The Beatles recorded an early version of "Norwegian Wood" during the first day of sessions for their album "Rubber Soul", on 12 October 1965. The session took place at EMI Studios in London, with Martin producing. Titled "This Bird Has Flown", the song was extensively rehearsed by the group, who then taped the rhythm track in a single take, featuring two 12-string acoustic guitars, bass, and a faint sound of cymbals. Harrison added his sitar part, with the take emphasising the drone quality of the instrument more so than the remake that was eventually released. The sound of the sitar proved difficult to capture, according to sound engineer Norman Smith, who recalled problems with "a lot of nasty peaks and a very complex wave form". He declined to use a limiter, which would have fixed the technical problem with distortion, but would have affected the sound.