The famous console on which The Beatles’ Abbey Road was recorded has now been restored with the help of a Rickmansworth father and son duo.
Malcolm Jackson (pictured back row, left) and his son Hamish (pictured back row, second from left) worked with an expert team under the guidance of The Cure’s producer Mark Hedges (pictured sixth from right) to restore the 1968 console.
According to Mark, the console hadn’t been used since The Beatles’ solo sessions in the 1970s. It was left unused for more than five decades, and the restoration took nearly five years.
Hamish told RICKYnews: “Dad worked on this every single day for at least four years.
“When you listen to The Beatles’ sounds before Abbey Road, they will sound different. The TG was the very first console in the world to have limiters and compressors built into the set – before, it was all separate. It was revolutionary technology at the time and is the basis of all modern consoles.”
Also among the restoration team was Brian Gibbson, Abbey Road’s old sound engineer whose first project was Abbey Road. He sadly passed away earlier this year while working on the restoration.
The console was custom built for the EMI Abbey Road Studio and was used for The Beatles’ iconic album as well as many solo projects, such as John Lennon’s Instant Karma.
Dave Harries, who participated in numerous Beatles recording sessions in the 60s, said: “Abbey Road is one of the best albums that’s ever been made and it sounds so good because of this recording console. The album has a distinctive sound that hallmarked the feature of pop recording.”
The console was painstakingly rebuilt, staying true to its original form.
Hamish said: “We went to extraordinary lengths to make sure it was all the same as the original.”
The sale of the fully functioning console is being managed by MJQ, Malcolm and Hamish’s company.
Hamish is hoping the console will be put to practical use, saying: “It deserves more than to be put in a museum.”
The Jackson family has lived in the Rickmansworth area for multiple generations, with Malcom’s father working for the BBC as a much-loved radio DJ.
Malcolm is the owner and founder of Jackson Studios, which produced songs such as The Ace of Spades by Motörhead.
He then became involved in music equipment resale and became the first broker in the world to specialise in record studio resale.
To learn more, visit www.reverb.com/news/the-abbey-road-console-preview
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