Solo Beatles Studios

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Yoko Ono, John Lennon, and producer Jack Douglas in the control room of Studio A6 at The Hit Factory during the Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey sessions, 1980. I believe that just for mixing they brought in two pairs of nearfield monitor speakers which we can see to the left of Yoko.

One pair are JBL 4310's, and the second pair I haven't been able to identify yet. The temporary nature of the setup is evidenced by each speaker being placed on two 2" tape boxes which are stacked on top of some of the Hit Factory's moveable gobos. I think they likely used the studio's main monitors during the tracking, but unfortunately I haven't been able to find a photo to identify them yet.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: Bob Gruen

John Lennon and Yoko Ono in the isolation booth in studio A6 of the The Hit Factory during the Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey Sessions. This booth was located just to the left of the control room and was also the main passageway/airlock from the control room to the live room.

John cut all of live vocals and guitars from the booth with the rest of the band out in the live room. John's final vocals for Double Fantasy were overdubbed, but the vocals that ended up on Milk And Honey were his live vocals cut in the booth. The booth was the only one in Studio A6, everything else was gobo'ed off in the life live room. When took over the studio in the late '80s, they added two additional booths to the live room, making it slightly smaller but giving them greater flexibility.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: Bob Gruen

Press photo of John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy band taken at The Hit Factory during the 1980 sessions. Much has been made of of Hugh McCracken and Earl Slick (official) 's previous ties to John, but no one in the Double Fantasy band had worked with John more than percussionist Arthur Jenkins Jr.

Jenkins entry in to the Lennon/Ono world came when he was hired for Yoko's 1973 album Feeling the Space. John liked his playing on Feeling the Space which led to him playing on EVERY subsequent John Lennon album; Mind Games, Walls and Bridges, Rock 'n' Roll, Double Fantasy, and Milk And Honey. During the Double Fantasy sessions Jenkins lived at 72nd and Columbus, just a block or two away from the Dakota. Jenkins passed away in 2009 at 73.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: unknown

John Lennon in the control room of Studio A6 at The Hit Factory during the Double Fantasy/Milk and Honey sessions. There is some differing information about when the photographer David Spindel was at the sessions, but I believe this to be late August 1980.

John is playing his Ovation Guitars Legend Ltd. 1651. The 1651 was first released in 1979 and photos show that John had his as early as March of that year. The 1651 was with him on his 1979 and 1980 trips to Palm Beach Florida, and his famous sailing trip to Bermuda in June of 1980 where he wrote and demoed many of the songs that would become Double Fantasy and Milk & Honey.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: David M. Spindel

John Lennon and Yoko Ono recording vocals in the live room of Studio A6 at The Hit Factory during the Double Fantasy/Milk and Honey sessions. The vocal chain for Double Fantasy was Neumann U 87 > Neve 8068 console > UREI LA-2A > Pultec EQP-1A > Studer A80 (16 track/30ips, no NR).

Producer Jack Douglas tells a story about John's mic technique: “He showed me a trick that I’ve yet to see any other artist do: When he was doing his overdubs, he’d ‘catch’ his ‘p’s. His hand would go by his mouth, and he’d catch the ‘p’ and throw it away.” The specifics may be apocryphal, but I think that the takeaway is that John was still a master at mic technique, even after 5 years away from the studio.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: Kishin Shinoyama

John Lennon in the control room of Studio A6 at the The Hit Factory on 7 August 1980, the first day of recording on Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.

Behind John we see some of the gear used to record the albums. A Studer A80 Mark II VU-24-2", two Studer B67's, two Pultec EQP-1A's, a Lang PEQ-2, a Eventide H910 Harmonizer, and a 500 series full of API 550 EQ's.

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: Roger Farrington

Yoko Ono and John Lennon in the Live Room of Studio A6 at The Hit Factory during the Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey sessions. In the background are arranger Tony Davilio on the left and pianist George Small on the right. I'm pretty sure this is 19 August when they tracked "Hard Times Are Over" and various vocal overdubs.

This is one of the only photos from the sessions where we can see the Hammond Organ USA B3 organ which Small played with such finesse on tracks such as "I'm Losing You". The Leslie speaker is probably behind the gobo just behind the organ. It was mic'ed with a stereo pair of Neumann U 87's on top and an Electro-Voice RE20 on the bottom.

More information at: solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: unknown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Solo Beatles Studios Announces Planned Relaunch of McCartney-Focused Content

2 June 2026

Solo Beatles Studios, an independent blog dedicated to the study and discussion of the Beatles' solo-era studio work and equipment, announced plans to gradually restore content to its website following a period of voluntary suspension.

Originally launched in 2020 as Hog Hill Mill Blog, Solo Beatles Studios focused on documenting and analyzing the equipment and creative environment of McCartney’s personal recording studio, Hog Hill Mill. In November 2022, the site was taken offline after the founder, Alex Herd, received informal correspondence from a third party suggesting that an individual associated with the studio believed the blog infringed upon McCartney’s privacy by sharing details about it's recording and musical equipment.

Despite not being provided with direct contact information or an opportunity to address the concern, Herd elected to remove the site “out of an abundance of caution” and initiated efforts to seek clarification. Multiple outreach attempts were made via email, social media, and physical mail to contacts associated with McCartney Productions Ltd. and Hog Hill Mill. No response was received.

Given the lack of direct communication, Solo Beatles Studios has identified three possible interpretations:
-McCartney representatives were aware of the blog and had no objection
-McCartney Representatives were aware of the blog but chose not to pursue action
-McCartney Representatives were not aware of the blog

After allowing significant time for a response, Solo Beatles Studios has decided to begin reinstating McCartney-related content on a gradual basis. The relaunch will involve transferring and reformatting archived material to a new platform, with initial pages expected to go live in autumn 2026.

Solo Beatles Studios remains open to dialogue and encourages representatives of Sir Paul McCartney to make contact if there are any concerns regarding the content.

Contact:
[email protected]

John Lennon, Yoko Ono , assistant engineer Steve Marcantonio, producer Jack Douglas and assistant engineer Sam Ginsberg in the 10th floor mix room at the Record Plant, December 1980. This would likely have been a listening/overdub session for "Walking On Thin Ice". A few months earlier, a pair of sounds for Double Fantasy were mixed in the very same room.

Marcantonio, who went on to be a renowned engineer in his own right, says he was chosen for the John and Yoko sessions for his fluency with the BTX SMPTE Tape Controller that was was used to synchronize the two 16-track tape machines "Along the way I got to learn about a very valuable piece of equipment back then it was called the BTX. It was this white little console that held two tape machines together. Well in September of that year Jonny and Yoko were working on Double Fantasy and they booked the studio and they wanted me because I knew how to use the BTX."

More info at solobeatlesstudios.com/johnlennon/doublefantasy

📸: Bob Gruen