Analog Recording with Steve Albini

“Recording a Band” series with the legendary producer and analog recording engineer Steve Albini. Watch him track the song « Old Master » by the band Rat The Magnificent at Studio La Fabrique.
Learn more about tape calibration, mic placement and overall analog recording workflow.

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[JacobFrey]

That control room looks beautiful! Oh, and tape is so cool. I love tape, 1/8" to 2" it's all wonderful.

[alexx]

I just love the way he makes drums sound

[TheAerovons]

Grew up in analog studios making music, just sounds huge, always did always will.

[valk]

I learned to appreciate Steve on an EP called Racer-X by a band called Big Black.
He was the singer/songwriter/guitarist and had a friend called Roland.
Back in 1985. This dude is a genius.

[satanicpunker]

Very wise words at the end of the video. Really inspiring.

[simondavid]

As someone who wears one regularly, blue mechanics suit is a must for every musician/engineer

[Badassvidsz]

Analog is the best i wish never die :-)

[PrestonHazard]

Not me sitting proudly next to my just acquired 16 channel tape machine at 1 am watching videos to see other people using tape machines lmfaooo

[patrickbrygida]

When I'll die, I whish that Steve will mix all up on analog

[TweedSuit]

Hi i'm Lewis Skolnick, and i was in Revenge of the Nerds.

[Funkywallot]

Albini - The autodidact par excellence !

[natekelmes]

does anyone know what he is using to dampen the drums at 1:56? Thanks!

[ColumbusMHC]

0:04 what is that display/unit? Looks interesting.

[garasibanua]

Sir.Steve Albini,
Can you react Guitar Fingerstyle From Indonesia Alip Bata "Lingsir Wengi" 🙏

[Broyale]

Steve Albini is the Peter North of audio engineering and production.

[overkill]

0:45 It does have a magic sound though, at least compared to digital. I'm not sure what he means by using the tape machine as a special effect unless he's talking about how people think they're enhancing the sound of their digital recordings by "bouncing" them to tape, which I agree is pointless. But the reason it's pointless isn't because tape doesn't have a great "magic" sound, it's because the sound of the recording has already been defined by it's digital origin & dubbing it to tape after the fact doesn't change that. The initial recording must be done to tape in order to get the "magic" sound. In fact recording to tape and then bouncing to digital makes a lot more sense if you don't want the extra effort & cost of analogue editing. The end result will still have the true essence of an analog recording unlike the digital recording "bounced to tape." The best way from a purest standpoint is how Albini does it with everything done analogue, because then you can produce records that are full analogue recordings like back in the day Instead of a digital transfer. But for people who aren't too concerned about that & are on a budget recording to tape and then transferring to a computer to edit digitally makes a million times more sense than vice versa.

[dewberry]

This recording nerd talk that I will never understand. I’m interested though. But this is more difficult than watching NASA launch.

[doublestrokeroll]

I don't care how it's recorded as long as it sounds good. All the "analog" in the world doesn't mean shit if the song's not good.