I wish I had my own Steve story to share, but I appreciate hearing everybody else’s, and I am going to be so sad when these stories run out and there is nothing more to say.

I probably should not post mine then cause it's kinda weird...

ChudFusk wrote: I wish I had my own Steve story to share, but I appreciate hearing everybody else’s, and I am going to be so sad when these stories run out and there is nothing more to say.

Here's a tiny one. This was so long ago and such a stupid little thing I'd forgotten all about it until now.

Back in the early 00s, I was on another recording/mixing forum, the crowd there was more of a boomer industry pro kinda vibe. A lot of those dudes really did not like FM Steve, probably because:
1. they fancied themselves producers, and
2. they were jealous he was famous and no one knew or cared who they were.

So there was one thread where people were really talking a bunch of shit about him, and I thought:

1. you dudes are dicks
2. you dickdudes don't know what you're talking about, and
3. this thread would be way better with Steve in it.

Back then I enjoyed a good internet shitshow and I had a feeling Steve wasn't opposed to one either, so I sent him a link to the thread. He promptly joined the forum and got on the thread with "Hi everyone, Steve Albini here!" followed by his patented brand of witty invective. I don't remember any specifics but hilarity ensued and the dickdudes were made to look like the fools they were.

So, you were a snitch!?

Was that the Pro Rec forums or whatever they were called? There was some useful mastering advice on there, but yeah it used to blow some boomer minds why he didn't think studio folk deserved points on records. I remember his reasoning along the lines of "I've never seen a music fan wearing a Ted Templeman tshirt, but I've seen a whole lot of Van Halen shirts".

There were definitely some douchebags on there. "A $25,000 recording budget? Pfft.. back in my day we called those demos.." I wonder how much work they're getting these days.

That thread on the Velvet Rope was what brought me here. It's where I learned the magic of "FYP" or "Fixed Your Post."

FM Steve took absolutely no prisoners and it was fucking hilarious. HILARIOUS.

I have a super personal reason for loving this forum and the people here.

Most of you remember that right at the height of the PRF heyday, my wife and I were fighting tooth and nail to protect our adopted daughter. The protracted legal battle totaled around $30k.

The PRF paid for more than half of it. A big chunk of that was donated anonymously.

It's been, fuck I dunno, ten years or more? Every day I wake my daughter up for school and make her breakfast and reach out to the poster than FM Jay Ryan made for the fundraiser and tap it once for luck as I head out the door.

We talked at great length on this forum about how much of our formative years were spent being provocative and shocking, pretending to be awful people in the most adolescent ways imaginable. Some of our peers turned out to actually be terrible people, surprisingly, and they were called out here mercilessly over and over again. We held each other to account. We made each other better. Steve set the tone and led the pack.

Steve held people accountable for their professional and personal behavior. Some of those people REALLY didn't like it. You can trace the tiny handful of shitty things people are saying in the wake of his passing right back to those very people, strutting around in a now-empty room and beating their chests. Oh, well, Fuck 'em.

Because we had each other here, and Steve was so approachable and such a part of this community, I guess I lost sight of this impact on the culture outside of the PRF. I was gutted when I got the text from a friend that he'd passed. I sat in stunned silence for the better part of the afternoon. I checked on a couple of friends, but I also let the silence grow a little bit so that we could process together at a later time, when things weren't so raw.

What I didn't expect, I guess, was that the whole world of creators and artists that I care about was going to have a thing or two to say .

I knew people who I love- Jodi, Nick, Faiz and Alex- were going to have some thoughts and feelings. I guess I didn't expect to hear from Jimmy Page. PJ Harvey, and The Guardian.

I think it's because Steve never entered a room like a celebrity. You never got the Do You Know Who I Am? vibe from him, which is of course laughable to even consider, but dudes with significantly less impressive resumes have thrown chardonnay on flight attendants. (Coincidentally, many of those same also-rans had shit to say about Steve.)

I owe the best things in my life to this community, and I owe this community to the Electrical Audio Studio, and so I guess Steve's shadow looms exceedingly large over my life.

One day I'll walk the kiddo through the studio, I hope. Maybe she'll make a record there if she grows up to care about stuff like that.

Thanks, Steve. Thanks, PRF.

Possum makes you get it.

Lu Zwei wrote: Mon May 13, 2024 3:08 pm I probably should not post mine then cause it's kinda weird...

See, now you have to…

penningtron wrote: Mon May 13, 2024 3:47 pm Was that the Pro Rec forums

Yep. The mastering forum was mostly ok, I learned a ton there, that was a great resource back in the day. And there was good stuff to be had elsewhere but eeeeeeesh, that industry boomer vibe was kinda rampant and I always hated it. Those guys had no understanding of DIY or indie culture at all, which would've been alright but they were super arrogant and dismissive about it, so fuck 'em.

The best was one William Wittman, whose resume includes such PRF staples as Cindi Lauper and the Hooters. He really didn't like Steve and never missed a chance to say something negative. Once Steve got on the forum he only ever referred to William as "Hooters guy".

Some years later, another guy on there was a producer based in LA. He said something like "Once Albini came out with his anti-producer screed, all of a sudden I couldn't get any work." And then this priceless gem: "I think he owes the entire music industry an apology."

For all my problems with the man, I am upset and generally perturbed that Steve Albini has died, and have been since I heard the news days ago.

I think that there is a heaven, and I think that Steve Albini is there and he's doing more or less exactly as he did in life, because he lived in service of the good.

I'd hoped to see you in this life but I didn't; hope to see you in the next one.

I also thought what FM Penningtron thought when I had a lucid second to consider Steve's passing - what he had to say about John Grabski III and about how he wanted things to go when his time came. Paraphrased - irons in the fire, appointments made, a session in-progress. Momentum with no signs of slowdown. Perhaps the only thing finished was probably his second or third fluffy coffee of the day.

I can't prove that part, I couldn’t bring myself to look around Studio A when I got in Wednesday morning, but I know he was operating the espresso machine last I saw him on Tuesday afternoon. I was busy, he was busy, we had a quick exchange while filling our mug and glass with tea for me and espresso for him. I was grouchy. He was peppy. A quick water-cooler exchange about how's-your-session. I didn't say "ok well see you later", I just walked off when there was a lull. Me back to my session, he to finish making his drink. At first - after finding out about what happened to him - I thought I was upset because I knew I didn't formally end the conversation with a "well, see you later". I know now I was upset because I didn't get a chance to say "goodbye" or "thanks for everything" or "I'll miss you" or "you know I cared, right?". I don't think it matters what I did or didn't say, it wouldn't have felt like enough.

I'll probably never remember any specific story or joke or annoyance I was trying to convey on any given break on any given Tuesday. I do know sometimes I said something funny enough that we'd riff on it for a minute or he'd let out a laugh that indicated he'd made a mental picture of whatever it was I was describing and found it amusing. In waves, I kept thinking over the last little while about what a delight it was to see what amused Steve, and it's been helpful to share some of that with friends as well over the last few days.

I'll share one:

I had to go to the hardware store later in the day for a part, so I wrote "TOILET HOSE" on a post-it, and tended to some other thing. Steve didn't have his own desk until a few months ago, so he used to just go to an open desk, didn't matter whose, and set up shop for a few hours to do emails or whatever. I came back hours later, no clue he'd dropped by, found my list, and turned it into a riff on bands that might share a bill with newly imagined band TOILET HOSE. The only one I can think of right now that he added was "BONG SUITCASE" but there were a good half-dozen new band names he'd written down on the post-it for me to find. I loved that shit.

There's a lot I want to put here. About what it meant to have him as a boss, a mentor, a friend. Easy guy to work for/with if you're not a dumbass. Would explain the same concept to you six different ways and draw you a picture if you're having trouble understanding a tricky concept or signal chain or whatever.

He got into the "sad five" for a while. You see it, right?
Person 1 says something sad that happened.
Persons 1 and 2 hi-five over it: normal intensity, but also solemn.

Nothing sad really ever happened so it was all theoretical.

Finally, something sad happened, and I thought "let's not let the opportunity go to waste here" and figured he'd commit to the bit. I thought, "let's be assholes for just a minute, and we'll just let the fact that we did something ridiculous take the sting out of my sad thing".

I told him my marriage ended that morning. And, what I wanted was the pick-me-up of him committing to the bit, the stone nuts of sad-fives. Which he did, dutifully. But he didn't laugh. He gave me a hug. He saw I was hurt, and wouldn't let me even pretend to be ok about it. We talked at length about it. His consolation and support were so meaningful to me in that moment.

Early on, as an intern, I’d have to get Steve’s attention for one thing or another (can you sign this thing for Novotny, can I go fetch this dingus from Center Field, whatever). I ultimately found a spot where my presence in the room would be neutral, not a distraction in-take or during a mix. I found that spot in each studio, and before long I just got used to it, and I kept at it because it was an easy place to stand around and wait and be low-key. He revealed a year or so ago that while he couldn’t see me before turning around, he could tell it was me just from where in his peripheral vision I appeared. That somehow felt comforting.

I’ll miss tearing down sessions with him. Sometimes we’d bullshit. Sometimes we’d talk about work in-progress. Sometimes we’d say nothing. Didn’t matter.

I’ve talked with everyone, practically everyone I know, this week about it. Much of what we talked about, including those who felt less close to him, was how hard they were hit with his passing. I’ve been unpacking it, slowly. The consequences of his work, his personality, his presence, his level of care with other people, affected so many of us. Shaped many of our lives. Some in the sense of “these records I liked spoke to me and would have sounded different and felt different, even if slightly, made by someone else.” This is true with me, decades before I ever met the man. Or even knew what he looked like*

*I met him when interviewing for my internship. He was so kind and goofy and succinct that when Chad introduced me, I thought he was some unlisted technician, a second guy named Steve. Maybe it was the way Chad was so casual about it. Maybe it’s because Steve wasn’t too busy to skate over and say hey. I don’t know, but I thought someone that big of a deal couldn’t act like that guy.

… anyway, I don’t have the bandwidth to consider all the ways he was a big deal for people. His music, his way of communicating with musicians in-session, his ability and willingness to actively re-consider the world around him, his work with Heather on LTS every year…

I want to tell every story I can remember about him. I want to make sure I don’t forget any given exchange we had on any given Tuesday. Many will just fall off over time, and that’s some of the sadness for me. You don’t want any one small part of a loved one’s spirit to disappear, to not be available or enjoyed or appreciated for as long as possible. If we’re gonna look at it that way, there’s plenty that he’s done - in print, in others’ music, in his own, in lecture and panel and ASSSSCAT and how-to videos, in basically every podcast that bothered to ask him for time - that will survive.

Time is hard for me to wrap my arms around. But the reality of it is, as long as we have plastic and a planet at under 140 degrees, Steve’s work and legacy will span a LONG time. And we were lucky to share the part of his history where he was here. It’s a gift.

Working for Steve has been an honor. Peeling a few hundred bucks off of him at the poker table was a treat. Listening to him carp about the coils on the goddamned air handler was a chore (though fair). Watching his glee when the Pro Tools rig frustrated one of us made up for the air handler. Being called his friend has been my world.

Steve, I miss you, and I’m grateful for so many ways to be able to remember you.

Your friend,
Jon
JSP-WTF