Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, Greater London, England.[5] It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, which owned it until Universal Music Group (UMG) took control of part of it in 2013. It is ultimately owned by UMG subsidiary Virgin Records Limited (until 2013 by EMI Records Limited, nowadays known as Parlophone Records and owned by UMG's competitor Warner Music Group).
"EMI Studios" redirects here. For the film studios, see EMI-Elstree Studios.Formerly
EMI Recording Studios
Recording studio
Music
November 12, 1931[1]
St John's Wood, City of Westminster, Greater London, England
1829[2]
Abbey Road Studios
23 February 2010
1393688[3]
Zebra crossing near Abbey Road Studios
21 December 2010
1396390[4]
The studio's most notable client was the Beatles, who used the studio – particularly its Studio Two room – as the venue for many of the innovative recording techniques that they adopted throughout the 1960s. In 1976, the studio was renamed from EMI to Abbey Road.
In 2009, Abbey Road came under threat of sale to property developers. In response, the British Government protected the site, granting it English Heritage Grade II listed status in 2010, thereby preserving the building from any major alterations.[6]
History[edit]
1920s–1940s[edit]
Originally a nine-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in 1831 on the footpath leading to Kilburn Abbey, the building was later converted to flats where the best-known resident was Maundy Gregory, who was famous (or infamous) for selling political honours.
In 1929, the Gramophone Company acquired the premises. The property benefited from a large garden behind the townhouse, which permitted a much larger building to be constructed to the rear; thus, the Georgian façade belies the true dimension of the building. Three purpose-built studios were constructed and the existing house was adapted for use as administration offices. Pathé filmed the opening of the studios in November 1931 when Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music.[7][8] In 1934, the inventor of stereo sound, Alan Blumlein, recorded Mozart's Jupiter Symphony which was conducted by Thomas Beecham at the studios.[9]
The neighbouring house is also owned by the studio and used to accommodate musicians. During the mid-20th century, the studio was extensively used by British conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent, whose house was located near the studio building.[10]
The Gramophone Company merged with Columbia Graphophone Company to form Electric and Musical Industries (EMI) in 1931, and the studios later became known as EMI Recording Studios.[11] In 1936 cellist Pablo Casals became the first to record Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites No. 1 & 2 at the command of EMI head Fred Gaisberg. The recordings went on to spur a revolution among Bach aficionados and cellists alike.[12] "Fats" Waller played the Compton organ there.
Glenn Miller recorded at the Abbey Road studios during the war, when he was based in the United Kingdom.[13]
In 1931 an echo chamber was built in the studios, in the early days of artificial reverberation.[14]
Sale attempt[edit]
On 17 February 2010, it was reported that EMI had put the studios up for sale because of increasing debts. There was reported interest by property developers in redeveloping the site into luxury flats.[28] It had also been reported there was a possibility the studios could be purchased by the National Trust[29] to preserve what was in effect a historical building. A Save Abbey Road Studios campaign attempted to ensure the premises remained a working studio.[30]
On 21 February 2010, EMI stated it planned to keep the studio and was looking for an investor to help finance a "revitalization" project.[31][32] Meanwhile, the British government declared Abbey Road Studios a Grade II listed building which protected it from major alteration.[32][33] The following December, the pedestrian crossing at Abbey Road was listed on the National Heritage List.[34]
Paul McCartney, speaking to BBC Newsnight on 16 February 2010, said there had been efforts to save Abbey Road by "a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time," although he did not name them or include himself among them. "I have so many memories there with the Beatles," McCartney said, "It still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to save it."[35]
Abbey Road Institute[edit]
In March 2015, Abbey Road Institute was founded as a school for music production and audio engineering.[36] In addition to the London location, Abbey Road Institute offers education globally with schools in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, Miami, Paris and Sydney.[37] All of the campuses offer the same course, the Advanced Diploma in Music Production and Sound Engineering, which has been developed in collaboration with industry leaders and the team at Abbey Road Studios. Some campuses offer additional short courses, including Portfolio Preparation, Song Production Masterclass, Music theory Fundamentals for Producers amongst others. In April 2021, Abbey Road Institute London announced it would be expanding and moving into the currently closed Angel Recording Studios in the summer of 2021.