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6th August 2022

RS144 Premix Box #GearThatMadeUs

This week’s 'Gear That Made Us' features the EMI RS144 Premix Box. Described by EMI as a 4-way mixer, this unit was established in the early ‘60s as a means of adding more mic inputs to the REDD mixing desks. ...

Parquet Floor #GearThatMadeUs

You may recognise this particular parquet wood flooring from photos inside Studios One, Two and Three from the past 91 years. The same flooring remains today in Studios One and Two, having carried the weight of countless recording giants and helping to create the sound of every piece of music recorded within our walls since ...

EMITAPE #GearThatMadeUs

EMI produced magnetic tapes in various formats from the 1950s through to the early 1980s. Each tape box had a unique ID number with corresponding labels found in each studio control room. Once a master tape was completed it would receive an “AR” number and be filed in our tape library. ...

Altec 605As #GearThatMadeUs

In this week’s 'Gear That Made Us' we bring you the legendary Altec 605A speakers. Two of which found a home in Studio Two’s control room throughout the ‘60s. On the left was 605A #8 and on the right, 605A #3. Because stereo recording was secondary at the time, the right-hand speaker saw a lot more action than the left as engineers were only monitoring from ...

The Red Chairs #GearThatMadeUs

Around 1960, Abbey Road decided to replace the seating throughout the studios. Old wooden chairs that had been around since our opening in 1931 were finally upgraded to these new red leather models. ...

BTR 3 #GearThatMadeUs

The BTR 3 is a stereo recorder used from 1959 to around 1970. Unlike many other EMI designs, the BTR 3 was made exclusively for the studios at Abbey Road. Only about two dozen were ever made, and only three are known to survive ...

Black Pumas - Live at Abbey Road - 90th Anniversary Session

Out now! Grammy nominated, psychedelic soul band Black Pumas have unveiled all three live songs recorded at Abbey Road to mark our 90th anniversary! On Wednesday we were treated to a live rendition of their song ‘Colors', which won them 2 Grammy nominations as well as Record of The Year and Best American Roots Performance. The track is a bluesy rock single at its core with soul overtones that are reminiscent of Otis Redding. The sessions were recorded by Chris Bolster in Studio Two, assisted by Matt Jones and Andy Maxwell. ...

RS114 Limiter #GearThatMadeUs

Today’s 'Gear That Made Us' is the EMI RS114 Limiter. A mono automatic gain control device developed by former chief engineer Mike Batchelor and used on countless Beatles records. By 1955, EMI had recognised the need for a device to stop - or “limit" - extreme volume peaks, without affecting the volume of the rest of the track. They commissioned the RS98, which was replaced by this RS114 less than a year later. ...

EMI TG12345 #GearThatMadeUs

TG desks were used to record our two most famous albums: The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ and Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. When transistors began to replace valves, EMI was at the forefront, developing these ‘solid-state’ mixing desks. The first of which was installed in Studio Two Control Room over the weekend of 23 November ...