Is Abbey Road studio next?

[Bazilnerk]

Great stories! I guess these console people previously worked as tape librarians for the BBC...

They weren't the only people to throw tapes away you know, Every archive in the world did - Including EMI!

[Kando]

Sad, very sad.

[Bumblebee]

Burglars could do less damage to Abbey Road than the overseers of this great institution have done already. On a tour of the studios in 2021 I asked an engineer what had happened to the old consoles and gear now they were using 68 track digital. ‘Gave it all away’ he said, ‘to schools and such’. ‘Crikey’ I said, ‘that lot would be worth an absolute fortune now’. ‘Yes’ he said, rather sheepishly.

On the same visit I went to the studio toilet. There were three urinals, on the basis that Paul M would almost certainly have visited the self same toilets I did a bit of a pee in each one so that I could say with certainty that I’d used the same cludgie as a Beatle. And no, I didn’t use the trap.

Did they still have the coarse toilet paper that the Beatles used to complain about (probably Izal brand)

I didn’t venture into the traps so I can’t comment on the state of the paper.

What did strike me about Studio 2 was that, even now some 60 years after the event, it seemed like a fairly unforgiving place in terms of fostering any sort of creativity. The pictures I’d seen previously didn’t give it context as it’s really quite big with a high ceiling. At the back of the studio there is a small annex room. It’s got pipes running through it and was used as an air raid shelter for staff in the Second World War. It’s where John recorded his vocals for A Day In The Life (among others). It just seemed remarkable that a band with such clout would be working in such conditions.

In pictures from the sixties you can see what appear to be long, material baffles hanging from the ceiling and down the wall. These were made from parachute canopies and filled with seaweed. The seaweed was only removed when deemed to be a fire risk and replaced by material.

It all seemed slightly shoddy, but was likely the standard for the time.

Studio Three where George recorded ATMP is much smaller both in terms of floor area and height. A bit like someone’s front room. It’s very cosy but, again, you’re left wondering how an album like that could have come out if such a small space.

Studio One is massive, it’s where the orchestras assembled and where All You Need Is Love was filmed - although that was in a corner near a door. The studio fell out of use in the early seventies and when Pink Floyd were recording DSOTM in Studio Two they would play five a side football matches with the crew in Studio One in their down time. When they weren’t doing that (or recording) the Floyd would drive their cars into One where they’d attend to any servicing that needed doing.

It’s a remarkable place but to a certain extent it’s because of what it was, and what came out of it, rather than what it is now.

[maccafan1]

Presume would be Izal which was rough that remember my Grandad had at his quite large house

[Nimbus]

Presume would be Izal which was rough that remember my Grandad had at his quite large house

As featured on 'Lovely Rita'