Producer Steve Albini Was Nirvana’s Link To Minnesota

Legendary producer Steve Albini passed away at age 61 earlier this week. Among his most notable productions is Nirvana's third (and final) studio album In Utero, which was recorded in Minnesota over 30 years ago.

Nirvana was in a unique and stressful position following the smashing success of its 1991 album Nevermind, which sold over 30 million copies worldwide and catapulted the band into something beyond stardom.

The band needed to record a follow-up and was conflicted about its place in the world of popular music. While Nirvana went with producer Butch Vig for Nevermind, recording part of the album in Van Nuys, California and other parts at Vig's studio in Madison, Wisconsin.

Kurt Cobain and his bandmates, bass player Krist Novoselic and drummer Dave Grohl, decided they wanted a more bare-bones sound for the follow-up, much to the chagrin of their record label. For this reason they chose to enlist punk rock producer Steve Albini to captain the ship.

Albini recommended the band record at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. The reasoning was that the band would be isolated and more engaged in the recording process. The group and Albini recorded the album in February of 1993.

25 years ago this week, in Cannon Falls, MN...IN UTERO was recorded. Remember to play it loud.
byu/D74hruN inNirvana

Albini was known as an extremely principled producer, so when the band asked him to tweak the bass and vocal mix when the album had wrapped up recording, he refused. He was concerned about revisions being a slippery slope and besides, he liked the way the album sounded. While some of the songs on the album were given revisions, most remained true to Albini's vision. In addition, several "Albini mixes" were released on the album's 20th anniversary edition in 2013.