Thursday, August 21, 1969
Mixing the "Abbey Road" medley
For The Beatles
Last updated on December 28, 2021
Thursday, August 21, 1969
For The Beatles
Last updated on December 28, 2021
Feb 22 - Aug 25, 1969 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Abbey Road
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
Previous session Aug 20, 1969 • Mixing "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Article Aug 21, 1969 • Adagrose Ltd becomes McCartney Productions Ltd
Article Aug 21, 1969 • Apple Corps' first annual general meeting
Session Aug 21, 1969 • Mixing the "Abbey Road" medley
Article Aug 22, 1969 • The Beatles' last photo session
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Abbey Road" LP
At this late stage (the master tape of the “Abbey Road” album had been done the previous day), it was discovered that the orchestra on “The End” was slightly out of sync with The Beatles’ performance. So on this day, from 1 pm to 2 pm, in EMI Studios Room 4, engineer Phil McDonald was tasked to do some tape copying to extract the orchestra track on another tape.
A second session was then held in the control room of Studio Two, from 2:30 pm to 12 pm.
On August 14, eleven attempts at crossfading “You Never Give Me Your Money” into “Sun King / Mean Mr. Mustard” were made, using the tape loops assembled by Paul McCartney on August 5. On this day, another attempt was made, which would be the one released on the “Abbey Road” album.
“The End” was then remixed to fix the sync issue with the orchestra. Only one remix (named remix 4) was needed. This was the one released on the “Abbey Road” album, pending a last edit done on August 25.
To correct this, track three with the strings and brass was transferred to another tape and ‘flown in’ from another machine during mixing.
From “Abbey Road” Super Deluxe edition book (2019)
Those changes were then reinserted into the master reel for the album.
Tape copying • Tape copying (take 7)
Mixing • Stereo crossfade remix 12, from sound effects take 5 of "You Never Give Me Your Money"
Mixing • Remix 4, from take 7
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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