Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producer George Martin and his business partner John Burgess, after their departure from Parlophone. The studio complex was founded in 1969. Since then AIR has operated its own professional audio recording facilities, AIR Studios.

Sir George Henry Martin was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatles' original albums. Martin's formal musical expertise and interest in novel recording practices facilitated the group's rudimentary musical education and desire for new musical sounds to record. Most of their orchestral and string arrangements were written by Martin, and he played piano or keyboards on a number of their records. Their collaborations resulted in popular, highly acclaimed records with innovative sounds, such as the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band—the first rock album to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year.