99-552: The Music Producers Guild (MPG) (UK) promotes and represents individuals in the music production and recording professions. It was founded in 2000. As a guild, the organisation has no political party affiliation. The organisation presents the Music Producers Guild Awards annually. In 2008, the MPG and BPI coordinated their awards programmes. The MPG awards are intended to recognise producers, engineers, mixers and remixers. At
198-541: A song plugger when occasionally assigned the task by Preuss, comparing himself to a "sheep among wolves". Preuss retired as head of Parlophone in April 1955, leaving the 29-year-old Martin to take over the label. Martin soon hired Ron Richards to be his A&R assistant. However, Martin had to fight to retain the label, as by late 1956 EMI managers considered moving Parlophone's successful artists to Columbia Records or His Master's Voice (HMV), with Martin possibly to take
297-690: A "fireproof" hit-making pop artist or group. In August 1964, Martin oversaw Judy Garland 's final studio recording session, with two songs from the Maggie May musical. By late 1962, Martin had established a strong working relationship with Brian Epstein , the Beatles' manager. Epstein also managed (or was considering managing) a number of other Liverpool music acts, and soon these acts began recording with Martin. When Martin visited Liverpool in December 1962, Epstein showed him successful local acts like Gerry and
396-464: A 4 September session, with the Beatles now featuring Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles also re-recorded "Love Me Do" and played an early version of " Please Please Me ", which Martin thought was "dreary" and needed to be sped up. Though Martin was sure "How Do You Do It" could be a hit, the Beatles hated the song's style and Murray disliked the Beatles' recording of it. Additionally, Ardmore & Beechwood protested Martin's plan to issue an A-side that
495-575: A Beatles' fifth single, " I Want to Hold Your Hand ", only after Wood met Capitol president Alan Livingston in person, in New York, in November 1963 with an order from EMI chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood to do so. Martin alleged that when he and the Beatles travelled to New York to make their American debut in February 1964, Livingston kept Martin away from the press to minimize EMI's role (and promote Capitol's) in
594-577: A Royal Navy variety show; Martin played a self-composed piano piece. As he climbed rank in the Navy, Martin consciously adopted the middle-class accent and gentlemanly social demeanour common for officers. Encouraged by the pianist, teacher and broadcaster Sidney Harrison , Martin used his veteran's grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950. He studied piano as his main instrument and oboe as his secondary, being interested in
693-442: A commission on record sales. Wood offered him a 3% commission minus "overhead costs", which would have translated to an £11,000 bonus for 1964—though, in doing so, Wood revealed to Martin that EMI had made £2.2 million in net profit from Martin's records that year. "With that simple sentence, he cut straight through whatever vestige of an umbilical cord still bound me to EMI. ... I was flabbergasted", Martin observed. As Martin exited
792-408: A correlation of 97% between autism and absolute pitch, with a 53% correlation in non-autistic observers. However, the converse is not indicated by research which found no difference between those with absolute pitch and those without on measures of social and communication skills, which are core deficits in autistic spectrum disorders. Additionally, the absolute pitch group's autism-spectrum quotient
891-628: A cover of the teen novelty song " Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini " and released it mere days after the release of the record in the UK, opening him to public accusations of piracy. Martin's version, recorded by 18-year-old Paul Hanford, failed to chart in Britain—though it performed well in several other countries and reached no. 1 in Mexico. Martin produced two singles for Paul Gadd in 1961. Later better known as Gary Glitter , at this time Gadd used
990-439: A fixed key and play it from memory on their instrument, but they are not required to sing. When tested, these students did not succeed in singing the memorized Suzuki songs in the original, fixed key. Musicians with absolute perception may experience difficulties which do not exist for other musicians. Because absolute listeners are capable of recognizing that a musical composition has been transposed from its original key, or that
1089-516: A good publisher, as he believed Ardmore & Beechwood had done nothing to promote "Love Me Do"; this led them to Dick James , a business acquaintance of Martin. Martin considered recording the Beatles' first LP as a live album at their home venue in Liverpool, The Cavern Club , and promoted this idea in an NME interview in late November. However, Martin found the Cavern unsuitable for recording during
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#17328593800631188-607: A junior A&R role at HMV under Wally Ridley . Martin staved off corporate pressure with successes in comedy records, such as a 1957 recording of the two-man show featuring Michael Flanders and Donald Swann , At the Drop of a Hat . His work transformed the profile of Parlophone from a "sad little company" to a highly profitable business over time. As head of Parlophone, Martin recorded classical and Baroque music, original cast recordings , jazz , and regional music from around Britain and Ireland. He signed singer Dick James , later
1287-554: A label for the frequency (such as "B-flat"), and exposure to the range of sound encompassed by that categorical label. Absolute pitch may be directly analogous to recognizing colors , phonemes (speech sounds), or other categorical perception of sensory stimuli . For example, most people have learned to recognize and name the color blue by the range of frequencies of the electromagnetic radiation that are perceived as light ; those who have been exposed to musical notes together with their names early in life may be more likely to identify
1386-619: A locally popular dance band, the Four Tune Tellers. He was influenced at this time by George Shearing and Meade Lux Lewis . He also took up acting in a troupe called the Quavers. With money earned from playing dances, Martin resumed formal piano lessons and learned musical notation . Martin endured the London Blitz during this time, inspiring an interest in aircraft. Despite Martin's continued interest in music, and "fantasies about being
1485-484: A meeting on 13 February 1962 with Epstein, who played for Martin the recording of the Beatles' failed January audition for Decca Records . Epstein recalled that Martin liked George Harrison 's guitar playing and preferred Paul McCartney 's singing voice to John Lennon 's, though Martin himself recalled that he "wasn't knocked out at all" by the "lousy tape". With Martin apparently uninterested, Ardmore & Beechwood's Colman and Bennett pressured EMI management to sign
1584-655: A mid-December visit, and he decided to record the group in the studio instead. As Martin had predicted, " Please Please Me " reached no. 1 on most of the British singles charts upon its release in January 1963. "From that moment, we simply never stood still", he reflected. For the Beatles' first LP, Martin had the group record 10 tracks to pair with the A- and B-sides of their first two singles—for 14 tracks in total. They accomplished this in one marathon recording session, on 11 February 1963, with
1683-518: A note), associating mental imagery with the note, or sensorimotor responses. For example, an AP possessor can accurately reproduce a heard tone on a musical instrument without "hunting" for the correct pitch . The frequency of AP in the general population is not known. A proportion of 1 in 10,000 is widely reported, but not supported by evidence; a 2019 review indicated a prevalence of at least 4% amongst music students. Generally, absolute pitch implies some or all of these abilities, achieved without
1782-497: A number of their records. Their collaborations resulted in popular, highly acclaimed records with innovative sounds, such as the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band —the first rock album to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year . Martin's career spanned more than sixty years in music, film, television and live performance. Before working with the Beatles and other pop musicians, he produced comedy and novelty records in
1881-587: A nurse during the First World War , treated him at home. In 1931, the family moved to Aubert Park in Highbury, where the Martin family first lived with electricity. When he was six, Martin's family acquired a piano that sparked his interest in music. At eight years of age, he persuaded his parents that he should take piano lessons, but those ended after only six lessons because of a disagreement between his mother and
1980-564: A pitch is being produced at a nonstandard frequency (either sharp or flat), a musician with absolute pitch may become confused upon perceiving tones believed to be "wrong" or hearing a piece of music "in the wrong key". The relative pitch of the notes may be in tune to each other, but out of tune to the standard pitch or pitches the musician is familiar with or perceives as correct. This can especially apply to Baroque music , as many Baroque orchestras tune to A = 415 Hz as opposed to 440 Hz (i.e., roughly one standard semitone lower than
2079-550: A predisposition for learning the ability or signal the likelihood of its spontaneous occurrence. Researchers have been trying to teach absolute pitch ability in laboratory settings for more than a century, and various commercial absolute-pitch training courses have been offered to the public since the early 1900s. In 2013, experimenters reported that adult men who took the antiseizure drug valproate (VPA) "learned to identify pitch significantly better than those taking placebo—evidence that VPA facilitated critical-period learning in
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#17328593800632178-483: A public concert. It was absolutely magical. As a child, he attended several Roman Catholic schools, including Our Lady of Sion ( Holloway ), St Joseph's School ( Highgate ), and at St Ignatius' College ( Stamford Hill ), where he had won a scholarship. When World War II broke out, St Ignatius College students were evacuated to Welwyn Garden City . Martin's family left London, with his being enrolled at Bromley Grammar School . At Bromley, Martin led and played piano in
2277-460: A recording contract. In 1953, Martin produced Goodwin's first record, an instrumental cover of Charlie Chaplin 's theme from Limelight , which made it to no. 3 on the British charts. Despite these early breakthroughs, Martin resented EMI's preference in the early 1950s for short-playing 78 rpm records instead of the new longer-playing 33 + 1 ⁄ 3 and 45 rpm formats coming into fashion on other labels. He also proved uncomfortable as
2376-399: A recording studio". Both The Best of Sellers and its follow-up Songs for Swingin' Sellers (1959) were critical and commercial successes in the UK. Martin later became firm friends with Spike Milligan , and was best man at Milligan's second wedding: "I loved The Goon Show , and issued an album of it on my label Parlophone, which is how I got to know Spike." The album was Bridge on
2475-478: A reference tone: Absolute pitch is distinct from relative pitch . While the ability to name specific pitches can be used to infer intervals , relative pitch identifies an interval directly by its sound. Absolute pitch may complement relative pitch in musical listening and practice, but it may also influence its development. Adults who possess relative pitch but do not already have absolute pitch can learn "pseudo-absolute pitch" and become able to identify notes in
2574-429: A tone language, even those with little musical training, are observed to sing a given song with consistent pitch. Among music students of East Asian ethnic heritage, those who speak a tone language fluently have a higher prevalence of absolute pitch than those who do not speak a tone language. African level-tone languages—such as Yoruba , with three pitch levels, and Mambila , with four—may be better suited to study
2673-515: A vital German imprint in the past, it was then not taken seriously and used only for EMI's insignificant acts. Among Martin's early duties was managing Parlophone's classical records catalogue, including Baroque ensemble sessions with Karl Haas ; Martin, Haas, and Peter Ustinov soon founded the London Baroque Society together. He also developed a friendship and working relationship with composer Sidney Torch and signed Ron Goodwin to
2772-439: A way that superficially resembles absolute pitch. Some people have been able to develop accurate pitch identification in adulthood through training. Scientific studies of absolute pitch commenced in the 19th century, focusing on the phenomenon of musical pitch and methods of measuring it. It would have been difficult for the notion of absolute pitch to have formed earlier because pitch references were not consistent. For example,
2871-524: A word in the same absolute pitch (within a quarter-tone) on different days; it has therefore been suggested that absolute pitch may be acquired by infants when they learn to speak a tonal language (and possibly also by infants when they learn to speak a pitch-accent language ). However, the brains of tonal-language speakers do not naturally process musical sound as language; such speakers may be more likely to acquire absolute pitch for musical tones when they later receive musical training. Many native speakers of
2970-768: A young David Frost to share insider information on the shady business practices of A&R men such as Paramor; this scoop aired in an episode of London AR-TV's This Week public affairs programme in November, causing Paramor great embarrassment. In 1955, EMI purchased American recording company Capitol Records . Though this gave Capitol the right of first refusal to issue records in the US from EMI artists, in practice Capitol's head of international A&R, Dave Dexter Jr. , chose to issue very few British records in America. Martin and his EMI A&R colleagues became irate at how few British records were issued by Capitol, and how little promotion
3069-436: Is microtonal or whose frequencies do not match standard 12-tone equal temperament. It is also possible for some musicians to have displaced absolute pitch, where all notes are slightly flat or slightly sharp of their respective pitch as defined by a given convention. This may arise from learning the pitch names from an instrument that was tuned to a concert pitch convention other than the one in use (e.g., A = 435 Hz,
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3168-510: Is a river that runs through England and Wales. The album featured Milligan, Sellers, Jonathan Miller , and Peter Cook , playing various characters. Martin scored a major success in 1961 with the Beyond the Fringe show cast album, which starred Peter Cook , Dudley Moore , Alan Bennett , and Jonathan Miller ; the show catalyzed Britain's satire boom in the early 1960s. In early 1963, he produced
3267-512: Is evidence of a higher rate of absolute pitch in the autistic population. Many studies have examined pitch abilities in autism, but not rigidly perfect pitch, which makes them controversial. It is unclear just how many people with autism have perfect pitch because of this. In a 2009 study, researchers studied 72 teenagers with autism and found that 20 percent of the teenagers had a significant ability to detect pitches. Children with autism are especially sensitive to changes in pitch. Absolute pitch
3366-563: Is higher among those who are blind from birth as a result of optic nerve hypoplasia . Absolute pitch is considerably more common among those whose early childhood was spent in East Asia . This might seem to be a genetic difference; however, people of East Asian ancestry who are reared in North America are significantly less likely to develop absolute pitch than those raised in East Asia, so
3465-416: Is more common among speakers of tonal languages , such as most dialects of Chinese or Vietnamese , which depend on pitch variation to distinguish words that otherwise sound the same—e.g., Mandarin with four possible tonal variations, Cantonese with nine, Southern Min with seven or eight (depending on dialect), and Vietnamese with six. Speakers of Sino-Tibetan languages have been reported to speak
3564-482: Is not a prerequisite for skilled musical performance or composition. However, there is evidence that musicians with absolute pitch tend to perform better on musical transcription tasks (controlling for age of onset and amount of musical training) compared to those without absolute pitch. It was previously argued that musicians with absolute pitch perform worse than those without absolute pitch on recognition of musical intervals; however, experiments on which this conclusion
3663-522: Is typically no keener than that of a non-absolute ("normal") listener. Absolute pitch does not depend upon a refined ability to perceive and discriminate gradations of sound frequencies, but upon detecting and categorizing a subjective perceptual quality typically referred to as "chroma". The two tasks— of identification (recognizing and naming a pitch) and discrimination (detecting changes or differences in rate of vibration)— are accomplished with different brain mechanisms. The prevalence of absolute pitch
3762-505: The Associated London Scripts cooperative of comedy writers in the 1950s and 1960s, offering equal shares in the company to his A&R colleagues and expecting them to pay studio costs proportionate to their earnings. He named it Associated Independent Recording (AIR). Short of startup capital and with many of AIR's associated acts still under contract to EMI, Martin negotiated a business arrangement with EMI that would give EMI
3861-645: The BBC Radiophonic Workshop , to create two electronic singles, "Time Beat" and "Waltz in Orbit", which were released as records by the pseudonymous Ray Cathode. Martin also earned praise from EMI chairman Sir Joseph Lockwood for his top-10 1962 hit with Bernard Cribbins , " The Hole in the Ground ". He earned another top-10 hit with Cribbins that year, with " Right Said Fred ". Though Martin wanted to add rock and roll to Parlophone's repertoire, he struggled to find
3960-459: The Paris Opera convention of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as opposed to the modern Euro-American convention for concert A = 442 Hz). Concert pitches have shifted higher for a brighter sound. When playing in groups with other musicians, this may lead to playing in a tonality that is slightly different from that of the rest of the group, such as when soloists tune slightly sharp of
4059-517: The right of first refusal on any AIR production. In exchange, EMI would pay a 7% producer's royalty on any AIR record by an artist not signed to EMI, and a 2% royalty on records by artists who were signed. A special arrangement was made for Beatles records, wherein AIR was to receive 0.5% of UK retail sales and 5% of the pressing fees EMI generated from licensing records in the US. Martin's departure from EMI and foundation of an independent production company
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4158-550: The 1950s and early 1960s as the head of EMI 's Parlophone label, working with Peter Sellers , Spike Milligan and Bernard Cribbins , among others. His work with other Liverpool rock groups in the early mid-1960s helped popularize the Merseybeat sound. In 1965, he left EMI and formed his own production company, Associated Independent Recording . AllMusic has described Martin as the "world's most famous record producer". In his career, Martin produced 30 number-one hit singles in
4257-496: The 2013 MPG awards, George Martin received 'The Outstanding Contribution to UK Music' award. Membership is open to producers, engineers, mixers, re-mixers, programmers, sound designers, mastering engineers, students, enthusiasts. MPG members include Paul Epworth , Bernard Butler , Mike Crossey , Jake Gosling and Tommy D . George Martin Sir George Henry Martin CBE (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016)
4356-506: The Beatles . Please Please Me was the first non-soundtrack album to spend more than one year consecutively inside the top ten of what became the Official UK Albums Chart (with 62 weeks). Perfect pitch Absolute pitch ( AP ), often called perfect pitch , is the ability to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference tone . AP may be demonstrated using linguistic labelling ("naming"
4455-541: The Beatles in hopes of gaining the rights to Lennon–McCartney song publishing on Beatle records; Colman and Bennett even offered to pay for the expense of the Beatles' first EMI recordings. EMI managing director L. G. ("Len") Wood rejected this proposal. Separately, Martin's relationship with Wood became strained by spring 1962, as the two had strong disagreements over business matters and also Wood's disapproval of Martin's ongoing extramarital relationship with his secretary (and later wife), Judy. To appease Colman's interest in
4554-480: The Beatles recorded " Love Me Do " for a third time with Andy White playing drums, as well as the B-side of their first single, "P.S. I Love You", and a sped-up version of "Please Please Me". Starr was asked to play tambourine and maracas, and although he complied, he was definitely "not pleased". Due to an EMI library error, a 4 September version with Starr playing drums was issued on the British single release; afterwards,
4653-453: The Beatles recording a mix of Lennon–McCartney originals and covers from their stage act. Nine days later, Martin overdubbed a piano part to the song " Misery " and a celesta on " Baby It's You ". The resulting album, Please Please Me , became a huge success in the UK, reaching no. 1 on the charts in May and staying there for 30 consecutive weeks until replaced by the Beatles' second album, With
4752-544: The Beatles signed a five-year contract renewal in exchange. When Martin countered that EMI should raise the royalty without conditions. Wood grudgingly acquiesced, but Martin believed that, "from that moment on, I was considered a traitor within EMI". During Martin's tenure at Parlophone, he also maintained a rivalry with fellow A&R director Norrie Paramor , head of EMI's prominent Columbia label. Before Martin became one of Britain's most in-demand producers thanks to his work with
4851-429: The Beatles' first recording date on 6 June 1962. Though Martin later called the 6 June 1962 session at EMI's studio two an "audition", as he had never seen the band play before, the session was actually intended to record material for the first Beatles single. Ron Richards and his engineer Norman Smith recorded four songs—" Besame Mucho ", " Love Me Do ", " Ask Me Why ", and " P.S. I Love You ". Martin arrived during
4950-432: The Beatles' success. Martin and the Beatles resented Capitol's practice of issuing records often highly divergent from British record releases. These changes could include the album title, cover art, and songs included. In addition, Dexter frequently altered Martin's mixes of Beatles tracks by processing them through Capitol's Duophonic mock stereo system. Capitol's divergent treatment of Beatle albums did not cease until
5049-475: The Beatles, Wood directed Martin to sign the group. Martin met with Epstein again on 9 May at EMI Studios in London, and informed him he would give the Beatles a standard recording contract with Parlophone, to record a minimum of six tracks in the first year. The royalty rate was to be one penny for each record sold on 85% of records, which was to be split among the four members and Epstein. They agreed to hold
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#17328593800635148-439: The Beatles, he was envious that Paramor had produced highly successful pop acts, such as Cliff Richard . He admitted to looking with "something close to desperation" for similar success. Martin also believed that Paramor's habit of forcing Columbia artists to record his own songs as B-sides (thus giving Paramor, who used more than 30 pseudonyms in this practice, a royalty on the single) was unethical. In March 1962, Martin met with
5247-510: The Fourmost in summer 1963 with a cover of one of John Lennon's earliest songs, " Hello Little Girl ", which reached no. 9. Their follow-up, released in November, was another Lennon–McCartney work, " I'm In Love ", which reached the top 20. Martin also agreed to sign the Beatles' Cavern Club associate Cilla Black . Her first record was a discarded Lennon–McCartney song, " Love of the Loved ". The record
5346-971: The ISO standard for concert A), while other recordings of Baroque pieces (especially those of French Baroque music) are performed at 392 Hz. Historically, tuning forks for concert A used on keyboard instruments (which ensembles tune to when present), have varied widely in frequency, often between 415 Hz to 456.7 Hz. Variances in the sizes of intervals for different keys and the method of tuning instruments also can affect musicians in their perception of correct pitch, especially with music synthesized digitally using alternative tunings (e.g., unequal well temperaments and alternative meantone tunings such as 19-tone equal temperament and 31-tone equal temperament ) as opposed to 12-tone equal temperament . An absolute listener may also use absolute strategies for tasks which are more efficiently accomplished with relative strategies , such as transposition or producing harmony that
5445-455: The Pacemakers and the Fourmost ; Martin urged Epstein to audition them for EMI. Gerry and the Pacemakers scored their first no. 1 with their version of " How Do You Do It? ", a song previously rejected by the Beatles, in April 1963. The group's next two singles (also produced by Martin), " I Like It " and " You'll Never Walk Alone ", also reached no. 1, earning the group the distinction of being
5544-525: The River Wye . It was a spoof of the film The Bridge on the River Kwai , being based on the 1957 Goon Show episode "An African Incident". It was intended to have the same name as the film, but shortly before its release, the film company threatened legal action if the name was used. Martin edited out the 'K' every time the word Kwai was spoken, with Bridge on the River Wye being the result. The River Wye
5643-581: The United Kingdom and 23 number-one hits in the United States, and won six Grammy Awards . He also held a number of senior-executive positions at media companies and contributed to a wide range of charitable causes, including The Prince's Trust and the Caribbean island of Montserrat . In recognition of his services to the music industry and popular culture, he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1996. Martin
5742-542: The accompanying soundtrack album for David Frost 's satirical BBC TV show That Was the Week That Was , recorded in front of a live audience. Martin frequently used comedy records to experiment with recording techniques and motifs used later on musical records, such as recording magnetic tape at half-speed and then playing it back at normal speed. (Martin used this effect on several Beatles records, such as his sped-up piano solo on " In My Life ".) In particular, Martin
5841-489: The adult human brain". However, no adult has ever been documented to have acquired absolute listening ability, because all adults who have been formally tested after AP training have failed to demonstrate "an unqualified level of accuracy... comparable to that of AP possessors". While very few people have the ability to name a pitch with no external reference, pitch memory can be activated by repeated exposure. People who are not skilled singers will often sing popular songs in
5940-452: The band signed a new contract with EMI in January 1967 that forbade such alterations. After his repeated clashes over salary terms with EMI management, Martin informed them in June 1964 that he would not renew his contract in 1965. Though EMI managing director Len Wood attempted to persuade Martin to stay with the company, Martin continued to insist that he would not work for EMI without receiving
6039-512: The band they should re-record "Please Please Me" and make it their second single. He also suggested the Beatles record a full album (LP), a suggestion Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn called "genuinely mind-boggling", given how little exposure the Beatles had achieved so far. On 26 November, the Beatles attempted "Please Please Me" a third time. After the recording, Martin looked over the mixing desk and said, "Gentlemen, you have just made your first number one record". Martin directed Epstein to find
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#17328593800636138-472: The boundaries of musical pitch categories vary among human cultures, the recognition of octave relationships is a natural characteristic of the mammalian auditory system. Accordingly, absolute pitch is not the ability to estimate a pitch value from the dimension of pitch-evoking frequency (30–5000 Hz), but to identify a pitch class category within the dimension of pitch class (e.g., C-C ♯ -D ... B-C). An absolute listener's sense of hearing
6237-458: The company in August 1965, he recruited a number of other EMI staffers, including Norman Newell , Ron Richards , John Burgess , his wife, Judy, and Decca 's Peter Sullivan . Artists associated with Martin's new production team included Adam Faith , Manfred Mann , Peter and Gordon , The Hollies , Tom Jones , and Engelbert Humperdinck . Martin conceived of his new company as being modelled on
6336-591: The correct key, and can usually recognize when TV themes have been shifted into the wrong key. Members of the Venda culture in South Africa also sing familiar children's songs in the key in which the songs were learned. This phenomenon is apparently unrelated to musical training. The skill may be associated more closely with vocal production. Violin students learning the Suzuki method are required to memorize each composition in
6435-744: The difference is more probably explained by experience. The language that is spoken may be an important factor; many East Asians speak tonal languages such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Thai, while others (such as those in Japan and certain provinces of Korea) speak pitch-accent languages, and the prevalence of absolute pitch may be partly explained by exposure to pitches together with meaningful musical labels very early in life. Absolute pitch ability has higher prevalence among those with Williams syndrome and those with an autism spectrum disorder , with claims estimating that up to 30% of autistic people have absolute pitch. A non-verbal piano-matching method resulted in
6534-460: The end of the skiffle boom. In 1957, Martin signed Jim Dale , hoping the singer would prove Parlophone's answer to British rock and roll star Tommy Steele . Dale achieved success as a teen idol , reaching no. 2 on the chart with "Be My Girl". After recording an album, Jim! , in 1958, Dale cut his music career short to pursue his original profession as a comedian, frustrating Martin. Martin courted controversy in summer 1960, when he produced
6633-542: The familiarization of the equal-tempered C-major scale . Most of the absolute listeners that were tested in this respect identified the C-major tones more reliably and, except for B, more quickly than the five "black key" tones, which corresponds to the higher prevalence of these tones in ordinary musical experiences. One study of Dutch non-musicians also demonstrated a bias toward using C-major tones in ordinary speech, especially on syllables related to emphasis. Absolute pitch
6732-632: The first British act to have their first three singles top the charts. Martin also produced the Epstein-managed Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas , whose first single was a cover of the Beatles' " Do You Want to Know a Secret ", which hit no. 2 on the chart. Kramer and Martin scored two UK no. 1's in 1963 and 1964—" Bad To Me " (also Lennon–McCartney original) and " Little Children ". Kramer also reached no. 4 with another Lennon–McCartney song in 1964, " I'll Keep You Satisfied ". Martin began work with
6831-569: The genre was the 1953 "Mock Mozart" single, performed by Peter Ustinov with Antony Hopkins – a record reluctantly released in 1952 by EMI, only after Preuss's insistence. In 1956 he produced the well-known children's song "Nellie the Elephant" which was released by Parlophone in October of that year. In 1955, Martin worked with BBC radio comedy stars the Goons on a parody version of " Unchained Melody ", but
6930-507: The interest of obtaining a recording contract for his band. Epstein met with EMI's general marketing director Ron White, with whom he had a longstanding business relationship, and left a copy of the Beatles' German single with Tony Sheridan , "My Bonnie". White said he would play it for EMI's four A&R directors, including George Martin (though it later emerged that he neglected to do so, playing it only for two of them— Wally Ridley and Norman Newell ). In mid-December, White replied that EMI
7029-485: The leading EMI label. In December 1964, Gerry and the Pacemakers released " Ferry Cross the Mersey ", a teaser for the February 1965 film of the same name in the style of the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night . The soundtrack album featured music by Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Fourmost, Cilla Black, and George Martin-orchestrated instrumental music. Martin produced numerous comedy and novelty records. His first success in
7128-675: The music of Rachmaninoff and Ravel and Cole Porter . His oboe teacher was Margaret Eliot (the mother of Jane Asher , who later became involved with Paul McCartney ). After that, Martin explained that he had just picked it up by himself. Martin also took courses at Guildhall in music composition and orchestration. After graduating, Martin worked for the BBC's classical music department, also earning money as an oboe player in local bands. Martin joined EMI in November 1950 as an assistant to Oscar Preuss, who had served as head of EMI's Parlophone label since 1923. Although having been regarded by EMI as
7227-623: The music publisher for the Beatles and Elton John , to a recording contract, and reached no. 14 with James's theme from The Adventures of Robin Hood . Martin became the first British A&R man to capitalize on the 1956 skiffle boom when he signed the Vipers Skiffle Group after seeing them in London's 2i's Coffee Bar . They reached no. 10 on the UK Singles Chart in 1957 with "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O", though their success faded with
7326-606: The name "Paul Raven". Neither single was commercially successful. Martin's first British no. 1 came in May 1961, with the Temperance Seven 's " You're Driving Me Crazy ". Also that year, Martin produced Humphrey Lyttelton 's version of "Saturday Jump", which became the theme tune of the influential BBC Radio programme, Saturday Club , and scored a success at no. 14 in the charts with Charlie Drake 's novelty record, " My Boomerang Won't Come Back ". In early 1962, Martin collaborated with Maddalena Fagandini , then working at
7425-731: The next Rachmaninoff ", he did not initially choose music as a career. He worked briefly as a quantity surveyor , and later for the War Office as a Temporary Clerk (Grade Three), which meant filing paperwork and making tea. In 1943, at the age of 17, Martin volunteered for the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy , having been inspired by their exploits in the Battle of Taranto in 1940. He trained at HMS St Vincent in Gosport . The war ended before Martin
7524-441: The note C. Although it was once thought that it "might be nothing more than a general human capacity whose expression is strongly biased by the level and type of exposure to music that people experience in a given culture", absolute pitch may be influenced by genetic variation, possibly an autosomal dominant genetic trait. Evidence suggests that absolute pitch sense is influenced by cultural exposure to music, especially in
7623-446: The note known as 'A' varied in different local or national musical traditions between what is considered as G sharp and B flat before the standardisation of the late 19th century. While the term absolute pitch , or absolute ear , was in use by the late 19th century by both British and German researchers, its application was not universal; other terms such as musical ear , absolute tone consciousness , or positive pitch referred to
7722-469: The recording of "Love Me Do"; between takes, he introduced himself to the Beatles and subtly changed the arrangement. The verdict was not promising, however, as Richards and Martin complained about Pete Best 's drumming, and Martin thought their original songs were simply not good enough. In the control room, Martin asked the individual Beatles if there was anything they personally did not like, to which George Harrison replied, "I don't like your tie." That
7821-413: The rest of the ensemble to stand out or to compensate for loosening strings during longer performances. Absolute pitch shows a genetic overlap with music-related and non-music-related synesthesia / ideasthesia . They may associate certain notes or keys with different colors, enabling them to tell what any note or key is. In this study, about 20% of people with absolute pitch are also synesthetes. There
7920-410: The role of absolute pitch in speech than the pitch and contour tone languages of East Asia. Speakers of European languages make subconscious use of an absolute pitch memory when speaking. Absolute pitch is the ability to perceive pitch class and to mentally categorize sounds according to perceived pitch class. A pitch class is the set of all pitches that are a whole number of octaves apart. While
8019-400: The same ability. The skill is not exclusively musical. Physically and functionally, the auditory system of an absolute listener evidently does not differ from that of a non-absolute listener. Rather, "it reflects a particular ability to analyze frequency information, presumably involving high-level cortical processing." Absolute pitch is an act of cognition , needing memory of the frequency,
8118-456: The same time as the contract dispute, Martin took a work trip in late March 1962 to Blackpool with his secretary, Judy Lockhart Smith. This trip led Wood to discover that Martin had been having an affair with Smith, which further irritated Wood. With their relationship strained, Wood exacted a measure of revenge by having Martin sign the Beatles to a record contract to appease interest from EMI's publishing arm, Ardmore & Beechwood. Martin
8217-522: The song's publishers objected to the recording and blocked it from release. The Goons subsequently left Parlophone for Decca , but member Peter Sellers achieved a UK hit with Martin in 1957, " Any Old Iron ". Recognising that Sellers was capable of "a daydreaming form of humour which could be amusing and seductive without requiring the trigger of a live audience", Martin pitched a full album to EMI. The resultant album, The Best of Sellers (1958), has been cited as "the first British comedy LP created in
8316-472: The tape was destroyed, and the 11 September recording with Andy White on drums was used for all subsequent releases. (Martin later praised Starr's drumming, calling him "probably ... the finest rock drummer in the world today". ) Despite Martin's doubts about the song, "Love Me Do" steadily climbed in the British charts, peaking at number 17 in late November 1962. With his doubts about the Beatles' songwriting abilities now quashed, on 16 November Martin told
8415-472: The teacher. Martin created his first piano composition, "The Spider's Dance" at age eight. Martin continued to learn piano on his own through his youth, building a working knowledge of music theory through his natural perfect pitch . I remember well the very first time I heard a symphony orchestra. I was just in my teens when Sir Adrian Boult brought the BBC Symphony Orchestra to my school for
8514-553: The time he signed a three-year contract renewal in 1959, Martin sought—but failed—to obtain a royalty on Parlophone's record sales, a practice becoming common in the U.S.: "I reckoned that if I was going to devote my life to building up something which wasn't mine, I deserved some form of commission", he reflected. The issue continued to linger in his mind, and Martin claimed he "nearly didn't sign" his spring 1962 contract renewal over this issue—even threatening EMI managing director L. G. ("Len") Wood that he would walk away from his job. At
8613-627: Was "way below clinical thresholds". Absolute pitch might be achievable by any human being during a critical period of auditory development, after which period cognitive strategies favor global and relational processing. Proponents of the critical-period theory agree that the presence of absolute pitch ability is dependent on learning, but there is disagreement about whether training causes absolute skills to occur or lack of training causes absolute perception to be overwhelmed and obliterated by relative perception of musical intervals . One or more genetic loci could affect absolute pitch ability,
8712-407: Was a new thing. I was being too conventional." Though charmed by the Beatles' personalities, Martin was unimpressed with the musical repertoire from their first session. "I didn't think the Beatles had any song of any worth—they gave me no evidence whatsoever that they could write hit material", he claimed later. He arranged for the Beatles to record a cover of Mitch Murray's " How Do You Do It " at
8811-411: Was also infuriated by EMI's refusal to give him a Christmas bonus at the end of 1963—a year in which he had produced seven no. 1 singles and dominated the albums chart—because his £3,000 salary disqualified him from receiving one. "I, naturally, had a chip on my shoulder", he admitted later. He also advocated that the Beatles' penny-per-record royalty rate be doubled; Len Wood agreed to this, but only if
8910-494: Was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " fifth Beatle " because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatles ' original albums. Martin's formal musical expertise and interest in novel recording practices facilitated the group's rudimentary musical education and desire for new musical sounds to record. Most of their orchestral and string arrangements were written by Martin, and he played piano or keyboards on
9009-482: Was born on 3 January 1926 in Highbury , London, to Henry ("Harry") and Bertha Beatrice (née Simpson) Martin. He had an older sister, Irene. In Martin's early years, the family lived modestly, first in Highbury and then Drayton Park . Harry worked as a craftsman carpenter in a small attic workshop, while Bertha cooked meals at a communal stove in their apartment building. At age 5, George contracted scarlet fever ; Bertha,
9108-432: Was curious to see how tape offered advantages over existing technologies favoured by EMI: "It was still in its infancy, and a lot of people at the studio regarded tape with suspicion. But we gradually learnt all about it, and working with the likes of Sellers and Milligan was very useful, because, as it wasn't music, you could experiment. ... We made things out of tape loops, slowed things down, and banged on piano lids." By
9207-508: Was given for the ones that were issued. In December 1962, Martin complained to EMI managing director Len Wood that he "would not wish to recommend Capitol Records to any impresario who was thinking of launching a future British show in the States". Dexter passed on issuing the Beatles' first four singles in the US, driving Martin out of desperation to issue " She Loves You " on the small, independent Swan Records . Capitol finally agreed to release
9306-450: Was involved in any combat, and he left the service in January 1947. During the war, Martin travelled to New York and saw performances by Cab Calloway and Gene Krupa . He also did nine months of aerial training in Trinidad , becoming a petty officer and aerial observer . On 26 July 1945, shortly after receiving his officer commission, Martin appeared on BBC radio for the first time during
9405-552: Was major news in the music press, with the NME calling it a "shock to the recording industry". Wood attempted to lure Martin back to EMI in 1969 with an offered salary of £25,000, but Martin rejected it. Martin and Wood's working relationship ruptured for good in 1973, with Martin vowing to negotiate with EMI only through legal representatives from then on. In November 1961, new Beatles manager Brian Epstein travelled to London to meet with record executives from EMI and Decca Records in
9504-517: Was not a Lennon–McCartney song. Martin then reluctantly decided to have "Love Me Do" issued as the A-side of the Beatles' first single and save "How Do You Do It" for another occasion. (In April 1963, Martin achieved a No. 1 hit with the song as recorded by Beatle contemporaries Gerry and the Pacemakers .) Martin was dissatisfied with Starr's 4 September performance and resolved to use a session drummer for their next recording session. On 11 September 1962,
9603-528: Was not interested in signing the Beatles. By coincidence, Martin gave an interview that week in Disc magazine in which he explained that "beat groups" presented unique challenges for A&R directors, and that he sought a "distinct sound" when scouting them. Martin claimed that he was contacted by Sid Colman of EMI music publisher Ardmore & Beechwood at the request of Epstein, though Colman's colleague Kim Bennett later disputed this. In any event, Martin arranged
9702-469: Was only a minor hit, reaching no. 35. Martin and Black rebounded in 1964 with two no. 1 hits, " Anyone Who Had a Heart " and " You're My World ". Black's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the top-selling British single by a female artist in the 1960s. Between the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Martin-produced and Epstein-managed acts were responsible for 37 weeks of no. 1 singles in 1963, finally transforming Parlophone into
9801-431: Was the turning point, according to Smith, as John Lennon and Paul McCartney joined in with jokes and comic wordplay, that made Martin think that he should sign them to a contract for their wit alone. After deliberating for a time whether to make Lennon or McCartney the lead vocalist of the group, Martin decided he would let them retain their shared lead role: "Suddenly it hit me that I had to take them as they were, which
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