Electrical Audio, the Avondale recording studio founded by legendary audio engineer Steve Albini, has hosted rock music luminaries including Cheap Trick and the Foo Fighters. Next spring, it will host a string orchestra composed of Homewood middle school students.
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“It’s a much bigger deal than the kids realize. I’ve done (one) recording session my entire life,” said Sara White, who teaches in the orchestra program at James Hart School. “And so to have an opportunity to go to any recording studio is a really big deal. It is also really expensive. You know, kids don’t realize the amount of cost it takes to do something like that.”
The group is composed of 15 chamber orchestra students who play violin, viola, cello and a bass, White said.
The James Hart orchestra program serves students between fourth and eighth grade, while the chamber orchestra is a smaller, audition-only extracurricular program.
“It’s just so extraordinary. I mean, it’s beyond amazing,” White said. “And what happens when you do stuff like this is you make life lovers of music. It becomes a, ‘Oh my gosh, I remember when I was in sixth, seventh or eighth grade and I did that one thing.’ And that’s just one of those memories that’s going to be with them forever.”
The trip will be funded through a $4,000 grant from the Rex Foundation, a charity associated with the Grateful Dead that supports arts and education.
“I feel very grateful that we’re going to the recording studio because it’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Gabby Harris, a James Hart student who plays violin and viola. “I really want to take advantage of this and give my all. And I’m just very happy to go, especially with people I love.”
Chris Castaneda, a member of the Homewood Art Council, helped coordinate the grant application. The money, he said, will cover the full-day recording session, including the support of a studio engineer and a studio assistant, along with transportation and food for the students.
Castaneda said he first learned about Electrical Audio in the 2014 documentary “Sonic Highways,” about the recording of the Foo Fighters’ album of the same name. Electrical Audio was one of eight studios where the band recorded.
Castaneda said the studio opened in 1997, and Cheap Trick was one of the first bands to use the space.
The studio is located on Belmont Avenue in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood.
“Steve’s recording aesthetic was always in the analogue sort of world, so he recorded primarily on tape, although he did have the tools to do digital, modern-day digital recordings,” Castaneda said. “A lot of the bands that would go to that studio would go there because they wanted to record on tape.”
Albini was also famous for not accepting royalties for his work as an audio engineer. He took a flat fee of $100,000 for recording Nirvana’s third and final album, “In Utero,” though he stood to make several times that in royalties. “In Utero” sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.
“He was of the mindset of, especially once his recording career started, that he dreamed of making a space that was top of the line, but at the same time was affordable for a working musician,” Castaneda said. “He was very big on that, which I respected.”
Other significant albums Albini worked on include “Walking into Clarksdale,” the only album recorded by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant following the band’s breakup, and “Journal for Plague Lovers” by the Manic Street Preachers, which featured songs comprised of posthumously published lyrics by band member Richey Edwards, who disappeared in 1995.
Albini died last year, at age 61.
White said the recording session will likely be in late March or early April 2026.
“You’ve never had a junior high group there,” White said. “They’ve had high school groups there record there before, but (Castaneda) believes this is gonna be the first ever junior high.”
Students said they were excited, grateful for the rare opportunity and nervous about living up to the recording studio’s vaunted history.
“I know it’s like, not very often you get to hit the recording studios at 14 years old,” said Luci Wheat, who plays viola. “I think that’s just a really nice flex, and I think it’s exciting.”
“I’m very, very excited, because it costs lots and lots of money to go and it’s honestly insane that we’re able to go,” said Jonah Hoehn, who plays bass. “I’m very excited to go, and very thankful.”
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As for what songs they’ll record, White said that’s still being decided, as the students learn new pieces throughout the year. Some of the pieces in consideration are “Contredanse” by Joseph Bologne, “Bluegrass Country” by Carold Nuñez and “A Quiet Music” by Douglas Wagner.
“Because of the history of the place, I am considering taking “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin,” White said. “I think if we cut out the repeats and just make it just for fun to take it, I think we kind of have to.”