Abbey Road Studios
London's most famous recording studio, open since 1931 at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood.
via Wikipedia: Abbey Road Studios · see source
Abbey Road Studios, once called EMI Recording Studios, is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road in St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. The Gramophone Company, a forerunner of EMI, opened it in November 1931, and EMI owned it until Universal Music Group took partial control in 2013; it now sits under UMG's subsidiary Virgin Records. Its best-known clients were the Beatles, who used Studio Two for many of their pioneering recording methods in the 1960s. Since 2010 the building has had Grade II listed status, which guards it against major alteration.
Quick Facts
- Former name
- EMI Recording Studios
- Industry
- Music
- Founded
- 12 November 1931
- Founder
- Gramophone Company
- Headquarters
- St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England
- Parent
- Virgin Records
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The building began as a nine-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in 1831 and was later split into flats. The Gramophone Company bought it in 1929 and hired Wallis, Gilbert and Partners to add three purpose-built studios in the large garden behind, so the modest front hides a much bigger building. Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at the opening sessions in November 1931, and in 1934 Alan Blumlein recorded Mozart's Jupiter Symphony there under Thomas Beecham. Pablo Casals recorded Bach's Cello Suites No. 1 & 2 there in 1936. Cliff Richard and the Drifters cut "Move It" in Studio Two in 1958, and the Beatles recorded almost all their work there between 1962 and 1970.
Reader's Guide
The studio took the Abbey Road name in 1976, after general manager Ken Townsend rebranded it to trade on the Beatles link and draw non-EMI acts. Townsend also invented automatic double tracking (ADT). Other staff and producers included George Martin, Geoff Emerick and Alan Parsons. From 1980 it moved into film scoring, starting with Raiders of the Lost Ark in Studio 1. In 2010 EMI put the site up for sale, prompting a campaign to save it before the government listed it. The zebra crossing outside, pictured on the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, was listed in December 2010. Abbey Road Institute, a production and audio engineering school, opened in March 2015.
Did You Know?
- An echo chamber was built at the studios in 1931, in the early days of artificial reverberation.
- Glenn Miller recorded there during World War II.
- The wall in front of the building, covered in fan messages, is painted over every three months.
- In 1979 Morrissey–Mullen recorded Britain's first digitally recorded single there.
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