Ringo Starr Reveals Why He Let His Bandmates Mix The Beatles’ Album
Ringo Starr saw his confidence grow as during his time in The Beatles. He started as a nervous newcomer but then grew into his role in the band. Ringo fully embraced boasting about his skill during the Abbey Road sessions, but he never wanted to sit at the mixing console working on Beatles albums for the most Ringo of reasons.
Ringo Starr let his bandmates mix The Beatles’ albums
Being the last to join The Beatles and the only one who didn’t write songs had its perks for Ringo. Being the fourth Beatle was a positive since he faced less pressure than John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.
That extended to making the records. As the primary songwriters, John, Paul, and George spent plenty of time at the mixing desk ensuring their songs on The Beatles’ albums sounded as close to what they heard in their heads as possible, especially when they became a studio band. That job wasn’t for Ringo, as he explained in his book Postcards From the Boys.
“We would spend a long time in the studio, but in all honesty, the other three would spend more time than I did because I never got involved with the mixing. I would say, ‘How do the drums sound?’ or ‘I love that’ or ‘Where do you put my drums?’ And that was all. The rest they would do because they wrote the songs.”
Ringo Starr
The reasons Ringo never liked the mixing process extended beyond the boredom and are so Ringo.
Ringo only wanted to worry about playing drums and seeing his family
John, Paul, and George had more invested in the process, which explains why they were so keen on stitching together The Beatles albums. Ringo didn’t like the mixing process as much. As long as his drums sounded good, he was fine.
The drummer had two other reasons for wanting to leave the studio and go home, and they came as a tandem. As he writes in Postcards From the Boys, he lived to play drums (not sit around mixing songs), and he had young children at home.
“I loved to play. I always loved to play, and I always put all my energy into that, but I wanted to go home at night,” Ringo writes. “I didn’t want to be just hanging out with the boys anymore. I wanted to see my kids grow up a little.”
Ringo has always said he knew he was born to be a drummer the moment he banged his first small drum during a childhood hospital stay. He also started his family around the time The Beatles gave up touring to focus on their studio craft. His growing family was a big reason he didn’t like spending hours at the studio mixing the albums. Ringo admitted he never thought he was a great father to Zak, Jason, and daughter Lee, but at least he made time to be with his children at a formative age.
Ringo’s biggest passions toward the end of the Fab Four’s run were playing his drums and playing with his kids. He disliked the drudgery of mixing and left that job to the other Beatles.
His drumming evolved alongside The Beatles’ sound
Not facing the same kind of pressure the other three did when he first joined The Beatles was a bonus, but the drummer didn’t sit in the background for long. Ringo complained about being ignored while making Rubber Soul until his bandmates did something about it.
His swelling confidence coincided with The Beatles’ transition to being a studio band.
Close listening reveals quietly ingenious drumming on songs such as “You Won’t See Me,” “Rain,” and “Taxman” (among many others). He and Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick changed the game for drum recording on a Sgt. Pepper song with wonderful results. Ringo said he loved the Abbey Road sessions for a selfish reason, and his passion comes through in his playing.
Feeling fully confident by 1969, Ringo praised his drumming and gave John a backhanded compliment for their work on the song “Get Back.”
Ringo Starr never enjoyed mixing Beatles records, instead pouring his energy into playing with his drums and his kids. He trusted his bandmates to make his drums sound great, and they delivered.
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