Electrical Audio is a
recording facility founded in
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
by musician and recording engineer
Steve Albini
Steven Frank Albini (; July 22, 1962 – May 7, 2024) was an American musician and audio engineer. He founded and fronted the influential post-hardcore and noise rock bands Big Black (1981–1987), Rapeman (1987–1989) and Shellac (band), ...
in 1997.
Hundreds of
independent music
Independent music (also commonly known as indie music, or simply indie) is a broad style of music characterized by creative freedoms, low-budgets, and a DIY ethic, do-it-yourself approach to music creation, which originated from the liberties aff ...
projects have been recorded there. Unlike most producers, Albini refused to take any
royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...
from musicians who record at the studio.
Founded during an era of increasing popularity for
digital recording
In digital recording, an audio signal, audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or Color, chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is s ...
, Electrical Audio was unusual for using only
analog recording technology, including
mixing console
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals fro ...
s,
tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...
s and many outboard
sound effect
A sound effect (or audio effect) is an artificially created or enhanced sound, or sound process used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows, live performance, animation, video games, music, or other media.
In m ...
s. The rooms are also designed to offer natural
reverberation
In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflection (physics), reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then de ...
rather than adding the quality in post-production.
In a 2007 post on the studio's message board, the studio's technician Greg Norman revealed that the studio had acquired a
Pro Tools rig for computer-aided recording and editing, saying it had become "as important to have as a
piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
". Norman also went on to write that Albini, who disliked digital recording, "won't be recording with
ro Tools So don't ask him about it."
Studio layout
The facility was built by gutting an existing building and customizing the space to Albini's specifications, including walls made of adobe bricks shipped from New Mexico.
Electrical Audio comprises two separate studios, A and B.
Studio A
Studio A is the larger of the two studios and has three separate performance rooms. Center Field is the largest at , Alcatraz is a 'dry environment' room and Kentucky is a brighter live room with improved low frequency linearity. The control room runs a 48 channel Neotek Elite console and can accommodate up to 132 inputs.
[
]
Studio B
Studio B is the smaller of the two studios with an live room and a isolation room. The control room runs a 36 input Neotek Series II console.[
]
See also
* List of Steve Albini's recording projects, many of which were recorded at Electrical Audio
References
External links
Electrical Audio official website
List of current and former Electrical Audio employees
{{Coord, 41.9392, N, 87.6938, W, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title
Recording studios in Illinois