Recording Innovations of the Beatles

The Beatles were groundbreaking with their compositions, and were innovators of certain recording techniques. While they may not have necessarily invented all of these ideas, they certainly were champions of these processes. Take a look and see if you can incorporate them next time you write a song!

1. The Middle Eight: The middle eight refers to the 8 bar B section within a 32 bar form. (AABA). It creates a release of tension from the A section and gives the listener some different material to digest. The Beatles didn't create this form, but certainly made their middle 8s very interesting, especially as their songwriting process evolved. Check out "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "We Can Work It Out", and "A Day In The Life".

2. Recording Bass: Before The Beatles, the bass was often recorded by placing a mic on the amp (nothing particularly special). During Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band recordings, Paul McCartney ran his bass directly into the sound board (known as directed input, or DI). This gave the bass a punchier and less muddy sound, and this technique is still used today!

3. Classical v. Pop: During the 60s, in Abbey Road studios, London, you either recorded pop music or classical music. The two never really mixed until The Beatles started incorporating classical musicians into their recordings. See: "Yesterday", "A Day In The Life", and "Elanor Rigby". George Martin, The Beatles' producer, was paramount in arranging orchestral parts for many of their songs.

4. Guitar Effects: By the time The Beatles were writing their album Rubber Soul, EMI (their recording company) gave them as much free studio time as they asked. This resulted in a lot of useful experimentation, particularly with guitars. Songs like "I Feel Fine" used guitar feedback in unprecedented ways (although to our ears today this would probably sound pretty normal). On albums Revolver and Magical Mystery Tour, many guitar parts are rife with reverse effects in which they flipped the tape they recoded on and played the track backwards!

5. Eastern Instruments: After taking a trip to India, The Beatles became more influenced by that country's instruments. Their first song to feature sitar was "Norwegian Wood", but they would later compose entire songs using just traditional Indian instruments. See: "Love You To" and "Within You Without You".

This list could go on for pages, but the best way to find out more is to simply just listen!