Iconic Producer Steve Albini Dead at 61: A Look Back at His Impact on Alternative Rock

Steve Albini, American guitarist of the sound band Shellac and historic record producer who worked among others on In Utero Nirvana, is dead at the age of 61 due to a heart attack. Albini was a cult figure in American alternative rock, and in the 1990s he helped define the sound of grunge and post-punk, working as a producer on hundreds of records including Surfer Rosa the pixies, Pod of breeders, Things We Lost in the Fire with Low e Delete Me at PJ Harvey.

He had also been a popular guitarist, first with Big Black and Rapeman, and then above all with Shellac, an acoustic rock trio with whom he had recorded six albums: the most famous, At Action Parkfrom 1994. It should be released on May 17 All trainsthe band’s first album in ten years, which ended up on the cover of the magazine’s June issue The Wire.

Albini, who was very active on Twitter and in recent years has also made himself famous for his strong criticism of the record industry and for his often progressive stance, was a popular and respected person many others were in the context of American alternative music and in the areas of fans of genres such as post-hardcore, good rock and noise. He was one of those rare producers whose fame went beyond just the insiders, also because his importance and influence were often mentioned by the bands that worked with him, from Mogwai to Godspeed You! the Black Emperor, from Lizard Jesus to Slint.

Albini was born in Pasadena, California, grew up in Montana and then moved as a young man to Chicago, where he still lives today. His work is particularly well known In Utero of Nirvanain which he helped Kurt Cobain identify the sound he wanted to give his band after what had been recorded on the previous album, never mind, he was not satisfied. Albini was famous for giving back to the records he made a sound that was very faithful to the one the bands had in live performances, without much interfering with the artistic process (he describes himself as a “sound engineer”).

While most producers of the time recorded the various musicians separately and combined all the tracks later, Albini preferred to record the group play together whenever possible, capturing the reverberation naturally through dozens of microphones located in different parts of the room. In 1997 he founded his own recording studio, Electrical Audio Recording, in Chicago, which was also known for the cheap standards that Albini wanted to maintain.