Steve Albini was an American musician, audio engineer and music journalist, whose many recording projects have exerted an important influence on independent music since the 1980s. Most of his projects from 1997 onwards were recorded at the Electrical Audio studios in Chicago. Albini is occasionally credited as a record producer, though he disliked the term to describe his work, preferring the term "recording engineer" when credited, and refused to take royalties from bands recording in his studio, as he felt it would be unethical to do so.
As a musician, Albini fronted the bands Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac on guitar and vocals. He also played on other projects from time to time, notably as a bass guitarist in the touring incarnation of Pete Conway's solo project Flour whose records he also engineered.
