Recording and mixing "Back In The U.S.S.R."

The previous day, on August 22, Ringo Starr left the Beatles sessions, only to return 13 days later on September 3.

On that day, from 7 pm to 3 am, The Beatles, now a trio, resumed work on “Back In The U.S.S.R.“

First, Paul McCartney supplemented George Harrison’s drumming from the day before. Next, Paul and George recorded bass parts together, while John Lennon played the snare drum. The next overdubs featured Paul on piano and John and George on electric guitars.

Take 5 with some overdubs was included in the White Album’s 50th anniversary edition released in 2018.

Following this, a tape reduction mix, Take 6, was created. Paul double-tracked his lead vocals, and John and George provided backing vocals and handclaps, completing the recording.

The mono mix (RM1) of “Back In The U.S.S.R.“, released on the mono White Album, was produced on the same day. RM1 was then enriched with the sound of a Viscount airliner, which was recorded at London Airport and sourced from “Volume 17: Jet and Piston Engine Aeroplane” in the Abbey Road sound effects library.

The stereo mix was made on October 13, 1968.

We recorded the basic track of “Back in the U.S.S.R.” first with Paul [sic – George] playing drums, George on lead guitar, and John on bass, but there were parts of Paul’s drum track [sic – George] that just weren’t good enough, so we recorded a second drum track. This time the drums were played by both George [sic – Paul] and John at the same time on the same kit, one of them playing kick and snare while the other played the cymbals and toms, or something like that. Between the two tracks, we got one solid drum track, so we mixed them all together and that’s the drum track that you hear on the record. I never got a chance to record Paul playing drums well, although I know he did do it on a few of the songs on the album that were recorded outside of EMI.

Ken Scott – From “Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust“, 2012

Someone managed to get that tape for me at London Airport. There’s one of it revving up and taking off and one of it landing. It’s a Viscount airplane filed in the library as ‘Volume 17: Jet and Piston Engine Aeroplane.’

Stuart Eltham – Curator of the sound effects library at EMI – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

Paul decided that he wanted the sound of a jet plane on the intro and end of the song. We copied the effect from a tape in the EMI sound effects library and made a loop so that it could be constantly playing and we could bring it into the mix at any time. If you listen to the song carefully, the sound of the jet at the end is totally different from what it sounds like in the beginning because the tape loop was so worn out by the end of the song that there was no high-end left. It also stretched a little, which made it warble a bit as well. I don’t think we could’ve gotten another mix out of it.

Ken Scott – From “Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust“, 2012

For the mono mix everything came out OK, but the stereo mix took a long, long time and I was holding the pencil to keep the effects tape taught. I guess I must have been leaning back on it and started to stretch it, because the mono has this clear, clean lovely jet sound while the stereo is an abomination of a jet sound.

John Smith – Tape operator – from The Beatles super deluxe edition book, 2018

Session activities

1. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 5

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (50th anniversary boxset)

2. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 5 into take 6

3. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 6

4. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 6

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Mono)

5. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 1

6. Rocky Raccoon

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 1

7. Wild Honey Pie

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 6

8. Mother Nature's Son

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 8

9. Sexy Sadie

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape copying of remix mono 5

Staff

Musicians on "Back In The U.S.S.R."

Production staff

Going further

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