Find out what archiving & transfer engineer Matthew Cocker, assistant engineer Ed Farrell and studio runner Nia Clarke shared from their year at Abbey Road.

Matthew

"The favourite project I’ve worked on this year is Gorillaz' Live at the Harlem Apollo New York, recorded back in 2006. I generally enjoy hearing live gigs - although it’s obviously not quite the same as being there! - but this one was really good and featured some of their big hits like Demon Days and DARE."

Nia

"My favourite session of 2023 was Ezra Collective recording their recording next album with Ricky Damian in Studio Two!"

Ed

"A Haunting in Venice. The engineer, Francesco Donadello, had a very interesting approach to the recording process when it came to creating an atmosphere and sense of space. It broke the norm of how to record strings, and I’m all for experimenting."

Matthew

"My favourite album of 2023 is the remixed Beatles Red & Blue release. Great to hear so many of the familiar songs in new, clear and wonderfully detailed stereo mixes."

Nia

"My favourite album this year was Further Out Than the Edge by Speakers Corner Quartet."

Ed

"Mew – Frengers: Not Quite Friends But Not Quite Strangers (2003). I’ve just found this band recently and think they are great."

Matthew

"The new artist I’m excited by is a young classical pianist called Giorgi Gigashvili, from Tbilisi. He’s got a great technique allied to wonderful musicality and, at only 23, hopefully has a long, successful career ahead of him. Here he is playing Scarlatti."

Nia

"I’m most excited for two acts in 2024, Alt band - Mary in the Junkyard and London born neo-soul artist Bel Cobain."

Ed

"Scustin. Irish band, up and coming. The new record has been produced by Richie Kennedy and I’m really interested to see how he’s sculpted them. I saw a live show of theirs recently and the energy in the room was great. Really good musicians and performers, very raw and exciting."