The Beatles continue to enhance the fan listening experience, more than 50 years after iconic albums were first recorded with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band being remixed in Dolby Atmos for the first time.

Tate Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool, with a little help from The Beatles and Dolby Laboratories, this week launched a unique experiential presentation of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in Dolby Atmos, as a Christmas gift to the city. This worldwide first, immersive experience will be presented daily at the Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building at the Royal Albert Dock Liverpool from today until Thursday 9 January.

Tate Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool have collaborated with Apple Corps Ltd. to present the remixed version of The Beatles’s pioneering Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band played in Dolby Atmos, an immersive sound environment that feels as if the band is performing live in the space. This free event, situated at the heart of Liverpool’s iconic Royal Albert Dock Liverpool will transport listeners to Abbey Road this Christmas.

Helen Legg, director, Tate Liverpool, said: ‘We’re excited to be working with National Museums Liverpool to bring this unique listening experience to the city. At the time they made Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles were at the epicentre of pop and performance art of 60s London which strongly influenced this tremendous record. Listening to this special mix is like hearing something familiar for the first time. It sounds so fresh, you can hear every element which just underscores how wildly inventive it was.’

Giles Martin, son of iconic Beatles producer George Martin and a Grammy Award winning producer in his own right, created the new mix of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band from the original tapes.

‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the most important and ground-breaking albums of all time’, said Giles. ‘In many ways it changed how records could be made. The Beatles stopped just simply making music and started painting pictures with sounds that hadn’t been heard before. Experiencing the new Dolby Atmos mix allows us to fall into the record and to totally immerse ourselves in the fantastical world that was so beautifully created at Abbey Road Studios over 50 years ago.’

Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Immersive Experience
Thursday 19 December 2019 – Thursday 9 January 2020
© Apple Corps Ltd

Paul Gallagher, Deputy Director – Museum of Liverpool, said: “The Beatles are part of Liverpool’s DNA but it’s rare that you’re able to work with the music industry experts who hold their legacy so close. It’s fabulous that technology has caught up to allow us to hear, for the first time in such clear detail, the innovation and incredible imagination of the group. The cutting-edge sound and the immersive experience will blow visitors away.”

Tickets to the free event have quickly sold out; however, fans around the world can immerse themselves within these recordings, which are available to stream in Dolby Atmos via Amazon Echo Studio and Amazon Music HD for the first time, with further services to follow in 2020.

Much of the subtlety in The Beatles’s music was lost in the original mixes due to the technological limitations of the time. Stereo and 5.1 mixes improved the sound over the years but now the astonishing clarity of the special mix, played in Dolby Atmos, promises to bring to life all the nuance and innovation that the band brought to the album in 1967, placing the audience inside the recordings like never before.

Christine Thomas, Senior Director Music Partnerships, Dolby added: ‘Dolby Atmos gives music more space and freedom, unleashing every detail in unparalleled sound quality. Beatles fans who are lucky enough to have tickets for this unique experience will feel like they are inside the Abbey Road studio with the band. Dolby is thrilled to be a part of the team that is bringing this experience to the people of Liverpool.’

Stream Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is available now to stream in Dolby Atmos via Amazon Echo Studio and Amazon Music HD. amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Immersive Experience

Dates: Thursday 19 December 2019 to Thursday 9 January 2020
Venue: Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building, Royal Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AF
Times: Daily at 10:00, 11:30, 13:00, 14:30, 16:00
Christmas and New Year closures: 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 January
Tickets: Sold out
More information: liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/pepper

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