizor2839]

@@AlexH8280 He is speaking of digital formats. Do you know how many projects were recorded to ADAT in the 90's and early 2000's? Those machines were not meant to last forever. Parts will become unavailable. ADAT was just one format in the beginning of the digital transformation. There were several others. As to analog tape, I have been in the vault at Abbey Road. There are perfectly preserved pre-beatles tapes there that can still be played.

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

this guy is really really smart.

[@hippydippy]

Spot on. This man knows exactly what is important. Great interview.

[@ferabra8939]

"The mobile phone would be farting some mp3 at you" LOL

[@chrisslooter2825]

One might think the the people recording this master class by a renowned recording engineer could have somehow mustered up the foresight and ability to make the questions being asked at the end somehow magically be able to have been heard on the video recording. Maybe I am asking for too much.

[@PipkinXIV]

I love his recording of The Breeders record. Partly, it's the band. But his bass and drums are so rich on certain sounds, and it was so different from a lot of the dryer, thinner recordings I was hearing at the time. It feels so present and alive, and those cymbals and guitar pop just right in their contrast. I'm still trying to accept that he's gone. He brought recordings to life. Neat guy.

[@tonybro70]

Such a brilliant mind. We used to discuss how Big Black recorded their early music and tried to emulate that. Or otherwise attempt to use their technique as a justification for our lack of technological prowess, whether it was a lack of financial means or simply the fact that we were devoid of any recording knowledge. His talks are fascinating

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

ikr i was like "how come i not heard of him before"

[@josephhopeless829]

*Sorry, I'm a dumbass*: but, what do you mean you "discussed how big black recorded their early music and tried to emulate it"? Or "using their technique" when recording music? I didn't understand what you meant by that(yes I'm a dumbass, sorry if I'm sounding stupid as hell)

[@josephhopeless829]

*I agree though, his talks are always fascinating and Big Black(Rapeman, too..Shellac's solid too, just never got too into em..) is/are in my top 5 favorite band(s).

[@harryradley]

@@josephhopeless829 I think he means that the recordings were 'noisy' and the 'mistakes' were left in which gives a really unique sound that isn't typical of studio albums but also doesn't sound live either because it was recorded in a studio. Edit: put quotations around noisy because calling the room sound noise comes across as pejorative and as Steve says using the sound of the room is a legitimate aesthetic choice.

[@ibdjack4612]

Drum kit advice was pure gold

[@dubsteppa420]

Steve Albini: No need to have 30 layers of the guitar part to add some sense of massiveness Butch Vig: Challenge accepted

[@angelas449]

HAHAA! Exactly!!!

[@jerrywemhoff]

I don't like to exceed 3 guitars in a mix. If the band needs multiple guitars from a composition standpoint, I'll do left right and center. Much easier to maintain phase coherency and give the mix a broader image. Nevermind was fucking overkill.

[@smolbeanregarder]

1:51:30 He's referring to Chris Ott, ex-Pitchfork writer who threatened DMCA takedowns on his content hosted on Pitchfork after they were acquired by Conde Nast

[@urfavoritehumanbean879]

Fine catch

[@basehead617]

I was a Pitchfork writer back then along with Chris, I never knew about this. Thanks for the info.

[@DaveLampton]

Hi Mr. Albini, (if you ever read this), I'm a huge fan of dozens of your recordings, from early Urge Overkill and The Pixies, to The Jesus Lizard and Nirvana. Likewise, I'm a fan of many of your musical projects, including Big Black, and especially Shellac. That being said, I'd like to offer, to you and to all of KZbin's readership, my own arguments in the age-old battle of "what's better... analog or digital?" My background: I have an electrical engineering degree with specific applications to pro audio, from the College of Engineering and the School of Music at the University of Miami, in Florida. I worked for several years as a digital signal processing (DSP) engineer in Silicon Valley and later co-founded the Rhapsody Digital Music System. As you can surely guess, I'll be arguing on the side of digital audio being superior, and here's why. Yes, in the first 40 years of commercially available digital audio technologies, many physical media formats have already become obsolete. But PCM data is the straight sampled audio, which will never become obsolete. Today, there is no need for physical media when you can put pure PCM digital data up into any big-name "cloud storage" service and keep it indefinitely. If you insist on putting your PCM data on some physical medium, you can always do so, and the fidelity of the recording will be perfect even if the machine that reads that digital data is very low quality, while analog information suffers greatly when using sub-par equipment. Even in the hypothetical apocalyptic scenario, building a D/A converter to turn that PCM data back into an electrical signal that can be sent to loudspeakers is actually not that complex. Both A/D and D/A converters can essentially be built using nothing much more than a voltage divider made by a bunch of resistors in series. Hypothetically, one could even write down the entire series of zeros and ones onto paper, and their audio is perfectly stored and retrievable; try doing that with an analog signal. Digital will always be played back at the correct speed, with only extremely small amounts of time variance (jitter). All of the major cloud services have very robust backup regimens, with backups, and backups of the backups, stored on SSD's and physical tapes at multiple physical locations in different geographic regions. For extra security, go ahead and put it up in a couple of cloud services. Your data will be available for download at any time, to anywhere. It will still be available long after we're all dead, and it will sound as perfect as the day it first came through the A/D converters. You can record and save as many tracks as you want, tracks of your entire recording session, all studio talkback, all submixes, all "final" mixes, all masters, EVERYTHING, indefinitely, at a miniscule cost. You can make as many copies of any and all of this audio with ZERO loss of fidelity, even after a billion (or more) copies. ZERO loss of fidelity means no new noise, no harmonic distortion, no lessening of dynamic range, no compression... perfect. Digital recording technologies do not add appreciable (i.e. audible) compression or dynamic distortion all the way up until the very point of clipping. Nobody needs to learn every setting, every option, every feature of digital recording software or systems. One can be considered an "expert" as long as they create excellent recordings, mixes, masters or whatever they specialize in. Yes, digital processing of effects and other manipulations CAN introduce mathematical errors, but if the processing is done at a modestly higher bit-rate than the final product will be released at, then the accumulation of errors is simply trimmed off during bit-rate reduction. 6 or even 4 additional bits is usually more than adequate. Analog tapes are saved on reels. They can be permanently destroyed by a magnet or one single fire in the place they are stored. Even if backups exist, the quality of them suffers on each replication. Tapes are typically saved "tails-out", and even with the best quality tape, over time, there will always be SOME magnetic bleed-through which will create some degree of ghost images. No matter how faint they might be, they're there. The images effectively add echoes to the recording, and the time between echoes doesn't even remain constant, because the time between them is a function of the diameters of the tape on the reels at each moment in time. Each reel of analog tape is expensive and will only record a finite set of tracks, typically 16 or 24 on the professional 1" or 2" tapes. Recording and playing the tapes require large and very expensive machines that require skilled maintenance over time to keep the biasing and the gauss levels going to and coming off of tape consistent over the life of the machines. The machines attempt to maintain the same tape speeds, typically 15 or 30 ips, over the life of the machines, but there is always "wow" and "flutter". Capstans, tape guides and heads all wear over time and replacement parts aren't always identical to originals. Audio signal paths are often compromised by poor design in the use of switches, pots and fader sliders. As every engineer knows, tapes will also add natural compression as you push the levels up closer and closer to saturation. When this happens, the dynamic range is reduced, effectively pulling the noise floor up, and the clipping of signal adds harmonic distortion. Even the subtlest rounding off of peak levels adds harmonic distortion. Vinyl media and the equipment to create and use them, have limitations that are even more serious. No matter how perfect vinyl recordings are created, with direct metal cuts created by the best quality machinery, pressed onto the best media available, etc... the audio will still be recreated by players that vary greatly. Most record players are not particularly good at playing a recording back at the actual correct speed, and most players will also add low frequency noise due to the slightest vertical warping of media. The styluses (needles) used by most players are not high quality, but even the BEST styluses are subject to the tiniest particles of dust, dirt, even fingerprints on the records. Also, the records themselves continually degrade with every playback due to the friction of the stylus, losing the high frequencies first and then working on down to the upper-mid frequencies over time. Whether or not you think analog "sounds better" or "warmer", or more "lively" or "musical", these are subjective judgements. I disagree that noise, saturation, distortion, pops and crackles, etc. is immaterial to one's listening experience, but again, that's a subjective evaluation. However, the concept that the finest analog equipment is somehow "peerless" is ridiculous. The A/D and D/A converters are the ONLY elements of a digital system that are subject to any physical imperfections, and on EVERY possible technical and/or electrical measurement, the qualities of the finest, professional A/D converters FAR exceed their analog counterparts, and consumer D/A converters far exceed the abilities of vinyl. In fact, even many midrange/mid-priced digital converters will typically outperform even the best analog signal path, with the MOST ACCURATE representation of what one's microphones capture. If an individual prefers the results of recording and playing back via analog signal paths, then I certainly cannot argue with them. One likes what one likes. But if you're considering the accuracy/fidelity of a recording with respect to what came down the wire from the microphone... then there is NO question: digital audio systems are superior in every way. And... all of the above is just what came off the top of my head today. I could fill an entire book with more details. :-) Cheers, Steve. I love your work.

[@BrandonBakerMONOMATIC]

Dave Lampton Damn, that was pretty convincing. I'm not qualified to give a truly informed opinion on this, but I know enough to be impressed with your argument. I appreciate you sharing that information and angle on this, Dave.

[@yungwhye]

I think albini was more referring to the fact that the analog master is open to remastering and preservation , but a wav from a session on one computer that ran ableton (or insert any recording software program) is pointless to open on another computer ten years later because you will not have those same raw samples and plug-ins that were on that master from the original (most likely at least)

[@DaveLampton]

You're welcome, Brandon. I'm glad it was useful.

[@DaveLampton]

Hi LIL RETRO MANE, thanks for the comment. So actually, WAV/AIFF and other PCM formats contain the raw sampled audio, so as long as the producer/engineer/artist/label/somebody was wise enough to archive their original raw recorded tracks and their mixes, then indeed, those projects can be remixed and/or remastered using any future audio software. While it's true that some or all of the original effects plug-ins MAY not be available, if somebody is thinking ahead, the effects plugins themselves can also be saved into a plugins archive or as part of each project archive. Storage has become so inexpensive that file and archive sizes can be virtually ignored. If not, there will be plenty of equivalent or better alternative plugins available, many are even free. Furthermore, most DAW software and/or the effects plugins themselves have some way(s) to backup all of their settings in standard file formats (e.g. VST, RTAS, AU, XML) which can easily be supported for a very long time to come, even after the inevitable new standards start being used on new projects. This is because support for those formats is already available and they will not require any new development efforts in order to continue supporting them. (Those sorts of "already solved" software efforts are packaged and redistributed as reusable libraries, DLLs, etc.) Lastly, the suggestion to store all data archives on multiple cloud storage services will provide full access to redundant, secured copies from anywhere in the world, 24/7/365, while eliminating all concerns about having to manage the long-term storage, safety, and security of physical computer hardware, all at very reasonable prices, especially paid long-term, up front. Cheers.

[@yojoehojo4291]

NOW, I DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH KNOWLEDGE ON AUDIO ENGINEERING TO REFUTE OR BACK UP ANY OF THESE POINTS EXCEPT ONE. IN ONE OF STEVE'S MANY LECTURES HE DISCUSSED THE FACT THAT IF YOU TRY TO INPUT SOMETHING INTO A PROGRAM FOR MAKING MUSIC DIGITALLY AND IT DOESN'T READ THAT BIT OF BINARY IT WILL FUCK UP THE NEXT FEW STEPS IN A SEQUENCE, NOW AS A WAY TO PRACTICE MAKING MUSIC BECAUSE I'VE ONLY BEGUN TRYING TO MAKE MUSIC AND RECORDING IT A YEAR AND A HALF AGO I'VE USED A D.A.W. AND I CAN SAY THAT IS INDEED 100% CORRECT. IN HERE, AT SOME POINT, YOU SAY YOU COULD SAVE THAT CODE IN ANY WAY A COMPUTER COULD POTENTIALLY READ IT, AND IT WOULD READ IT BACK *PERFECTLY*. ANY D.A.W. OR DIGITAL PLAYBACK METHOD LOVES TO FUCK UP ON READING SOMETHING OCCASIONALLY, ESPECIALLY IF THERE IS A LOT OF INFORMATION TO PROCESS AT CERTAIN MOMENTS. ANOTHER THING: GET A STRONG ENOUGH MAGNET AND IT WILL ERASE ALL YOUR DATA ON A COMPUTER, OR LIGHT A FIRE AND YOUR COMPUTER IS JUST GONE. JUST SAYING. I COULD VERY EASILY PASS YOU OFF AS SOMEONE WHO IS SOLELY INTERESTED IN SAYING PEOPLE ARE WRONG ABOUT DIGITAL BEING INFERIOR TO ANALOG WAYS OF RECORDING AND PLAYING BACK BECAUSE YOUR LIFE WORK IS COMPLETELY GEARED TOWARDS DIGITAL AND THAT YOU SIMPLY DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO MAKE YOU LOOK INFERIOR FOR SPENDING SO MUCH OF YOUR RAW TIME IN THAT SPECIFIC PORTION OF THIS FIELD, BUT BECAUSE I KNOW ONLY WHAT I HAVE BEEN EXPOSING MYSELF TO I WON'T FOR NOW.

[@1967lovechild]

I love listening to him! So intelligent & interesting.

[@nickparas7170]

Wonderful interview. I love Steve's ballsy, sometimes-iconoclastic view of things.

[@loriscunado3607]

I wish he could have recorded Maurizio Pollini playing Chopin. It would have been great. What a brilliant humane man.

[@effective_cmpote]

"We were all very high on...... the way things were going" 😂 we all were expecting that to go a different direction. Fantastic talk. Thoroughly inspired as a musician and someone who loves the tech side of recording.

[@jeremywinnett6352]

In 09, I think, I was AES prez at SAE Nashville and hosted a battle of the bands to raise money to bring Steve to town for a seminar. Now, the fact that I had to raise funds in a for profit institution to bring a speaker to town aside... Steve was extremely down to earth and a great inspiration to several/many students. That being said, years later, get a *good* apprenticeship and save your damn money.

[@jeremywinnett6352]

To do that, you need to read, experiment, fu*k up and so on .. It's a grueling industry. More so than most others, including the restaurant industry. If you *want* it, be ready to sacrifice, **jump at any opportunity** and be humble. There's 100 people out there who are better than you technically, but you can be better personally. Be-a-good-person.

[@isthisviolence]

Steve is DA MAN! Instant legend and enjoyable personality. Real deal!

[@michael.wiegand]

I agree with Steve on not ascribing the sound of old records to the faults of old gear. However, I think that using tape saturation plugins as an effect in the digital paradigm is, to use his terms, a completely valid aesthetic. Trying to capture a band as they sound in the room assumes the only sound they aspire to make is the sound their gear is capable of making. Part of the beauty of recording, for me and a lot of people, is that the studio can become its own source of creativity and almost another instrument the band has at their disposal. If every band were limited to the sounds they could make in their basement with traditional rock instruments, recorded music would be boring as fuck.

[@martinsFILMS13]

That's cool he mentioned Jason Molina. I highly recommend him you won't be disappointed.

[@jordonleigh174]

This is an incredibly enlightening look into Steve Albini's process! I've been both a fan of his music as well as many of the artists and recordings he's worked with. Thank You!!

[@danielcolehour6454]

He has perfectly articulated so many things I have thought and felt for years now. I'd love to do a record with him someday. If only in a dream.

[@cinnamonbiscuit727]

He might be gone now but the advice he’s given is still out there for us

[@Arykperry]

I could listen to Steve talk about a paper bag all day long !!! Love this guy

[@1967lovechild]

I KNOW exactly what you are talking about.👌🥰💖👏

[@douglasbatley1907]

Me too. Hope he describes the sound of it. In colour.

[@ThePopMoss]

People, we know tape degrades and files don't. His point is if you store tape properly, there will always be a feasible way to play it back. It doesn't matter how many stored copies of your files you have. If they make the format obsolete tomorrow, well, there goes your archive.

[@ggdd1299]

absolute nonsense.. PCM WAV files have been around for decades.. the format is non propietary and it comes in all resolution flavors.. from 22khz 8 bit to 192khz 32-bit.. you can even have multirack WAV files. and if it ever becomes "obsolete", you can always transfer the data to a newer format..

[@lerrynhawke3375]

Go open your 1st pt session

[@billbradleymusic]

No shit! It's easier to fix bad tape (hypothetically, it is currently) than retrieve a non compatible file type.

[@Aaezil]

You can store digital files on magnetic tape, too.

[@Aaezil]

also there are blu ray discs that last 150 years, longer than a reel of tape that will degrade over time or be erased by a strong magnetic field

[@elysianfury]

1:13:00 he's talking about "Swallowed". Razorblade Suitcase was recorded by Albini at ABBEY ROAD!!!

[@MaKeXiuShi]

thanks

[@lauradownunder2009]

Thanks👍

[@IfUfindthisURlost]

Although the story of it being their only number one is a little exagerated.

[@BearbearbearbearbearbearRarrrr]

Genius/ legit human.

[@rocketnewton]

Steve is the Fugazi of audio engineers.

[@slovokia]

Digital bits are even more permanent and durable than analog tape. They will truly last forever - it’s just that what they are stored on will change over time. I can checksum digital bits to make sure they have not been damaged during storage. You cannot checksum an analog tape. One just needs to make sure the meaning of those digital bits is properly documented and open source so they can be properly converted back to audio.

[@fpsknifer9906]

I hope that somebody out there takes the time to preserve this video on 16mm.

[@bombshellmedia]

I will say, .flac and .wav are pretty steady formats. SD cards should be good as long as they keep making adapters when things change. Also data preservation and finding of lost media is a newfound pursuit amd thriving community. That said, the value of reel tapes will continue for such actual studio sessions and producing tape seems like it wouldn't be that hard compared to what it takes to even make vinyl.

[@tomdial2941]

I think you'd be better off over the long term with WAV files, optical media, and using things like SHA checksums to validate the files, and establishing a habit of revisiting the backups and performing transfers at regular intervals. Albini has much to say about the downsides of digital storage, but the notion of bit-perfect digital backups (as many as you want) could help avert disasters like the Universal Studios fire that destroyed thousands of master tapes. Any discussion of the downsides of long-term digital storage should include the downsides of analog tape storage: improper storage, natural and man made disasters, and stuff like that. Also: perhaps his position on the cloud would be different today? Today, Microsoft, Amazon and Google all will sell you cloud storage. The notion that all three of these companies would go out of business seems to punch a hole in the argument against cloud?

[@anthonymetcalf660]

I love synthesis. But this talk helped me place a firm line between using it to add something and using it to replace something. I really am getting more into using acoustic properties for effects.

[@skyborax5159]

I would love to see Rick Beato interview Steve Albini. Their personalities would be very fun to watch interact

[@lancebaldock6233]

Never gets old this session. I have to say though that I absolutely love tape saturation and compression, but y'know...

[@charlesandrewmoore8699]

Long live Steve Albini!!!

[@arib8367]

I could listen to him talk forever

[@boomish69]

Not all digital is redundant I have backups going back 20 years, WAV&AIFF files have been around since 1991 they sound EXACTLY the same as when they were recorded! compare that to tape of the same year!

[@michaelpietzsch]

i agree

[@simaojoseph]

Well, have you?

[@billbradleymusic]

Have you done the amount of work Steve is talking about? I am sure that he is correct according to numbers. You are as far as degradation, but what about the idea of change of system? Changing file types etcetera.

[@_P_M_]

@@billbradleymusic Can you find me an analog recording from 100 years ago that will play in pristine condition on today's gear? Certainly not on tape, which oxidizes. Look at the retro-computing movement, which saves 40 yr old EPROMs and software on floppy disks and resurrects them using modern hardware. If you want your work preserved for 100 years the ONLY choice is digital. Albini is very talented, but like a lot of creative people, he believes a lot of bullshit.

[@walkinthrutheparkbymr.melo3905]

​@@_P_M_ @ANALOG is King!

[@jlouis4407]

A man of dignity, RIP

[@ccharlot]

the idea that there is music out there locked away on inaccessible dead formats is fascinating Of course when it comes to computers, nothing is really impossible. Perhaps very difficult and not financially feasible, but not impossible

[@tomdial2941]

I graduated college in the 1990s. My files then were largely stored on floppies and hard disks. In the late 1990s, I bought a CD-ROM burner and burned the contents of those floppies and hard drives to CD's. Later, I transferred the data from CDs to DVDs. Many years later now, my files have been transferred two more times, from DVD to a RAID array, then to another RAID array. The point is, I have data that is almost 30 years old today. If it's worth keeping (and sometimes if it isn't!) it is always easy to execute digital transfers. Not only that, I still have the optical disks, and 20+ years later, they can still be read successfully. For this reason, I simply don't agree at all with Albini's assertion that digital backups can't be done safely. Because I've done it. And he doesn't mention all the downsides to analog tape storage either. Now, one thing I will say is that if you backup using a proprietary format, you could be in trouble down the road. The safer route would be to export full multitracks of an audio recording in something like broadcast wave format, where we can be reasonably sure the format will be around for a long time. Additionally, we can be sure that since the standard for that format has been published, software could be developed to read it if need be. So, don't save a pro tools session and hope you can load it later. Export multitrack wav files, save notes along with them and name the files properly, keep them organized, and revisit your backups over time, store multiple backups, and you will be fine.

[@crungefactory]

Agree with virtually everything he says but didn't know I did until I heard him speak. And specifically to the ADAT part. Had a hell of a time finding someone to transfer our 24 track album masters on ADAT from 1996, last year. Got it done at a place called AVAST in Seattle.

[@waterslandmusic]

Tape is safe - except for the 2008 Universal fire - check it out

[@belzorahollow3888]

Get you a significant other that talks about you the way Steve Albini talks about his job.

[@plyjhny]

Steve Ablini is a nonce who has written for Pure Magizine and has praised Peter Soto. He also went into detail about how about enjoys viewing the content.

[@Sunkenballs12]

Hes disgusting. Naturally he poses as a liberal.

[@kevlar1482]

Yup total pedo.

[@juanmar3863]

Se fue un grande!!!!

[@Keyc94]

The guy who fullfilled Nirvanas wish to make a record how they wanted to sound. Kurt was so happy about that he could do it...the problem was the label, they want sell and not make great art. Digital vs Analog....i have no problem with digital as far as the band can play it live without a computer.

[@willdenham]

I very much appreciate Steve's hands off/non-producer approach to recording. At the same time I also very much like a control freak like Rick Hall of Fame Studios with his extremely hands on, coach/captain/hit-maker style of production. Rick's background as a wannabe hit-maker informs his technique, just as Steve's go for broke punk, originality first esthetic and his self-awareness of it informs his approach.

[@cosmic_drew]

There is a lot to unpack here..... This is a "right to repair" argument not an analog vs digital argument. The main reason analog still serves this purpose for him is because patents on mediums has moved to digital so he hasn't had to deal with companies preventing him from using his analog tapes like certain digital master formats in the 80s/90s. It sucks that bands that used proprietary digital masters can't use their master recordings.... but this completely disregards the hard work of the open source lossless audio community. I get the argument that analog records more information because it's analog but saying that digital recordings will disappear in the future and analog won't is a weird, inaccurate statement. Don't confuse proprietary digital formats that massive companies put forth with ALL of digital music. Also I love his youtube channel and he's an amazingly talented record producer. His deep down beliefs have been set though and he's carrying on those beliefs into arguments that don't really make sense here. It's a very "rock" centric view on music that completely ignores the majority of modern music genres and modern music producers. I'm fine if that's his way to make records but it's weird to discount ALL digital recordings as not good enough. The more I research what he's claiming (that analog tape is more lasting than digital), the more confused I get on what he's talking about. The same tapes he uses for his studio have a 50 year life when stored improperly. I get that he's storing his tapes well but even then degradation is happening just at a slow pace. We'll be long gone when they do (hundreds of years) but if he's arguing that tape is the best way to store music for future generations which he did.... I just don't get it. Scientist are fighting to get a digital copy of a lot of tapes made in the 70s/80s already from this degradation since digital will save them in a format that can live forever. I'd rather have a FLAC 24 bit 192khz versions of these tapes than never being able to hear them again (even if that's not "good" enough for him). From Science Daily: "Magnetic audiotape's potentially catastrophic degradation in storage. Scientists address magnetic audiotape's potentially catastrophic degradation in storage, called 'sticky-shed syndrome'. Many of the more than 46 million sound recordings archived throughout the US carry the risk of being destroyed during an attempt to digitize them, because magnetic audiotape can deteriorate over time. A team of researchers is developing a means to readily assess the structural condition of magnetic tape, using non destructive infrared spectroscopy to identify tapes that suffer from 'sticky-shed syndrome' and will fall apart on playback." A band's hard work could be erased from improper storage but with open source digital formats that's not going to happen. Also to the people saying digital degrades.... If I have to move my digital files to a new NVME drive or make multiple copies on a NAS that go onto different ssds and then replace one of the ssds in the NAS every year, that solves the digital medium problem. A lot of people here don't seem to understand how solid state drives or a NAS works. They only thing that could happen is bit flips from cosmic rays and a decent NAS has redundancy that error corrects those bit flips. That exact same kind of degradation will destroy tape over a long enough time. It's the exact same way ECC memory works. It's not going to degrade if you keep updating the NAS with new ssd every year and then going down each bay replacing the next ssd the next year and rebuilding the NAS (which is overkill but we're talking hypotheticals here). You could also duplicate the NAS and have even more redundancy in case of a drive failure. But it's not going to degrade. We're not talking about burning a CD and letting it get scratched up. We're talking about digital recordings that can record more information than tape. Yeah in the 80s/90s they couldn't store 24 bit 192 khz audio, but we can now. The entire point is he prefers the sound of tapes and for some reason needs to justify it in other ways. 99% of music producers have moved to digital, there's a reason for that. He can prefer doing things that way he's always done it and that's fine, but trying to justify it with incorrect statements about modern music... it's weird. The majority of modern genres can't be recorded on a 16 track or 24 track tape without a ton of effort in dubbing. He can argue that music should be more simple and tape forces bands to simplify to the way it used to be.... but that's not what he's saying. He's so focused on rock music and recording bands and calling more than 24 tracks "irresponsible" is just a bad take. Calling independent bands "dipshits". That's gatekeeping. Also he's discrediting all of modern electronic music where producers layer hundreds of tracks to sculpt a very unique sound. That doesn't fit into his "way" of making music so it's "irresponsible"? What?! What a weird statement to make. He's making broad statements about all of music recording but only seeing it through the eyes of recording rock bands. It's a really weird and outdated view from an amazing producer. It's almost kind of sad. A lot of this talk is awesome, but a lot of it also needs to be taken with a big spoon of salt. He has done a ton of amazing things for the music industry. Not taking royalties, allowing bands to use his studio for free. It's all awesome, but it doesn't make certain claims of his right.

[@burmaunderground]

I thoroughly enjoyed this. Albini is smart with a lot of great ideas and knowledge.

[@justinpiche271]

He is talking about all the digital devices that were introduced and faded out for example the mini disc 8 tracks. I have a few mini discs i recorded that i cant listen to.

[@billbradleymusic]

Steve is one of the best! Totally understand the attitude.

[@willdenham]

Steve's band was in the always play rotation for most of my post-high school drinking music. We partied and got hammered to the 'Hammer Party' and 'Jordan MN' was just north of us.

[@killer268]

The Bush Song is 'Swallowed' for anyone interested

[@Dsm152]

A very well articulated man.

[@nissekram]

All bow down to the great god Albini!

[@matthewmartin5610]

I still buy CD'S which is a digital recording, younger people think I'm mad as you can get a streaming service.

[@marblelee]

I don’t care what Steve says Shellac’s music is beautiful. RIP Steve you were one of the best.

[@NullStaticVoid]

About his discussion of reverb. I've recorded room reverb and also used a lot of hardware reverb. Room reverb has the potential to sound much better, because you have molecules of air moving back and forth over physical surfaces with temperature gradient, humidity etc. But man, most rooms sound like shit. I had one space for a couple years with a 2 story tall, long, hexagonal room. It sounded perfect there was none of that buildup. Every space I have rented since, I'll do all kinds of treatments but it doesn't matter. Square rooms just sound crappy. The 3rd way is to use physical reverb like plates or springs. Those are still working on a molecular level. So there is detail there. But none of that honkiness or buildup like a physical room, or the machiney sound that digital verbs have. ps. I wonder how much his opinions are formulated by his experiences recording as Big Black. Because some of those are great songs terribly recorded.

[@kevinalbrecht1236]

For a bunch of audio nerds you think they would have had a mic for the audience questions. Loved the interview

[@scharti1999]

I like this discussion because its still the same with film and references not only to technical points but beginning with them. 1. Analogue (Recording) Hardware is in every produced device unique even a machine produced it (like mixers). Its sound is depending on environmental influences and interferences. Maybe that supports the enthusiasm (the romantic feeling on getting warmer recordings) 2. From an archiving and preservation point of view, analogue and digital media is absolutely equal. Magnetic media is nevertheless the actual most cost-efficient media no matter if analogue tape or digital master archived on e.g. LTO. I would digitize analogue master tapes, but never renounce them as a sort of intermediate (which i also keep). 3. Like with analogue and digital film and the recording device the question is if a perfect recording is always the best recording or the best experience or the most natural one ... That's what Mr. Albini says. The more you come to post production the more the digital domain can happen and is more efficient. Dave Grohl's soundcity documentary is definitely worth seeing it. 34:00 That is why Nirvana went back to Mr. Albini after doing Nevermind with Butch Vig to get the more natural sound for In Utero. 44:00 Like in the film/tv and the audio domain -> DO NOT FIX IT IN THE POST - do everything possible during the production :) I like this masterclass. Thanks for filming it and putting it onto youtube. Great!

[@Atekneci]

Obviously a great human being. Respect 🙏🏻

[@frankjamesbonarrigo7162]

This was one of his best talks

[@joesalyers]

My studio has been using Tape Disks as our long term storage medium for well over 35 years since we went digital for multitrack recording so there is a way to archive and resurrect those sessions ALWAYS but its not as cheap as a USB drive or an SSD. Tape drives are slow like analog tape but a single $80-200 tape drive can hold 6 to 12 terabytes of information. I saw the same issues when the Sony PCM 32 track 1 inch reel to reel went out of production and DAT/ADAT was no longer able to be retrieved. But the engineer who owned the studio before me started archiving on computer Tape drives in the late 1980s. I can pull the lossless audio files from those tape drive that go back to around 1987/88 when he started using it and every digital session is archived on this format. Tape drives look like a 8-track cassette or a radio cart. The most common tape drive type is LTO but the drives to write to tape disks costs between $500 and $50,000 dollars depending on the brand and size. IBM, Apple, HP and all of the other giant tech companies use these for long archival storage and it is the only medium that isn't going away since the computer companies agreed to build a long term storage solution to always use as a backup to digital storage. You can buy them at B&H and other places online. But like with any analog medium the bulk quality matters.

[@dawboxstudio]

I think he is short sided on digital. From a DAW prospective after 25 years I can access everything I have at the drop of a hat. I made sure to transfer my media into digital .Wav files. All my old masters are easily recalled from 25 years ago. I was meticulous though and an old record that didn’t get the love may be different. Concert your tracks on tape to digital asap and back up on 3x spots. RIP Steve you are the professor of my generation in production and mixing. I wish I had been your studio Intern. 😢

[@RMFH34]

R.I.P.

[@wellrose17]

I am a musician. A singer/songwriter and grew up with a father playing in a relatively well known band and going to his shows with my mother who's an artist. What I can not understand is the ¨purest¨ aspect of some musicians. My father will only play Fender and specifically uses tube amps. I get the magic that happens with the pure method ie one get´s distortion from a tube amp with volume etc but , as an example my father is of course a Beatles fan (as am I) but I would bet Lennon would love to utilize the technologies the times have brought us. I have recently come to the realization that these digital tools and programs are (if done correctly) very creative, original and I´ve started to learn to use them. In my opinion music was and is true and pure freedom. I understand those that would say you must learn the rules to break them. Some of my favorite music is four chords. There is an embedded core of some force that makes a song or band group etc great. All of them for different reasons. I mean do we actually grasp the importance of creativity? In all it´s malleable mediums. An individual (or group) passionate , creative process that TRANSCENDS TIME AND SPACE ! To connect with the recipient. Becoming a part of their life. Our lives! Meaning an individual can write , play paint, build , play or film something and it can mean one thing to me and another to someone on the other side of the planet. Travelling some unseen conduit. Landing in pour laps like heart ache and hand grenades. Art, music and ALL forms of creativity out date religion, language and government. It´s universally personal and the sinew that binds humanity. I remember buying Nirvana´s Nevermind. Changed the game . Conversely, In Utero´s sound , song writing , rough and possibly (from the view of the Top 40´s) imperfections made that album and every song on it amazing. From Steve´s engineering / production Kurts lyrics and melodies ,Krit´s bass lines and Dave´s drumming. The only thing we have in live in that lacks a boss. Concludes formalities unproductive and rules inevitably the antithesis of inspirations. CREATE A SONG. CREATE A POEM. CREATE A PAINTING. CREATE CHILLS. CREATE CHANGE. ANNNND my music is under This Is Not The Algorithim here on YT in my playlist´s its the A-Wellrose Hummingbird Playlist. instagram.com/slippery.sliding.slope for my art. I make album art. I write lyrics for hip hop. I make beats . Likewise I´m poor ,homeless and starving. All I know is art and music. here´s a link to a couple songs. Sky Speak´s To You = kzbin.info/www/bejne/mWqyZ4luhtJoiKc AiAg = kzbin.info/www/bejne/pYipnGxupb5gm5o Womb = kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnKoZmRpa82Ybdk Projections = kzbin.info/www/bejne/oHzQfmqNoM6VeMk My Map = kzbin.info/www/bejne/iICrfYN5f5mckLs Thank you for sharing your work and talents

[@jamesgarfield9592]

He is one articulate dude! 👍

[@davidkeetz]

idk though - I think his idea about "just make it sound awesome in the control room and don't compensate for anything" maybe works on equipment designed in 1982...but I've literally been in studios recording and the control room has these amazing sounding systems and the mix sounds out of this world fantastic and then somehow the cd we get handed sounds so incredibly lo-fi on everything else we listen to it on.....I think there are elements of amateurish engineering happening there where the control room is probably not "true" in the way it's setup and i've been in a band where we recorded in a very professional analogue studio and I think i remember the case being similar then (although I don't have a copy of that recording, as our band ended before we ever got it back from mastering) but all I ever heard was a mixdown from the studio once - I just remember it sounding very different from the studio control room....anyway - I think in digital recording there does need to be at least a very careful selection to get studio speakers that don't lie.

[@EJCAudio]

Yes - his outlook assumes a control room situation that translates well to the outside world (but also - he's been doing this stuff a very long time and will absolutely know how to make mixes translate). However I don't think he's saying "don't reference" - I think he's saying "don't limit your creative choices based on what-sounds-good-through-the-ceiling-speakers-at-the-mall"

[@jc.1191]

Speakers and the room. Keep in mind it may have been a much higher resolution copy then you heard. Consumer formats could be so much better, it's disappointing for me.

[@jerrywemhoff]

keep in mind that he's mixing with the intent of handing it off to a mastering house. It's the mastering engineer's job to make it mono-compatible and correct any minor imbalances in the frequency spectrum if need be. It really depends on the format of physical media you intend to distribute the work on. I know mastering engineers who have had to send mixes back to be redone because they were mastering for a vinyl release and the mix engineer was used to digital formats.

[@deltavistastudio124]

I get his point though, e.g. the Library of Congress spends most of it's time trying to keep up with new digital formats and translating all of its stuff.

[@stimso]

I was a librarian and the switch to digital was a big deal, because, well, we knew the lifespan of books and micro-formats (microfilm/fiche/card), and film stock, but not digital formats. Maybe now with some years behind us we can say for sure. But I for one have made copies of CD's and later found the data had become corrupted and the CD unlistenable. Not because of a scratch or any physical problem, the data had just gotten scrambled. Maybe it was a poor quality disc, I don't know. i gave up on CDs years ago. I only buy vinyls, and have been gifted cassettes (very few but they're still made), but I'm not an analog purist. In the car MP3's are the only way to go! Sometimes I feel vinyl has a nicer, thicker sound but that may just be my imagination. I'd fail a blind test probably. I just like the physicality of the medium. Digital is fine for convenience, but it not really a "collection". Interesting Albini is pro-Analog for the archival properties as opposed to the sound quality if I'm getting him correctly.