"The Beatles" (aka the White Album) sessions
May 30 - Oct 18, 1968 • Songs recorded during this session appear on The Beatles (Mono)
Recording studio: Trident Studios, London, UK
Session Aug 01, 1968 • Recording "Hey Jude"
Article Aug 02, 1968 • "Thingumybob" series premieres on UK TV
Session Aug 02, 1968 • Mixing "Hey Jude"
Article Aug 04, 1968 • "Yellow Submarine" general release in the UK
Session Aug 06, 1968 • Mixing "Hey Jude"
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Hey Jude / Revolution" 7" Single
The recording of “Hey Jude” was completed over two days at Trident Studios, on July 31 and August 1, 1968. On this day, The Beatles began the mixing process at the same studio.
The session extended from 2 pm to 1:30 am, during which only three stereo mixes were made, with the final one deemed the best. Nonetheless, these stereo mixes were ultimately not used. Instead, “Hey Jude” was mixed in stereo on December 5, 1969, for its inclusion on the eponym US album released in February 1970.
Work on the mono mix started on August 6, still at Trident Studios.
[…] The next day we went back to Trident to do the final “remix” job on the tapes and by Friday afternoon we had the first rough discs, the advance acetates as they are called, back up at the Apple offices for everyone to hear.
Mal Evans – From The Beatles Monthly Book, September 1968, N°62
I had the good fortune of being invited to attend the end of that session. They had pretty much recorded everything, and they were in the process of starting to mix it. I arrived and heard “Hey Jude” on the gigantic Tannoy speakers at Trident Studios, and it totally blew my mind. If you can imagine hearing that song for the very first time, when you have no idea where it’s going musically, it was an extraordinary experience.
Peter Asher – From “The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour“, 2019
I went over there to have a listen after the mix was completed and Barry Sheffield, who had engineered the Trident sessions, played it for me. The control room had these huge Lockwood cabinets with Tannoy speakers in them, which I had never seen nor heard before, and when they played me the mix I was just blown away. It was louder and clearer than anything I had ever heard. Everything sounded amazing.
Ken Scott – From “Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust“, 2012
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 1
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 1
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 3 from take 1
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 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)
The fourth book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)" captures The Beatles as they take the lessons of Sgt. Pepper forward with an ambitious double-album that is equally innovative and progressive. 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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