As well as the sheer invention of their music, the Beatles - in tandem with their producer George Martin and his recording engineers - pioneered monumental changes in the field of sound recording. Many of those methodologies, considered standard in the world of record production today, resulted from the incessant probing and questioning from all members of the group, in a seemingly endless quest to vary their basic sound, more so on their mid-to-late period albums.
Recording The Beatles must have been simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. As they moved on from the simplicity of their early Abbey Road sessions and became more at home in the studio, the in-house engineers and technicians would find themselves under regular pressure to figure out new ways of doing things. This was at a time when those very English studios would be populated by well-spoken chaps in white coats, pottering about with wires and microphones on the studio floor whilst the control room remained out-of-bounds to all except the chief engineer and the producer.
Most of the early Beatle recordings were engineered by Norman Smith, later a recording artist himself under the moniker of Hurricane Smith. Subsequent desk wizards would include Geoff Emerick, Chris Thomas and Glyn Johns, all noted for their work with many subsequent top artists (Johns worked extensively with The Who and The Eagles). Over the lifespan of The Beatles recording career, recording hardware also changed dramatically, from basic twin-track machines of the early 60s to the eight track facility which recorded the Abbey Road album (still primitive by today's standards).
A track such as Sgt. Pepper's 'A Day In The Life' achieved its sprawling, lush sound, complete with full orchestral accompaniment, using an analogue four-track tape machine, as did 'Strawberry Fields Forever', which was essentially two separate four-track recordings, completed at different tempos, slowed down and speeded up respectively before being spliced together to create the masterpiece that we know of today. The bizarre tape loop effects the group used for the Revolver track 'Tomorrow Never Knows' were incredibly ambitious at the time - long stretches of tape unwound across their studio and fed into separate machines, at variable speeds, others turned over for a reverse effect and mixed into the song's basic backing track live. Even John Lennon's 'Middle Eastern' sounding voice on the same song was achieved by putting the vocal signal through a rotating Leslie speaker (unheard of and frowned on, technically). Truly staggering!a
Recording The Beatles must have been simultaneously thrilling and terrifying. As they moved on from the simplicity of their early Abbey Road sessions and became more at home in the studio, the in-house engineers and technicians would find themselves under regular pressure to figure out new ways of doing things. This was at a time when those very English studios would be populated by well-spoken chaps in white coats, pottering about with wires and microphones on the studio floor whilst the control room remained out-of-bounds to all except the chief engineer and the producer.
Most of the early Beatle recordings were engineered by Norman Smith, later a recording artist himself under the moniker of Hurricane Smith. Subsequent desk wizards would include Geoff Emerick, Chris Thomas and Glyn Johns, all noted for their work with many subsequent top artists (Johns worked extensively with The Who and The Eagles). Over the lifespan of The Beatles recording career, recording hardware also changed dramatically, from basic twin-track machines of the early 60s to the eight track facility which recorded the Abbey Road album (still primitive by today's standards).
A track such as Sgt. Pepper's 'A Day In The Life' achieved its sprawling, lush sound, complete with full orchestral accompaniment, using an analogue four-track tape machine, as did 'Strawberry Fields Forever', which was essentially two separate four-track recordings, completed at different tempos, slowed down and speeded up respectively before being spliced together to create the masterpiece that we know of today. The bizarre tape loop effects the group used for the Revolver track 'Tomorrow Never Knows' were incredibly ambitious at the time - long stretches of tape unwound across their studio and fed into separate machines, at variable speeds, others turned over for a reverse effect and mixed into the song's basic backing track live. Even John Lennon's 'Middle Eastern' sounding voice on the same song was achieved by putting the vocal signal through a rotating Leslie speaker (unheard of and frowned on, technically). Truly staggering!a
If you're interested in this piece about recording The Beatles, you may like to check out a UK artist with some high production values of his own - James Henry. You can download a previous single of his, 'The Sun Is Cracking The Flags', for nothing, by clicking the link below.
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