Not far from Reverb HQ in Chicago, just down Belmont Avenue, sits an unassuming building with a simple "e" on the front door. From outside, you wouldn't expect that its grey brick walls contain one of the most famous recording studios in the world. Since 1997, Electrical Audio has served as the home base of recording and noise-rock titan Steve Albini, whose career includes famous collaborations with the Pixies, Nirvana, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, to name just a few.
Electrical is co-operated by engineer Greg Norman, who has an impressive list of credits of his own—Guided By Voices, Andrew Bird, Russian Circles and plenty more. Greg recently gave us an all-access tour of the space, even allowing our cameras down into the guts of what makes the studio hum (or not), including a dedicated isolation transformer and 10-ft copper grounding pipe drilled into the earth that takes care of any hum.
The Neotek Series II console and B&W 805 monitors in Studio B
The Studer A 820 MCH in Studio B
The guts of a Studer tape machine.
A view from above: Electrical Studio B shot over the rail of the staircase.
It's a long way to the top if you want to... get to the control room.
A Tale of Two Rooms
Electrical contains two main studios. If you saw the first episode of Dave Grohl's Sonic Highways HBO Series, you've seen Studio A, the more full-featured setup with two synced 24-track tape machines. With its roomy control room, a spacious live room suitable for chamber or large-ensemble sessions, a dedicated isolation room tuned for drums called the "Kentucky Room" and an acoustically dead bass chamber dubbed "Alcatraz," this is a studio where modern conveniences offer as much flexibility as functionality.
If Studio A is a suit-and-tie setup, Electrical Studio B is its holey-jean-wearing, messy-haired brother. The vaulted ceiling in the live room with unfinished walls is the stuff drummers dream of. The isolation room is smaller than those in A, but can fit four or five members. Bands on a budget (including a few Reverb staff bands) look to book this magical room.
The Electrical Audio Mic Locker (in brief)
While walking through the studio, we probably spent the most time hovering over drawers the Electrical Audio microphone locker. As Greg pointed out, Electrical doesn't want to play session favorites. Whether you're working in the A or B studio, you'll have the same access to a dizzying array of microphones, and the studio stocks enough inventory for two complete setups. The gallery below just a small part of their arsenal that includes Coles, Neumanns, Royers and Josephsons.
Coles/STC 4033 (bottom left) and Altec 639A (top right)
An RCA 44DX (top) and RCA 74-JR (bottom ribbon mics
Four RCA BK-11 ribbons
Vintage Sony C-37 and C-48p large-diaphram condensors
A whole drawer of Josephson e22s/606/609s
The behemoth Josephson 700A next to a couple Josephson C42s
One of four Neumann 563 tube condensers in stock
Neumann 582s with small-diaphram cardioid and omni capsules
The gear list at Electrical is as impressive as any studio with an assortment of new, vintage, and sometimes quirky gear including their own Electrical Audio mic preamps, Neotek consoles, Studer tape machines in virtually every corner, a vast collection of outboard gear, and contrary to any rumor you've heard, a full HD ProTools setup. We loved seeing their collection of workhorse amps by Sovtek, Park, and Traynor, Lovetone pedals from the '90s, Steinway baby grand pianos. In short, Electrical is stocked with almost anything you'd need to make the music you want to make.
Generally, it seems the gear ethos is a two-parter: 1) It has to sound good and 2) It has to be easy to service. Their vintage Ampex 351s are a great example of that. Collectors balked at their modifications but ultimately the units were made to better suit the needs of the studio (read more on how to mod your own on the EA forum). While it's certainly easy to romanticize vintage gear, Greg put it well when he said:
"It's interesting what vintage has meant over the years. A lot of the gear that's sold now is kind of made to sound tubey. They weren't trying to make [old studio gear] distort or have coloration necessarily, they were trying to make a pristine, clean, operating machine and they were falling short. The way they fell short determined how it would sound. Some people got lucky and it sounded awesome. Other people, not so lucky."
Ampex 351 microphone preamps modified & reconditioned by EA
Inside the tape archives we spotted some Cheap Trick tapes!
The patchbay punchblock for Electrical A
A stockpile of vintage Sovtek, Traynor, and Fender amps.
A Big Muff from every era: (left-right) late-70s Op-amp, ultra-rare Civil War Muff, two Black Russian Muffs
The famed Lovetone Big Cheese and it's big brothers alongside handmade circuits for the studio.
What's most amazing about Electrical, beyond its signature sound and arsenal of iconic gear, is its commitment to independent music. As noteworthy and widespread a reputation as Greg and Steve have earned, their rates for recording in either studio remain refreshingly reasonable and within reach for tons of musicians looking to record a truly world-class album.
For those of you building out your own studio, check out the Electrical Audio Reverb Shop where you can pick up one of their EApreq—a two-channel transformer-based microphone preamp/EQ.
Electrical Audio Official