With the Oscars bringing award season to a close, Abbey Road is extremely proud to have played a role in some of the incredible films that have been acknowledged by the awards committees and the wider public. We are delighted of the recognition each one received, solidifying the work we are doing to embrace film score recording, mixing and editing in the walls of Abbey Road. From Ken Townsend’s original vision of opening Abbey Road’s doors to the film making community to further building on his legacy with the launch of our new Mix Stage last year.
We begin with Black Panther, and in particular Ludwig Göransson's exceptional score for the film, which made for an overwhelmingly positive impression winning Best Original Score at the Oscars, Best Original Music at the BAFTAs and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media at the GRAMMYs. Two Black Panther crew members also made Oscar history by becoming the first black winners in their categories. Ruth Carter scooped the Best Costume Design award and Hannah Beachler shared the Production Design prize with Jay Hart.
Ludwig’s score for Black Panther was recorded in Studio One – additional scoring sessions engineered by Lewis Jones with Senior Recordist John Barrett and assistant engineer George Oulton.
The incredibly successful Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody brought in an astonishing 16 major nominations in 2019, winning nine awards and scoring Best Sound at the BAFTAs. We had the pleasure of hosting the recording sessions for the biopic in Studio Three which were engineered by Abbey Road’s senior engineer Sam Okell and assistant engineer Paul Pritchard.
As well as hosting recording sessions for the film, it was also part-mixed in Abbey Road’s Mix Stage by Supervising Sound & Music Editor John Warhurst, with Abbey Road’s Mix Technicians Kobi Quist and Jack Cheetham. For the work in the Mix Stage, the film picked up Best Sound Editing and Sound Mixing at the Academy Awards.
Watch John Warhurst in the Mix Stage take you through the process of mixing thousands of fans singing Bohemian Rhapsody to create part of the crowd singing during a live performance scene in the film:
Rami Malek took home the award for Best Actor at the Oscars, BAFTAs and Golden Globes for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury. Malek spoke to reporters about his time in London, and in particular Abbey Road Studios: "We've been able to share this with Brian May and Roger Taylor and, shooting here [in London] was honestly one of the best things I've ever done in my life. I got to go from Abbey Road Studios, Air Studios. See all of London and fall in love with it to a point where I'm now looking for a place to live here."
Daniel Pemberton is no stranger to Abbey Road and he was back with us recording the soundtrack for Oscar and BAFTA award-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The innovative score for the film was mixed in Abbey Road's Studio Three and combines a plethora of techniques, including intricate DJ scratching, powerful electronic synths and soaring orchestral arrangements. Mixing sessions engineered by Sam Okell with assistant engineer Paul Pritchard. The score was also mastered in Room Five by Christian Wright. Take a listen.
