Steve Albini Quotes

58 quotes in 894 categories

• 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…
• I hate 'foodie' because it's cute, like pretty much all diminutives associated with eating. 'Veggies,' 'sammies,' 'parm.' I eat food, and I cook it: it's…
• 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…
• In 1980, I moved to Chicago, and I recorded demo tapes for my friends' bands, and in 1981, the first Big Black record - the…
• My father was an expert hunter, so we ate a lot of wild game when I was growing up in Montana. That helped broaden my…
• 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.…
• 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,…
• The band cannot sign to another label or even put out its own material unless they are released from their agreement, which never happens.
• I'm only interested in working on records that legitimately reflect the band's own perception of their music and existence. If you commit yourselves to that…
• I do not want and will not take a royalty on any record I record. I think paying a royalty to a producer or engineer…
• Toast is bread made delicious and useful. Un-toasted bread is okay for children's sandwiches and sopping up barbecue sauce, but for pretty much all other…
• Im busy doing my job, and being a loudmouth doesnt appeal to me as much as when I was younger and had the youthful delusion…
• There won't ever be a mass-market record industry again, and that's fine with me because that industry didn't operate for the benefit of the musicians…
• The single best thing that has happened in my lifetime in music, after punk rock, is being able to share music, globally for free,
• Record labels, which used to have complete control, are essentially irrelevant. The process of a band exposing itself to the world is extremely democratic and…
• 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.…
• I moved to Chicago in 1980 to go to college
• 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…
• Buy groceries and feed yourself, even on the road
• 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…

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