Friday, May 12, 1967
Recording and mixing "All Together Now"
For The Beatles
Last updated on May 12, 2024
Friday, May 12, 1967
For The Beatles
Last updated on May 12, 2024
“Yellow Submarine” soundtrack sessions
Feb 13, 1967 - Oct 29, 1968 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Yellow Submarine (Mono)
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session May 09, 1967 • Jamming
Session May 11, 1967 • Recording and mixing "Baby, You're A Rich Man"
Session May 12, 1967 • Recording and mixing "All Together Now"
Article May 1967 • Paul McCartney spends time in his farm in Scotland
Article May 15, 1967 • Paul McCartney meets Linda Eastman
Next session May 17, 1967 • Recording "You Know My Name (Look Up That Number)"
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Yellow Submarine (Mono)" LP.
On the previous day, The Beatles recorded and mixed “Baby, You’re A Rich Man” song during a six-hour session. In a similar fashion, on this day from 7 pm to 12:30 am, they recorded and mixed “All Together Now,” a song for the Yellow Submarine animated film soundtrack.
George Martin was absent from this session, and balance engineer Geoff Emerick took over as a producer.
“All Together Now” was recorded in nine takes. The backing track featured Paul McCartney and George Harrison on acoustic guitars, John Lennon on harmonica, and Ringo Starr on drums. Some unknown studio guests also contributed some cog rattle, horn and tambourine. Take 9 was considered the best and received some overdubs.
Paul overdubbed his bass part, and Paul and John added lead vocals. Also, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and some studio guests added backing vocals. Additional percussions, such as drumsticks and finger cymbals, were also added, as well as handclaps.
Six mono mixes, labelled as Remix Mono 1 to 6, were then created. Some ADT (artificial double tracking) was added to the vocals. RM6 was used in the original Yellow Submarine film and released on the “Mono Masters” album in 2009. The mono version released on the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack was a mono made from the stereo mix, which was created more than a year later, on October 29, 1968.
In mid-May, George Martin took off for a two-week holiday in the south of France. The Beatles nonetheless soldiered on without him, and I was officially listed on the tape box as both producer and engineer of the two songs they recorded in his absence: Paul’s “All Together Now” and an unusual collaboration between John and Paul called “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).” Frankly, George going on vacation in the middle of these sessions did not go down well in anybody’s book. We were all tired [from recording the “Sgt. Pepper” album] yet he was the only one taking time off. By this point, I doubt very much if the band were crediting George Martin with their success anyway. In fact, they probably welcomed the opportunity to get some work done without him. […]
Lennon, in fact, made a comment at the start of the “All Together Now” session to the effect of “Well, now that the schoolmaster’s out, we kids finally get a chance to play.” Interestingly, the last time the Beatles had done a recording in George’s absence was the song “Yellow Submarine,” during the Revolver sessions, which was remarkably similar to “All Together Now” in both content and style. And both times, the Beatles invited friends in to sing along and create a party atmosphere. Paul obviously had worked the song out well in advance and knew exactly what he wanted: all the singing and playing is spot-on, despite the fact that it’s not that strong of a song (ultimately it was relegated to the Yellow Submarine film). Still, it was a remarkably productive night, and it was quite an easy session, too, even though there were a lot of overdubs. A lot of it had to be played live, because they wanted the tempo to speed up from beginning to end. Paul even sang the final lead vocal — not a guide — during the recording of the backing track, while accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.
Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006
Recording • Take 1
Recording • Take 2
Recording • Take 3
Recording • Take 4
Recording • Take 5
Recording • Take 6
Recording • Take 7
Recording • Take 8
Recording • Take 9
Recording • SI onto take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from take 9
Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 6 from take 9
AlbumOfficially released on Mono Masters (Mono - 2009 remaster)
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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