Steve Albini, a Chicago-based rock producer who allied himself with Nirvana and against the corporatized music industry, has died.

Albini died of a heart attack, according to Taylor Hales, the manager at Albini’s studio Electrical Audio Recording. He was 61.

As a producer, Albini got the best from many notable alternative rock acts of the 1980s and ’90s, including the Pixies and the Breeders. He also played in the bands Shellac and Big Black.