Geoff Emerick

3.1. Becoming The Beatles' Recording Engineer

In April 1966, at the age of 20, Geoff Emerick was appointed as The Beatles' primary recording engineer. This promotion came at the request of producer George Martin, as Norman Smith transitioned into a production role. Emerick's first album as the chief engineer for The Beatles was Revolver, with his initial session in this new capacity being for the song "Tomorrow Never Knows".

3.2. Innovative Recording Techniques and Sound

Emerick's approach to recording was characterized by his willingness to challenge conventional studio practices and implement groundbreaking techniques to achieve unique sounds, a trait that greatly appealed to The Beatles and George Martin.

One of his earliest and most notable innovations came during the recording of "Tomorrow Never Knows", when John Lennon expressed a desire for his vocal to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from a mountaintop. To achieve this ethereal effect, Emerick suggested running Lennon's vocal through a Leslie speaker, an apparatus typically used for Hammond organs. This unconventional use of equipment became a hallmark of his experimental style. For the same track, he dared to close-mic Ringo Starr's drums, a practice previously prohibited at EMI Studios due to concerns about diaphragm damage to microphones. This technique helped create a more prominent and punchy drum sound, such as the emphasized attack heard on "Taxman". Additionally, for "Tomorrow Never Knows", Emerick experimented with feeding backing tracks into a Leslie speaker, creating a radical approach to engineering for a song with a one-chord, pedal-note-like progression. He also innovated by close-miking the brass section on "Got to Get You into My Life", resulting in a distinct, impactful sound.

During the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Emerick continued to push boundaries, often collaborating with studio technician Ken Townsend and EMI's technical staff. Faced with the limitations of then-standard 4-track tape recorders, they devised methods to synchronize multiple tape recorders. This allowed for multi-tracking orchestras and other instruments, expanding the possibilities for layering sounds. Applying this synchronization technique, Emerick was instrumental in developing effects like "tape flanging" and Artificial Double Tracking (ADT), which can be heard on tracks such as "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". For "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", Lennon's request to recreate a "carnival atmosphere" from a Pablo Fanque circus poster led Emerick to splice together numerous recordings of fairground organs and calliope. After initial difficulties, George Martin instructed Emerick to randomly cut and re-assemble the tape pieces, creating a chaotic and authentic sound.

3.3. Key Beatles Albums and Sessions

Emerick's innovative work was integral to the sound of several landmark Beatles albums:

• Revolver (1966): This was Emerick's first album as The Beatles' chief engineer, where he introduced pioneering techniques like Leslie speaker vocals and close-miking drums, setting a new standard for studio experimentation.
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967): His audacious use of synchronized multi-tracking, tape effects, and intricate audio layering (such as for "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!") contributed significantly to the album's revolutionary and immersive soundscape, earning him his first Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
• The Beatles (also known as "The White Album") (1968): While he did not complete work on this album, Emerick was involved in early sessions. During this period, The Beatles' recording activities often occurred simultaneously across EMI Studios' Studio 1, Studio 2, and Studio 3, leading to his participation in various tracks.
• Abbey Road (1969): Following his return, Emerick, alongside fellow engineer Phil McDonald, engineered this album. His work on Abbey Road showcased his ability to craft a pristine and intricate sound, which earned him another Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.

3.4. Departure and Return

On 16 July 1968, Geoff Emerick temporarily abandoned work on The White Album and resigned from his position. This decision was primarily driven by the escalating tensions and increasingly volatile atmosphere within the studio, particularly following a frustrated and expletive-laden tirade from Paul McCartney during attempts to record "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". Emerick also expressed objections to Chris Thomas, Martin's less experienced assistant, being elevated to a producer role in Martin's absence, a decision accepted by the band.

Despite this departure, Emerick remained on good terms with The Beatles, especially Paul McCartney. He returned to work with the band on their final recorded album, Abbey Road. In 1969, McCartney invited Emerick to leave EMI and join their company, Apple Corps. In addition to his engineering duties for Apple Corps, Emerick oversaw the construction of the band's Apple Studio within the Apple Corps building.

4.1. Collaborations with Major Artists

Emerick maintained a close working relationship with Paul McCartney, serving as recording engineer on several of his post-Beatles albums, including Band on the Run (1973), for which he received another Grammy Award, London Town (1978), Tug of War (1982), and Flaming Pie (1997). Emerick later noted that he was generally perceived by the other former Beatles (John Lennon and George Harrison) as "Paul's guy," leading them to work with other engineers like Phil McDonald for their solo recordings.

His extensive list of collaborations includes:

• Badfinger (producing their second album No Dice in 1970)
• Robin Trower (engineering his 1974 album Bridge of Sighs, for which he was credited on the album jacket alongside Trower and producer Matthew Fisher due to its exceptional sound)
• Stealers Wheel (recording backing tracks for their debut album, which featured "Stuck in the Middle with You" and received the Dutch Edison Award)
• Elvis Costello (producing Imperial Bedroom and All This Useless Beauty)
• Art Garfunkel
• America
• Jeff Beck
• Gino Vannelli
• Supertramp
• UFO
• Cheap Trick
• Nazareth
• Chris Bell
• Split Enz
• Trevor Rabin
• Nick Heyward
• Big Country
• Gentle Giant
• Mahavishnu Orchestra
• Ultravox
• Matthew Fisher (his first solo album, Journey's End)
• Kate Bush (engineering her demo tape that secured her a record deal with EMI)
• Nellie McKay (her critically acclaimed 2004 debut CD Get Away from Me)

In 1983, following the success of EMI's The Beatles at Abbey Road presentation, Emerick prepared an album of The Beatles' studio outtakes, titled Sessions, for release. However, the surviving Beatles initiated legal action to prevent EMI from issuing the album, citing its substandard quality. Although the album was never officially released in its intended form, Emerick's mixes and editing of some tracks, when later made available on bootleg compilations, faced criticism from collectors. Much of this material was later utilized for The Beatles' Anthology CD releases in the mid-1990s.

In 2007, Emerick produced a re-recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in honor of the album's 40th anniversary. This project featured performances by contemporary artists such as Oasis, The Killers, Travis, and Razorlight. To capture the essence of the original, Emerick utilized much of the original recording equipment for the new versions of the songs. The results of this project were broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on 2 June of that year.

From 1984 onwards, Emerick resided in Los Angeles.