Steve Albini, an icon of indie rock as both a producer and performer, died on Tuesday, May 7 of a heart attack, staff at his recording studio, Electrical Audio, confirmed to Pitchfork.

As well as fronting underground rock lynchpins including Shellac and Big Black, Albini was a legend of the recording studio, though he preferred the term “engineer” to “producer.” He recorded Nirvana’s In Utero, Pixies’ Surfer Rosa, PJ Harvey’s Rid Of Me, and countless more classic albums, and remained an outspoken critic of exploitative music industry practices until his final years.

Albini also worked with Led Zeppelin legends, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, engineering and mixing their collaborative album, Walking Into Clarksdale.

Jimmy Page took to social media earlier today to pay tribute to Steve Albini, writing, "I was very sad to hear of Steve Albini’s passing this week. Robert and I worked with him in 1997 on our album 'Walking into Clarksdale' — a record I’m still really proud of.

"I had a strong connection with Steve, we all did on that album, and he came with such pedigree and experience as one of the world’s leading mixers and audio engineers. He loved working with analogue tape, in fact his own band was called Shellac. He was so passionate and knowledgable, really dedicated to the cause during our recording sessions at RAK and EMI Number Two Studio at Abbey Road.

"Steve had worked with Nirvana on their third album and also with the likes of Pixies and Bush. He had an impressive CV and leaves a real legacy. RIP, Steve."