Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Thier Classic Album

by Kevin Ryan, Brian Kehew

The definitive look at how the Beatles' albums were recorded. Years of research and extensive interviews with the group's former engineers and technicians shed new light on those classic sessions. With a detailed look at every piece of studio gear used, full explanations of effects and recording processes, and and inside look at how specific songs were recorded.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, History, Biography

537 pages, Hardcover, 11" x 11"

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Scott Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a 500+ page "methods section" for one of the greatest experiments ever conducted.

[J. Niimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story goes that each author, conducting independent research for a Beatles recording book concept, later became aware of the other's work, and decided to join forces. The results are phenomenal: the end-all, be-all work of scholarship on how the Beatles created their ingenious albums, ten years in the making (20 total years of research, if you sum both authors' labor), a true magnum opus. Available from the publisher for $100 (mine is an early 2nd ed.), housed in a replica of an old 1960s 3M 2" multitrack reel storage box, along with some other neat enticements for us geeks...like a fold-out, fully annotated, frameable poster of EMI's custom-built REDD.37 console, and replicas of photos of the band and postcards and other flotsam. But even without all the party favors, the book is plain astounding: their attention to detail is meticulous and fantastic. Sections on microphones and their attendant qualities, all kinds of info about EMI's proprietary effects gear -- some built in their monstrous UK factory, others imported from Germany -- and how that gear functioned in relation to the band's sonic alchemy. Charts, photos, diagrams, track lists, it's all here: TONS of info for the rarified Beatles fan who appreciates the warm, liquid feel of the valve-driven Fairchild 660 limiter. The last section of the book goes chronologically from '62 to '69, breaking down the songs one-by-one, overdub by overdub, idea upon idea. (If you read this already and liked it, I'd also highly recommend Mark Lewisohn's 'The Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes, 1962-1970'.) I pored over this book especially slowly, savoring it over 2 1/2 months' time, and by the time I was finished, I actually felt a little emotionally drained! (Spoiler alert: they break up.) It's no overstatement to say that this is the greatest book on the technical legacy of the Beatles that will ever be written.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Recording the Beatles" weighs ten pounds, and yet its heft still seems too small to account for all the content within. I borrowed a copy through a collegiate inter-library loan and thumbed through the thing for months on end without ever losing my sense of awe. Each time I delved into the tome I felt intimate with Abbey Road itself; it was as if I could reach into the paper before me and caress the grill of Ringo's bass-drum mic while being warmed by the glowing forest of vacuum tubes beneath George Martin's cuffed wrists as the lanky gent leaned back on a 4-track mixing desk during some session long since evaporated into the nebula of Swinging London's storied ethers.

[Robi Saint Antoine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This semi-rare book is one of my prized possessions. As a huge recording technology amateur historian and someone who places the Beatles at the pinnacle of my obsession with songwriting, recording, and the milieu in which all this takes place, my treasured Hardcover copy of Recording The Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used To Record Their Classic Albums is beyond just a stellar resource and textbook of Abbey Road recording methodology... It is a historical touchpoint for those many people that crave to know all things Beatle. Legendary.

[Thom Osburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning, high quality reference tome.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally for the AR in music lovers of recording techniques and just all the details of the fab 4. Big and heavy, has taken 3 years to call it done.

[Ethan Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING! Not for the technically faint of heart or even most hard core Beatles music fans. This is for engineers and folks that live, breath and love studio work. Of course the most interesting sections in this huge book are brief and usually clinically delivered tales from beneath the red light in Abbey Rd. studio A and B but this book goes just about down to the diodes and serial numbers and which Fairchild compressor was used for take number 7 and then switched out for unknown reasons with a different Fairchild for take number 9 of Taxman (fictional example). I recently got the Beatles complete remasters both mono and stereo and a good friend lent me this huge and beautiful book. It has been a joy to read along about sessions both the technical aspects and the anecdotes while listening to the remaster box sets. Only in the world of the Beatles can you read a 600 page book that catalogs every technical detail of a bands entire career in recording and be left with a deeper mystery about how and why things were done the way they were.
The book is forgivingly broken into 4 sections: 1. EMI studios & personnel. 2. Studio Equipment 3. Effects & More 4. Production. So if you are not a die hard for studio equipment but want to pour through session tales and see diagrams of how the Beatles set up and performed in the studio, the kinds of amps and guitars they used on a particular session the book is set up nicely for this kind of cherry picking.

[Christopher Struck · Rating 5 out of 5]

I placed the order in late October 2009 and the it finally arrived in mid-February 2010! The book is 11 lbs. (!!!) and comes in a box that looks like an old 2" tape reel box! Not something to read through in one sitting (!), but more to savor it over the long haul. It also includes some fun bonus stuff: A postcard from George Martin on holiday in Montserrat, "discovering" the location for AIR studios; A bookmark with a picture of an old Neumann Mic; A poster of the REDD mixing desk; An internal memo about the arrival of the first 8-track machine and why it couldn't be used with their 4-track desks; some track sheets from sessions, etc. Absolutely incredible. This is the technical fan's dream come true!

[Kirk Kiefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Possibly the most amazing book available on The Beatles' music. Lewisohn's "The Beatles Recording Sessions" is simply summary compared to the detail found in Recording The Beatles.

Ever wonder where each band member stood on the studio? What mics were used on what instruments? Every detail is available here, thanks to the copious documentation Abbey Road engineers filled out during the original session and Ryan and Kehew's research.

Also included is a history of Abbey Road itself which is interesting in showing its history of innovation. Worth its weight in gold.

[Ingrid Fong-Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saved up for almost a year to buy this, then I loaned it to a friend for months (that's love, by the way), but the wait was worth it! More of a reference book in some respects, though for die-hard fans it can also be a good brain-tickle for just perusing in your spare time, if only for beating your friends at seemingly meaningless but actually useful (says me) Beatles trivia.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wish fulfilled. Once you get past the technical jargon you suddenly find that you are about as close as you'll ever get to the actual happenings of a Beatles' recording session. Many myths expeller pressed.

[SeaOfSound · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exhausting! The definitive book on the Beatles recordings and gear used on their sessions at Abbey Road.

[Shelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Beatle geek's Bible ... a unbelieveable tome.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite band so i loved reading about them.