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Friday, March 31, 1967

Recording and mixing "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!", mixing "With A Little Help From My Friends"

For The Beatles

Last updated on January 17, 2024

This 7 pm – 3 am session saw the completion of “With A Little Help From My Friends” and “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!


With A Little Help From My Friends” was recorded during the two previous sessions, on March 29 and March 30. On this day, fifteen attempts at mixing Take 11 in mono were made, using Artificial Double Tracking (ADT). Remix Mono 15 was considered the best and was released on the mono version of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”


On February 17, 1967, The Beatles started recording “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, laying down its rhythm track along with the lead and backing vocals. On February 20, they created sound effects to evoke the vivid imagery of a bustling fairground or a whimsical circus. More than a month later, on March 28 and March 29, they added various overdubs onto Take 9.

On this day, George Martin enhanced the track coda, adding some more organ and a glockenspiel part, an instrument akin to a xylophone. Those final flourishes ended the recording of the track.

With the recording completed, the mixing process started. A series of mono mixes, named Remix Mono 1 to 7, were created from Take 9. John Lennon’s vocals were treated with ADT (artificial double tracking). Additionally, the sound effects pieced together on February 20 were once again integrated into the track. Of the various mixes created, RM4 was considered the best version and served as the mono release version of the song.

Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!” was mixed in stereo on April 7.


Session activities

  1. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 11

  2. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 11

  3. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 11

  4. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 11

  5. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from take 11

  6. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 6 from take 11

  7. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 7 from take 11

  8. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 8 from take 11

  9. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 9 from take 11

  10. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 10 from take 11

  11. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 11 from take 11

  12. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 12 from take 11

  13. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 13 from take 11

  14. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 14 from take 11

  15. With A Little Help From My Friends

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 15 from take 11

  16. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • SI onto take 9

  17. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 9

  18. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 9

  19. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 9

  20. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 9

    AlbumOfficially released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Mono)

  21. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from take 9

  22. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 6 from take 9

  23. Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 7 from take 9


Staff

Musicians on "Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!"

Production staff


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!

Shop on Amazon

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.

Shop on Amazon

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.

Read more on The Beatles Bible

Paul McCartney writing

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