Abbey Road: The Microphones Used by The Beatles and Pink Floyd

[@Wileylikethehawk]

My band recorded in Studio 2 last year and it was INSANE to walk into that room.

[@pappachook]

Why?

[@Wileylikethehawk]

@@pappachook Why do you think!? The history!? Those mics!?? The pianos!!!??? It was wild.

[@BeatlesCentricUniverse]

​@Wileylikethehawk I was in Studio 2 in August 2023, a life-long dream come true! All of the reasons you cited, plus, approximately 90% of every Beatles song was recorded in that room! Holy ground to me!

[@albedo0point39]

I’ve been on a studio tour there. One of the engineers played a short piece on one of the Beatles original pianos… and it was incredible… THAT piano in THAT room with THAT acoustic just brought immediate memories of all the classic recordings. Everything felt so familiar.

[@JimMcNicholas]

1977-1996 I spent in radio, these microphones are simply amazing!

[@spanqueluv9er]

@JimMcNicholas That’s amazing- what I want you to know is how you fit inside the radio in the first place!!…

[@dr.buzzvonjellar8862]

Rick Beato is music teacher to the world

[@grelch]

The full episode of this short is fantastic. I'd encourage people to watch the whole thing. It's a tour of living history.

[@fortierma64]

What a great video! I had the privilege to spend an evening in AR studio two years ago they almost had to drag me out. Incredible, magical place.

[@biot_travel]

priceless videos on abbey road - i hope you get to go around to some other classic studios and do some in depth vids

[@Shaft-Industries]

Great interview Rick. I'd love to see a little more tech and gear stuff like this. Pretty cool.

[@daveuk1324]

Proper fascinating - great stuff - thank god for dedicated people!

[@TheEnlightenedFool]

fantastic collection, inspiring knowledge, great video!

[@patrickwhite1826]

I'm so glad to hear the amount of time and effort that goes into getting the plugins right. I just bought the Abbey Road TG Mastering Chain, and it sounds great - but I wouldn't know if it sounds and acts like the real thing if it weren't for people like Marek.

[@REDOPTICALCORP]

I loved this video!!! I love the history of audio equipment and just watched your visit to the chicago music exchange! Keep the videos coming!!

[@Skinnyorangemusic]

Rick, I love your videos. It is always fun learning more about the music I love. Especially for a nerd like me. Subscribed.

[@trevormorgan1205]

I loved this episode.

[@bigwo59]

Great episode!

[@Skinnyorangemusic]

Mic and pre-amp in the same shell?! Cant wait to see this be a common thing in 20 years, genius.

[@billyfields7722]

Great history lesson about the greatest microphones throughout the recording of monsters albums. Just sending chilling with the music that is so awesome and beautiful music.

[@spanqueluv9er]

@billyfields7722 Wtf is ^”Just sending chilling with the music that is so awesome and beautiful music” supposed to mean?🙄🤦‍♂️🤡🤷‍♂️

[@simonrussell4986]

I always get a bit teary with a vintage mic video. More-so with an Abbey Road one. Not sure why - maybe these mics have heard so much that's affected people. Got a fairly cheap boutique mic or two (all I can afford), plus worn out my share of 58's on the road. Great vid, thank you!

[@LoganPEade]

Personally I truly enjoy this kind of information, I have the technical understanding of electronics but it's the tie in with the magic of the musical sound that I find interesting, thank you Rick, very much!

[@ricardoostos2406]

So interesting even though I am not into mics/gear so much I learnt a lot about those classic ones - almost a tech history.

[@anthonylasure5286]

Im just starting out. I have a Sure Beta 58A and 2 sennheiser guitar mics on my two cabs two amps same time with an AB switch

[@MirlitronOne]

I was delighted to acquire two STL "Ball and Biscuit" (actually, the BBC called them "Apple and Biscuit") microphones in a house sale several years ago (inspired by the White Stripes song of the same name) and was even more excited when somebody told me "You know, they used to use those at Abbey Road." My enthusiasm was slightly tempered when I later discovered that they were used for studio talkback and not for actual recording... However, they are still good omnidirectional microphones!

[@CharlieNaebeck]

It is cool to see the history and hear the tech specs, but what I really hoped for in perusing this video was to see the mics fired up and used on something.

[@williamrobinson7435]

WAY, way back in the 1950s my mum was nursing the great Mantovani, of popular strings fame, in his last illness and he bequeathed her a box of stuff incl 2 wall lamps we had in our house.. Anyway, in the bottom of the box was a seating plan /mic placement plan for his orchestra, of course I didn't see the significance of this until later when I myself started to train and study a whole bunch of different musics, wow, I wish I still had the document, but I do remember with hindsight how the attitude was 'omnidirectional rules' and old Mantovani certainly knew a thing or two, f'rinstance the back of a string instrument (maple) produces more tops than the front (close grained spruce, it's similar to the AAA grade stuff they use for high end acoustic guitars), so you can place a mic behind and close to floor level for violins to get that 'silver sound', or have the players standing a la modern chamber orchestra. What a great channel you have here Rick! I very much enjoyed the recent stuff on Sting and The Police. Wonderful. 🎶🌟👍

[@spanqueluv9er]

@williamrobinson7435 Mantovani gifted your mom two lamps… from your own house? How tf does that work? ^”…study a whole bunch of different musics”🤔🧐🤷‍♂️ ^*for instance, not f’rinstance ^”…the back of a string instrument produces more tops…”🤔🤔🤔🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ You have no idea what you are talking about.

[@KimCapli]

Best music channel❤

[@CarloPiana]

Really fascinating stuff even if I only know the basics in a kind of sketchy way.

[@fayesouthall6604]

Rick in the U.K. 👏👏👏👏👏

[@6StringPassion.]

What were the vocal mics that The Beatles used during the rooftop concert on Let it Be?

[@dustinthiessen]

AKG C30

[@rubytopaz4926]

Beatle era U47s were sent back to the factory to have the option of the figure of 8 polar pattern added, and it was rebranded U47/48. What I can't seem to find... and I have all the books... did it use a K47 or M7 capsule?

[@Bill_Woo]

Then there's Alan Parsons and his production work on the Beatles and Floyd. Then Alan Parsons had some world class albums under his name if you haven't heard them - in particular I would point you to I, Robot, Pyramid and Eve. Each had the kind of songs so good that you really can't get them out of your head.

[@marstudios7879]

Beato the best.

[@buning_sensations5437]

I'd be interested to hear you interview Louis Rossman who started in a NY sound studio learning to fix gear and went on to repair Macintoshes and become a right to repair activist. His KZbin channel has more than 2 million subscribers.

[@rogerdat7807]

With all the source material ever recorded, the modern consensus of "best sounding" is amazing to witness. However, if consolidating those sounds into plug-ins, will new sounds evolve? I wonder if in 50 years, the grunge, or classic hip-hop sounds will be the "new" consolidation of "best sounds".

[@thromboid]

Subbed! Oh, my goodness, what a treat! Be sure to check out Jim Lill's mic analysis/shootout as well.

[@shane-porter]

Wow - I feel no greater pride to be British than when considering the rich history of our music.

[@tam_ryan1036]

Fascinating. What brand of headphones does he sit there with? ;-)

[@hugolafhugolaf]

I sometimes wonder what would happen if the albums we love had been recorded with different equipment, or mixed differently. I'm sure that some songs wouldn't have been hits otherwise, and vice versa. There has to be dozens of great songs that simply flew under the radar because they were recorded with sub-par equipment.

[@spicy321]

I always believed that was a key component to the Beatles' success. Many other records from the same era don't have the quality so they don't have the same impact. Having the best equipment to capture the sound and the best people to shape it like George Martin, Norman Smith, and Geoff Emerick certainly aided in the overall sound. However, you have to start with a great product which The Beatles always delivered. As Norman Smith told Geoff Emerick, " the hit's down there, not up here" meaning the control room guys couldn't make a successful record without a good song.

[@hugolafhugolaf]

@@spicy321 Very true. But how many good songs remained unknown due to bad song or bad production? Many artists re-issue classic albums with demo or early versions of a specific hit, and while it is the same song with the same chords and even the same lineup playing it, it just doesn't sound the same. Case in point, I bought the limited edition (or whatever they called it) of Theater of Pain. There is NO WAY that the early version of Home Sweet Home would've remotely been a hit. Yet we all know what happened with the finished version.

[@westlakefarms]

Awesome !

[@griffini19]

I think this might have created some confusion about the differences between M49’s and M50’s. Yes from the outside they ‘look’ similar. They are NOT similar at all. The M49 is a LDC. The M50 is a SDC. There were 3.versions of the M50’s. The M50B has a TRUE PRESSURE Omni diaphragm made of Aluminum. (The thinest diaphragm every made my Neumann). It’s a KK53 cap the same as in the KM53/253. The M50 small diaphragm is mounted inside a clear (not sure what it’s made of…. Some dense plastic? Lucite? Experts know) And the fact that’s it is a True Pressure Omni makes all the difference. I believe the Abbey Road M50’s were converted to FET mics so no AC 701 tubes in them. M49’s and M50B’s are fabulous microphones IMO

[@trevorgwelch7412]

Funny story for Rick : I sold a guitar to an exact Ringo Star look a like who wanted me to play guitar at Abbey Road Studios . I refused knowing I'm not at that high level of playing . He is a great singer / musician .

[@spanqueluv9er]

@trevorgwelch That story is neither funny nor true.🤷‍♂️🤦‍♂️

[@kevincross9206]

I had no idea microphones were so complexed!

[@cranklabexplosion-labcentr8245]

Somewhere out there, Steve Albini is coming in his pants

[@fayesouthall6604]

😂

[@20cenctstyle]

This is a reason to listen to CDs. Streaming a person can’t hear or appreciate this. IMHO this “kill the cd” attitude is an attack on Musi and by the record company’s If anyone should feel this way it’s people like Rick ❤️

[@spanqueluv9er]

@BACKBEAT432 Who tf is ^*Musi, we all wonders?🤔🙄🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️🤡

[@spanqueluv9er]

How do you “stream a person”?🤷‍♂️

[@20cenctstyle]

@@spanqueluv9er it’s a new waterpark ride 🤨

[@jasoncarlson4769]

WOW❤

[@cuda426hemi]

Speaking of Spitfire you could do a LOT worse that take advantage of the FREE pu's at Spitfire, the LABS stuff and the Core symphony hoo boy, they are GREAT pu's tweakable to nth degree done with the Abbey Road magic. No I'm not paid by them but I wish I were, lol. 🎸

[@Hoss4Blues]

Didn’t you post this once, or am I clairvoyant?😊

[@MrAdopado]

I have the impression it was part of Rick's full Abbey Road studio video a while ago ... but I haven't been back to check ... it's well worth viewing that's for sure!

[@KitagumaIgen]

...and you two talked for how long? 8+ hours?

[@CommuneRecords]

Olympic is going to open up again??!

[@cuda426hemi]

62 years ago this June 6th was the day the magic started at EMI., the stairs in the background leading up to where George Martin and Normal Smith & Ron Richards would peer out and down on Pete, Paul, George and John wondering wtf they had on their hands. Guess they didn't "Besame" Pete too "Mucho" because that was the last time he sniffed the Boys. Still, no Pete = no Beatles. The space under the stairs -the doors have been replaced but that's where the "toys" were that came out on Pepper, the arcane percussion gack. 62 years ago, no color TV, only 3 Networks, no cable, Stereo LPs still "new" and component stereo still a few years away; only land line phones with exchanges like LI-55463 (Linden 55463) , no beepers, no answering machines, no video cams no VCRs only 8mm film movies too expensive too much hassle, no FM radio... newspapers came every day and were 22" wide, 4 lb slabs on Sundays - today LA doesn't even print the LA Times pamphlet in LA any more. Kennedy was alive. Pack of Wrigleys was a nickel a single Bazooka Joe a penny. Yeah I guess it WAS a lifetime ago. Wouldn't trade it for any other as if I had a choice lol!! 🎸🎸🎸🥁

[@brucesmith6307]

[@disliked1390]

"Ah yes of course the M50 got a richer sounds yes yes of course I agree" - Me who dosen't know crap about anything

[@theonethatgotawayy]

👍

[@Andrew-rc3vh]

The guy seems to have enough BS that he could effectively run a junk shop and sell each piece thrown out for top money. It's the estate agent's 'cosy cottage' pitch (= small, old and dilapidated).

[@ZalMoxis]

It'd be hard to work out which ones the Beatles used considering they were only allowed to play on their albums in the later years.... just ask the Wrecking Crew what they used...

[@classicraceruk1337]

Where do you get this information from. The Beatles were recorded at Abbey Road. The “Wrecking Crew” were session musicians from LA. A few who did, Billy Preston piano, Eric Clapton ( especially While my Guitar Gently weeps)Frederick Alexander (Cello),Lionel Bentley (Violin), Donavan vocals and supposedly Guitar, Marianne Faithfull (vocals), Mick Jagger ( vocals all you need is love), Brian Jones. There are many many more. Nothing about anyone from the “Wrecking Crews” session players.

[@SenseiNWDA]

A remark made without thought.

[@BeatlesCentricUniverse]

​@@SenseiNWDANo, there's this IDIOTIC idea floating out there that the Beatles used the Wrecking Crew, and other studio musicians, etc. Those among us who know better, spare us all.

[@SenseiNWDA]

@@BeatlesCentricUniverse Since when can these internet idiots form a rational thought? The drooling idiots regurgitate garbage like that automatically. Like they've been lobotomized.

[@BeatlesCentricUniverse]

@ZalMoxis You need to delete your uninformed comment. (Uninformed is being polite.)