Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Four recording and mixing sessions took place on this day at EMI Studios, for songs later released on Beatles For Sale. It was the last recording session for the album.
The first session was for mono mixing only, and lasted from 10am-12.45pm. The songs worked on were ‘I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party’, ‘Rock And Roll Music’, ‘Words Of Love’, ‘Baby’s In Black’, ‘I’m A Loser’ and ‘Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!’.
Like the first, the day’s brief second session took place in the control room of Studio Two, and lasted from 12.45-1.05pm. The Beatles watched George Martin create a stereo mix of Kansas City.
Session three was the first to involve a new recording. Between 4.30pm and 6.30pm The Beatles recorded ‘Honey Don’t’ in five takes, with Ringo Starr on vocals. John Lennon had previously sung the song live and for radio sessions, but Starr was in need of a vocal spot on the album.
The fourth session was from 7.30-10pm. The Beatles taped a remake of ‘What You’re Doing’ in seven takes, numbered 13-19. They had previously recorded the song on 29 and 30 September, but neither attempts were satisfactory.
The day’s final task was the recording and editing of Another Beatles Christmas Record, taped in five different takes. The recording was edited and sent to Lyntone Records, which pressed flexi-discs to be distributed in December 1964 to members of the group’s UK fan club.
Also on this day...
- 2023: The Beatles announce Now And Then single and remixed and expanded Red and Blue albums
- 2005: Paul McCartney live: Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul
- 2002: Paul McCartney live: MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas
- 1993: Paul McCartney live: Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona
- 1989: Paul McCartney live: PalaTrussardi, Milan
- 1973: UK single release: Helen Wheels by Wings
- 1965: The Beatles collect their MBEs
- 1965: Mixing: Drive My Car, Day Tripper, In My Life, If I Needed Someone, Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown), Nowhere Man
- 1963: The Beatles live: Kungliga Tennishallen, Stockholm, Sweden
- 1962: The Beatles live: Public Hall, Preston
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1960: The Beatles live: Kaiserkeller, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Interesting that one session after absolutely plastering two cover tunes with reverb (“Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” and “Rock and Roll Music” on 18 October) they would choose to leave their next cover (“Honey Don’t”) utterly dry.
It’s only the stereo that’s relatively dry. The mono is wet enough, but I made my comment after listening to the individual channels of the stereo. The left channel is almost entirely dry, and the right has just a touch of verb only on the vocal. Whereas the mono has reverb on just about everything, which means it must have been added at the mix stage.
To clarify what might seem like an utterly decipherable post above (which, if I recall correctly was originally two separate comments that have been edited together by the blog hosts)…
“Honey, Don’t” was one of four songs mixed for stereo on 27 Oct, 1964. On that day there appears to have been some sort of oversight that resulted in no reverb sent to the left channel for any of those four tunes (as I have noted here: https://www.beatlesbible.com/1964/10/27/mixing-what-youre-doing-honey-dont-mr-moonlight-every-little-thing-eight-days-a-week/comment-page-1/#comment-441846)
When I made my initial comment above, I had been listening to the tune one channel at a time, in headphones. I listened to the left, heard no reverb on the vocal, and had jumped to the conclusion that they had deliberately left the vocal dry.
It was only after I listened to the right channel that I realized I had jumped the gun. And then eventually I figured out that all the tunes mixed for stereo at the 27 Oct session had the same error. So it would seem what I attributed to a “choice” was actually a mistake.
However, it would still seem to indicate that the tape echo effects for “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” and “Rock and Roll Music” were done at the time the vocals were recorded, but the vocal for “Honey Don’t” was _recorded_ dry, with echo chamber added at the mix stage.
Here’s hoping that makes a bit more sense now.
Ken, sorry. I put those two comments together, but obviously made a hash of it! Thanks for clarifying.
No problem — especially considering my original comment was already a complete hash to begin with!
And speaking of hashes, I meant to say “utterly UNdecipherable” in my clarification.
You have put together a most fantastic resource here. I am currently on a project to listen to everything the Beatles recorded 50 years to the day they recorded it. This site is making that endeavor so much more fun.