Abbey Road "we didn't need to write the band's name on the cover ... They were the most famous band in the world". The front cover design, a photograph of the group on a zebra crossing, was based on ideas sketched by McCartney, and taken on 8 August 1969 outside EMI Studios in Abbey Road. At 11:35 that morning, photographer Iain Macmillan was given only ten minutes to take the photo whilst he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up traffic behind the camera. Macmillan took six photographs, which McCartney later examined with a magnifying glass before deciding which of
Recording practices of the Beatles was recorded largely at the Beatles' own Apple Studios, using borrowed REDD valve consoles from EMI after the designer Magic Alex (Alex Mardas) failed to come up with a suitable desk for the studio. Engineer Geoff Emerick has said that the transistorised console played a large part in shaping overall sound of "Abbey Road", lacking the aggressive edge of the valve consoles. The success of the Beatles meant that EMI gave them "carte blanche" access to the Abbey Road studios—they were not charged for studio time and could spend as long as they wanted working on music. Starting around 1965