Abbey Road Studios
The street sign shown here has had to be placed out of reach of souvenier hunters!
Contents |
History
Abbey Road Studios are based at 3 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood,London,UK. NW8 9AY in what was built as a townhouse in 1831.
The building was used as a domestic residence for many years but was set up as a recording studio in 1931 by a company called The Gramaphone Company which was the parent company of HMV and which later became EMI. EMI still own and operate the studios.
Initially the studios focussed on the recording of classical work but they became more famous for recording pop and rock music from the late 1950's onwards. Many film scores, such as for the Star Wars movies have also been recorded at Abbey Road.
The work of producer George Martin on albums such as Seargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles helped develop groundbreaking recording techniques and subsequent engineers at Abbey Road have continued this tradition.
In 1979 Abbey Road made its first digital recordings.
The Studios
3 Abbey Road does in fact house 3 recording studios:
Studio 1 The worlds largest recording studio famous for its warm natural acoustic. Large enough to hold a large orchestra and choir at the same time.
Studio 2 When people speak of Abbey Road it is probably the studio they are talking about. This is where the Beatles recorded but has also been used by literally thousands of other groups such as U2, Oasis, Pink Floyd. You name them they have probably been here!
Studio 3 Again home to many top selling recordings by acts such as Coldplay ,Foo Fighters, Keane, Hard Fi etc.
The facilities at Abbey Road are second to none and they claim to have the greatest microphone collection in the world. Their long recording history means that the studios hold an important collection of historic audio equipment as well as the modern cutting-edge technology used today.
Famous Recordings
Too many to include them all! But here is a selection.
Love Me Do
1962 The Beatles first single, Produced by George Martin
Seargent Peppers...
1967 The Beatles, Produced by George Martin
Let It Be
1969 The Beatles The recording sessions were filmed and released as a documentary, album mixed by Phil Spector.
Dark Side Of The Moon
1973 Pink Floyd Engineered by Alan Parsons who went on to forn The Alan Parsons Project.
