Puremix Mentors | Andrew Talks to Awesome People Featuring Steve Albini
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- Опубліковано 16 лип 2024
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One of most prolific rock engineers ever, owner of Electrical Audio in Chicago, and quite a fine writer.
We are continuing our Andrew talks to awesome people video series. Puremix Mentor Andrew Scheps sits down a second time with Steve Albini. He is featuring his career in audio engineering and much more!
Steve's Credits:
The Pixies
Shellac
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
The Wedding Present
Mogwai
Helmet
Motorpsycho
Find Steve Albini's Playlists:
Perspiration: open.spotify.com/playlist/5MN...
Inspiration: open.spotify.com/playlist/5Wu...
00:00 Introduction
01:58 On Steve's dad
04:43 On Steve's childhood & Youth
23:34 On engineer/producer work methods and philosophy and the way Steve approaches projects
24:08 On the band Black Midi
28:17 Steve on the band Dead Rider
36:20 On Steve experience on selling records
37:06 On Steve first records he made
40:29 Discussing Bahaus, Gang of Four and all emerging post-punk bands Steve used to listen
56:31 On the way Steve captures the "magic"
01:17:43 On Nirvana
01:24:31 On SeaMonster By Wedding Present
01:34:32 On managing Shellac, his own studio
01:45 The studio environment Steve likes to work in
01:47:31 On working at Abbey Road for Jimmy Page & Robert Plant record
01:52:34 Discussing the Page & Plant workflow
02:03:45 On records made with Will Oldham
02:18:15 On Steve music records inspiration
02:29:13 On making Cheap Trick Record
02:38:33 On modern ways of making a record with laptops
02:46:00 Steve inspirational quote
02:48:11 On the letter to Nirvana
02:53:56 On one of Steve's interview
03:07:16 Discussing about the band Motorpsycho
03:24:21 On Steve Xmas Chartiy Program
03:43:30 Discussing bands income
03:45:26 Q&A
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#puremixmentors #Andrewtalkstoawesomepeople #SteveAlbini
RIP Steve. Thanks for answering my question on Neurosis and Sunn O))). The passion he had for these bands was great.
I spend hours listening to Albini on UA-cam. He's a fantastic talker and the time he gives to interviewers, and the knowledge he shares about his craft, is extraordinary. I've been a fan since 1988 when I first heard Surfer Rosa and then discovered Big Black and R*peman. I'd never heard Black Midi before but checked them out on here while listening to this interview and they are amazing. So thank you for this.
Jesus Christ 4 hours of Steve Albini. My 22 year old self just came.
haha excellent !!!
I'm 22 right now and I am loving the fuuck out of this show. So much info. I love that I am able to hear Steve Albini's takes and techniques on things. Fuckin love this era.
@@MichtersRyefan excellent cheers Gary !
Team and Andrew, thank you very much for this! With the sad news this was more than a jewel to find. Rest in peace Steve
Thank you for not having ads every 10 minutes through out this video. Rare to see nowadays
Andrew killed it once again with this interview and Steve’s brutal honesty is always refreshing. Plus the Oldham/autoharp story was hilarious!
Thank you for the kind words
Yeah this was a great interview. Both of them are great people and engineers, but I've found that Steve is extraordinarily hard to interview, or rather that most interviewers don't bother to research or think about what kind of questions they should ask. He's not very forgiving to interviewers to say the least, and Andrew did an awesome job here.
I also really love the concept he hits on when comparing Will Oldham to Dylan - where you enjoy the process of letting things unfold and accept the result. Amazing perspective. Just after the 2 hour mark.
I love Steve. His blue collar - literally a blue jumpsuit intoning pre-white lab coat 🥼 wearing-audio-engineer-modi’s operandi is always a poignant counter point to the sometimes ‘lost in its own indulgence’ consensus. I’ve listened to him speak more than anyone else aside from Andrew Scheps.
What I get from him is so much of his sets of sensical criteria: to remain non-presumptive and to just consider your efforts, actions and solutions as pragmatic - an endlessly merited tack.
As much as I am able to interpret his M.O., I still know he would very much dislike my aesthetic. While he was a teenage punk in Chicago in the early 80’s, I was a 8 year old kid in the suburbs of MPLS. While he was brought up on The Stooges and the Ramones, I was brought up on Prince, Duran, the Police and XTC. Bands who synthesize an idealized notion of what a snare drum is, for instance, using machines, samplers and studio gadgetry to “hoodwink” the listener to into believing that a fantastical, verbed out snare is something that can exist organically (we all know it can’t - sheeesh). That said, I love the escapist imaginings in the way that Hysteria sounds and I am not sorry 😜.
Well said sir
These videos with Andrew are giving me hours of insight from some of my recording heroes that i never had before. It also helps he's pretty good at this whole being a host thingy. Thanks puremix!
Nice one Lukk, keep your eyes peeled for more shows with Andrew coming up Every Monday :)
really wish Steve's mask was green so I could key in a copy of Andrew's beard over it :-/
Why is he even wearing it lol?
@@jargero8203 He had a herpes outbreak.
I feel so at home listening to those 2. Greatest 4 hrs itw ever
R.I.P Steve .
I loved that Stooges album he did .
And he was right Mike Watt was absolutely giddy being able to play with those guys !
I love it.
What an incredible journey of a conversation. So many topics covered through exploring Steve's career. Andrew does an amazing job with this (and the rest of the series is incredible as well).
Thanks, Steve, Andrew, and Mark! Still enjoying this series. Great stuff.
Cheers !
Another INCREDIBLE interview. Nothing like this exists anywhere else. The long form format exposes so much because there's time for the interviewee to get comfortable and open up. And of course, Andrew Scheps is so comfortable to talk with -- and so well researched! You can tell he really studies up before interviewing someone. It was fascinating to hear Albini's unusual views on music, production, the future of recording, etc. Just fantastic. Thank you Puremix! (& Scheps & Albini!)
Thank you for all the kind words !!!
This is the interview I've always wanted to watch.
You got me at Bauhaus, loved them live and recorded and still do, Although I think, they didn't lose it, even while "Go away white" isn't their best records.
Btw. 4AD has one of the most incredible back catalogue. Not just Conteau Twins and Pixies. Also early Bauhaus, Dead can Dance, Clan of Xymox, This Mortal Coil and many more.
I could listen to Steve Albini all day - great interview - thanks
Thank you for watching!! keep your eyes peeled for guests every Monday !! best
Can't wait for the podcast versions and that is such sound reasoning for not dumping all at once. Thank you...and now I realise why they're reaching 4 &1/2 + hours. Long live the slowdown of the pandemic, but stay safe an healthy and hope all can survive financially and mentally. I wish you could all be in a more supportive political milieu for this time period.
Podcast Coming Soon !
I really love these videos. Most of all to see you guys geeking around and showing that there are so many people still being so passionate about music and artists around the globe as I am, and it’s so not a question of age. It’s even more satisfying to watch and listen to people who have seen it all and they’re still sort of geeks. I was baffled that Steve Albini knows Blumfeld.. along with Tocotronic the cutting edge band of the 90s Hamburger Schule!
Hi Jo,
Blumfeld opened for Shellac in 1995 in Bremen and Jochen Distelmeier is listed as a „Friend“ on Shellac’s Futurist record.
Can I borrow your RE20 for some bass recordings next month?
Max Ludwig thanx for that piece of information and sure you can
Wonderful interview!!! Please help us out with the audio next time. After you finish the live portion before you upload it it would be very helpful to get some levels matched. Andrew is insanely loud whereas Steve is extremely quiet.
Liked immediately!!
The Auto harp story is just about the funniest and realest thing ever. That’s better than the 1ft tall Stonehenge from Spinal Tap.
This was an awesome interview!! huge fan of Steve. Thank you pureMix for always keeping me inspired and excited to make records!! Will you guys be able to feature Michael Brauer, Andy Wallace in the near future :)
Thank you for your feedback!! best wishes
Steve loves his Dad. A lot. That is good.
oof I'd love to hear the Butch mixes of Nevermind!
ua-cam.com/play/PLCXiYxxp1NXl3oJ8zaocMM_j_faBykExM.html&si=K0wi3ZZOANxqmHpy
So much better!!!!
great one.....ending on neurosis, sunn o))) and godspeed was a Gran Finale.....but there was one of the greatest moment of comedy when steve goes on an infinite list of microphones for guitars that not even south park have never achieved
Grohl and Hawkins were asking about Lee to find out, what it takes to play on a Page/Plant record. They both would have left the Foo Fighters immediately in order to be on that record. So I would have! Damn. Great Interview
I volunteer to mix this interview. Andrew is pretty much the voice of a loud god here
By the way. Wonderful, historic talk. Thank you all so much.
@@bestsplash89 Thank you for your feedback
Subscribe to Andrew Talks To Awesome People Official Channel for future guests and interview extracts👉 ua-cam.com/channels/jG0rd16-mWBtQesivFsbpQ.html
Find Steve Albini's Playlists:
Perspiration: open.spotify.com/playlist/5MNImkZdeGLBKZZU8tiyqM?si=mHKZoY9GQFOe67prcVixqg
Inspiration: open.spotify.com/playlist/5WuOk3B74heiamwZ90MyOF?si=nEDxhzmvQLyb94YSRz7UQw
I saw Will Oldham open for Bjork at Red Rocks in Colorado. He indeed played autoharp and most of the crowd's vibe was WTF/ Who is this guy?? Great podcast Andrew!
White men, especially in western cultures arent confronted with social justice. I came here to hear audio engineering, and i just heard about it for thirty minutes. Huge fan, rip albini
You missed McClusky in Steve's credits. Underrated group.
A meeting of the Gods :O
2 Legends!
Starts at 02:10 👌
Starts at 2:03
But, Steve is wrong about future proofing. Analogue tape is not perpetual. Quite the contrary.
What we will see (or should) are iterations of archiving. Tape must be transferred (and huge investments are made) and in 50 years or so (who knows really) the digital archives most likely will need transfer for a new generation of safe archive system thingy.
But yes, purely technical iterations of media formats is an issue. But tape machines won't be here forever either.
Do I dare come with a suggestion before I even watched this whole episode: How about having a chat with Julian Mendelsohn?
(That would also connect the dots between Dave Pensado and Trevor Horn.)
It's about time. Waiting for Tony Hoffer, Dave Sardy and Dave Cooley.
Who knows! Keep your eyes peeled for next guests ;)
Albini's drums are the best, and the Albini Drum Sound is probably his greatest and most widely-emulated recording/mixing innovation (especially in the years right after In Utero). But I've never understood why he would envision the drums from the drummer's perspective, especially when none of the rest of the music is presented as "what the drummer would be hearing." If the listener pictures the band playing while he's listening to a recording (a practice which seems a little silly, frankly), the natural way would seem to be to picture the whole band facing you, with the drummer set farthest away in the back - and, Critically, the high-hat on the Right. :) But God bless him, however Steve does it, it sure does Work.
Because he’s there to represent the band, how they hear it, from their perspective, as a document and an archive.
I question the right side hat as audience perspective. The drummer, in close proximity to the drums and cymbals, would hear the hihats on the left. The audience, being further away, would hear the hats with the rest of the kit, in the center, or wherever the band has the kit positioned.
Ironically, The volume discrepancy between the two esteemed speakers is.... measurable even by a layperson
I put eq, compressor and limiter on them. It works.
More the clarity and tone difference
Where can I buy a tutorial on Kontakt Player? I did everything to install it but it is not appearing on my Pro Tools 10. It only opens as a stand alone.
2:36:36
This is a link to the charity Steve's wife, Heather Whinna, works at:
www.unconditionalgiving.org
I'd love to see a solid sci-fi writer extrapolate some of Steve's predictions.
Albini is kind of like our Bruce Botnik
In terms of mixing, Steve and Andrew are on opposite ends, being entirely analog and entirely digital.
Oh you mean the “I only use plug ins” thing? 😂 that’s just marketing.
This is the band in which Rey Washam (from Scratch Acid and Ministry) suggested micing the whole drum ua-cam.com/video/ABiKcjM3wXE/v-deo.html
David Wm Sims from Scratch Acid and The Jesus Lizard on bass.
Steve rules, but I disagree with his position on tape archiving being more invincible than digita. If you print your edits and effects and automation to continuous, individual wav files for each channel and stems, it's not gonna be any more difficult to retrieve those files than to get a tape to play. Hard drives and wav files aren't going away any faster than tape machines. The problem is a lot of people aren't properly backing up and archiving things, but that happens with tape, too.
Digital audio files record at a limited rate and bit depth whereas analog, though limited by SNR (which is not an issue since some db headspace is needed during mixdown anyway), doesn't have that kind of limitation. another really cumbersome thing about analog archives: they are harder to maintain and a low humidity/temp environment is essential for longevity.
it's the same when it comes to photographs.
@dezessete digital files can never capture the exact sound due to limited rate and bit depth, "hacky" ways to record stuff beyond it's limits bump into the problem of the lack of playback medium to actually work on them. HD even if solid-state will still deteriorate with prolonged disuse.
@Joe Smith not true, digital "translates" sound into bits, analog records waveforms. digital loses dynamic range that IS AUDIBLE.
@Joe Smith in my own personal recordings where i record my own playing (5 different instruments, sometimes more) the digital recording almost always causes problems at mixdown when i use a soft limiter, analog equipment never have the same issue. my only complaint about analog recordings is that it is a hassle to setup, noise reduction and hum removal can be a drag.
@Joe Smith subjective? learn what bit depth actually is, then maybe we can talk.
So, people who are making digital masters are irresponsible? This has been a wild ride, this interview.
I'm wearing a mask alone too...he'll ya....
My Steve albini is Nina nastsasia
how do we hear the butch vig mixez??
The Butch Vig version of Teen Spirit is here ua-cam.com/video/F9PQU7-PRTo/v-deo.html
Cooking not related to music? Hmmm. Dunno about that one. They are both all about balance......with music, if you need it brighter, you might add a tambourine. In cooking, you maybe add a bit of lemon juice. I could go on.....and my wife (a chef) and I (an audio dweeb) have spent dozens of hours comparing the similarities.
Seriously.......Steve's response to this really bummed me out!
No one person is everything they aren't.
Does Andrew seem annoyed with Steve at certain points? He looks like he bites his tongue here and there...
I think both are amazing at what they do, but Steve definitely has a very black and white way of looking at things which I feel Andrew is a more do what sounds great kind of guy.
I think you may be projecting.
No I mean annoyed might be the wrong term but I think I can see what your talking about. Very different ethics. I’ve seen andrew talk to people who have more in common in terms of how they think about the business. He holds together really well IMO but I can tell there would have been different tangential conversations based on some of Steve’s opinions (in the hypothetical that really probably wouldn’t happen) were they to just be having these conversations with the cameras off. I think it’d still be respectful (cuz you can’t change someone like Steve’s opinion anyways) but yeah. Not annoyed but biting his tongue a little for sure...
I think he does get annoyed at some points because he is realizing that he is talking to an a hole who's wearing a mask in an empty room... For 4 hours.
@@jjrockjaw THIS
@@jjrockjaw And, the "indier than thou" shit, too. It's ridiculous.
Steve refused any post EQ on his voice..
wish he had asked "how does a punk rawker become a statist drone".
The mask is ridiculous... LOVE Steve's philosophy on music and recording. But an interview with a mask.... C'mon.
It feels like an empty virtue signal in an equally empty room.
They were taking extreme caution at Electric Audio during covid in order to keep the rooms sanitized, because Steve wanted to remain open.
@@willdenham I can appreciate that. I still find it totally unnecessary to do the interview with a mask on, but I respect that he's trying to keep his business open.
@@DennisAlvey They would literally sanitize all the surfaces/consoles and then masks on in those rooms. Anyone takes a mask off in a sanitized room they had to re-sanitize.
Why the mask?
It's because no one cared who he was until he put on the mask.
But in all honesty, probably some type of COVID safety measure.
He's got assistants in the building! safety first!!
pureMix Maybe but the sound was bad when he was talking 😕 i stopped quickly to listen...
@@ordreancien we are afraid of your experience Ordre, unfortunately, there's not much we could do about it , hope you might enjoy some other webinars! cheers
He is a fool!
steve saying overdubs cant sound natural and comparing them to a drum machine. the mask is obviously robbing him of oxygen. lost all respect
I'd love for musicians who haven't sold out/bought in to the whole COVID narrative to post links to their own music. I need new music and have lost respect for almost every musician in 2020
Are you a nine year old? Thanks.
@@songboy40 that's a weird question. Are you a pedo
Take off the mask, good lord
Take the mask off in your own studio.
Albini mentions the "privilege" of being a straight man. Seems like he was more privileged to have a rocket scientist dad who could send him to northwestern without racking up tremendous debt.
😂 no doubt
The troubled tanzania untypically pour because nancy covalently untidy via a far cheese. stupendous, known shingle
I'm surprised about Steve rolling over so hard on the content of his earlier work. I agree that the use of the derogatory terms to drive the point home did not age well. Very Edge-Lord and cringe. People need to understand that the BB and RM lyrics are from the point of view of the victims or the people whom he's calling out in the stories. He's scared of being accused of mansplaining and doesn't want to be cancled.
It’s not surprising given the current climate of “cancel culture” and the dopamine hits people get from tearing others down online. But you’re spot on in that he COULD defend it in the manner you correctly point out. I wish he’d taken that route but it’s not my place to say. I will say what used to be the underground is mainstream now. & Most formerly punk Musicians don’t swim against the current anymore.
The Grand canyon is "awesome" - The Aurora Borealis is "awesome" - An EF 5 Tornado is "awesome" - interesting and engaging as he is, Steve Albini is not "awesome". Stop using the word "awesome" inappropriately!
This is unlistenable. I love Steve but I'm out.
Ironically the mix isn't great
cancel Albini! he's lost himself and i dont care anymore
Steve`s mask sounds not good, and its also not good for his health. :-/
It’s he’s trimming out unwanted high frequencies
@@RollieFingers59i😂 definetly hear that
Prophetic
Talk once your accomplishments outweigh his.
How so?
Imagine wearing a mask alone in a room. Ahahahhahaah