When I arrived at Berklee's Studio 2 (also known as the Ark) one morning this spring, it was filled with music production and engineering students and faculty taking pictures of the microphones that had been set up on a drum kit and all around the room. Everyone wanted to know just how visiting producer Steve Albini got his signature sound-that combination of crystal clarity, space, and raw force. You can hear it on classic records like Nirvana's In Utero, or the Pixies's Surfer Rosa, or the Breeders's Pod, or Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Yanqui U.X.O., and a few thousand more albums-because in addition to being an engineering icon, Albini is also one of rock music's most prolific producers.
That morning, he had come to campus to demonstrate some of his recording techniques in a live-to-tape session with Berklee band the Cotones. On this episode of Sounds of Berklee, we talk to Cotones lead singer and guitarist Luke Frees '19 about the session, and we debut the Albini-produced track, The Final Cut.
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When I arrived at Berklee's Studio 2 (also known as the Ark) one morning this spring, it was filled with music production and engineering students and faculty taking pictures of the microphones that had been set up on a drum kit and all around the room. Everyone wanted to know just how visiting producer Steve Albini got his signature sound-that combination of crystal clarity, space, and raw force. You can hear it on classic records like Nirvana's In Utero, or the Pixies's Surfer Rosa, or the Breeders's Pod, or Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Yanqui U.X.O., and a few thousand more albums-because in addition to being an engineering icon, Albini is also one of rock music's most prolific producers.
