Recording "Revolution", recording and mixing "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Songs recorded
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Staff
Musicians on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"
- Paul McCartney:
- Bass part on distorted acoustic guitar
- Rex Morris:
- Saxophone ?
- Ronnie Scott:
- Saxophone ?
- ?:
- Saxophone
Musicians on "Revolution"
- Paul McCartney:
- Bass
- Nicky Hopkins:
- Electric piano
Production staff
- George Martin:
- Producer
- Geoff Emerick:
- Engineer
- Phil McDonald:
- Second Engineer
- Richard Lush:
- Second Engineer
About
Work on “Revolution” had started on the previous day, and further overdubs were added on this day to what would become the B-side of the next Beatles single.
The first session of the day (from 4pm to 7pm) was mostly spent overdubbing an electric piano, played by Nicky Hopkins, onto take 15. On June 25, during the recording session of “Sour Milk Sea” for the Apple artist Jackie Lomax, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr had worked with this session player – and somehow he was brought in for this Beatles session.
For the second session of the day (from 7pm to 3:45pm), The Beatles returned to “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da“. Three saxophones were added onto take 22. The names of the saxophonists were not documented, but two of them are thought to be Rex Morris and Ronnie Scott. Two tape reductions (named take 23 and take 24) were done, and Paul McCartney overdubbed another bass track, played with an acoustic guitar, onto take 23:
And then I put the bass on after [sings bassline] and then double-tracked it with an acoustic guitar. That’s a cool idea, an octave up from the bass, playing exactly the same. And acoustic.
Paul McCartney – From Interview: Paul McCartney on His Life as a Bassist | | Reverb News – interview with Tony Bacon, 1994
Additional work on “Revolution” was then done. A tape reduction was made, take 15 becoming take 16. Paul then added his bass guitar part.
At the end of this day, two rough mono mixes of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” had been done, and “Revolution” was near completion. The Beatles would continue working on those two songs on the following day.
Last updated on September 4, 2021