Recording the "Magical Mystery Tour" soundtrack
Apr 25 - May 3 and Aug 22 - Nov 17, 1967 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Magical Mystery Tour (US LP - Mono)
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Previous session Nov 07, 1967 • Mixing "Blue Jay Way", "Flying", recording and mixing "Magical Mystery Tour"
Film Nov 10, 1967 • Shooting of "Hello, Goodbye (Version 2)" promo film
Film Nov 10, 1967 • Shooting of "Hello, Goodbye (Version 3)" promo film
Session Nov 15, 1967 • Mixing "Hello, Goodbye"
Article Nov 17, 1967 • The Beatles Ltd. changes its name to Apple Music Ltd.
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Magical Mystery Tour (US LP - Mono)" LP
On November 10, 1967, The Beatles filmed three promotional videos for the single “Hello, Goodbye”. However, the absence of viola players in the videos violated the Musicians’ Union’s rules against miming, which required that all music be performed live.
To avoid breaking the rules, a new mono mix was created on that day without the viola parts. The modified audio was added to the BBC’s copy of the video, but it was ultimately not shown in the UK because The Beatles’ performance made it clear that they were miming.
The BBC had originally planned to air the video on Top Of The Pops on November 23, but the broadcast was cancelled on November 20 due to the Musicians’ Union’s regulations against miming. To replace the video, the BBC sent cameramen to a session for The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour film on November 21 to gather new footage.
However, on November 23, the show aired footage from The Beatles’ 1964 film “A Hard Day’s Night” instead. Eventually, a combination of footage from the edit suite and still photographs was used in the December 7, 1967 edition of Top Of The Pops.
During this short session, which lasted from 10:30 to 11 am, copies were also made of the final mono mixes for “It’s All Too Much,” “All Together Now,” and “Only A Northern Song” for use in the “Yellow Submarine” animated film.
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 10 from take 22
Written by George Harrison
Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 1
Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 6
Written by George Harrison
Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 6
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!
The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)
The third book of this critically - acclaimed series, nominated for the 2019 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) award for Excellence In Historical Recorded Sound, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)" captures the band's most innovative era in its entirety. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.
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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