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Steve Albini (born July 22 , 1962 , Pasadena, California ) is a singer, songwriter, Guitarist , Audio Engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black and Rapeman and is currently a member of Shellac . He is founder, owner, and Engineer of Electrical Audio , a Recording Studio complex located in Chicago . EARLY LIFE In his youth, Albini's family moved often, before settling in Missoula, Montana in 1974. The activities of bored teenagers in rural Missoula provided much inspiration for later Albini-penned songs. While recovering from a broken leg, Albini began playing Bass Guitar . According to Thrill Jockey 's ''Looking for a Thrill'', Albini first became exposed to punk rock by a schoolmate on a bus and proceeded to purchase every Ramones recording available. He took bass lessons in high school for one week and started playing in bands; playing with the Missoula band ''Stations'' for about six months. He also played with drummer Joey Cregg, son of former Mayor Bill Cregg in the punk band Just Ducky. It didn't last too long. While growing up in Montana, he only found a few bands he deemed worthy of listening to, including: The Stooges , the Ramones , Television , Suicide , Wire , Public Image Ltd. (PiL) and Killing Joke . After high school, Albini moved to Evanston, Illinois, to attend college at Northwestern University . In the Chicago area, Albini was active as a writer in local Zine s such as ''Matter'' (and later the Boston zine '' Forced Exposure ''), covering the then-nascent Punk Rock scene, gaining a reputation for iconoclasm and outspokenness that continues to this day. Around this time he began recording groups. AS AN ARTIST Big Black (1982-1987) In 1982 Albini formed '' and '' He's A Whore/The Model ''. Influenced by PiL , Killing Joke , Wire and Gang Of Four , they gained a reputation for confrontation, sarcasm and abrasiveness, breaking up in 1987 on the eve of the release of their second album. Rapeman (1987-1988) Albini went on to form the controversially titled Rapeman in 1988, with former members of Scratch Acid , Rey Washam (formerly of Didjits ), and David Wm. Sims (later of The Jesus Lizard ). They broke up after the release of a single EP (''Budd''), and an album, (''Two Nuns and a Pack Mule'') (1988). They also had a 7" on the Sub Pop Singles Club . Shellac (1992 -present) Albini formed '' (1994), '' Terraform '' (1998), '' 1000 Hurts '' (2000) and '' Excellent Italian Greyhound '' (2007). All were released, as before, on Vinyl , as well as CD . RECORDING WORK See List Of Steve Albini's Recording Projects for a chronological list of Albini's recording work on right, with Ani DiFranco and RZA ''The New Yorker'' festival in September 2005.]] He is currently most active as a when recording elsewhere. This has caused Record Labels and other prominent Record Producers to argue that he is "difficult." Albini estimates that he has engineered the recording of 1,500 to 2,000 albums. Artists that Albini has worked with include Whitehouse , Superchunk , PJ Harvey , Bush , Cheap Trick , Page And Plant , Neurosis , and The Stooges . In Albini's opinion, putting producers in charge of recording sessions often destroys records, while the role of the recording engineer is to solve problems in capturing the sound of the musicians, not to threaten the artists' control over their product. In 2004, Albini summarized his opinions regarding record producers: "It always offended me when I was in the studio and the engineer or the assumed producer for the session would start bossing the band around. That always seemed like a horrible insult to me. The band was paying money for the privilege of being in a recording studio, and normally when you pay for something, you get to say how it's done. So, I made up my mind when I started engineering professionally that I wasn't going to behave like that." (Young 2004). Nevertheless, albums recorded by Albini bear a distinctive sonic signature. In ''; got an aggressive, often violent Guitar sound; and made sure the Rhythm Section slammed as one." (Azerrad, 344) Another Albini trademark is his habit of generally keeping vocals "low in the mix," or much less prominent than is usual in rock music. (This is said to have been a point of contention by the label during the recording of Nirvana 's '' In Utero ''). On '' in achieving a desired sound, including painstaking placement of different microphones at certain points around a room to best capture ambience and other qualities. PUNDITRY Additionally, he is famous (or notorious) in the indie world as an opinionated Pundit on the music industry and on trends in indie music, beginning with his earliest writing for Zine s such as Matter and Forced Exposure , to his commentary on the poor ethics of big record labels, and how their practices filter through to the independent labels. He has been a strong supporter of labels who have tried to break the mold, especially Touch And Go Records , with whom all of his bands have released recordings. He is also an adamant supporter of Analog Recording over Digital , as can be evidenced by a quote on the back cover of the CD ''The Rich Man's Eight Track'' CD : "Fuck digital. The future lies with the analog loyalists.". The CD is a compilation of three earlier vinyl recordings which lack this quote. FOLLOWING Albini is the subject of a tribute of sorts in the song "Steve Albini," by Los Angeles-area Indie Rock band The Black Watch , on their ''Seven Rollercoasters'' EP (1997). The Great Plains song "Letter to a Fanzine" (1986), cataloging 1980s College Rock fanboy obsessions, includes the spoken line ''Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Steve Albini''. REFERENCES
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