Recording "Getting Better"

The previous day, March 9, 1967, The Beatles began recording Paul McCartney’s song “Getting Better.” During this session, engineers Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush were not present, and were replaced by Malcolm Addey and Ken Townsend, assisted by Graham Kirkby. They recorded the basic track and ended the session with a reduction mix, called Take 12, where all the instruments were placed on track one.

On this day, March 10, Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush returned, and various overdubs were added onto Take 12 during a 7 pm – 4 am session. Paul McCartney recorded a bass part and Ringo Starr added snare and hi-hat to reinforce the drum part recorded the previous day. Those parts were double-tracked and filled tracks two and three. George Harrison then added a droning tamboura part on track four.

Additionally, according to Geoff Emerick, “George Martin added an interesting new texture, by playing selected notes on a Virginal, a miniature harpsichord which he owned and brought in specially for the session.” George Martin however mentions that he “played the piano — with a mallet. Not great fun for the piano, maybe — getting bashed right in the vitals — but a great sound, which was just right.“

The state of “Getting Better” at the end of this session was released in the 2017 “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” box set.

Work on “Getting Better” continued on March 21, 1967.

Malcolm Addey – he of the cigar and never-ending chatter – filled in for me that evening… Ken Townsend was recruited to substitute for Richard [Lush]. Ken was really a maintenance engineer, but I suppose George [Martin] just wanted a familiar face around, someone whom the group had at least met before.

I suspected that the four Beatles were annoyed that I wasn’t there – there was no way they wanted a stranger engineering their sessions – and the next night, when I returned, my suspicions were confirmed.

“Glad to have you back, Geoff,” George Harrison said as soon as he walked in the door. Malcolm had clearly gotten on his nerves.

When we played back the tapes of the previous evening’s work in the control room, Ringo chimed in. “The drums sound a bit naff, don’t you think?”

George Harrison didn’t even wait for an answer. “Little wonder, considering that Malcolm didn’t shut up long enough to get a decent drum sound.”

I had to agree with Ringo’s opinion, but I was surprised that he hadn’t said anything to Addey the night before, because he usually wasn’t shy about expressing his opinion if he heard something he didn’t like. Perhaps he just couldn’t get a word in edgewise! Malcolm had obviously utilized his own setup for recording the drums. Territorial as he was, there was no way he was going to use my configuration. I thought the snare sound was especially lacking, and it took a lot of work during the mixing stage to get the track to fit in sonically with the rest of the album.

That night, George Harrison was overdubbing his tamboura, which may have been another reason why he was in a good mood and was being unusually friendly toward me. Other than the Ravi Shankar session, pretty much the only time I interacted with him was when I was twiddling the controls of his guitar amplifier down in the studio to get sounds; often just the minutest adjustment made a huge sonic difference. The Beatles didn’t have a lot of gear in the studio: apart from Ringo’s drum kit, there were a dozen or so guitars and three or four guitar amps, and that was about it. But everything was tube — there wasn’t a transistor in sight — and that had a lot to do with how good the guitar and bass sounds were.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

After we finished the overdubs on “Getting Better’ — George Harrison playing a drone on tamboura, Ringo on open hi-hat, and George Martin adding an interesting new texture by playing selected notes on a Virginal (a miniature harpsichord which he owned and brought in specially for the session ) — the three of them, plus John, headed out the door; it had been a tiring session and it was well past midnight. But it was a Friday, with a whole weekend ahead to recover, so Paul decided to stay behind with Richard and me, and we dutifully pulled his amp out into the middle of the room for another long marathon of laying down the bass part. I decided to surreptitiously add just a touch of reverb to the bass that night, using the bathroom as an acoustic echo chamber. It was an effect that Paul normally didn’t like, but I was looking for a little extra roundness, so I decided to try it. When he heard the playback, Paul immediately realized what I had done and screwed his face up, but he went along with it for just that one song.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

After two nights of not very productive work I transferred our first, four-track tape to a second, creating a new basic master. This had most of the backing on Track 1, but I kept the drums and bass guitar separate on Track 2. Meanwhile, on Track 3 we added piano and the tamboura. I played the piano — with a mallet. Not great fun for the piano, maybe — getting bashed right in the vitals — but a great sound, which was just right.

George Martin – From “With A Little Help From My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper“, 1995 – This doesn’t match what other authors like Mark Lewisohn, Jerry Hammack, Kevin Howlett or Geoff Emerick said about this particular session.

Session activities

1. Getting Better

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 12

   AlbumOfficially released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (50th anniversary boxset)

Staff

Musicians on "Getting Better"

Production staff

Going further

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