Abbey Road Studios

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The legendary recording studio

Abbey Road Studios, created in November of 1931 by EMI in London, England is best known as the legendary recording studio used by the rock bands The Beatles, Cliff Richard, Pink Floyd and The Shadows. The studios are located in Abbey Road, in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster.

History

Built as a Georgian townhouse in 1831, the premises were acquired by The Gramophone Company in 1931 and converted into studios. The neighbouring house is also owned by the studio and used to house musicians. During the mid-1900s the studio was extensively used by leading British conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, whose house was just around the corner from the studio.

The iconic album cover. The studios are just off the picture to the left.
Abbey Road as it looks today.

The Gramophone Company later amalgamated with Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI which took over the studios. The studios were then known as EMI studios until they changed their name to Abbey Road Studios formally in the 1970s.

Studio Two at Abbey Road became a centre of rock music in 1958 when Cliff Richard and the Drifters (later Cliff Richard and The Shadows), recorded Move It, arguably the first European rock 'n' roll single. It also witnessed the beginnings of a change from "rock 'n' roll" to "Rock". The Beatles also found great success in Studio Two, and during the early-to-mid-'60s, The Beatles and Cliff and The Shadows became almost like joint owners of the studio, with friendly battles for recording time.

It was The Beatles who broke with tradition, changing recording techniques, and forever changing the boundaries of what was considered Popular music. Innovating with flanging, backwards recording, automatic double tracking, and controlled feedback, The Beatles utilised Abbey Road studios to full effect.

Abbey Road Studios is most closely associated with The Beatles, who recorded almost all of their albums and singles there between 1962 and 1970. The Beatles named their 1969 album, Abbey Road, after the street where the studio is located (the recording studio, formerly called EMI Studios, would only be named Abbey Road after The Beatles record in 1970). The cover photo for that album was taken by Iain MacMillan outside Abbey Road studios, with the result that the pedestrian zebra crossing outside the studio, where the Fab Four were photographed, soon became a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans from all over the world. Among the less desirable effects of this notoreity has been the unsightly graffiti written on the studio fence by visitors and the regular theft of road signs. Pink Floyd recorded all their late '60s to mid-1970s studio albums (from The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, up to Wish You Were Here, including the breakthrough The Dark Side of the Moon) at the studio as well. Syd Barrett also recorded Barrett here. Elliott Smith also recorded In the Lost and Found from his Figure 8 album at the studio.

File:Abbey Road Studio 2.jpg
Abbey Road Studio Two

The Shadows named their Live At Abbey Road album after the studio, with the cover spoofing The Beatles' album. Studio Two was also used by the Hollies, Manfred Mann, the Seekers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Martin Briley and others.

Notable producers and engineers who have worked at Abbey Road include Sir George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Norman "Hurricane" Smith, Ken Scott, Mike Stone, Alan Parsons, Phil McDonald, Richard Lush and Ken Townshend, who invented the groundbreaking studio effect known as automatic double tracking (ADT). The chief mastering engineer at Abbey Road was Chris "Vinyl" Blair, who started his career early on as a tape deck operator. He worked his way up the ranks to get to the top. A highlight of Chris's career was receiving an award for Radiohead's Kid A. Chris died on November 7 2005.

Kanye West had a live concert in the Abbey Road Studios in late 2005, following the release of the live-album version of Late Registration. Featured on the cover is his mascot, Drop Out Bear, on Abbey Road street (imitation of The Beatles cover).

In March/April 2005 Abbey Road Studios held a film festival. It included a tour of Studio One and Studio Two (excluding control rooms). They displayed several films in Studio One associated with the studio and a photographic exhibition in Studio Two. Also on display were several microphones, two upright pianos and a Hammond Organ.

U2 will be recording their new album with Greg Fidelman and Rick Rubin at Abbey Road Studios in September 2006. [1], and they are recording a song with Green Day for The Edge's Music Rising [2]

Film scores

Abbey Road Studios got its start in the film scoring business in 1980, when Anvil Post Production formed a partnership with the studio, called Anvil-Abbey Road Screen Sound. The partnership started when Anvil was left without a scoring stage when Korda Studios were demolished. It ended in 1984, when EMI merged with Thorn to become Thorn EMI.

Abbey Road's success in the scoring business continued after the partnership ended. Films whose scores were recorded at the studios include:

External links

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