A day in the Life of Isabel Garvey – Managing Director, Abbey Road Studios

Introduction

A global music icon and the world’s first purpose-built recording studio, Abbey Road Studios has been home to countless landmark recordings and pioneering advances in music technology over the last 90 years. The studios’ phenomenal history encompasses celebrated work by artists from The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Fela Kuti, Kate Bush, Oasis and Radiohead to Sam Smith, Florence + The Machine, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, Frank Ocean, Amy Winehouse, Brockhampton and Adele, as well as scores to films from Raiders of The Lost Ark, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy and many of the Harry Potter and Star Wars movies, to Gravity, The Shape of Water, 1917, Black Panther, Black Widow and Avengers: Endgame. Since stereo was patented at Abbey Road in 1933, the studios have been home to numerous innovations in recording technology and continue to innovate today with Europe’s first music tech incubator, Abbey Road Red. 

My Time at Abbey Road

I have been Managing Director of Abbey Road Studios for nearly 8 years.  It is such an honour to be the custodian of a true British music icon.  During my time at the Studios, I have overseen the most aggressive investment plan in the Studios since they opened in 1931.  The first step was to invest in the beating heart of the business, with the addition of three new studios and, more recently, 3 production rooms before turning to investment in the brand outside the building.  We have expanded Abbey Road into retail, education, digital services and launched Europes first music technology incubator amongst many other things.  I liken this growth plan to walking a tightrope – on the one hand we have to celebrate and respect the past and the storied legends whilst building a business that faces the future head on.  My guiding principle has been to expand thoughtfully and authentically so that we maintain the integrity of the Studios and the reputation for world class music making whilst remaining relevant to the music maker of the future.

As a result, no two days are ever the same for me!  I love marrying the creative world with commercial opportunity – they are not always natural bed fellows but I thrive on the challenge.

My typical day

6.00am: Three mornings out of five, I like to get up early to get some exercise to get the endorphins pumping!  I then have the challenge of getting 3 primary-school-aged kids out of bed, breakfast-ed and ready for school – which is typically quite a shouty, sports kit heavy exercise! By 7.30am I am in the car with a podcast on as I race for the train to take me to North West London

9.30am – I cross that famous pedestrian crossing and walk through those hallowed doors into the Studios.  Before I do anything, I head to our restaurant for a much deserved coffee with the sounds of an orchestra warming up in Studio 1 bouncing through the corridors.  I am often asked about my favourite musical moment at the Studios and nothing quite beats the sound of a full concert orchestra in our largest Studio belting out a film score – it truly is goosebump inducing!

10am – my first meeting of the day is typically with my studios team where we run through who is in each of the studios that week and what we need to do to make sure they have the best recording experience.  I tend to let my team own the direct artist relationships but will sometimes go into studio and say hello to a few clients and artists before they get started.  I find it fascinating that whilst I am in my office running meetings and doing emails an artist is recording their next hit album – I am permanently in awe of their creativity and talent.

11.00am – Meeting with the marketing team.  This year marks the Studios’ 90th anniversary and to celebrate we have a documentary called “If these walls could sing” about Abbey Road Studios and directed by Mary McCarthy, coming out on Disney + in December.  I meet with the team to discuss the marketing plan for our social media and PR channels now that we have a release date.  We also have a global premiere at the Studios in early December to plan.  Mary has done a wonderful job of portraying the magic of Abbey Road, the people that work here and the artists incredible talent, and we are all very excited about the launch and premiere.  

12.00pm - It’s a busy year of 90th Anniversay celebrations, as we also have book by David Hepworth scheduled for release in October.  David, a renowned music journalist, takes the reader through the inside story of the world’s most famous recording studio, with untold tales of artist and staff experiences over the years.  This meeting is about choosing the cover of the book that will have the most impact and really “pop out” on book shop shelves.  It won’t surprise you, that, after much debate, we landed on the famous abbey road street sign on the famour graffiti scribbled wall as the cover – so look out for it in your nearest bookshop!

1:00pm – I dash over to the Abbey Road restaurant to meet the Grammy award winning producer, Julio Reyes Copello, who is also owns the franchise to our eduction business Abbey Road Institute in Miami, Florida.  We have a brilliant discussion about the success of the first cohort studying the diploma in music production and engineering in ARI Miami and the fact that the next intake for October 2022 is over subscribed.  Julio’s engineer, Natalia Schlesinger, also talks through the exciting new Latin artists they are working with and the new broadway musical they are working on.  The blend of Julio’s profile as a producer and the school is proving a winning combination and I am warmed to see how Julio is so personally invested in the success of the ARI graduates.  We part agreeing our next meeting needs to be in a sunnier Miami setting!

2:00pm – with 300,000 – 400,000 music pilgrims coming to the pedestrian crossing made famous by the Beatles ‘Abbey Road’ album every year, we made the obvious decision to open a souvenir retail store 7 years ago.  Fans cannot get into the Studios as we are a fully operational commercial recoding studio, so giving them a destination and experience through the store was important to us all.  I meet with the retail team to discuss new product ideas and Christmas product plans.  It always amazes me how early we kick off planning for snow globes and Christmas tree decorations!   The creative ideas are flying and we end the meeting with some exciting new product for Christmas and a new range to mark the 50th anniversary of the recording of Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd coming next year.  

3:00pm – In 2015 we set up Europe’s first music technology incubator.  Abbey Road Studios has had a close connection with innovation throughout its 90 year history, from the engineers in white coats inventing stereo sound, to those same engineers inventing ADT (artificial double tracking) tape techniques and generally just a spirit of breaking things to create new sounds.  That spirit of innovation was still strong when I joined the business 8 years ago but did not have an obvious outlet.  This motivated us to reconnect with open innovation and we set up Abbey Road Red as our own in-house technology incubator which looks for the best green shoots music tech businesses and then wraps a completely bespoke incubation programme around them to ensure success.  My meeting this afternoon is about a new business that the team have scouted which is using technology to unlock the power of music in the treatment of pain.  Quite simply our Neanderthal brain is wired to respond to music, whether the beat, pitch or tone, and has a research-backed ability to alter our physical and mental state.  The start up we discuss has worked with scientists to develop an app that can be used in the management of patient pain symptoms.  The technology is vary nascent but the scientific evidence is strong – it feels like a business we simply must elevate and get close to, so we take the decision to add it to our incubator programme in 2022.

4:00pm – I give myself an hour to get through the invariably long list of emails that have piled up during the day and try to wander around the office catching up with everyone.  I have really missed those water cooler moments over Covid lock downs and am delighted to have time with my team again in person

4.45pm – a quick meeting with my PA to discuss the party planning for a colleague who has his 50 year work anniversary next week!  I already think my 8 year tenure at Abbey Road is long, so I cannot fathom 50 years!  However, a 50th anniversary shows the power of the people and culture at Abbey Road.  The Studios are much celebrated with a laundry list of artists who have recorded culture defining and chart topping albums with us, however, it is the people who enable the artist creative process, keep the treasure trove of vintage equipment working and the building ticking that are the real heros of our 90 year history.  It feels wonderful to get all the staff together to celebrate such a valued member of the team.

5pm – My PA taps on my office door to tell me to get going for the train. I am notoriously late for everything so I really have to be bullied out the door! 

6.30pm – I get home to the kids and get the download from their days, help with homework, pack what seems to be an infinite amount of kit into school bags and get them all to bed.  My husband typically gets home after me and starts cooking.  We download our days and then watch something on TV (preferably nothing too taxing!) and get to bed early.  Not as rock and roll as the job description would have you imagine!!!