LONDON — The big doors to Studio 2 open, and there it is: the large, high-ceilinged inner sanctum. A hush settles over the familiar bricks and baffles.

It's the kind of reverent silence accorded a museum, but as much as Abbey Road is celebrated in pop history (the graffiti on the wall outside hints at the ongoing devotion), it is also a working — and busy — recording studio 37 years after the Beatles stopped recording there.

"The sound quality is amazing," says Michael Gleason, co-producer of "Live From Abbey Road," a new music series set in the studio that starts tomorrow on the Sundance Channel.

Gleason is excited by the surroundings, despite having recorded more than 30 artists there for the 12-episode series.

"One hundred-ninety Beatle songs recorded here!" he says, then pointing to a battered upright in the corner adds, "There's the 'Lady Madonna' piano!"

It hasn't been difficult to enlist acts for the new music series.

"For musicians, it's the Holy Grail," Gleason says. "It's like tennis players in their first time at Wimbledon. They kiss the ground."

When the group Gnarls Barkley visited to play in the series, "Cee-Lo literally crawled up the front steps," Gleason says.

The studio's history includes more than the Beatles' output and the recording of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon." Before that, there was classical music.

Opened 75 years ago as EMI Studios, it was built big enough for orchestras. A picture on the wall of the first performance in November 1931 shows composer Sir Edward Elgar about to conduct in the art deco building.

Producer George Martin's history there dates to 1950, when he recorded mostly comedy and plays with actors including Peter Sellers and Peter Ustinov. Cliff Richard and the Shadows began cutting the first rock 'n' roll records there in the early '60s; the Beatles began recording there in 1962 and continued to record most of their albums there until their breakup in 1970. Paul McCartney's new "Memory Almost Full" was partly recorded there.

The U.S. is the latest national audience for "Live From Abbey Road," which began showing in England, then in Japan and Australia.

"Live From Abbey Road" has no audience. It's a bit surprising when songs end to studio silence.

"The idea is to capture musicians in a way people have never seen them. And they're getting a great performance," Gleason says.

When the Killers were in for an acoustic set, frontman Brandon Flowers requested 12 takes of one song, Gleason says. "They figure: 'I'm in Abbey Road, how many chances will we get to be here?' "

Co-producer Peter Van Hooke, a former drummer for Van Morrison, makes sure the sound quality is first rate — a rarity in TV, where bands more commonly are rushed onstage in the final minutes of late-night talk shows.

Only some of the artists on the show have capitalized on the atmosphere by covering a Beatles song, Gleason says. LeAnn Rimes sang "Yesterday," and the Gipsy Kings sang "Hey Jude" in Spanish.

Each episode also includes vintage footage of Abbey Road highlights. The one on tomorrow is from exactly 40 years ago: the Beatles' big, costumed performance of "All You Need Is Love," which was broadcast worldwide in what was then the first global satellite transmission.