2023 has been full of exciting developments and breakthrough moments so we wanted to look back on some of this year’s highlights.

From the 16,000 entries to our 2023 Music Photography Awards, landmark releases from the likes of Yussef Dayes, Noel Gallagher, The Smile, Sam Smith, The Beatles and Travis Scott, and some incredible scores including Barbie, Wonka and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, to launching new gear with Chandler, (our partner for official equipment manufacturer of classic EMI equipment), releasing new Lock-In films & singles with The Clockworks X Bernard Butler, Hak Baker X Karma Kid, Sans Soucis X Charles X Cid Rim and helping to inform and inspire the next generation of music creatives with our educational programmes, Equalise and Amplify.

We can’t wait to see what’s in store for 2024. See the full list below.

As the year comes to a close, we feel privileged to have worked on records that made it into the top 3 on the UK Official Charts.

- Travis Scott – UTOPIA (Cut by Geoff Pesche for global vinyl)
- The Beatles – Now And Then (Half-speed mastered by Miles Showell while Oli Morgan delivered Atmos masters)
- Sam Smith – Gloria (Strings for the album were recorded by Gordon Davidson at our sister studio Angel, while the choir on the title track was recorded at St. Mary’s Church in Saffron Walden. Oli Morgan mastered the album)
- Skindred – Smile (Mastered by Sean Magee)
- Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds – Council Skies (Strings were recorded in Studio Two)
- Jessie Ware – That! Feels Good! (Vocals for Freak Me Now were recorded in Studio Three with Clarence Coffee Jr., Stuart Price and Callum Waddington)

Thank you to the artists who bring their art, work and vision to our house every year.

We've been lucky enough to host the recording of some incredible scores this year including Barbie, Wonka and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.

Barbie
Ryan Gosling recorded Ken vocals in our Front Room studio with engineer Ricky Damian and senior runner Sarah Meyz as Mark Ronson tuned in remotely from New York via Audiomovers.

Several of the film’s orchestral parts by Ronson and Andrew Wyatt and arranged by Matt Dunkley were recorded in Studio One between engineers Geoff Foster, Peter Cobbin & Kirsty Whalley with recordists Daniel Hayden and Christopher Parker, assistant engineers Neil Dawes, Tom Ashpitel and Joe Wyatt, senior runner Sarah Meyz and runner Mack Kniese.

Wonka
Across the past couple of years, we’ve played host to countless sessions for Wonka's Original Score by the wonderful Joby Talbot as well as Original Songs by the prolific Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) including sessions with Timothée Chalamet, Hugh Grant, Keegan Michael Key, Matt Lucas, Paterson Joseph, Mat Baynton, Olivia Coleman, Jim Carter, Rich Fulcher, Calah Lane and more.

The process has seen many Abbey Road engineers lend their skills including Paul Pritchard, Lewis Jones, Gordon Davidson, Matt Jones, George Oulton, Marta Di Nozzi, Tom Ashpitel, Al Russell, Mack Kniese, Kobi Quist and **Hannes Wannerberger **.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
We’re proud to have hosted much of the recording for Star Wars Jedi: Survivor in Studio One engineered between Alan Meyerson and Christopher Parker with Rupert Coulson leading a third block at AIR Studios.

Composed by Stephen Barton and Gordy Haab, the soundtrack was recently Grammy-nominated for Best Score Soundtrack for Video Games and Other Interactive Media, a category that was only introduced last year.

Other notable mentions include: The Moonwalkers, Rye Lane, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Spider-Man Across The Spiderverse, A Haunting In Venice, Trolls Band Together, The Little Mermaid, The Marvels, Chevalier, Our Planet II, Society Of The Snow and Pacemaker.

We are proud to add two new additions of gear to our arsenal with the introductions of the RS660 Compressor and the TG Microphone Type L.

RS660 Compressor
The Chandler RS660 compressor is a single-channel valve compressor inspired by the iconic EMI RS124 and Fairchild 660 compressors used at Abbey Road Studios in the 1960s.

Centred around a 6386 vacuum tube, the RS660 Compressor is tuned to reproduce the classic sound of its predecessors, achieving this through a more efficient design.

The RS660 Compressor and Limiter is capable of taming an array of dynamic sources, from sensitive vocals to explosive drums.

TG Microphone Type L
The TG Microphone Type L is a handmade phantom powered, solid-state large diaphragm condenser microphone, and — as the name implies — the Type L is descended from the innovative TG Microphone.

While the Type L retains the core circuitry capsule and ‘Dual Tone System’ of the larger TG Microphone, it is voiced considerably different compared to its forebearer.

With its TG circuit, compact form factor — 6.125” long — and Dual Tone System, the Type L represents the perfect cross-section of larger than solid-state sounds, utility and versatility.

The Dual Tone System — familiar to TG Microphone users — modifies the input stage of the Type L and extends the versatility of the microphone to accommodate a greater array of sources. System ‘A’ is characteristically TG and rich in harmonics, whereas the ‘B’ voicing handles extreme SPLs — with the PAD engaged — and by contrast is, more pristine with a ribbon-like quality.

The TG Microphone Type L is cardioid and intended as the quintessential recording studio workhorse. The Type L is capable of rivaling scenarios where the C414, FET47, U87, U67 and C12 have been preferred, and may replace the practice of employing a dynamic and a ribbon in combination on guitar cabinets.

Equalise
On Saturday 4 March, Abbey Road Equalise opened up Abbey Road Studios to the next generation of female artists and creatives for a free day of panel talks & masterclasses for IWD 2023!

We heard from some of the music industry’s leading women and most exciting rising female talent about how they got started and their essential tips for success.

Read more and watch the free livestream here.

Amplify
Over 10 and 11 November, we opened our doors to the next generation of artists, engineers and creatives for Abbey Road Amplify, a free festival featuring masterclasses, interactive sessions, workshops, A&R demo feedback sessions and Q&As.

Hosted across Studios Two & Three by members of the Abbey Road team as well as some of the music industry’s leading names, the event saw panellists and hosts share career insights and essential advice for upcoming talent.

Read more and watch the free livestream here.

We were proud to publish a series of exclusive performance films that illuminate a diverse range of queer voices across music and the wider creative arts.

The series features intimate performances and interviews filmed at Abbey Road Studios and was born from the studio’s vision to celebrate creativity and queer artistic expression.

Published films include artists Baby Queen, L Devine and Charles with more to follow in 2024.

2023 played host to three new Lock-In films and singles including The Clockworks X Bernard Butler's Mayday Mayday, Hak Baker X Karma Kid's Windrush Baby, Sans Soucis X Charles X Cid Rim's Mexico City.

Watch now to see the artists write and record new songs while illuminating the process of arranging, recording and mixing music that usually happens behind closed doors.

Find out more on each session by heading to the news section of our website and searching 'Lock-In'.

We were thrilled to reveal details of our second Amplify x Pitchfork London series, in partnership with leading American music publication Pitchfork.

The series saw a number of artists playing the Pitchfork London festival come into the studios to work with Abbey Road’s engineers and record something new.

Performances and interviews came from Yaya Bey, Okay Kaya, Planningtorock x I. JORDAN and Hinako Omori.

They came. They saw. They captured.

14,000 images from 30 countries. Six open and four invited categories. 10,000 public votes for the Music Moment of the Year category. A nine-day exhibition at Outernet, London, visited by more than 1.5 million people.

All culminating in one very special night at Abbey Road Studios celebrating the art of music photography AND the photographers behind the lens.

MPA Amplify
In July, we were delighted to host a day of essential panel talks on music photography in Studio Three as part of our Amplify programme.

We were joined by the likes of Rankin, Vicky Grout, Jordan Curtis Hughes, Charlotte Patmore, Ashley Verse, Phoebe Fox and Dave Hogan who shared invaluable insights, experience and expertise to a live audience as well as more than 1,000 photographers watching at home.

You can watch each talk in full over on our YouTube channel.

MPA Lates
On 11 December, more than 30 photographers headed to Studio Three for a Q&A moderated by Marian Paterson, and portfolio review sessions with renowned photographers Jill Furmanovsky, Charlotte Patmore, Katy Cummings and Ashley Verse.

If you couldn’t grab a space this time, fret not! You can watch the full Q&A back on our Instagram.

Made in collaboration with Rick Guest's Legacy + Art collective, this photographic fine art series of hyper-detailed, large format artworks reveal in incredible detail our iconic microphone collection and their historical patina.

The microphones in the collection are the conduits to some of the most iconic recording sessions of all time, and the large format, high resolution artworks created by Legacy+Art unequivocally celebrate the witness marks and patina of the culture defining sessions that are etched into their surface.

The series of images contain microphones used on culture defining sessions by artists from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Ella Fitzgerald, Cilla Black, Fela Kuti and Shirley Bassey, to Oasis, Kate Bush, Amy Winehouse, Frank Ocean, Celeste and Adele, amongst an array of others.

Read more here.

Abbey Road Red, our music technology incubator presented its annual Red Demo Day – its first showcase since 2020, having paused during two years of lockdowns.

Held in the iconic Studio Two; a room with an incredible legacy of music innovation from the first stereo recordings to the re-writing of the music creation rulebook, the event saw Red’s stakeholder community congregate once again in person for the Abbey Road Red team to present:

· Red’s graduating cohort of music technology start-ups

· Red’s predictions and insights into current and evolving music technology and wider technology trends

· Red’s alumni milestones

Read more here.

Across August, we partnered with Scala Radio to help find the most popular film scores recorded at the famous venue.

For the first time, the public were able to vote for their favourite film score recorded at Abbey Road over the decades, with Charles Nove counting down the listeners’ Top Ten in his Scala Radio show.

The vote formed part of Scala Radio’s ever popular All Movies Monday programming, which sees listeners take charge of the 12-hour movie music marathon, broadcasting 9am-9pm on 28th August, with each hour themed around a specific genre, composer, director, or actor.

With thousands of scores created at Abbey Road Studios over the last 43 years, Scala Radio presenter and film critic Mark Kermode whittled down the list to 88.

See how what made the top ten below!

Alongside the listener vote, Scala Radio also created a four-part Sunday evening series which explores the film scores that have been recorded at the Studios over the decades.

Composers included Alexander Desplat, Harry Gregson-Williams, James Newton Howard and Daniel Pemberton.

Launched in 2021 to shine a light on the people behind the scenes that keep the studios running, the podcast has now entered its second season.

Join host Paul Sexton as he discovers even more exciting roles of some of Abbey Road’s finest including Head of Audio Products Mirek Stiles, Mastering Engineer Oli Morgan, Assistant Engineer Andy Maxwell, Studio Runners Sarah Meyz and Callum Waddington, Retail Buyer / Merchandiser Jamila Knuckles-Pearman and Microphone Custodian Lester Smith.

Find each new episode here.