Burnley firm provides mixing expertise for new Bond film

It’s already being hailed as the best Bond film ever but the reason the world’s most famous spy sounds so good in Spectre is all down to a company from Burnley.

Mark launched his company, AMS Neve, in his home town 40 years ago. For the last 20 years their giant mixing desks have been used to create the soundtracks of most of the Bond films and many others, earning Mark two Oscars, and the company an Emmy and a Grammy.

As Mark Crabtree says: “Sam Smith’s title soundtrack has also been mixed on our consoles and follows on from our previous work with Adele on Skyfall. For our team here at our factory and headquarters in Burnley it’s always an exciting time when a new Bond film is released, knowing we have played an essential party in creating this huge, worldwide cinema experience.”

The digital film consoles are huge in every way – up to 2,000 signals can be mixed by three operators at once to create the hugely detailed and complicated mixes. They can cost $1m. The music mixing consoles can take up to 4,500 hours to build and have 750,000 parts.

Since then the company has grown to dominate the sound of television, cinema and music the world over. But despite their success Mark has never been tempted to relocate.

Mark added: “Burnley has a lot of world-class manufacturing and is right on the edge of beautiful countryside. We’ve got great transport links, especially now with the new direct rail service to and from Manchester. We’ve taken some of the biggest names in music down to the local pub for a locally produced meal and a pint. They love it here”. Last year Mark was awarded the OBE for his services to the creative industries and advanced manufacturing. He says he’s delighted that yet again their equipment was chosen for the recording and mixing of the latest Bond film.