Tour Diary #3: Abbey Road, London, UK
Just a quick day trip to London today! This has been a big day for me, and now I can cross one more thing off my bucket list.
Today I recorded some piano in a session at maybe the most famous music studio in the world: Abbey Road Studio 2. You automatically feel humble when you play in a space where The Beatles and Pink Floyd recorded music history, and the stairs from the control room to the recording space seems almost ceremonial. It’s been a great experience both as a musician and as a producer.
The Challen upright I played was used on the final chord of “A Day In The Life” and much much more. 2 vintage Neumann U87s as microphones.
Some of my favourite albums recorded here include The White Album by The Beatles, Odyssey and Oracle by The Zombies and The Dark Side Of The Moon by Pink Floyd.
Abbey Road opened in 1931 - nowadays it’s run like a business with tours for tourists, private academy, hardware manufacturing and software development. Today it’s owned by Virgin Records.
One of the most enviable posts I've seen on here man.. haha. Quality! What were you recording there?
:-) I feel so lucky! It was with a band called Penny Police for a live session for some audio engineering students. We would never be able to afford to rent it so it was such a cool opportunity.
Ahhh, that sounds so cool man. A place I'd love to maybe get inside someday, huuuge Beatles fan....Did you get to engineer?
I didn’t get to engineer, no, everything was ready and setup. I think the most notable things was their vintage microphones - Marie sang in a beautiful vintage u47 - otherwise the gear was pretty modern, with a neve desk as the centerpiece. But there was vintage gear anywhere - the tape recorder used for Sgt. Pepper stood in the hallway for instance...
Ah lovely.. they're such great microphones aren't they, we use them at uni...although they don't come with the same history. Oh really, that tape recorder influenced so many things in today's productions. I will hopefully get there one day man. :)
How cool, another couple of years and it'll be 100 years in service! Not that many music studio's can claim that :)
No it’s crazy - got me thinking about other iconic studios that might have that same sense of history. Maybe Sun Studios in Memphis or Electric Lady in New York?
I have no clue about studios. Abbey Road I know, I guess because many of the UK artists use them, including Beatles and all, right? What about the studios used by Elvis?
Exactly! Sun Studios in Memphis I mentioned is known for it’s role in the rhythm and blues of the 50s with names like Elvis, B.B.King, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and many more
Ah cool, I thought so already but did';t know and was to lazy to check Google. Cool! When that one is still around, I think you have the next spot to travel to and do some recordings :) As a result of that adventure, you have some cool material to share with us here on the Steem blockchain :)
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