The Studios of Double Fantasy
- Solo Beatles Studios
- Dec 26, 2025
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 2
Preamble
Knowing the story and timeline of the sessions will help you understand the information presented here much better. I highly recommend reading the excellent oral history Starting Over: The Making Of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy by Ken Sharp.
In short though, it's important to know that the sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey were essentially one and the same, at least as far as recording John's songs go. I mostly write "Double Fantasy" in these pages, but the information all applies for the recording of Milk and Honey as well. Additionally, all of the recording and most of the mixing took place at the Hit Factory. An handful of songs were mixed at the Record Plant, so the information that applies to the Record Plant is specifically noted.
The Hit Factory
The recording sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk And Honey took place in Studio A6 at the Hit Factory in New York City. The Hit Factory was located at 353 West 48th Street, with Studio A6 being on it's sixth floor.
After moving to New York City in 1971, John and Yoko worked almost exclusively at the Record Plant studio at 321 W 44th Street. So when John decided to enter the studio in 1980 after a five-year hiatus, the fact that decided to go to the Hit Factory was kind of shocking. Apparently some kind of conflict had arisen between Yoko and Record Plant owner Roy Cicala.
Producer Jack Douglas's business partner Stan Vincent explained, "There was a meeting set up between Yoko and I. I asked her where she wanted to do the record, and she said, “You can do it anywhere in the world except for the Record Plant”, because at the time she was having some problems with Roy Cicala, “and not California.” That was because of his lost weekend in California. So Jack and I decided to do the record at the Hit Factory." -
Studio A6 Control Room
According to the October 1980 Mix magazine studio listing for the Hit Factory, the control room of Studio A6 measured approximately 19'x20'. Studio Sound magazine (Sept. 1988) lists it as 18'x22'. Of course the Neve 8068 was the centerpiece of the control room, and along with the couch behind the console, took up the majority of the floor space.
The back of the control room during the Double Fantasy sessions was jam-packed with two rows of gear. In front of a row of outboard gear was a row of several tape machines along with racks of noise reduction units and additional outboard stacked on top. This setup left precious little room in the control room to maneuver.
Directly to the left of the console was a small isolation booth where John and Yoko tracked their live vocals. Tragically, John was murdered before he could overdub final vocals for the Milk and Honey songs, so his live tracking vocals, recorded in the vocal booth, were used on the final album. I believe there was a door into the booth from the control room and double glass doors into the live room which made the booth the most direct path between the two.
Just off the control room were a lounge for the band and a private lounge that was used for just John and Yoko.
Studio A6 Live Room
The October 1980 Mix magazine studio listing for the Hit Factory lists Studio A6 as being 40' x 38'. The room looks to have been essentially rectangular, though the walls were likely splayed a few feet, with a large notch in one corner jutting out a few feet from the 40' x 38' rectangle (far left corner if you were looking from the control room).
Three of the walls were what look to be insulation covered with vertical strips of fabric in different colors with a few feet of wood paneling/wainscotting at the bottom.
The wall with the control room window along with two support columns were covered with wood paneling and the floor was parquet wood. The ceiling looks to be similar in construction to the insulation/fabric walls but with a darker fabric than the walls.
Below are two diagrams of the tracking setup for the Double Fantasy/Milk And Honey sessions (Note that they are oriented in different directions). The diagram on the left was created by assistant Engineer Jon Smith and the right diagram is from a Musician magazine article from 1988 (Musician, April 1988). Both show essentially the same setup, though, based on photos I believe Smith's to be slightly more accurate, specifically the position of Tony Levin and the vocal booth and lounge layout. Thank you to Mr. Smith for graciously allowing me to publish his diagram.
Left: Assistant Engineer Jon Smith's Double Fantasy diagram. Right: Musician magazine's Double Fantasy Diagram.
Unlike many legendary studios of it's vintage, Studio A6 still exists and is in use today. The Hit Factory moved in 1981, and after changing hands a few times Studio A6 was eventually taken over by Walter Sear and Sear Sound in 1988 according to Studio Sound magazine (Sept. 1988).
Sear narrowed the live room to add two iso booths along the left wall (looking from the control room as well as a few offices in the hallway. But even with these changes and updates to cosmetics and lighting, the room is still easily identifiable as The Hit Factory Studio A6 circa 1980. The control room wood paneling/wainscoting on the wall, and parquet floor are all intact.
Sear Sound Studio A Live Room, formerly The Hit Factory Studio A6 - Photos: via searsound.com
The control room of Studio A6 looks virtually identical to how it was in 1980. Obviously all the gear has changed, but seemingly not much else has.
Sear Sound Studio A Control Room, formerly The Hit Factory Studio A6 - Photos: via searsound.com
The Record Plant
In addition to the ten songs mixed at the Hit Factory, four songs were mixed at the 10th floor mix room and Studio B at the Record Plant at 321 W 44th Street.
10th Floor Mix Room
The room that be came the 10th floor mix room was previously a lounge with a pool table. In fact, there are pictures of John and Harry Nilsson shooting pool there in 1974.
At some point this room was renovated into a new mix room. My hypothesis is that this happened circa 1975, but I haven't been able to find out for sure yet. According to a Mix magazine listing for the Record Plant (April 1980, Vol. 4, No. 4) the mix room measured just 9.5' x 16' x 9.5'. The room's current owner lists it as 21' long x 19'10" wide x 18' high which seems more probable to me based on the photos. According to Record Plant engineer James Ball the walls were oak and it had a glassed-in pyramid ceiling with city views.
According to John's PA Fred Seaman in his book The Last Days of John Lennon: A Personal Memoir, the songs mixed in the 10th floor mix room were "(Just Like Starting Over" and "Kiss Kiss Kiss" which were mixed through the night on 26-27 September (Semen, 1991, p.211).
Amazingly, like the Hit Factory's Studio A6, the space that was the 10th floor Mix Room at the Record Plant also still exists as of 2025. It currently houses Matt Cavaluzzo's mastering room, Studio 6, at Battery Studios. Other than the equipment, the room looks virtually unchanged since 1980 except for maybe having covered the pyramid glass ceiling.
The Plant's 10th floor mix room lives on - Photo 1: via batterystudios.com - Photo 2: via Battery Studio's Facebook
Studio B
On 29 September, the mixing sessions moved briefly to Studio B on the ground floor of the Record Plant. Assistant Engineer James Bell says that the move was made because Engineer Lee DeCarlo wanted to mix on a console with automation, which the API 3232 in Studio B had.
While I have found the dimensions Studio B's live room (which would not have been used during the Double Fantasy mix sessions) I haven't been able to find the dimensions of the control room. The construction looks to be mostly wood ceiling and walls, with fabric covered insulation treatment along the rear wall and the first few feet of the side walls toward the rear.
There are conflicting reports as to what songs were mixed where, but if Assistant Engineer Jon Smith's notes are are correct I think the songs mixed in Studio B were probably "Watching the Wheels", and "Give Me Something". Ball asserts that "Woman" and "Beautiful Boy" were also mixed at the Plant, while Fred Semen mentions "Every Man Has a Woman Who Loves Him" being mixed there on 30 September (Semen, 1991, p.213).
The Record Plant was briefly owned by Beatles producer George Martin before closing it's doors for good in 1987. While the 10th floor mix room was preserved and is still operational as of 2025 as Studio 6 at Battery Studios, Studio B, along with studios A & C were sadly all demolished.
SOURCES & NOTES
Much of the information contained in the Double Fantasy sections of this site came directly from interviews I conducted:
Assistant Engineer Jon Smith was endlessly helpful, answering countless emails and providing documentation. Smith was very generous with his time.
Drummer Andy Newmark was similarly helpful, answering many questions and follow ups about his drums.
Guitarist Earl Slick spent an hour on Zoom with me. Slick has a seemingly inexhaustible supply of cool stories to tell - a true rock and roll legend.
Randy Stein who played Concertina on "Beautiful Boy" answered questions and kindly sent photos of his Concertina.
Composer Christopher Hedge, owner and caretaker of Matthew Cunningham's Dulcimer, answered questions and provided photos.
Starting Over: The Making of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy by Ken Sharp - Incredibly interesting and thorough oral history of the Double Fantasy sessions. All the history and stories told by the people that were there. If you want any information about the sessions, outside of the technical, this is the source to get it from.
Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium by Chip Madinger and Mark Easter. An encyclopedia of dates and information regarding solo Beatles recording sessions through the year 2000. Very detailed. A constant reference for me. The book can be purchased as an E-Book here.
The Last Days of John Lennon: A Personal Memoir by Fred Seaman - Seaman was John's personal assistant for a few years until his death. Seaman and this book are not without controversy, but it was written based on journals he was keeping at the time so there is some very good information about the Double Fantasy sessions.
Beatles Gear by Andy Babiuk - Far and away the most comprehensive book on the instruments and amplifiers used by The Beatles. Beatles Gear can be purchased here.
https://www.thecanteen.com/lennon1.html - Website with tons of great info on John's Beatle era guitars
https://tilonlysilenceremains.com/the-beatles-guitars-johns-guitars/ - Website with pretty good info on lots of John's guitars from pre-Beatles years to his entire solo career.
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