How The Beatles Recorded RAIN & Which Pressing Sounds Best?

'Rain' must go down as one of The Beatles' best b-sides. This highly innovative recording took place during the recording of the 'Revolver' album and it was amazing to hear the full speed version of it included in the new box set. However, in this video, we put forward a theory about how that fast version on the box set is actually too fast. We'll also tell you which, in our opinion, is the best sounding mono and stereo pressings of this amazing song.

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Thank you!

[onderov]

Andrew, there's really easy way how to determine the exact real speed of the Rain basic rhythm (and bass) track. All you have to do is to capture the mains power hum (which is 50hz) of the guitar amps on the track. The guitar amp hum is always constant (at 50 hz) and independent of the the tape running speed, so you can basicaly tune the recording by that hum, if you have the hum. Fortunately, there's enough pre-take silent space with just the hum. And it does really confirms that the backing track WAS played in Bb (to my surprise as well). On the other hand, the book claims that the bass was overdubbed with the tape running fast, but that's not true! The bass track isolation reveals that when you tune the main hum to 50hz it's in G, which is the slowed down version.

[MednaTheFox]

Despite the errors that the recent Beatles boxes present, I still look forward to them each year. They leave me with a better appreciation for the albums.

[tomblack]

I still remember discovering the song Rain when I was a kid in the 70s listening to my parents singles. Loved Paperback Writer then flipped over the record. My 8 year old brain was never the same again.

[Paisly]

Thanks Andrew for discussing Rain, as far as I’m concerned it’s one of the Beatles best and has been underrated by music scribes for years (56 years to be exact) the same goes with Hey Bulldog..

[recordtime]

What a great time for popular music in the mid-sixties. So many artists were appreciating and influenced by what others were doing resulting in a landscape of new and evolving styles and sounds. When I first heard the “actual speed” Rain on the new collection I immediately thought “Byrds” and also hear them on other tracks. So it’s Beatles inspiring Byrds, then inspiring back to the Beatles in a wonderful feedback loop. You see this everywhere in the music of that time period. Thanks Andrew!

[coolshirtkid]

one of my absolute favorite beatles tracks

[johnaston]

Even during the Anthology get together by the Threetles, listening to Tomorrow Never Knows Paul wasn't sure if he was playing Piano, and George couldn't even remember which take was used on the record. So with Big George Martin gone and Geoff Emerick already telling all, it's all about other people's opinions on who played what. Great show as always.

[ZaZaTofuHumperdink]

I don't think you're quite right here Andrew. The backing track on the box set "actual speed" version has an amp hum of 50hz, which suggests it was indeed recorded at B♭. The bass, however, has an amp hum of around 62hz, so it seems Paul recorded and overdubbed his bass part at a slower speed. Hence why it might be him with John on guitars after all.

[larryfreda]

Off topic. You videos and channel are fantastic. I’m glued to everyone and find them so informative and entertaining. Your enthusiasm and knowledge make you fun to watch. What amazes me the most is that you pull this off without ever playing a Beatles song. Thank you Sir and keep up the good work.

[anthonylouie]

A massive "thank you" Andrew for continuing your analysis of our favorite band's art Your video is the highlight of my youtube week. Looking forward to what's to come this month and beyond. Cheers.

[aceopinions]

If there is a most underrated Beatles song, it's "Rain" . I first heard Rain as the B side when I was a kid in 1966, My older brother brought home "Paperback Writer" The song is amazing with John's ethereal vocals and I instantly loved it. This would have been mono, since stereo singles were not available at the time. The next version I heard was in stereo on the Hey Jude album issued in 1970. I had a slight preference for the stereo version, but i had a decent quality receiver at that point vs . an early sixties hi-fi mono set that was part of TV console - common in the US then.

[mattgould]

I love everything about this song, the guitars, bass, drums, vocals, backwards vocals, the fun video of them, the lyrics are awesome, John pulling out a sublime, understated poetic masterpiece of psychedelia, one of my favourite Beatles tracks.
I didn’t know there was so many versions of it, thanks for the good information on this.

[vicbertfartingclack]

Yep. Compared to bootlegs and other recordings I’ve listened to over the years, I too thought the “Actual Speed” Rain on the 2022 release was oddly and unexpectedly too fast. Some have described the 2022 track as being “comically fast”. But I assumed as it was the official release, it would have been correct and the boots were wrong … now after watching this, maybe not.

[roundsrapid]

4:36 As a guitarist and bassist myself, playing in A is much easier than playing in Bb. The key of A is used in a myriad of rock songs, while Bb is very unusual.

[punkrockisdead]

Hi Andrew, been a lurker of this channel for about a year now and I have to say I love the the deep dives of Beatles songs and albums

[gamers]

Rain is one of my favorite tracks by the band as well. I once read in RS that they considered it the greatest double sided single of the era, that is until Penny Lane and Strawberry field’s was released.

[baviation]

Rain was the first Beatles song I really loved when I was around 8 years old. My parents bought me Past Masters on CD and I loved it. I remember thinking how cool they looked in the music video lol.

About 15 years later I rediscovered the Beatles and I’ve been deep diving into their content for the past years!

[antoniopp]

I actually noticed the exact same thing the day I listened to the set back in late October. I made my own version on Audacity calling it "actual actual speed", in the key of A. You can tell it's the right speed from the count in, John's voice sounds natural. Also, you can easily play the song in A. Extra guitar trick: during the coda part, one guitar (or both) has got the lower 6th string detuned to A (E in standard tuning), to create a drone effect.

[initfun]

Thanks, Andrew. You’ve nailed it. The Beatles recording crew had been experimenting with variable pitch on their recordings for years, specifically with She Loves You, which, to my ears, the mastered releases have always made the group sound like girls, rather than the intended excitement they tried to exude. It took the Beatles’ film ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ to give us a closer look at this recording as the playback equipment used for the film was notoriously slow. ‘She Loves You’ in the film IS too slow, but it’s closer to the actual sound of the recording, if we’re being honest about these released recordings. I’ll say this until I die. ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I’ll Get You’ were sped up by EMI to convey more exuberance, and it’s just wrong, historically.

[bucksdiaryfan]

Here's the highest compliment I can give you and your channel -- half the audiophile shit you talk about goes completely over my head.. Yet your passion for the Beatles, encyclopedic knowledge of Beatle history, and your note perfect BBC cadence make your episodes highly addictive