The Albert Brothers

The Albert Brothers are two recording engineer brothers, Ron Albert and Howard Albert, who are best known for their work on various recordings at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, founded and owned by Mack Emerman. Ron and Howard Albert worked on two important double albums of the 1970's: "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" by Derek and the Dominos in 1970 and the first album from Stephen Stills's group Manassas in 1972. The Albert brothers also worked on Crosby, Stills and Nash's 1977 reunion album, "CSN".

Ron and Howard Albert also founded their own production company, Fat Albert Productions.

When the Albert Brothers began (circa 1967), recording techniques were a little different. Multi-track tape machines were just coming into common use thanks to the efforts of Les Paul and Tom Dowd. Recording consoles, power amps and speakers left a lot to be desired.

The European microphones in the studio, however, were of very high quality. Howard and Ron were instructed early on that those expensive mics were only for delicate orchestra recordings, not for loud rock.

Daytime recording was reserved for ad agency clients, so most of Howard and Ron’s experimenting was done at night (out of sight of the boss). Uncountable hours were spent experimenting and eventually the Albert Brothers' "fat" drum sound, achieved with condenser mics, was being heard all over the world.

The key to the Albert Brothers' sound was their "multi mic" concept of using a separate mic on every instrument.

Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records president) and legendary record producer Tom Dowd were spending a lot of time in South Florida entertaining artists on "The Big A" Atlantic’s corporate sport fishing yacht). They used Criteria Studios for a quick overdub, and soon established a connection with Ron and Howard (who also enjoyed fishing).

The Albert Brothers have said "Tom Dowd gave us both his unlimited knowledge of producing records and the understanding of artists’ creative minds. It is a great honor for us to have Tom as our mentor and as our friend". As well as Tom Dowd, the brothers also worked with Karl Richardson and Chuck Kirkpatrick.

"Idlewild South" and "Eat A Peach" by the Allman Brothers Band are two of the early albums that Ron and Howard recorded. The first album the Albert Brothers recorded with Eric Clapton was Derek and The Dominos' "Layla". The Brothers also recorded the Rolling Stones and John Mellencamp.

Sales of records recorded and produced by Howard and Ron have topped 100 million copies.

In 1987 Howard and Ron (along with their partner Steve Alaimo) formed two new companies. Vision Records, an independent record company offering national distribution to new and established artists including Betty Wright, Stephen Stills, Jimmy Cliff and Dion.

Additionally they opened Audio Vision Recording Studios (initially for their in-house use). Recently Audio Vision Studios was opened to the recording community, offering major labels, producers and local artists a state of the art recording facility.