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Wednesday, August 6, 1969

Recording "Here Comes The Sun", recording and mixing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

For The Beatles

Last updated on December 27, 2021


Master session

Location

  • Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

  • Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

  • Recording studio: EMI Studios, Room 43, Abbey Road

Timeline

AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Abbey Road" LP

On this day, overdubs were added onto George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” and Paul McCartney’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“, in two concurrent sessions.

I got involved in the last three weeks of Abbey Road. They kept two studios running and I would be asked to sit in the studio two or three – usually three – just to be there, at the Beatles’ beck and call, whenever someone wanted to come in and do an overdub. At this stage of the album, I don’t think I saw the four of them together.

Tony Clark​ – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn

From 2:30 pm to 11 pm, George was in Studio Three, to add guitar overdubs onto take 15 of “Here Comes The Sun“. More guitar overdubs would be added to it, on August 11.


Meanwhile, Paul was in Room 43, where George’s Moog synthesizer had been installed early August, to work on “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“. The signal of the Moog was fed into the control room of Studio Two, where the engineering team recorded the overdubs.

Paul used the Moog for the solo in ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,’ but the notes were not from the keyboard. He did that with a continuous ribbon-slide thing, just moving his finger up and down on an endless ribbon. It’s very difficult to find the right notes, rather like a violin, but Paul picked it up straight away. He can pick up anything musical in a couple of days.

Alan Parsons, engineer – From “Solid State” by Kenneth Womack

I suppose we were still influenced by real sounds and we were still trying to get sounds that were like instruments we knew more than synthetic sounds, but nevertheless, there was a floaty mystical thing about the sound on ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.’

George Martin, producer – From “The Producer Series”, Part 2, interview by Ralph Denver, February 1985 – Quoted in “Solid State” by Kenneth Womack

Several reduction mixes of take 21 were made (named takes 22 to 27) before three Moog overdubs were added onto tracks four, five and six of take 27.

From 11 pm to 1 am, ten attempts at creating a stereo mix of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” were made – they were numbered 14 to 26, as there were no mix 19, 20 or 21. Remix number 18 was considered to be the best but some further attempts would be done on August 12, 1969.


Session activities

  1. Here Comes The Sun

    Written by George Harrison

    Recording • SI onto take 15

  2. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 22, with simultaneous SI

  3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 23, with simultaneous SI

  4. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 24, with simultaneous SI

  5. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 25, with simultaneous SI

  6. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 26, with simultaneous SI

  7. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 27, with simultaneous SI

  8. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 14 from take 27

  9. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 15 from take 27

  10. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 16 from take 27

  11. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 17 from take 27

  12. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 18 from take 27

  13. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 22 from take 27

  14. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 23 from take 27

  15. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 24 from take 27

  16. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 25 from take 27

  17. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 26 from take 27


Staff

Musicians on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

Musicians on "Here Comes The Sun"

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

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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