Steve Albini (pronounced ; born July 22, 1962) is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer, and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman, Flour, and is part of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal engineer at Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. It has been estimated that he has worked on several thousand albums over his career. He has worked with acts such as Nirvana, Pixies, Bush, Melt Banana, the Breeders, PJ Harvey, the Jesus Lizard, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gogol Bordello, Mclusky, and former Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.
Albini is known for his opposition to the music industry, with him vocally stating that it has financially exploited and stylistically homogenized artists. He has, as a part of his opposition, refused to take ongoing royalties from multiple artists and bands in his engineering career, stating as well that it is unethical.
