Hey everybody, my name is Connor and I've been browsing the EA boards for a while - just reading about recording and music and all the other interesting things you guys have to say (I found a lot of really good commentary here when I was looking into buying a Traynor YBA-1 recently). Anyway, my band and I have been talking about doing an album later this year at Electrical Audio, and we've agreed on a budget of $7000 for the record. I plugged the math into the booking and rates calculator on the site here and figured that for that price we could spend either 5 days with Albini or 8 days with Norman (both in studio B).Now we've been thinking and talking about it for a few days and I'm curious to ask you guys, what do you think the 3 best-sounding albums Albini has ever done at EA are and what are the 3 best-sounding albums Norman has ever done? Now, I realize 'best' is a subjective term, and a great-sounding album for a noise/experimental/hardcore band wouldn't sound so good if the same production was on a pop record (The Fear Is What Keeps Us Here by Zao immediately comes to mind). I'm talking about straight rock albums here, my band sounds a lot like the Foo Fighters/Nirvana/etc so I'm talking about albums whose production suit that style of music. So if you guys have any good examples of albums done by Norman versus Albini in that vein, that would be awesome. And if by a stroke of luck, either of those guys pop in on this thread, what are some albums you would point to for your 'sound' (for lack of a better term) in that genre? Also maybe consider the time frame as well.Thanks all!

Thanks for the interest. Steve's work speaks for itself, especially easy if you are using Nirvana as a reference...I might not be the best to know this, but a few references I can think of for me at electrical would be Call Me Lightning's - Soft Skeletons Pinebender - Working Nine To WolfRussian Circles - Geneva

I'd venture to say nobody is more qualified to answer that question than you Greg. And poor Steve, he's never gonna escape people saying "make it sound like In Utero." Thanks for the links, they sound pretty awesome. The Call Me Lightning one grabbed me the most though; was it done in studio A or B and was it done on tape, digitally, or to a hybrid of both? Also of all the records I've found by you I really think the sound of Secret Handshakes by Tub Ring, particularly the song Optimistic. Same questions as earlier with that one too.Thanks man, I appreciate it!

This is not an answer to your question (sorry), but a reminder: you need to make sure to leave enough room in your budget for mastering your record, and for any physical copies you want. It's nice to have $7K to invest in recording; but I'd hate to see you end up broke and with a bunch of tape reels you can't do anything with.

shadowkid33 wrote:I'd venture to say nobody is more qualified to answer that question than you Greg. And poor Steve, he's never gonna escape people saying "make it sound like In Utero." Thanks for the links, they sound pretty awesome. The Call Me Lightning one grabbed me the most though; was it done in studio A or B and was it done on tape, digitally, or to a hybrid of both? Also of all the records I've found by you I really think the sound of Secret Handshakes by Tub Ring, particularly the song Optimistic. Same questions as earlier with that one too.Thanks man, I appreciate it!Soft Skeletons was recorded on tape in studio A. We did have some overdubs done on digital performer. They had to record some vocals, and a children's choir back in Milwaukee. Those overdubs were transferred to the master 24 track by the time we mixed.Tub Ring was either straight to Pro Tools or hit the tape on the way to pro tools. I didn't mix those records fyi...

I know it's an old thread, but here's my two cents...I've recorded with both of them and both Steve and Greg do an amazing, thorough job. If you guys have your shit together, you should be able to do a great record with either Steve or Greg in less than a week.

Both Greg and Steve are great no doubt. But for my money the best recordist around is good ole Bob Weston(e). If I was going to record my band in Chicago I would hire bob as my first choice.

This is an old thread but I believe one of Greg's finest moments to be the amazing album by the amazing Flaum Adger. If my first album sounds in any way like that then I'll die a happy man! Steve's done too many classics that I couldn't choose in a hurry. I agree that Bob is also right up there.

I love, love, love the Phil Roebuck, Fever Pitch album that I believe Steve recorded. It sounds awesome for sure and the songs and energy are just so great. Not totally familiar with all of Steve's work though.