Credit: Far Out / Alamy
Sat 22 August 2026 15:30, UK
No studio in rock and pop history is as entwined with a band’s lore as EMI Studios witnessing the bulk of The Beatles‘ dazzling sessions.
Since being named Abbey Road Studios after the Fab Four’s namesake album, the famous recording facility in London’s St John’s Wood has stood as an essential Beatles tourist hot spot from every inch of the globe, with throngs of fans descending to the famous zebra crossing to the daily ire of local drivers, with as much pilgrimage pull as Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane back in the band’s Liverpool hometown. There’s no question that the little Merseybeat band elevated the EMI Studios to its world-class stature.
As fans know, the overwhelming volume of The Beatles’ material was captured at EMI, specifically around 90% all in the site’s famous Studio Two, with Three used for occasional late-night overdubs and mixes, and the mammoth One’s orchestral room for the likes of ‘A Day in the Life’s grand 40-piece symphony. For the most part, any Beatles cut was laid down at Abbey Road with George Martin in the producer’s chair.
However, even EMI’s biggest client sometimes needed a new studio, be it for creative renewal, scheduling issues, or the simple need for hardware Abbey Road just couldn’t offer. It turns out that a handful of studios wound up hosting The Beatles for some of their most loved numbers.
So, what Beatles songs weren’t cut at EMI Studios?
While in Paris shortly after With the Beatles, the Beatles headed to EMI Pathé Marconi Studios in January 1964 to record their new vocals for ‘Komm, gib mir deine Hand’ and ‘Sie liebt dich’ for the German market, a language revision of ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You’ cut at EMI’s behest to sell more copies. While there, the band recorded ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ to appear on the upcoming A Hard Day’s Night.
It would take three years before any Fab Four material was handled outside EMI. Due to EMI’s lack of availability at the last minute, the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band sessions had to make a brief detour to central London’s Regent Sound Studio to cut the backing track for Paul McCartney’s whimsical ‘Fixing a Hole’. Later that year, George Harrison would record his trippy ‘It’s All Too Much’ at De Lane Lea Studios nearby; Chappell Recording Studios oversaw ‘Your Mother Should Know’, and Olympic handled ‘Baby You’re a Rich Man’s cut and mix in one night, plus backing tracks for ‘All You Need Is Love’ before EMI’s orchestral overdubs later.
Due to EMI taking their time to test and quality-control the highly prized 8-track recorder before making it available to use, the band headed over to Trident Studios to lay down parts to ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Honey Pie’, ‘Martha My Dear’, and ‘Savoy Truffle’, with ‘Dear Prudence’ entirely recorded there after Ringo Starr’s brief departure. The following year, the band would head back to Olympic to record backing tracks to ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’.
Further reading: From The Vault
As we know, the sessions that led to Let It Be were infamously chaotic and near enough cemented The Beatles’ eventual end. While no master takes from the Twickenham Film Studios were ever used, virtually all of the material on the final album was recorded at the makeshift Apple Studio in their company’s Savile Row offices, even having to borrow mixing consoles from EMI, cap in hand, due to tech failure.
Aside from Phil Spector’s orchestral overdubs at EMI, the majority of Let It Be was recorded at Apple, with ‘Dig a Pony’, I’ve Got a Feeling’, and ‘One After 909’ directly sourced from the famous rooftop performance in 1969. Otherwise, EMI’s only presence is on ‘Across the Universe’ from the ‘Lady Madonna’ sessions, and ‘I Me Mine’ with Harrison, McCartney, and Ringo alone, marking the final song cut by the band before their breakup.
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