Homewood student orchestra to record at famous Chicago studio

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 made up of students from Homewood Middle School.

“It’s a much bigger deal than kids realize. I’ve been doing (a) recording session my whole life,” said Sara White, who teaches in the orchestra program at the James Hart School. “And so having the opportunity to go to any recording studio is really, really important. It’s also really expensive. You know, kids don’t realize the cost of doing something like that.”

The group, made up of 15 chamber orchestra students, plays violin, viola, cello and bass, White said.

The James Hart Orchestra program serves students in grades four through eight, while the Chamber Orchestra is a smaller, audition-only after-school program.

“It’s so amazing. I mean, it’s beyond amazing,” White said. “And what happens when you do things like this is you make music from lovers of life. It becomes a ‘Oh my God, I remember when I was in sixth, seventh or eighth grade and I did this thing.’ And it’s just one of those memories that will stay with them forever.

The trip will be funded with a $4,000 grant from the Rex Foundation, a charity associated with the Grateful Dead that supports the arts and education.

“I’m 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 the violin and viola. “I really want to enjoy it and give it my all. And I’m just really happy to go, especially with the people I love.”

Homewood Art Council member Chris Castaneda helped coordinate the grant application. The money, he said, will cover the full-day recording session, including support from a studio engineer and studio assistant, as well as transportation and food for the students.

Castaneda said he first discovered 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 analog world, so he recorded primarily to tape, even though he had the tools to make modern digital recordings,” Castaneda said. “A lot of bands that went to that studio went there because they wanted to record on cassette.”

Albini was also famous for not accepting royalties for his work as a sound engineer. He was paid a flat fee of $100,000 for recording Nirvana’s third and final album, “In Utero,” even though he stood to earn several times that amount in royalties. “In Utero” has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide.

“He was of the mindset, especially once his recording career was over, that he dreamed of creating a space that was high-end, but at the same time affordable for a working musician,” Castaneda said. “He felt very strongly about that, which I respected.”

Other important albums Albini worked on include “Walking into Clarksdale,” the only album Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Robert Plant recorded after the band’s breakup, and the Manic Street Preachers’ “Journal for Plague Lovers,” which featured songs composed of lyrics released posthumously by band member Richey Edwards, who died in 1995.

Albini died last year, aged 61.

The date for the Electrical Audio trip is not yet set, but White said it would likely be late March or early April 2026.

“You never had a junior high group there,” White said. “They’ve had high school groups there before, but (Castaneda) thinks this will be the first high school ever.”

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 you don’t get to go to a recording studio very often when you’re 14,” said Luci Wheat, who plays the viola. “I think it’s just a really good flex, and I think it’s exciting.”

“I’m very, very excited, because it costs a lot of money to go there and it’s honestly insane that we can go there,” said Jonah Hoehn, who plays bass. “I’m very excited to go and very grateful.”

As for what songs they will record, White said that is still being decided, as students will be learning new material throughout the year. Some of the pieces considered are “Contredanse” by Joseph Bologna, “Bluegrass Country” by Carold Nuñez and “A Quiet Music” by Douglas Wagner.

“Because of the history of the place, I’m considering taking Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir,’” White said. “I think if we cut out the reps and just do it for fun, I think we kind of have to do it.”

elewis@chicagotribune.com