Ask Abbey Road: Engineer John Barrett taking your questions
A series that lets you ask the experts at Abbey Road Studios your burning sound engineering questions.

Ask Abbey Road is an ongoing series that lets you put your questions to the world-leading recording team Abbey Road Studios. Simply ask your question in the form below, and we’ll post the answers online.
This Month’s Engineer: John Barrett
In the hot seat for this month’s Ask Abbey Road, we have Engineer John Barrett, one of the studio’s most in-demand engineers.
John has 14 years experience under his belt at the iconic facility and has rapidly risen the ranks from tea boy to Assistant Engineer to Score Recordist and, just recently, to Engineer.
The lion’s share of John work at the studio is orchestral recording, having tracked scores for Alexandre Desplat’s The Shape Of Water and Ludwig Göransson’s Black Panther. He also mixed Jonny Greenwood’s Oscar-nominated score for Phantom Thread.
John is equally comfortable working on pop records, though and has recently recorded live sessions with George Ezra, James Bay, Slaves, Krept & Konan and more.
Want to know how John approaches a recording session? How he uses the gear? Or something else entirely? Now’s your chance to ask.
Read previous editions of Ask Abbey Road, here.