I first met Steve Albini during a stay in Chicago visiting Iain Burgess who lived only a few blocks away from Steve’s house. Steve had a studio set up in his basement and we went by to borough a guitar to test some amplifiers.
At the time Iain and myself worked on plans to open up a recording studio in the french countryside
and we were gathering up some recording equipment and instruments in Chicago.
I only later found out how many records I loved were recorded by Steve Albini.
His recording’s captured so much energy (which was often lost in many recordings of that period)
I think I must have said the same words about Iain’s recording work.
Both of them have been a major influence on me and immensely helped me to grow as a recording engineer.
The way Steve captured a band in the studio can be described as very direct, raw and high quality.
No bullshit, no waste of time. If the band was well prepared, Steve was the perfect person to record
an album in a minimum amount of time with great results. And he was a fun guy to hang out with !
After having started Studio Black Box in France in 1993 with Iain, Steve came over many times to record bands from all over Europe and sometimes even further.
I was looking forward to see him every time he came over to Black Box and loved sharing the moments setting up for a recording session.
I lost a friend.
The photo shows him at our studio in June 1995 recording the band Zeni Geva from Japan.
Myself and my wife Sylvie are immensely touched by his sudden death and would like to send our love out to his wife Heather, Bob Weston, Todd Trainer, the Electrical Audio staff, his family and everybody who was close to him.
Peter
