Steve Albini Quotes

It betrays hubris on the part of the artist to think his medium is limiting him, and I think we all recognize this... view

By: Steve Albini

Find people who think like you and stick with them. Make only music you are passionate about. Work only with people you like and trust. Don't sign anything... view

By: Steve Albini

For less than the cost of a Big Mac, fries and a Coke, you can buy a loaf of fresh bread and some good cheese or roast beef, which you will enjoy much more... view

By: Steve Albini

I don't think anyone has exhausted the range of sound possible in a conventional rock band, but people do become slaves to their own easiest techniques... view

By: Steve Albini

I moved to Chicago in 1980 to go to college... view

By: Steve Albini

I'm busy doing my job, and being a loudmouth doesn't appeal to me as much as when I was younger and had the youthful delusion that I was smarter than everybody else... view

By: Steve Albini

By now all rock bands are wise enough to be suspicious of music industry scum... view

By: Steve Albini

In 1980, I moved to Chicago, and I recorded demo tapes for my friends' bands, and in 1981, the first Big Black record - the first thing I did that was an actual record... view

By: Steve Albini

Buy groceries and feed yourself, even on the road... view

By: Steve Albini

Know what you're trying to do before you do it. Turning knobs at random isn't enlightening any more than throwing paint at a wall blindfolded will let you paint a nice picture... view

By: Steve Albini

Make no mistake about it: once a band has signed a letter of intent, they will either eventually sign a contract that suits the label or they will be destroyed... view

By: Steve Albini

Many rock musicians are excellent cooks, I've found, and those that are prefer to eat their own cooking in the studio. I encourage this behavior as I also enjoy the benefits of fresh food... view

By: Steve Albini

The band cannot sign to another label or even put out its own material unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens... view

By: Steve Albini

The woman I am currently crazy about was a vegetarian for a year until I started dating her. As is the case with most vegetarians, she had never eaten properly prepared meat, only commercially packaged or otherwise abused flesh... view

By: Steve Albini

There is a lot of use of ProTools in professional studios, but this is mostly for the special effects it allows, not for sound quality. These special effects soon fall out of fashion, and I don't think this trend will define studios permanently... view

By: Steve Albini

We have no general conceptual thrust for the band, other than trying to make music that keeps our interest. When things are novel, they are probably things we have discovered by accident or investigation rather than by design... view

By: Steve Albini

If the label presents them with a contract that the band don't want to sign, all the label has to do is wait. There are a hundred other bands willing to sign the exact same contract, so the label is in a position of strength... view

By: Steve Albini

Doubt the conventional wisdom unless you can verify it with reason and experiment... view

By: Steve Albini

A more important reason is that the bands will intuitively trust someone they think is a peer, and who speaks fondly of the same formative rock and roll experiences... view

By: Steve Albini