How Do You Do It
Written by Mitch Murray
(4 May 1962) 1
Recording Details
EMI Recording Studios, London – Studio 2
Recorded: 4 Sep 1962
Mono Mix: 4 Sep 1962
John: lead vocal, acoustic guitar, handclaps
Paul: backing vocal, bass, handclaps
George: electric guitar
Ringo: drums
At least two takes of the instrumental backing track were recorded, consisting of John on acoustic guitar, George on electric guitar, Paul on bass, and Ringo on drums. Take 2 was chosen as the best. With the instrumental backing track complete, superimpositions to Take 2 included John and Paul on vocals and handclaps. In this period mono to mono superimpositions were accomplished by sending the mono backing track from one BTR2 tape machine to another BTR2 whilst simultaneously recording the superimposition. By the end of the session, an unnumbered remix mono (RM) was created from Take 2 2
Instruments
John Lennon
Unknown borrowed acoustic guitar 3
George Harrison
1957 Gretsch PX6128 Duo Jet with Gretsch Bigsby vibrato 1
Paul McCartney
1961 Höfner 500/1 1
Ringo Starr
1960 Premier Mahogany Duroplastic (17″ x 20″ bass drum/ 8″ x 12″ rack tom/ 16″ x 16″ floor tom/ 4″ x 14″ “Royal Ace” snare); 20″ Paiste Stambul or Ajax ride/ 18″ Zyn Sizzle crash (4 rivets removed)/ 14″ hi-hats 4
Releases Overview 5
Mono/Stereo? |
Release |
Remaster |
Format |
Release(s) |
Recommended |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
How Do You Do It |
|
N/A |
1982 – 1984 |
Bootleg |
|
|
How Do You Do It |
Mono |
1995 |
1995 |
CD/Vinyl |
Anthology 1 |
❌6 |
How Do You Do It |
Mono |
2011/2016 |
2011 |
Digital/Streaming only |
Anthology 1 (Remastered) |
✅7 |
How Do You Do It |
Mono |
2017 |
1995 8 |
Vinyl (DeAgostini) |
Anthology 1 (Remastered) |
❌ |
How Do You Do It |
Mono |
2025 |
2025 |
CD/Vinyl/Streaming |
Anthology 1 (Remastered) |
References:
- Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, Tune In (p. 697) ↩︎
- Hammack, Jerry, 2017, TBRRM: Vol 1 (pp. 38-39, 238-241) ↩︎
- Lewisohn, Mark, 2013, The Beatles: All These Years – Volume 1 – Tune In (p.726) ↩︎
- Astridge, Gary, 2006. Ringo’s Beatles-Era Drum Kits ↩︎
- Please note this is not an exhaustive list. Thank you Maul for your incredible The Beatles The Complete Studio & Home Recordings pdf (last updated 2023) which compiles several major sources into a fantastic resource listing released versions of every Beatles studio and home recording ↩︎
- The wise folks over at the Steve Hoffman Forums have determined that the 2011/2016 remasters are different, newer transfers than the 1995 versions. The general consensus also seems to be that the 2011/2016 remasters are preferable and lack the amounts of “amateurishly applied noise reduction” the originals have ↩︎
- “Geoff Emerick, in one of his more pointless (and baffling) Sessions decisions, edited the ending of the song, replacing the first of the final “I’d do it to you” lines with a “but I haven’t a clue.””
Sean Murdock, 2026, Steve Hoffman Forums ↩︎ - According to users of the Steve Hoffman Forums It would seem as though the 2017 DeAgostini vinyl pressings use the original 1995 masters and aren’t an improvement over them ↩︎