Steve Albini is 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 dislikes the term to describe his work, preferring the term "recording engineer" when credited, and refuses to take royalties from bands recording in his studio, as he feels it would be unethical to do so.