With Starr as their drummer, and Martin as their producer (who sometimes joined them in playing, to give the records a bigger sound), the Beatles became the most popular act in the history of show business. While Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote most of the band's songs, they were musically untrained, as Martin had been earlier. Martin helped develop their musical ideas. He helped the band learn to talk to other musicians about the sounds they wanted to make, and added a classical touch to many of their songs. His work with them made Martin famous. He was able to leave EMI to become a "producer for hire". He started his own company, called Associated Independent Recording (AIR), with some other producers.