Friday, April 7, 1967
Mixing "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Fixing A Hole", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
For The Beatles
Last updated on August 20, 2024
Friday, April 7, 1967
For The Beatles
Last updated on August 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 Two, Abbey Road
Article April 06-08, 1967 • Paul McCartney and Jane Asher's Denver vacation
Session Apr 06, 1967 • Mixing "Good Morning Good Morning" and crossfades for the Sgt. Pepper album
Session Apr 07, 1967 • Mixing "With A Little Help From My Friends", "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Fixing A Hole", "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Article April 09 or 10, 1967 • Paul McCartney joins the board of the Monterey International Pop Festival
Article Apr 09, 1967 • Paul McCartney and Mal Evans flies from Denver to Los Angeles
Next session Apr 10, 1967 • "Vega-Tables" session with The Beach Boys
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 this day, from 7 pm to 1 am, the engineering team, formed of producer George Martin and engineers Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush, worked on stereo mixes of various “Sgt. Pepper” tracks as well as stereo mixes on crossfades between some songs.
Paul McCartney didn’t attend the session as he was enjoying a ten-day break in the US to visit his girlfriend Jane Asher. Probably, the other Beatles didn’t participate in this session, as explained by Richard Lush:
The only real version of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the mono version. The Beatles were there for all the mono mixes. Then, after the album was finished, George Martin, Geoff [Emerick] and I did the stereo in a few days, just the three of us, without a Beatle in sight. There are all sorts of things on the mono, little effects here and there, which the stereo doesn’t have.”
Richard Lush – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988
To put together the “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” master tape, it was decided that there would be no gaps or rills between the tracks and that some tracks would be linked using crossfades.
The crossfades between “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “With A Little Help From My Friends” and between “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “A Day In The Life” were made on this day for the stereo version of the album (the crossfades for the mono version had been done the previous day).
“With A Little Help From My Friends” was mixed in mono on March 31, 1967. On this day, Remixes Stereo 1 to 3 were created from Take 11, with RS3 serving as the stereo release version of the song.
“Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!“ was mixed in mono on March 31, 1967. On this day, eight attempts at creating the stereo mix, named Remix Stereo 1 to 8, were made from Take 9. Like for the mono mix, John Lennon’s vocals were treated with ADT (artificial double tracking), and the sound effects pieced together on February 20 were once again integrated into the track. RS8 served as the stereo release version of the track.
Mono [a] has more of the organ tape loops in the break after “Henry the horse dances the waltz”, perhaps a track not faded up in the mix of [b]?
From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations
“Fixing A Hole” was mixed in mono on February 21, 1967. On this day, only one attempt, named Remix Stereo 1, was needed to create the stereo release version of the song from Take 3.
“Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds” was mixed in mono on March 3, 1967. On this day, five attempts, named Remixes Stereo 1 to 5, were created from Take 8. RS5 served as the stereo release version of the track.
Mono [a] has quite a bit of “phasing” not in [b – Stereo] – phasing is ADT with deliberate tape speed manipulation (“flanging”) for a classic pyschedelic effect. Note especially the third “Lucy” line in the first refrain, but it continues, notable again in second refrain and in instrumental part leading to third refrain. Stereo [b] sounds more natural but [a] is evidently what was desired.
From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations
Crossfades for LP
Mixing • Stereo mixing
With A Little Help From My Friends
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 11
With A Little Help From My Friends
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 11
With A Little Help From My Friends
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 3 from take 11
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 3 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 4 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 5 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 6 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 7 from take 9
Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 8 from take 9
AlbumOfficially released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Stereo)
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 3
AlbumOfficially released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Stereo)
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 8
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 8
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 3 from take 8
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 4 from take 8
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 5 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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