Recording and mixing "Julia", "Dear Prudence", "Wild Honey Pie", "Back In The U.S.S.R.", "Blackbird"

The session took place on a Sunday due to the looming deadline for The Beatles to finish the White Album.

On that day, “Julia” by John Lennon was recorded, and mixed. It was the final track to be recorded for the White Album and featured John in a solo capacity, playing acoustic guitar and providing vocals.

Following several rehearsals, some of which appeared on the 50th-anniversary edition of the White Album in 2018, three official takes were completed. Take 2 was included on Anthology 3 in 1996, while take 3 was deemed the best.

Only three takes were logged on the recording sheet. However, during research for this 50th anniversary project, there was a jaw-dropping surprise. When listening to all of the four-track tape for the session, it was discovered that the three ‘proper’ takes had been recorded over a tape of John’s rehearsals from earlier in the session. Following the master, take three, some of those rehearsals remained on the reel. CD Six – Sessions Track 18 features the last 4’25” of audio on the tape.

From “The Beatles” Super Deluxe edition book (2018)

John’s gentle ballad Julia – it was his late mother’s name – was quickly and simply recorded on a four-track machine as the 32nd and final new song for the White Album. He performed it solo but was bolstered in his endeavours by Paul, up in the studio two control room, communicating with him by way of the talkback key. Take 2, featured here, is mostly instrumental, John attempting to capture the definitive acoustic guitar track. It broke down, but the next try, Take 3, would prove to be the master, and it was on to this that he overdubbed the vocal track.

From Anthology 3 liner notes

John then double-tracked his vocals as well as his acoustic guitar onto take 3.

Having recorded the first version of take three, he overdubbed a second one alongside it on the four-track tape. He sang different parts of the song in each of the versions. This way, certain sections of the vocal were double-tracked and he could overlap his singing as he moved from chorus to verse on the word “Julia”.

From “The Beatles” Super Deluxe edition book (2018)

The song was then mixed in mono and stereo versions.

Time was then spent on mixing some other tracks for the White Album.

“Dear Prudence” was recorded from August 28 to August 30. A mono mix had been done on October 5 but would not be used. The mono and stereo mixes released on the White Album were done on this day. The engineering team only needed one try to get the stereo mix, which was done first, but then had a slightly harder time perfecting the mono mix, five attempts being made, RM5 being the “keeper”. The stereo mix has slightly more treble than the mono mix, and also fades to a lower volume during the song’s conclusion.

“Blackbird” was recorded on June 11, and mixed on this day, in mono and stereo.

The stereo mix was done first, only one attempt being needed for both the stereo and mono mixes. The mono mix, for some reason, was designated “remix 10” even though only six mono mixes were attempted thus far. The only notable difference between the stereo and mono mixes is the placement of bird sound effects, which were added to the song at this mixing stage. The mono mix leaves the open space in the song completely quiet – quiet enough to pick up the sound of actual birds singing during Paul’s outdoor performance – while the stereo mix includes the blackbirds from the sound-effects tape chirping nicely in the open space of the song.

From beatlesebooks.com

The bird chirping was added during this mixing session, borrowed from the tape “Volume Seven: Birds Of Feather” from the Abbey Road taped sound effects collection.

I taped that on one of the first portable EMI tape-recorders, in my back garden in Ickenham, about 1965. There are two recordings, one of the bird singing, the other making an alarm sound when I startled it.

Stuart Eltham​ – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

Well, it’s simple in concept because you couldn’t think of anything else to put on it. And that’s what I was saying about the ‘Sgt Pepper’ thing– Maybe on Pepper we would have sort of worked on it until we could find some way to put violins or trumpets in there. But I don’t think it needs it, this one. You know, it’s just… There’s nothing to the song. It is just one of those ‘pick it and sing it’ and that’s it. The only point where we were thinking of putting anything on it is where it comes back in the end…. sort of stops and comes back in… but instead of putting any backing on it, we put a blackbird on it. So there’s a blackbird singing at the very end. And somebody said it was a thrush, but I think it’s a blackbird!

Paul McCartney – From interview with Radio Luxembourg, 1968

“Blackbird” was originally mixed in mono the night it was recorded, but Paul decided he would like it remixed in stereo with one final touch: the sound of an actual blackbird. Assistant engineer John Smith was sent to the old tin closet that housed the sound effects library to look for the bird effects. He returned with a tape that had numerous birds, each separated by a few seconds of leader tape. He spooled through the reel of bird sounds and said, “OK, this is the blackbird,” and we laid it down without giving it much thought. A little while later while we were deep into mixing the song with the sound effect, Ken Townsend walked in, gave a quick listen, and said, “The song’s called ‘Blackbird,’ isn’t it?” We all nodded that it was. “Well, why are you using a thrush then?” he asked.

By now the embarrassed John (Smith) was running for the effects reel to do some bird verification. After a quick look at the reel, he realised that he hadn’t gone back far enough on the tape and the actual blackbird sound effect was the one after the one he’d chosen. While the mix we had sounded great, to achieve complete ornithological accuracy we had to do the entire thing again.

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

“Wild Honey Pie” had been recorded on August 20, and the mono mix released on the White Album had been made on the same day. The stereo mix was made on this day.

“Back In The U.S.S.R.” had been recorded on August 22 and 23, and the mono mix had been made on the 23. The stereo mix released on the White Album was made on this day, with some difficulty for the engineering team:

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

This session which had started at 7 pm ended at 6 am.

Session activities

1. Julia

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 1

2. Julia

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 2

3. Julia

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 3

4. Julia

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 3

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Stereo)

5. Dear Prudence

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 1

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Stereo)

6. Wild Honey Pie

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 1

7. Wild Honey Pie

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 1

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Stereo)

8. Back In The U.S.S.R.

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 6

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Stereo)

9. Blackbird

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 32

   AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Stereo)

10. Julia

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 3

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Mono)

11. Dear Prudence

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 1

12. Dear Prudence

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 1

13. Dear Prudence

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 1

14. Dear Prudence

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 1

15. Dear Prudence

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from take 1

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Mono)

16. Blackbird

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 10 from take 32

    AlbumOfficially released on The Beatles (Mono)

Staff

Musicians on "Julia"

Production staff

Going further

• http://www.beatlesebooks.com/dear-prudence

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