SCI-FI blockbuster Avatar has broke box office records for looking like a billion dollars - but the reason it sounds fantastic is down to experts in Burnley.

Oscar-winning director James Cameron, looking to create the ultimate sonic experience for the digital masterpiece, called upon Billington Road based AMS Neve for the world’s most powerful audio machine.

Managing director Mark Crabtree dispatched the Ultra Scale Processor console to Hollywood and flew out his chief software engineer Dave Critchley and engineering manager Chris Bloor to oversee its installation.

The firm had previously supplied sound technology for Cameron's 1997 hit Titanic.

And Cameron’s decision to rely on East Lancashire expertise for the Avatar soundtrack has already reaped professional dividends, with the film’s mixing team nominated for ‘best sound’ in the Broadcast Film Critics Awards in the US.

Mr Crabtree said: “James Cameron was working on one of our consoles at Fox Studios in Los Angeles and he wanted even more sound impact, and he heard that we had got this engine available.

“This new engine allowed him to use more than 2,000 audio signals, that he could mix into the film. It is the most powerful audio editor on the planet. He needed to do this to finish the film off.”

Mr Crabtree, 57, who now lives in Read, formed AMS in 1976 in Worsthorne and the firm later merged with Cambridge-based Neve in 1992. The company has been in Billington Road since 1986.

The former Burnley Grammar School boy said he was proud that the performance of Burnley hi-tech firms was being recognised.

Avatar’s sound designer and supervising sound editor Christopher Boyes said: “It was very important to just choose certain details to highlight and not get gimmicky because there's a tremendous amount of information to take in.

“And if we give them too much sonic information at the same time, it will detract from the experience.”

Within the film and music industry the company’s products can be found at the world-famous Abbey Road and Air studios.

And film-makers in Bollywood, Japan and Russia often come calling for AMS consoles.