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Producing The Beatles

Producing The Beatles

Jason Kruppa

The podcast dedicated to exploring the untold story behind producer George Martin's revolutionary collaboration with The Beatles.
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Top 10 Producing The Beatles Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Producing The Beatles episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Producing The Beatles for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Producing The Beatles episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Producing The Beatles - 011 Nothing is Real: Strawberry Fields Forever, take 26
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04/13/20 • 27 min

Recording Strawberry Fields Forever was a complicated, layered process, famously requiring the cutting together of two different takes in two different keys and tempos. Today we put our magnifying glass on the second of those takes, take 26, with special attention given to George Martin’s dramatic score for three cellos and four trumpets. We go into the recording studio with seven musicians to re-record Martin’s complete score, and cellist Karen Ray returns to help us deconstruct the arrangement and understand what Martin was doing with this composition.

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Producing The Beatles - 005 The clarinet score for "When I'm Sixty-Four"
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10/29/18 • 22 min

“When I’m Sixty-Four” is Paul McCartney’s nostalgic throwback to British music hall, and a tribute to his father, Jim McCartney. Today, we examine George Martin’s iconic clarinet score for the song, and consider how much Paul had a hand in writing that score. We’ll also go into the recording studio to recreate the clarinet score with three musicians, led by John Reeks, Professor of Music at Loyola University, and we’ll break the score down to see what we can learn about its construction and composition.

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Producing The Beatles - 007 Changing Speeds - The 'Varispeed' Technique
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12/31/18 • 20 min

Building off George Martin’s half-speed, wind up piano technique, The Beatles and their producer used varispeed — variable speed recording — to alter the sound of instruments, vocals, and even entire rhythm tracks of songs. These alterations changed the textures of these parts in sometimes subtle, and sometimes dramatic ways. Today, we examine how Martin and The Beatles used this technique on six recordings from 1966 to 68, and we invite pianist Jesse Reeks back to discuss the reason Martin used this technique on two of his piano solos.

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In examining the making of the third version of Revolution (after Revolution 1 and Revolution 9), we talk to musician and composer Casey McAllister to consider the origins of the recording’s intro; author and producer Jerry Hammack fills us in on how The Beatles got that memorable guitar sound; and former New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn shows us how all three versions of Revolution taken together tell a particular kind of story.

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Sparked by the air of social upheaval in 1968, John's song "Revolution" spawned three very different recordings: Revolution 1, Revolution 9, and Revolution (the single version). Today, in the first of a two part episode, we look at how Revolution 1 gave birth to Revolution 9, and discover the mesmerizing missing link between the two. Former New York Times music critic Allan Kozinn helps us deconstruct Revolution 9, and to make sense of why John created such a challenging recording in the first place.

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Producing The Beatles - 008 Producing an "Unproduced" Album - Get Back/Let It Be
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03/11/19 • 34 min

With Apple’s announcement that Peter Jackson will be reworking the Let It Be footage, we go back to the actual sessions to examine this period from George Martin’s perspective. Martin and The Beatles advanced the use of the recording studio in a variety of creative ways, but what would happen if they took away their method of building a recording with layers of intricate overdubs and played everything live? On the Get Back/Let It Be project, the Beatles did just that, setting aside the recording process they had developed with their producer over the previous six years. But without “production,” what was Martin’s role in this project, and how much was he actually there? And who actually produced these sessions?

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Producing The Beatles - 015 Paul McCartney and Wings, "Live and Let Die"
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06/05/23 • 28 min

In our penultimate Season 1 bonus episode, we examine another solo recording, this time Paul McCartney’s thrilling theme song for the 1973 James Bond film, Live and Let Die. I’m joined by Allan Kozinn, co-author of The McCartney Legacy Volume 1, who takes us through all the details of the writing and recording process. We also learn how Paul debuted the song before the film’s release, we walk through George Martin’s Grammy-winning arrangement, and we consider Martin’s droll story about the film’s producer, as well as what Martin left out of that story.

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Producing The Beatles - 004 The Beatles on Multitrack, Part 2
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10/15/18 • 17 min

In the second half of our brief overview of how George Martin and The Beatles used multitrack recording, we’ll hear how they pushed four-track recording to its breaking point, and we’ll learn how they managed the complex arrangements on Sgt Pepper with such limited means. We’ll also hear how the band’s jump to eight-track recording during the White Album sessions reflected a shift in their relationship with their producer, and how they were still pushing the limits of recording technology even on their last album.

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Producing The Beatles - 003 The Beatles on Multitrack, Part 1
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10/01/18 • 22 min

One of the most fascinating aspects of The Beatles’ career is how, with George Martin’s guidance, they advanced the art of recording, as they went from twin track to four track to eight track tape. Today, we examine how The Beatles progressed from learning the basics of the studio on twin track, to realizing the creative possibilities of four track. To understand how their ideas developed, we’ll listen to individual tracks from six multitrack recordings from 1963-66, and consider George Martin’s role during this period.

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Producing The Beatles - 013 George Harrison, "My Sweet Lord"
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04/25/22 • 38 min

Today, the first of two episodes exploring the production of George Harrison’s first solo album, All Things Must Pass, with new research and interviews drawn from the book Ken Womack and I wrote on the making of the album. In this episode, we cover the intricate and painstaking production of “My Sweet Lord.” We explode the myth of Phil Spector’s contributions, speak to a number of people who were there, and get an exclusive sneak preview of the contents of Mal Evans’ diary entries about these sessions, courtesy Ken Womack.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Producing The Beatles have?

Producing The Beatles currently has 21 episodes available.

What topics does Producing The Beatles cover?

The podcast is about Music, Podcasts, Arts and Performing Arts.

What is the most popular episode on Producing The Beatles?

The episode title '011 Nothing is Real: Strawberry Fields Forever, take 26' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Producing The Beatles?

The average episode length on Producing The Beatles is 23 minutes.

How often are episodes of Producing The Beatles released?

Episodes of Producing The Beatles are typically released every 48 days, 23 hours.

When was the first episode of Producing The Beatles?

The first episode of Producing The Beatles was released on Aug 16, 2018.

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