Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner. Apart from the facility's use as a recording studio, the premises have also been used to remaster many of the classical music recordings made at Kingsway Hall. It is most notable for being the venue in the 1960s for innovative recording techniques adopted by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and others.
At the end of 2009, the studios came under threat of sale to property developers, but the studio received historic site status from the British government in 2010 to protect it.
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[edit] History
Originally a nine-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in the 1830s on the footpath leading to Kilburn Abbey, the building was later converted to apartments where the most flamboyant resident was Maundy Gregory. The premises were acquired by the Gramophone Company in 1931 and converted into studios. Pathé filmed the opening of the studios, when Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music.[1] 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 building.[2]
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 EMI formally changed their name to Abbey Road Studios in 1970.
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" there, arguably the first European rock and roll single.
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 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. The crossing is no longer in the same location as it was in 1969, having been moved further east in the 1970s. Looking across the street in the direction the Beatles crossed it, the crossing was moved from the left side of the Belisha beacon on the destination side of the street (the side John Lennon is closest to) to the right side of the beacon. It has been a long-standing tradition for visitors to pay homage to the band by writing on the studio fence in front, although it is painted over monthly.
Pink Floyd recorded most of their late 1960s to mid-1970s albums, returning only in 1988 for mixing and overdubbing subsequent albums.
The Shadows named their Live At Abbey Road album after the studio, with the cover spoofing The Beatles' album.
Notable producers and sound engineers who have worked at Abbey Road include Sir George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Norman "Hurricane" Smith, Ken Scott, Mike Stone, Alan Parsons, Peter Vince, Malcolm Addey, Peter Bown, Richard Langham, Phil McDonald, John Kurlander, Richard Lush and Ken Townsend, 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 Blair's career was receiving an award for Radiohead's Kid A. Blair died on 7 November 2005.
In 1979, EMI commissioned the British jazz fusion band Morrissey-Mullen to record "Britain's first digitally-recorded single record" at Abbey Road Studios.[3]
From 18 July to 11 September 1983, the public had a rare opportunity to see inside the legendary Studio Two where The Beatles made most of their records. While a new mixing console was being installed in the control room, the studio was used to host a video presentation called "The Beatles At Abbey Road". The soundtrack to the video contained a number of recordings that were not made commercially available until The Beatles Anthology project over a decade later.[4]
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 an exhibition in Studio Two consisting of photographs, and a fully-autographed sleeve from every original UK Beatles album. Also on display were several microphones, two upright pianos, and a Hammond Organ.
American rock band the Red Hot Chili Peppers included a photograph of themselves walking across the zebra crossing naked, except for the infamous socks, on the front of The Abbey Road E.P., released in 1988. They never actually recorded at the studio.
[edit] Location
Abbey Road Studios is a five-to-ten minute walk away from St John's Wood tube station. From Central London, it is accessible using the Jubilee line. When exiting the station, the visitor faces south at the intersection of A41 (Finchley Rd./Wellington Rd.) and Acacia Road (to the left)/Grove End Road (to the right). The studio is along Grove End Road, passing Waverley Place and Loudon St. on the right; addresses decrease in number along the way. As Grove End Road veers sharply to the left, Abbey Road is to the immediate right. The first pedestrian crossing is the crossing featured on the album (since moved). The studio, at 3 Abbey Road, is the unaddressed white building across the street.
[edit] Recording and mixing consoles
- Studio One: 72 Fader Neve 88RS
- Studio Two: 60 Fader Neve VR Legend
- Studio Three: 96 Fader Solid State Logic 9000 J
- Penthouse: 48 Fader Neve DFC Gemini
[edit] 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 Electrical Industries to become Thorn EMI.
Abbey Road's success in the scoring business continued after the partnership ended.
John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra recorded every Star Wars soundtrack (from 1977 to 2005) at the Abbey Road Studios.
[edit] Controversy
On 17 February 2010, it was reported that the studio's owners, EMI, have put the world-famous studios up for sale due to increasing debts. There is reported interest by property developers with the intent of redeveloping the site into luxury apartments.[5] It has also been reported that there is a possibility that the studios could be purchased by the National Trust[6] in an effort to preserve what in effect is an historical building. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber was reported to have put in a bid of £30 million to purchase the studios but was turned down by EMI.[7] The Save Abbey Road Studios campaign has also been mounted to ensure that the studios remain working studios and not become a museum.[8] EMI has released a statement saying that it plans on keeping the studio under its ownership and is actually looking for an investor to help with a "revitalisation" project.[9] Meanwhile, the British government has declared Abbey Road Studios a Grade II listed building, as it is an historic site, which protects the site from major alterations.[10]
Paul McCartney, speaking to BBC Newsnight on 16 February 2010, said that there have been efforts to save Abbey Road by "a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time", although he did not name those people or include himself among them. "I have so many memories there with the Beatles", he added. "It still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to save it".[11]
[edit] See also
- List of recordings made at Abbey Road Studios
- List of artists who have recorded at Abbey Road Studios
- List of film scores recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sir Edward Elgar, 1931 "Land of hope & glory" THE MASTER OF THE KING'S MUSIC
- ^ Discography in Sir Malcolm Sargent: a Tribute
- ^ Gramophone AUDIO NEWS: "EMI digital recording" July 1979. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
- ^ The Beatles Book July & August 1983.
- ^ Smyth, Chris; Power, Helen (17 February 2010). "End for Abbey Road? EMI puts Beatles' studios up for sale at £30m". London: The Times Online. http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article7029140.ece. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ^ TJ. "Should the National Trust save Abbey Road Studios". Nationaltrust.org.uk. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-news/w-latest_news/w-news-should-national-trust-save-abbey-road-studios.htm. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
- ^ Sara Nathan; Ben Todd (19 February 2010). "I'll save Abbey Road: Andrew Lloyd Webber promises £30m-plus to buy studios". London: Daily Mail. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1252116/Ill-save-Abbey-Road-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber-promises-30m-plus-buy-studios.html. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
- ^ "Save Abbey Road Studios!". Save Abbey Road Studios!. http://saveabbeyroadstudios.org. Retrieved 2010-09-19.
- ^ "Abbey Road studios 'not for sale', says EMI". BBC News Channel. 21 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8527095.stm. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ Sisario, Ben (18 February 2010). "McCartney Expresses Hopes for Abbey Road". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E3DE1E3FF93BA25751C0A9669D8B63. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
Coordinates: 51°31′54.93″N 0°10′42.07″W / 51.531925°N 0.1783528°W
[edit] References
- Discography in Sir Malcolm Sargent: a tribute (1967). London: Daily Mirror Newspapers.
- All You Need Is Ears, by George Martin (with Jeremy Hornsby)
- The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, by Mark Lewisohn
- Abbey Road, by Brian Southall, Peter Vince and Allan Rouse
[edit] External links
- Abbey Road Studios — official site
- Live webcam of the zebra crossing
- Live from Abbey Road - official site
- Video interviews shot at Abbey Road and studio tour
- WikiRecording's Article on the Abbey Roads Studios Orchestra Setup
- Studio for sale in 2010
- Satellite photos of Abbey Road Studios
