Yes. There are several that talk a bit about how they arrived at what they did....the most comprehensive for actual recording and techniques as well as gear and session notes and rememberances is "Recording The Beatles" by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew. Its very detailed, contains interviews with the engineers and all involved (within reason), is a great big book and I have the 596th signed copy..........This book will put to rest any ideas that you will be able to achieve the Beatles sound through todays modern gear. It cannot be done.

I highly recommend this book. Thanx Santa!

I also recommend "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" my Mark Lewisohn. It approaches this from another angle. It is a detailed log of takes and things like that. It's more about the workflow than the equipment. Would be very useful to see the "mental" aspect of their recordings. I have the unsigned 1-jillionth copy. ;)

This book will put to rest any ideas that you will be able to achieve the Beatles sound through todays modern gear. It cannot be done.

(Wow! There is an almost 9-hour echo in here!) :)

Also has some interesting name dropping - like when Alan Parsons was a tape operator, and when Geof Emmerick went on to produce a new band called "The Pink Floyd".

If you have a group as good as the Beatles and a producer as good as George Martin in your studio I suggest that you go ahead and use modern recording techniques. It will probably sound OK.

And Dave - Santa was really nice to give you that book!

Not directly related to recording techniques, but Beatles Gear, The Beatles as Musicians, and Beatles: Complete Scores are all worthy books that will give you more insight into their sound.

I highly recommend "Here, There and Everywhere" by Geoff Emerick, the Beatle's recording engineer. Goes into a fair amount of detail along with fascinating stories & history. I've also read "All You Need is Ears" by Beatle's producer George Martin, but was disappointed that it did not include more aspects of making the recordings... Emerick's book was far more satisfying from an engineer's viewpoint.
Jeff

Wow, my Christmas list just got a bit longer... thanks guys!

Hey Davedog, Does the recording the Beatles book have any info on the monitors used for Beatles sessions at Abbey Road? More specifically, is there any mention of Tannoy's? I know that control room one at Abbey Road had Tannoy's, but I trust they had other monitors in other rooms. I am curious whether any of the Beatles sessions might have been mixed down on them.

During the Beatles time at Abbey Road several different monitors were used. The 'Pop' producers preferred the Altec 605A's while the 'classical' producers preferred the REDD.36 column monitor. Around 1964 the Dr.Duttons started use and it wasnt until 1968 that the Tannoys began being used.

Thanks. Is there any reason to believe any of the Beatles recordings after 1968 might have been mixed on the Tannoy's? And my internet searching skills must be waning, because I can't find a shred of info on Dr. Duttons or Redd .36 Column monitors (Altecs were obviously no problem) Are these proper names of actual monitors, or are they slang of some sort? Do you have any idea why there is no internet information about any monitors so named?