Editing Please Please Me (section)

==Recording==
[[File:Abbeyroadtomswain.jpg|thumb|Studio 2 at EMI Studios, where the Beatles recorded the entirety of ''Please Please Me'']]
Martin asked the band if they had any songs that they could record quickly.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} According to Martin, "It was a straightforward performance of their stage repertoire – a broadcast, more or less."{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=77}} Initially, a morning and afternoon session only were booked; the evening session was added later.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=24–26}} [[Mark Lewisohn]] later wrote: "There can scarcely have been 585 more productive minutes in the history of recorded music".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} Martin oversaw each session on the day, with [[Norman Smith (record producer)|Norman Smith]] as first engineer and Richard Langham as second engineer.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}}
{{Quote box
 |quote  = We didn't rehearse our first album. In my head, it was done "live". We did the songs through first, so they could get some sort of sound on each one; then we had to just run, run them down.
 |author = —Ringo Starr{{sfn|Beatles|2000|p=92}}
 |width  = 25%
}}

On 11{{nbsp}}February 1963,<ref name="RShourbyhour">{{cite magazine |last=Runtagh |first=Jordan |title=The Beatles' Marathon 'Please Please Me' Session, Hour by Hour |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/the-beatles-marathon-please-please-me-session-hour-by-hour-128271/ |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |access-date=10 April 2024 |date=22 March 2018}}</ref> the Beatles arrived with [[John Lennon]] suffering from a bad [[Common cold|cold]], which he attempted to treat with a steady supply of [[throat lozenge]]s.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} They began their morning session at 10 am with "[[There's a Place]]" and "Seventeen" (the working title of what became "[[I Saw Her Standing There]]").{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} The band rehearsed during their lunch break and then proceeded with their afternoon session.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} In that session, [[Paul McCartney]] recorded a double-tracked vocal for "[[A Taste of Honey (song)|A Taste of Honey]]" (a standard later covered by renowned soul artists such as [[The Supremes]], [[Four Tops]], and [[Mel Carter]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ribowsky |first=Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QF0sDRMggR4C&q=A+Taste+Of+Honey |title=The Supremes: A Saga of Motown Dreams, Success, and Betrayal |date=2009 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=978-0-306-81586-7 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=The Magnificent 7 - The Supremes, The Four Top... {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-magnificent-7-mw0000313051 |access-date=2024-07-03 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=A Taste of Honey - Mel Carter {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/a-taste-of-honey-mt0026678245 |access-date=2024-07-03 |language=en}}</ref>), [[George Harrison]] sang lead on "[[Do You Want to Know a Secret]]", and Lennon and McCartney sang co-lead on "[[Misery (Beatles song)|Misery]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=24}} During the evening session, the band recorded covers of "[[Anna (Go to Him)]]", "[[Boys (The Shirelles song)|Boys]]" ([[Ringo Starr]]'s sole vocal), "[[Chains (Cookies song)|Chains]]" and "[[Baby It's You]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=26}} The song "[[Hold Me Tight]]" was also recorded during the evening session, but proved "surplus to requirements" and was not included on the album.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=24–26}}{{refn|group=nb|It was later re-recorded and released on ''[[With the Beatles]]''.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=36}}}}

At 10&nbsp;pm, with the studios set to close soon, the day ended with a cover of "[[Twist and Shout]]". The song was picked after a discussion in the studio canteen in which numerous songs were suggested before "Twist and Shout" was chosen. The performance, caught on the first take, prompted Martin to say: "I don't know how they do it. We've been recording all day but the longer we go on the better they get."{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|pp=24–26}} Lennon later remarked, "The last song nearly killed me. My voice wasn't the same for a long time after; every time I swallowed, it was like sandpaper."{{sfn|Beatles|2000|p=93}}

At the end of the evening session at 10:30 pm, the Beatles attended a full tape playback in the studio control room.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=26}} Lennon reflected, "Waiting to hear that LP played back was one of our most worrying experiences. ... As it happens, we were very happy with the result.{{sfn|Beatles|2000|p=93}} The Beatles were not present during an overdub session on 20 February, during which Martin overdubbed piano on "Misery" and [[celesta]] on "Baby It's You".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=28}}

The day of recording cost approximately £400{{sfn|Harry|1992|p=528}} ({{Inflation|UK|400|1963|r=-2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} Martin said: "There wasn't a lot of money at Parlophone. I was working to an annual budget of £55,000."<ref>{{cite magazine|title=The Beatles Collectors Limited Edition|magazine=[[Q (magazine)|Q]]|first=Maddy|last=Ballantyne|location=London|pages=36–38}}</ref> This budget had to cover all of the artists on Martin's roster. Individually, under a contract with the [[Musicians' Union (UK)|Musicians' Union]], each Beatle collected a session fee of [[£sd|£7 10s]] ([[Pound sterling|£]]7.50; equivalent to £{{Inflation|UK|7.5|1963}} in {{Inflation-year|UK}}){{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}} for each three-hour session (10:00 am – 1:00 pm / 2:30 pm – 5:30 pm / 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm).{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=21}}

Before deciding on the title ''Please Please Me'', Martin considered calling the album ''Off the Beatle Track'', a title he would later use for his [[Off the Beatle Track|own orchestral album]] of Beatles songs.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=32}} The album was recorded on a two-track [[British Tape Recorder|BTR]] [[Reel-to-reel audio tape recording|tape machine]] with most of the instruments on one track and the vocals on the other, allowing Martin to better balance the two in the final [[Audio mixing (recorded music)|mono mix]].{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=28}} A stereo mix was also made with one track on the left channel and the other on the right, as well as an added layer of reverb to better blend the two tracks together. The two tracks generally divided the instrumental track from the vocals, with the exception of "Boys", in which the close proximity of Ringo's drums to his vocal microphone placed the drums (but not the other instruments) on the vocal channel.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

Two tracks, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You", were only mixed for mono for the single's release and no stereo versions were made, so, for the stereo version of the album, during the mixing sessions on 25 February 1963, Martin created "mock stereo" versions by emphasising low frequencies on one side and high frequencies on the other.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beatlesebooks.com/love-me-do|title="Love Me Do" by The Beatles. The in-depth story behind the songs of the Beatles. Recording History. Songwriting History. Song Structure and Style.|website=Beatlesebooks.com|access-date=2 January 2019|archive-date=7 January 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170107065153/http://www.beatlesebooks.com/love-me-do|url-status=live}}</ref> These versions would continue to be made available via compilation albums (such as ''[[1962–1966]]''), and on [[Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs]]' half-speed mastered vinyl releases (catalogue number MFSL-1-101)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bsnpubs.com/la/mofi/mofi.html|title=Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Album Discography|website=Bsnpubs.com|access-date=2 January 2019|archive-date=31 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031093457/http://bsnpubs.com/la/mofi/mofi.html|url-status=live}}</ref> sourced from EMI's original stereo master tapes, until the Beatles' catalogue was standardised and issued on compact disc in 1987, starting with the first four UK albums being issued in their mono versions. However, when Capitol Records issued the second volume of American Beatles albums on compact disc (''[[The Capitol Albums, Volume 2]]'') in 2006, the same mock stereo versions that appeared on ''[[The Early Beatles]]'' were included.  When the entire catalogue was remastered for release in 2009, the mono mixes were chosen for inclusion on the stereo reissues, and appear on all releases since, including newer compilations and variations.