Steve Albini

At 11:28, Steve shows his Hammond organ that had the top of the organ itself chopped off. He explained it used to be used for touring.

Steve Albini utilized a Study A820 Master Record while recording The Breeders' "Title TK" album.

"Recorded to GP9 on a Studer A820."

In this podcast itnerview Steve Discusses his mounted and nearfield monitors at Electrical, the nearfields being B&W 805 hifi speakers from the discontinued Matrix series.

We have a spring reverb tower, the AKG BX20, which in its day was the bee's knees for long reverbs. It was a $5000-10,000 device when it was made, in the late '60s and early '70s. It's about six feet tall and has two spiral reverb springs and it sounds lovely.

video shot in Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 0:40

video shot in Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 0:40

video shot in Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 0:42

video recorded at Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 3:00

video recorded at Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, item shown at 3:52

video recorded at Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, item shown at 7:53

7:52, Steve explains which mic he uses to record rap vocals in his studio.

In this photo, you can clearly see the MXR M135, right next to the Steve’s iconic Harmonic Percolator.

video shot in Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 0:40

video shot in Electrical Audio, Steve Albini's studio, mic shown at 0:40

Specified on the official Millennia artist page.

Steve Albini (Origin)

At 2:55 in the video, we see Steve explaining what he uses for his stereo mix-down. We see that he uses an Ampex ATR-102.

6:33 in the video, Steve is in the process of running through his rack mounts.

Used as Big Black's drum machine from the Racer-X album onwards, replacing the previous TR-606. Also referred to in the Big Black tour diaries as Roland MK II. Obvious when comparing Bulldozer to Racer-X onwards with the proper 707 samples.

At the very start of the video you can hear Steve test the Drumulator pressing the button for the Bass Drum. Also at this point and year Atomizer was released.

Also Noted Atomizer and all post-Atomizer releases by the band do not feature the TR-606, instead opting for the E-mu Drumulator as mentioned on the Big Black Wikipedia page.

In this article from MusicRadar, Dan Coggins of Lovetone Pedals says:

I knew we’d arrived when we went to visit the EMI/Abbey Road Studios and Steve Albini was recording with the Big Cheese and Brown Source.

In this article from MusicRadar, Dan Coggins of Lovetone Pedals says:

I knew we’d arrived when we went to visit the EMI/Abbey Road Studios and Steve Albini was recording with the Big Cheese and Brown Source.

In this GuitarGeek rig diagram, made by Adam Cooper, Steve's rig includes a Boss NS-2 Noise Supressor Pedal.

In this GuitarGeek rig diagram, made by Adam Cooper, Steve's rig includes an MXR Noise Gate/Line Driver pedal.

Steve Albini can be seen playing a Peavey T-40 bass in this photo.

Mentioned in this May 30, 2020 Reddit AMA reply.

KyserSoze94 According to Wikipedia, the way you get your guitar sound is from playing a guitar with a metal fret board and using a pick with sheet metal clippings. I’ve seen pictures of your guitar but I’ve never been able to find a picture of the described pick. Do you have a picture of it or at least able to describe it better?

steve_albini I use thin tempered copper picks, used to be Hotlix .07 [sic] but lately these ones: https://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Copper-Flex-Guitar-Picks-3-Pack-Light-3-Pack/117500000950170-00-500x500.jpg

but I have my friend Terry Straker from Guitar Works punch the ends with a metal punch so they have a little notch in the tip. Imagine a little dot, about 1/8-inch at the very tip of that guitar pick making two little horns. That's what I play, and why the top of my guitar is so fucked up.

A picture of one of Albini’s punched copper picks (which appears to be a Hotlicks) was posted online by Facebook user TheFudlip on September 19, 2023. TheFudlip had previously written on April 4, 2020 that he had “picked up” the plectrum at Shellac’s November 22, 2013 performance at the Liquid Room.

In this May 30, 2020 Reddit AMA reply, Albini includes a link to an image of the light/medium gauge Copper Flex, saying he has been using it “lately.”

KyserSoze94 According to Wikipedia, the way you get your guitar sound is from playing a guitar with a metal fret board and using a pick with sheet metal clippings. I’ve seen pictures of your guitar but I’ve never been able to find a picture of the described pick. Do you have a picture of it or at least able to describe it better?

steve_albini I use thin tempered copper picks, used to be Hotlix .07 [sic] but lately these ones: https://media.musiciansfriend.com/is/image/MMGS7/Copper-Flex-Guitar-Picks-3-Pack-Light-3-Pack/117500000950170-00-500x500.jpg

but I have my friend Terry Straker from Guitar Works punch the ends with a metal punch so they have a little notch in the tip. Imagine a little dot, about 1/8-inch at the very tip of that guitar pick making two little horns. That's what I play, and why the top of my guitar is so fucked up.

“Ice picks with the points cut off” is also listed under the “Picks & Strings” section of Albini’s gear summary in this March 1, 2024 Premier Guitar interview.

One of the amps seen at 19:17 minutes into the video

One of the pedals seen at 26:23 minutes into the video.

One of the pedals seen at 26:23 minutes into the video.

One of the pedals seen at 26:23 minutes into the video