Mixing "1" compilation in Dolby Atmos

In March 2022, The Beatles’ “1” compilation was released in Dolby Atmos on streaming platforms.

Unlike the stereo mixes, whose provenance is generally well documented by Apple through labels such as “2015 Mix”, “2017 Mix”, “2022 Mix” or “2023 Mix”, the history of the Beatles’ Dolby Atmos mixes is far less transparent.

Apple rarely identifies whether a Dolby Atmos mix is newly created or simply reused from an earlier release. As a result, the provenance of many Atmos mixes can only be inferred from release dates, official announcements and careful comparison of the various releases.

The situation is particularly unclear for three tracks associated with the 2022 Revolver project: “Paperback Writer“, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Yellow Submarine“. All three were released on the “1″ compilation, before appearing again on the Revolver Special Edition in October 2022.

Although Apple announced that Revolver featured new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes, it has never clarified whether the Atmos versions of these three songs were newly remixed for the project or whether the previously released mixes from 1 were simply reused.

Paul and Ringo are always going, ‘How can we push technology? How can we change the way [you experience it]?’ So it made sense to me to do Sgt. Pepper’s—one of most famous albums of all-time—in new technology, because that’s what The Beatles want. Paul says, ‘I don’t want to be stuck in a museum. I don’t want to be under a glass case. I want people to discover things. I want people to listen to stuff and to explore. I want people to have an opinion about things….’ The Beatles don’t want to be on top of some mountain going, ‘Don’t touch it.’ Some people said to me, ‘Why would you go and do this?’ I go, ‘Because they asked me to!’ I don’t go do this work because I’m bored and there’s a cupboard of Beatles records I need to go look at.

Giles Martin – From Giles Martin on Remixing The Beatles in Spatial Audio, Part Two – Mixonline, March 2, 2022

[Creating a mix] can take half a day or three days, or ages if you get it wrong; it’s as simple as that. The reason was, for a lot of the stuff like the early, early material, we’ll go back into Studio Two where the band recorded and we’ll find a way of re-recording the room so [that] you have ‘Studio Two’ around you when you listen to it. That takes a while. That’s the process—we’re mixing not just the original tracks, but actually capturing ambiance of the room that they’re in [in order] to make it more real…. And sometimes, some tracks just take ages because you just think ‘This doesn’t feel right.’

There’s always a few troublemakers, in all honesty. ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ was tough because of the way it was done. I’m going to get this wrong, [but] it’s got John’s vocal, acoustic guitar and congas on one track; guitar, drums and bass on another track; John and Paul; another guitar, I think, on another track. And it’s that balance [you need to preserve]. If you start splitting [it apart into] Spatial Audio as opposed to mono, the levels change because of compression. There’s a lot of technical stuff that goes on, and to get the same feel was tough with that.

‘A Day in the Life’ sounds really good in Spatial Audio. That was really tough, just because it’s such an important song and it’s…a four track….so it’s an acoustic guitar, piano, shakers and maracas and conga [on one track]; there’s bass and drums [on a track]; there’s a vocal track; and then there’s…all the strings on one track—and you’re thinking, ‘That’s one of the biggest records ever—and it’s only got four things!

Giles Martin – From Giles Martin on Remixing The Beatles in Spatial Audio, Part Two – Mixonline, March 2, 2022

We have an Atmos room here at Abbey Road, and Paul came to listen to Sgt. Pepper. We sat and we listened to it. He wandered around the room—it’s a big room—and said, ‘We were a really good band.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, you were.’ He goes, ‘You know, we were really lucky to have your dad.’ And I said, ‘Well, I think, you know, he was lucky.’ And he goes, ‘And we’re really lucky to have you,’ and I went, ‘Oh God, no, come on.’ You know? ‘I think about how lucky I am.’ He goes, ‘We’re all lucky then.’

So yeah, there’s so much love and passion and care attached, that goes into [these mixes]. And if I can make them happy, and then other people listen to it and they can hear the passion that goes into it, then that’s that a job worthy of being done.

Giles Martin – From Giles Martin on Remixing The Beatles in Spatial Audio, Part Two – Mixonline, March 2, 2022

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Going further

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!

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