London: The Mecca for music fans and the bane of cabbies, Abbey Road - constantly stopping for quartets of tourists posing mid stride on the zebra crossing outside.
But music enthusiasts around the world can now feel what it's like to walk the hallowed halls of the studio from the comfort of their own homes.
The London recording studio has teamed up with Google Play to create an interactive musical landmark tour, called Inside Abbey Road for Cardboard.
By using Google's Cardboard viewer and a downloadable app, fans can ascend the studio steps for a guided virtual tour, narrated by Giles Martin, the son of Beatles producer Sir George Martin.
The studios have been instrumental to popular music and brought the public albums from some of the most iconic British artists in musical history.
And it has recorded countless film scores, such as for Star Wars Episode One.
Using the new app, viewers can drift through the three recording studios at their own leisure, exploring the hidden treasures, such as Studio three's mirrored drum room.
Or on to one of Abbey Road's mastering suites, where a record is given its finishing touches by the engineers before it is released.
Last year an interactive walk-through inside Abbey Road was launched with Google, which included the use of 360 degree panoramic photos, allowing users to discover through the click of a mouse what really goes on behind the doors.
Abbey Road Studios' managing director, Isabel Garvey, said: 'We were delighted to collaborate with Google last year and open our doors to give fans everywhere unprecedented access to the studios and the stories behind them for the first time.
'Now our latest step with them is pushing those boundaries even further with the addition of Google Cardboard.
'With this incredible virtual reality technology, music lovers will be fully immersed in the sights and sounds of Abbey Road in a way we never could have imagined.'
Giles Martin, a producer for artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, said: 'Abbey Road Studios has been a hive of creativity and source of world-class recordings for more than 80 years.
'The artists using the studios have sold countless millions of records and have helped create popular culture as we know it today. It's an inspirational place and an honour for me to work there today.
'This collaboration with Google gives the outside world a great insight into the everyday workings of the studio and allows anyone to glimpse the magic that goes on inside the world's most famous recording studio.'
THE HISTORY OF ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
Abbey Road studios was opened on 12th November 1931 by classical music legend Sir Edward Elgar. The first custom-built studio complex of its kind, Elgar used it in its early years to record some of his famous pieces.
The facility had been fashioned out of a 16-room residence at 3 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood which had been bought by record company EMI in 1929.
It has three recording studios and has been used by every major name in music over the last 80 years.
Studio one can play host to a 110-piece orchestra and 100-person choir simultaneously and has been used by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Glenn Miller Orchestra among others.
In June 1962 The Beatles made their first recording there in what was the start of an artistic collaboration that would last until 1970 when the group split. In total, around 90 per cent of the legendary band's music was recorded at Abbey Road studios.
Five years after recording there for the first time,history was made when a worldwide satellite television link-uip was broadcast from the studio of The Beatles performing All You Need is Love live. An estimated 350 million people listened to the broadcast.
Among the famous artists to have recorded at Abbey Road are the Spice Girls, Pink Floyd, Cliff Richard, Queen and Shirley Bassey.
Hundreds of thousands of Beatles fans make their way to the studios every year and many of the walls and signs in the vicinity of the building are covered with Beatles-themed graffiti.
In 2010 rumours began circling that cash-strapped EMI were looking to sell the studios. A year later the company sold its recorded music division for £1.2billion to the French-owned Universal Music Group.
Because it is a working studio it is closed to the public. But now, thanks to Google's new web app, music fans can enjoy and interactive, virtual tour of the building.
But music enthusiasts around the world can now feel what it's like to walk the hallowed halls of the studio from the comfort of their own homes.
The London recording studio has teamed up with Google Play to create an interactive musical landmark tour, called Inside Abbey Road for Cardboard.
The studios have been instrumental to popular music and brought the public albums from some of the most iconic British artists in musical history.
And it has recorded countless film scores, such as for Star Wars Episode One.
Using the new app, viewers can drift through the three recording studios at their own leisure, exploring the hidden treasures, such as Studio three's mirrored drum room.
Or on to one of Abbey Road's mastering suites, where a record is given its finishing touches by the engineers before it is released.
Last year an interactive walk-through inside Abbey Road was launched with Google, which included the use of 360 degree panoramic photos, allowing users to discover through the click of a mouse what really goes on behind the doors.
Abbey Road Studios' managing director, Isabel Garvey, said: 'We were delighted to collaborate with Google last year and open our doors to give fans everywhere unprecedented access to the studios and the stories behind them for the first time.
'Now our latest step with them is pushing those boundaries even further with the addition of Google Cardboard.
'With this incredible virtual reality technology, music lovers will be fully immersed in the sights and sounds of Abbey Road in a way we never could have imagined.'
Giles Martin, a producer for artists such as Sir Paul McCartney, said: 'Abbey Road Studios has been a hive of creativity and source of world-class recordings for more than 80 years.
'The artists using the studios have sold countless millions of records and have helped create popular culture as we know it today. It's an inspirational place and an honour for me to work there today.
'This collaboration with Google gives the outside world a great insight into the everyday workings of the studio and allows anyone to glimpse the magic that goes on inside the world's most famous recording studio.'
THE HISTORY OF ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS
Abbey Road studios was opened on 12th November 1931 by classical music legend Sir Edward Elgar. The first custom-built studio complex of its kind, Elgar used it in its early years to record some of his famous pieces.
The facility had been fashioned out of a 16-room residence at 3 Abbey Road, St. John's Wood which had been bought by record company EMI in 1929.
It has three recording studios and has been used by every major name in music over the last 80 years.
Studio one can play host to a 110-piece orchestra and 100-person choir simultaneously and has been used by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Glenn Miller Orchestra among others.
In June 1962 The Beatles made their first recording there in what was the start of an artistic collaboration that would last until 1970 when the group split. In total, around 90 per cent of the legendary band's music was recorded at Abbey Road studios.
Five years after recording there for the first time,history was made when a worldwide satellite television link-uip was broadcast from the studio of The Beatles performing All You Need is Love live. An estimated 350 million people listened to the broadcast.
Among the famous artists to have recorded at Abbey Road are the Spice Girls, Pink Floyd, Cliff Richard, Queen and Shirley Bassey.
Hundreds of thousands of Beatles fans make their way to the studios every year and many of the walls and signs in the vicinity of the building are covered with Beatles-themed graffiti.
In 2010 rumours began circling that cash-strapped EMI were looking to sell the studios. A year later the company sold its recorded music division for £1.2billion to the French-owned Universal Music Group.
Because it is a working studio it is closed to the public. But now, thanks to Google's new web app, music fans can enjoy and interactive, virtual tour of the building.
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