Editing Revolver (Beatles album) (section)

=== Innovations ===
{{quote box|quote= There are sounds [on ''Revolver''] that nobody else has done yet – I mean nobody&nbsp;... ever.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=60}}|source= – Paul McCartney, 1966|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;}}
Author Mark Brend writes that, with ''Revolver'', the Beatles advanced Meek's strategy of employing the [[Recording studio as an instrument|recording studio as a musical instrument]] and "formalized this approach into what is now an accepted option for pop music making".{{sfn|Brend|2005|pp=55–56}} A key production technique they used was [[automatic double tracking]] (ADT), which EMI technical engineer [[Ken Townsend]] invented on 6 April. This technique employed two linked [[tape recorder]]s to automatically create a doubled vocal track.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=70}} The standard method had been to double the vocal by singing the same piece twice onto a [[multitrack recording|multitrack]] tape, a task Lennon particularly disliked.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=100–01}} The Beatles were delighted with the invention, and used it extensively on ''Revolver''.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=100–01}}{{sfn|Howard|2004|pp=22–23}} ADT soon became a standard pop production technique, and led to related developments such as the artificial [[chorus effect]].{{sfn|Bishop|2010|p=202}}

The band's most experimental work during the sessions was channelled into the first song they attempted, "Tomorrow Never Knows".{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=40}} Lennon sang his vocal for the song through the twin revolving speakers inside a [[Leslie speaker|Leslie]] cabinet, which was designed for use with a [[Hammond organ]].{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=107}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|pp=143–44}} The effect was employed throughout the initial take of the song but only during the second half of the remake.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=107}}{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=144}} According to author [[Andy Babiuk]], "Tomorrow Never Knows" marked the first time that a vocal was recorded using a microphone wired into the input of a Leslie speaker.{{sfn|Babiuk|2002|p=184}} Much of the backing track for the song consists of a series of prepared [[tape loop]]s,{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=70}} an idea that originated with McCartney and was influenced by the work of avant-garde artists such as [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]] who regularly experimented with [[magnetic tape]] and [[musique concrète]] techniques.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=190fn, 224–25}}{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=71–72}} The Beatles each prepared loops at home,<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|MacDonald|2005|p=190}}; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Schaffner|1978|p=64}}; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Winn|2009|p=8}}; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Turner|1999|p=116}}; {{Harvard citation no brackets|Case|2010|p=30}}.</ref> and a selection of these sounds were then added to the musical backing of "Tomorrow Never Knows".{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|p=72}}{{refn|group=nb|While Emerick said that McCartney was solely responsible for creating the tape loops,{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|pp=111–12}} Martin credited all four members of the band.{{sfn|Martin|Pearson|1994|p=80}} Rodriguez acknowledges McCartney as the initiator, and the likelihood that the other Beatles contributed.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=108}}}} The process was carried out live, with multiple tape recorders running simultaneously, and some of the longer loops extending out of the control room and down the corridor.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=191}}

The inclusion of reversed tape sounds on "Rain" (specifically, a portion of Lennon's vocal part) marked the first pop release to use this technique, although the Beatles had first used it in some of the tape loops and the overdubbed guitar solo on "Tomorrow Never Knows".{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=94, 95}} The backwards (or [[Backmasking|backmasked]]) guitar solo on "[[I'm Only Sleeping]]" was similarly unprecedented in pop music,<ref name="GilmoreAcidTest" /><ref name="McCormick/Tele" /> in that Harrison deliberately composed and recorded his guitar parts with a view to how the notes would sound when the tape direction was corrected.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=131}}{{sfn|Brend|2005|p=56}} Experimentation with backwards sounds was a key aspect of the ''Revolver'' sessions,{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=191}} as was the use of the Leslie speaker effect.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|p=197}} The band's interest in the tones that resulted from varying tape speed (or [[varispeed]]ing) extended to recording a basic track at a faster [[tempo]] than they intended the song to sound on disc.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=130–31}}{{sfn|Reising|LeBlanc|2009|pp=95–96}}

[[File:Fairchild Model 670 Compressor.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Fairchild Recording Equipment Corporation|Fairchild]] 670 stereo [[Dynamic range compression|compressor]]. Fairchild's mono equivalent, the [[Fairchild 660|660]], was used extensively during the ''Revolver'' sessions and contributed to the robust sounds captured on the album.<ref name="Scapelliti/GW" />]]
During the sessions, Emerick recorded McCartney's bass guitar amplifier via a loudspeaker, which Townsend had reconfigured to serve as a microphone, in order to give the bass more prominence than on previous Beatles releases.{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=180}} Although this particular technique was used only on the two songs selected for the May 1966 single,{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|p=119}} an enhanced bass sound was a feature of much of the album.{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=191}}{{sfn|Perone|2012|p=84}} Emerick also ensured a greater presence for Starr's [[bass drum]], by inserting an item of clothing inside the structure, to dampen the sound,{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=179}} and then moving the microphone to just 3 inches from the [[drumhead]] and compressing the signal through a Fairchild limiter.{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=105–06}} MacDonald writes that, despite EMI Studios being technically inferior to many recording facilities in the United States, Starr's drumming on the album soon led to studios there "being torn apart and put back together again", as engineers sought to replicate the innovative sounds achieved by the Beatles.{{sfn|MacDonald|2005|pp=189–90}} The preference for close-miking instruments extended to the orchestral strings used on "[[Eleanor Rigby]]", to achieve McCartney's request for a "really biting" sound,{{sfn|Emerick|Massey|2006|p=127}} and the horns on "Got to Get You into My Life".{{sfn|Rodriguez|2012|pp=113, 134}} This was another break from convention, and the cause for alarm among the classically trained string players.{{sfn|Lewisohn|2005|pp=77, 79}}{{sfn|Hertsgaard|1996|p=188}}

According to authors Kevin Ryan and [[Brian Kehew]], ADT, backwards recording and close-miked drums were among the nine techniques that the ''Revolver'' sessions introduced into the recording world for the first time.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=405}} Ryan and Kehew quote Emerick as saying: "I know for a fact that, from the day it came out, ''Revolver'' changed the way that everyone else made records."{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=405}}{{refn|group=nb|American producer [[Tony Visconti]] has cited the album as a work that "showed how the studio could be used as an instrument" and partly inspired his relocation to London in the late 1960s, "to learn how people made records like this".<ref>{{cite web|first=Julian|last=Marszalek |url=http://thequietus.com/articles/10534-tony-visconti-favourite-albums?page=2 |title=Prophets, Seers & Sages: Tony Visconti's Favourite Albums |work=[[The Quietus]]|date=31 October 2012|access-date=24 June 2017}}</ref>}}