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
Session Feb 22, 1967 • Recording and mixing "A Day In The Life"
Session Feb 23, 1967 • Mixing "A Day In The Life", recording "Lovely Rita"
Session Feb 24, 1967 • Recording "Lovely Rita"
Article Feb 25, 1967 • Beatles photoshoot with Henry Grossman
Interview Feb 25, 1967 • Paul McCartney interview for Melody Maker
Next session Feb 28, 1967 • Recording "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK Mono)" LP.
On the day before, The Beatles recorded the basic track of “Lovely Rita“. On this day’s session, which lasted from 7 pm to 1:15 am, Paul McCartney added his lead vocals to the song. Take 9 was used to record his vocals onto tracks three and four.
As the four tracks of the tape were full, two reduction mixes, named Take 10 and Take 11, were made using frequency control and created at a slightly slower-than-normal speed. Paul’s two vocal tracks were merged onto track three using ADT (artificial double tracking), his bass remained on track two, and the other instruments remained on track one. Take 11 was considered the best, and received additional overdubs in subsequent sessions.
Some sources (like “That Magic Feeling: The Beatles’ Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966-1970” by John C. Winn) indicate that, during this session, The Beatles were visited by a few notable musicians including Tony Hicks of the Hollies, David Crosby of the Byrds, Shawn Phillips, and the brother of Ravi Shankar, George Harrison’s sitar teacher. The April 1967 edition of Beat Instrumental published a report on the session stating “This particular session was concerned with completing the vocal by Paul, John and George over a backing track.” Additionally, in various interviews, Shawn Phillips claimed that he contributed to the backing vocals of “Lovely Rita“. On March 7, the work on “Lovely Rita” continued with the recording of the backing vocals; these visitors were likely present at this session, instead of the February 24 session. This is however slightly at odds with Geoff Emerick’s recollection that “There were a few visitors to the studio [on March 7], including Davy Jones of the Monkees.”
Even though we had worked so long and so late, we were back in the studio the next evening at seven. Now we set to on Paul’s vocals, with the tape-machine running at forty-six-and-a-half cycles, so that his voice sounded faster and higher in pitch on replay at the normal speed. At this stage the song had a much longer piano introduction, which we cut down later. Although we did nothing other than work on the vocals that night, we still ended up working until 1.15 in the morning.
George Martin – From “With A Little Help From My Friends: The Making of Sgt. Pepper“, 1995
Recording • SI onto take 9
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 9 into take 10
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 9 into take 11
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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