Thursday, February 16, 1967
For The Beatles
Last updated on January 20, 2024
Recording "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
Nov 24, 1966 - Apr 20, 1967 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Mono)
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Feb 14, 1967 • Recording and mixing "Only A Northern Song"
Article Feb 16, 1967 • "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" music videos shown on Top Of The Pops
Session Feb 16, 1967 • Recording and mixing "Good morning good morning"
Session Feb 17, 1967 • Recording "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Single Feb 17, 1967 • "Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane" by The Beatles released in the UK
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Mono)" LP
On February 8, 1967, The Beatles recorded the rhythm track of John Lennon’s song “Good Morning Good Morning.”
Eight days later, on February 16, 1967, they continued working on the track in EMI Studios Studio Three, which was smaller than their usual Studio Two. They added overdubs to Take 8 during this session.
John Lennon sang the lead vocals on track four, while Paul McCartney played bass on track three. Take 8 with those overdubs was released on “Anthology 2” in 2016 and re-released, with a different mix, in the 2017 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” box set.
After creating a rough mono mix with ADT (Artificial Double Tracking) applied to John’s lead vocals, the engineering team spent time creating two reduction mixes, named Take 9 and Take 10. All instruments were put on track one, while vocals remained on track four. Take 10 was deemed the best and received some overdubs on March 13, 1967.
The session, which began at 7 pm, ended at 1:45 am.
After completing the backing track to “Good Morning, Good Morning,” the song received a few perfunctory overdubs and then sat on the shelf for the next three weeks while an indecisive Lennon made up his mind what kind of instrumentation he wanted added.
Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006
Recording • SI onto take 8
AlbumOfficially released on Anthology 2
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 8 into take 9
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 8 into take 10
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 8
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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