Abbey Road Studios, Recording studio in St John's Wood, London
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road in St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. Behind the white-painted Georgian facade of the 1831 townhouse, a larger building was constructed to the rear, holding three purpose-built studios, while the house itself was adapted as administration offices.
The Gramophone Company opened the studio in November 1931, converting a nine-bedroom house into a recording facility for classical music. The facility expanded into rock music during the 1960s and later became part of the EMI group.
Studio Two became a symbol of British pop culture after the Beatles recorded almost their entire catalog there between 1962 and 1970. The zebra crossing outside draws visitors who recreate the 1969 album cover today.
The building is not open to the public but can be viewed from the outside. The zebra crossing sits directly in front of the entrance on a busy road and requires care when crossing.
Engineers developed artificial double tracking here, a method for doubling vocal tracks without re-recording. The first British digital recording was made within these walls in 1979.
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