Recording, mixing, editing: The Fool On The Hill, Hello, Goodbye

Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott

This session saw overdubs onto The Beatles’ single ‘Hello, Goodbye’, and the creation of mono mixes of ‘The Fool On The Hill’.

The session took place between 7pm and 3am. The first task was the creation of three mono mixes of ‘The Fool On The Hill’, numbered 10-12.

Because the flute overdubs from 20 October 1967 had been recorded onto a separate tape, the mixing necessitated two four-track machines running in sync, playing take six of the basic track and take seven of the flutes. The song was then edited from its initial length of 4’25” to 3’00”.

‘Hello, Goodbye’, which currently had the working title ‘Hello Hello’, was given a reduction mix before overdubs were added. It took four attempts to create a satisfactory mix; these were numbered 18-21. Paul McCartney then added a bass guitar part onto take 21.