Poster: Pro tools or logic? explain plz.

Albini: ‘I don't use computers to make records. I use tape machines, like nature intended. I use computers for correspondence, arguments, poker and porn.’

It may be old news on blogs by now, but someone out there will be thankful for the posting of this thread from an online poker site, which sees Steve Albini working pretty hard at getting a repetitive strain injury. For the most part, the exchange is a sharp, informative mix of wit and wisdom, touching on music history, tech stuff, Nirvana, how many musicians he's 'nailed'... and of course poker!

 

We'll pulled together a few snippets, but anyone with the faintest interest in Albini's work, the indie scene, or the workings of the music industry, would do well to spend a couple of hours picking through the whole 30+ pages:

 

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Albini: 'I've used this analogy before, but I like it, so I'll use it again: While the recording is underway, I'm like a gynecologist, and it would be inappropriate for me to be getting turned-on by the vagina I'm working on at the moment. I need to have a different relationship with the vagina.'

 

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Poster: I think that the past 10 years give or take have seen really [censored] music. Mostly just brainwashed junk where nobody seems to stand out.

Albini: 'Nothing ever stands out. You have to look for anything you might like. Clearly you have given up looking...I think you're a defeatist and you are destined not to enjoy music. If you wait for other people to thrust music under your nose, you'll be listening to nothing but crap for a long while, because that's what gets thrust at us. Music is not a spectator sport.'

 

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Poster: How is your hearing?

Albini: 'Good enough, apparently.'

 

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Albini: 'I also pride myself on being a bargain. A lot of people in my position try to maximize their income on every project, and eventually they price themselves out of the scene where all the good music is, and end up doing a few sessions a year for music that totally sucks. By keeping my rates reasonable, I get to work with all the good bands, not just those who have money and hype behind them at the moment.'

 

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Poster: Do drummers always turn up late?

Albini: No, drummers have girlfriends with cars. Guitarists and singers are always late because they're on the bus.

 

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Poster: How do you keep your objectivity when it comes to your own performances (and bandmates, whom you are close with)?

Albini: 'Making a record isn't an objective exercise like counting peaches in a basket. Objectivity has no place in the creative part of the recording process. In the technical side, yes. The equipment and the technique need to be appropriate for the job, and most of the time that means operating everything within its technically-correct specifications, and with two engineers in the band, that part is pretty easy.

I am convinced that any decent art (including records) is made with a measure of disregard for its audience. Good art is an almost entirely selfish pursuit, in that the artist is doing something unique to him, and any outside perspective (this "objective" one) would be ignorant and unable to judge it completely. Having seen many bands go through the process, I am convinced that making concessions to the imaginary audience (or any "objective" considerations) almost always weakens the record.

Good records are made by freakishly-obsessed people, driven to do what only they can do, and their thinking and processes are often "objectively" wrong. Objective measures are at best a benchmark of mediocrity and shouldn't be in consideration.'

 

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Poster: Vinyl or Digital?

Albini: Neither. I go straight for the vagina. You find them on women.