Abbey Road Studios launching its own music college

The Abbey Road Institute will offer 'training and education in audio engineering and music production'

London’s famous Abbey Road Studios have announced details of a new educational initiative called the Abbey Road Institute.

The St Johns Wood recording studio, best known for being the setting where The Beatles recorded the eponymous ‘Abbey Road’ album, will begin to offer “training and education in audio engineering and music production” to students aged 18 and over.

12 month courses will be located at the north London complex, with promises of “an apprenticeship approach to training: practical, ‘hands-on’ with all the relevant theory delivered… by industry professionals”.

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Luca Barassi, the head of the Abbey Road Institute, says of the project: “Synonymous with excellence in recorded music for more than 80 years, Abbey Road’s continued success is largely due to its staff and their knowledge. Now we will be able to share some of this expertise in a course which will provide first-class vocational training for people interested in forging a career in the music industry.”

The Abbey Road Institute are accepting applications for a “select number” of places to start in September 2015. Additional institutes will also launch in Berlin, Munich, Melbourne and Sydney.

Meanwhile, Abbey Road are set for a multi-million pound renovation, in order to bring in more pop stars and also help with the creation of film scores. The work will be completed next year, but will require planning permission, as the studio is Grade II listed. The new plans were approved last month by the British chief executive of Universal Music, Lucian Grainge. Universal took over Abbey Road Studios when it bought previous owners EMI in 2012.

The Beatles’ ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ has been named as the greatest ever song by the group in a new poll by NME.

The 1967 single came out on top of a poll of music’s biggest names with Beatles producer George Martin and Pete Townshend of The Who both opting for the song as their favourite as well as members of Hot Chip and Palma Violets.

Other artists polled to create the list of 100 songs include Dave Grohl, Julian Lennon, The Vaccines, Suede, Nile Rodgers, The Libertines, Noel Gallagher, Matt Bellamy of Muse, The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, Royal Blood, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, Johnny Marr and Run The Jewels.

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Ethan Hawke, whose character in Oscar nominated film Boyhood famously gave his daughter a ‘Black Album’ mixtape of solo material from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, is also interviewed in the issue about why the post-split years are such a significant part of The Beatles history.

The new issue of NME is on newsstands now and available digitally.

The Beatles greatest songs Top 10 is as follows:

1. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
2. ‘A Day In The Life’
3. ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
4. ‘Here Comes The Sun’
5. ‘Blackbird’
6. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’
7. ‘Across The Universe’
8. ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’
9. ‘I Am The Walrus’
10. ‘Hey Jude’

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