The Beatles' studio story told in detail
By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
''I'm only 33, but I've always loved the music of the Beatles and was amazed how one group could make so many great songs in such a short period of time," says Houstonian Kevin Ryan.
"When I was in high school, I used to try and reproduce those sounds on my dad's four-track recorder. You could say I was extremely naive. I mean, they were the Beatles, and that was Abbey Road studios."
His interest in how the Beatles recorded their songs — "the technical aspect, how the sounds were made" — only grew, and after he graduated from the University of Houston, Ryan decided to write the definitive book on every little thing that went on at Abbey Road during the Beatles years.
He wanted to know who played what instrument, what microphone was used, every piece of equipment, its manufacturer and date, what level it was set at, what tricks were used to break the sound barrier, and who was in the backroom pulling the strings.
"For years I looked for a book on this subject — there wasn't one. I figured I always enjoyed writing, I have the passion, I'll do the book. I knew I'd have to meet the people who were at the sessions, who would have firsthand answers to my questions.
"I pieced together which engineers were there. Then I simply wrote letters and made phone calls. I flew to London and started interviewing everybody I could find who worked at Abbey Road during that time.
"I'd talk to one person, and inevitably he'd say, 'You know, you really should talk to ... ' That would set me off on another expedition," said Ryan, a music producer and arranger.
Two years into researching his book, Ryan was interviewing a sound engineer who said, "Are you aware that there's another guy running around London doing the same book as you?"
Ryan met with Brian Kehew, a music producer from Los Angeles with an equal determination to explain how Beatles songs were recorded. They decided to do a duet — write the book together.
Recording the Beatles is hailed as the definitive guide to the Beatles at work in the studio. Ryan and Kehew (who, incidentally, plays keyboards for the Who on tour) had unprecedented access to Abbey Road staff and facilities. Paul McCartney cooperated by allowing the authors to print never-seen photos of the Fab Four taken by his first wife, Linda.
This is a big book (540 pages) with a big price tag ($100), and it's available only at
http://www.recordingthebeatles.com.
A word of warning: This book is not for casual Beatles fans who enjoy the group's personalities, pop culture and music. If you're not curious (obsessive would help) about the technical side of making an album, Recording the Beatles will leave you in the dust, scratching your head and wondering who cares about the serial number of the compressor used on Yellow Submarine.
Yes, that is John Lennon muttering profanity on Hey, Jude. Recording the Beatles explains how that happened and why John's f-bomb had to stay.
"They were doing an overdub, and the engineer set the level too high on John's headphones. He threw them to the ground and said what he said. It was on the vocal track. The engineer couldn't get rid of it, so it's there if you listen closely enough," Ryan said.
If it's been driving you crazy since the '60s that no one knew where the Beatles did the mono vocals for Help!, then help is on the way.
"That's one of the things in the book that is freaking hard-core Beatles fans out," Ryan said. "There was never any paperwork on a session for the mono vocal of Help! Then I got hold of a photo of the Beatles at an unknown recording session. John was on one microphone, and Paul and George (Harrison) were on the other. It obviously wasn't Abbey Road. I took the photo and zoomed in on the piece of paper that John was holding. It was the Help! lyrics! We determined it was CTS Studios in London. We had found the missing session!"
"We spoke to all the people who knew the Beatles' gear inside and out," Ryan said. "We did something that no one was able to do — we rounded up virtually everybody involved in their sessions. We were able to gather new information, not the same Beatles stories that have been done over and over. We're very proud of this book."
The release party for Recording the Beatles was held in Abbey Road's Studio 2 — the Beatles' main studio. It was the biggest reunion ever for the people who flipped the switches and moved the dials for the Beatles. Mark Lewisohn, considered the great historian of Abbey Road comings and goings, wrote the foreword to Recording the Beatles.
Recording the Beatles sold out its first printing and is halfway through its second printing, Ryan said.
"It's not for everyone. I know that for some people the section on equipment will be as interesting as looking through a car-parts catalog. But for technically inclined fans, we think we did a very good job. A lot of it is nerdy, but it's very thorough. We had to cut out some stuff in order to get it down to 540 pages. The last part of the book, the part on production, should be interesting for all Beatles fans. It's a more entertaining picture of the Beatles in the studio creating their albums.
" If you want to know how a song was done, here's how the they did it."
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