The Albert Brothers

Ron (L) and Howard (R) Albert in the 1970's

Ron and Howard Albert, known as the Albert Brothers, are an American record production duo best known for their work in audio engineering and as record producers, working on recordings at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, and Audiovision studios both in the United States. Their immense body of work spanning seven decades includes influential albums such as Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos, Eat a Peach by The Allman Brothers, Young Gifted and Black by Aretha Franklin, Manasas, and numerous works with Crosby Stills and Nash such as CSN, Stephen stills 2. Howard Albert has said "I think we have 40 gold records to our name and about 30 or so platinum." They were inducted into the Florida Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

History

In 1967, with his brother Howard having been drafted to serve in the United States Army to fight in the Vietnam War, 14-year-old Ron Albert pursued a job at the only major recording studio in Miami at that time, Criteria Studios, where he was hired as a typist for the studio's tape library. A short time after Albert was hired, the studio's owner and chief engineer, Mack Emerman, became sick, and Ron Albert filled in as an engineer, eventually becoming Criteria Studios primary engineer upon Emerman's retirement. In 1969, Ron's brother Howard was discharged from the Army and, upon returning to Miami, began working alongside his brother at Criteria Studios as an engineer.

The Albert brothers became known as "Fat Albert Productions." Along with Atlantic producers Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin, Atlantic co-owner Jerry Wexler, and equipment-designer Jeep Harned, the brothers helped Criteria become a heavily sought-after recording studio, particularly during the 1970's. Eventually, the brothers became Criteria Studio business partners and acted as co vice-presidents. By 1983 and planning on retiring, the brothers sold their share in the company.

In 1987, the Albert Brothers abandoned their retirement plans and partnered with another ex-Criteria engineer, Steve Alaimo, to form two new companies: Vision Records and Audio Vision Studios. Originally intended to house familiar artists from Criteria and TK Records, Vision Records' focus later shifted to releasing records by artists in the Miami Bass and Freestyle scenes.

The Albert Brothers currently reside in Miami, where in 2022 they sold Vision Records and Audio Vision Studios after captaining it to over 20 gold records and 41 platinum records. With hip-hop being the current most popular type of music in Miami, the latest technology such as digital Pro Tools was used for music production at Audio Vision, which continues to thrive today with new owners. Audio Vision Studios worked with many major hip hop artists, including Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, DJ Khaled, Ludacris, Big Tymers, Ace Hood, Ghostface Killah, Missy Elliot, Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz.

Music

Throughout their lengthy and expansive career, the Albert Brothers have engineered or produced music by many revered and distinguished artists. Artists whose music they have worked on include Jimmy Buffett, The Eagles, The Bee Gees, The Rolling Stones, Frank Zappa, Aretha Franklin, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Derek and the Dominoes, The Allman Brothers Band, Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Miles, Joe Cocker, Joe Walsh, Jimmy Page, James Brown, The Average White Band, Procol Harum, Wishbone Ash, Johnny Winter, Betty Wright, John Mellencamp, Firefall and Pure Prairie League.

Drum sound

A key achievement the Albert brothers are known for is their creation of the "Fat Albert" drum sound. They achieved this sound by adding a microphone to each part of a drum kit. A separate microphone would be added to each tom, snare, cymbal, bass drum, and so forth. This resulted in a new and unique drum sound as no one before them had tried to multi-mike a drum kit. According to Ron Albert, "as we got a few clients, we started getting recognition for it. The Rolling Stones and Eric Claptons and the Stephen Stillses of the world were coming for our drum sound.... It became the 'Miami Sound' because we were in Miami making it.". Ron explained further that “As technology improved, we’d work on our skills. We’d come in late – everybody else would go home at six o’clock. We came up with our multi-mic technique for recording drums: we’d go overhead, have one mic on the kick and mics on every cymbal".

The drum sound was a result of the Albert Brothers camaraderie, explains Howard “we were sort of cheating the world because there were two of us.” Explaining further Howard says "we worked pretty much hand in hand, there was no set approach. When we were both at the console there were four hands on the board, and we worked so well together that, if something had to be done, Ron knew what had to be done before I could say 'Hey, do this,' and it was the same the other way around." This teamwork applied to their overall skill in obtaining a unique sound beyond just drums, Howard explains “we had one standing in the control room while the other was moving mics. We could hear the change from location to location. We could get guitar sounds that no one else was getting then because we had two sets of ears.” As Ron explains “part of getting a good guitar sound was knowing the instrument. People will still behave like they’re on stage, and put a microphone straight on a guitar – but if you move the mic six inches to the left, or right, or down, suddenly the sound is so much different.”

Reflecting on their careers Howard summarizes "we were in the right place at the right time. We had some talent and knew what we were doing, and that came out in the records. But we had an extremely high caliber of people that we worked with, and that certainly helped make something that lasts.”