Recording and mixing "Oh! Darling", "Octopus's Garden"
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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Abbey Road LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Songs recorded
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
Written by Ringo Starr
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 14 from take 32
Album Officially released on Abbey Road
Staff
Musicians on "Oh! Darling"
- Paul McCartney:
- Lead vocals
Musicians on "Octopus's Garden"
Production staff
About
As he did on July 17, Paul McCartney arrived early at EMI Studios to re-record the lead vocals of “Oh! Darling“. Not satisfied, he would try again on July 22 and July 23.
Perhaps my main memory of the Abbey Road sessions is of Paul coming into studio three at two o’clock or 2.30 each afternoon, on his own, to do the vocal on Oh! Darling. […] Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal on Oh! Darling. He’d come in, sing it and say ‘No, that’s not it, I’ll try it again tomorrow’. He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. […]
Alan Parsons, engineer – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn
Once Paul was done with “Oh! Darling“, The Beatles focused on Ringo Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden“, which had received some overdubs on the previous day.
With only two open tracks remaining and three vocal parts to be recorded, in order to accomplish the double-tracked lead vocal for Octopus’s Garden, an undocumented tape reduction with simultaneous superimposition was required.
From “The Beatles Recording Reference Manual – Volume 5” by Jerry Hammack
A decision was made to re-record Ringo’s lead vocals. Paul and George Harrison recorded some additional backing vocals, and Ringo added tom-tom beats from his drum kit.
In the end, the eight-track tape contained bass on track one, drums on two, bubbly sound effects and wobbled ‘underwater vocals’ on three, bass notes of a piano and a guitar doubling them on four, tom-tom beats and backing vocals by Paul and George on five; more backing vocals by Paul and George and a lead vocal overdubbed on six, piano and George’s lead guitar on seven, John’s guitar on eight.
From “Abbey Road” Super Deluxe edition book (2019) by Kevin Howlett
At 8 pm, the recording of “Octopus’s Garden” was over.
From 8 pm to 10:30 pm, time was spent mixing the track in mono and stereo. The final stereo mix made on the day was the one released on “Abbey Road“.
Last updated on December 26, 2021