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The big event of today was the latest skirmish in the ongoing battle of The Beatles vs. Session Men. A brass section had been hired for overdubs to “Savoy Truffle,” and according to engineer Brian Gibson,
The session men were playing really well – there’s nothing like a good brass section letting rip – and it sounded fantastic. But having got this really nice sound George turned to Ken Scott and said “Right, I want to distort it.” So I had to plug-up two high-gain amplifiers which overloaded and deliberately introduced a lot of distortion, completely tearing the sound to pieces and making it dirty. The musicians came up to the control room to listen to a playback and … I don’t think they particularly enjoyed hearing their magnificent sound screwed up quite so much.
With that in mind, it might be worth taking another listen to “Savoy Truffle”:
Also today, “Piggies,” “Don’t Pass Me By,” “Good Night” were mixed in both mono and stereo. Says The Beatles Bible,
Don’t Pass Me By also had an edit which added a few tinkling piano notes to the beginning. Both mono and stereo mixes of the song were crossfaded with a tape of violinist Jack Fallon playing along to the song, although the mixes used different parts of this overdub.
And there is your Miniscule Beatles Detail of the day: The mono and stereo mixes of “Don’t Pass Me By” are slightly different in the coda. Make a note of it.