AN East Lancashire firm is preparing to celebrate success at the Oscars after providing sound equipment for the majority of feature films nominated at the prestigious Hollywood ceremony.

AMS Neve have provided audio equipment, such as mixing desks and amps, to create the scoring or soundtracks to most of the year’s biggest films, including King’s Speech, The Black Swan, Inception, 127 Hours and Toy Story 3.

And the firm, based in Billington Road, Burnley, is hoping BAFTA-winning The King’s Speech especially might sweep the awards.

The soundtrack was recorded, mixed and mastered on AMS Neve machinery at the prestigious Abbey Road studios in London.

Mark Crabtree, founder and managing director of AMS, said: “It is very important that the sound is right.

If people are going to go to a big movie theatre or have good equipment at home then you need the emotional impact of the sound to come across.

“For many years now all the top film studios have used our equipment. We have been the mixing console of choice on Hollywood for a while.

“But we are always looking to innovate and have recently worked with the film industry in Serbia and Russia.”

The company’s equipment was also used for The Black Swan, which is proving to be a huge hit in cinemas throughout the country.

Star Natalie Portman is expected to pick up the best actress award for her portrayal of a top ballerina in the psychological thriller.

AMS has already enjoyed success this year with awards for films it was involved in at the BAFTA’s and the Golden Globes, and staff are hoping for another successful night at the Oscars on Sunday.

Mr Crabtree said: “It is always nice to be associated with the award-winning films and it is great that we supply equipment to so many of the top films every year.”

As a result of the company’s recent success AMS Neve’s eight-acre headquarters are now going to be used by other technology firms.

Mr Crabtree said: “We need far less space to grow our business than we did 25 years ago when we designed and erected this building.

“Stuart Nevison is my partner and co-founder of the AMS Company and from the outset we had a vision of sharing our site with other like-minded technology companies.”

The firm the stars turn to

THE AMS company, which stands for Advanced Music Systems, was formed by Mark Crabtree and Stuart Nevison in 1976 and was run from a small property in Worsthorne.

The trained aerospace engineers said they launched the business as they had a passion for sounds, its manipulation and control.

In the late 70s AMS was the first company to release a digital audio processor that drastically changed the recording industry.

They provided equipment for stars like Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart.

In 1992 AMS and Cambridge-based Neve merged together, and the company has been located in Billington Road, Burnley, above, since 1986.

It’s big break in the film industry came when the soundtrack to Titanic was mixed on AMS Neve equipment.

The film was the first to have a digitally recorded soundtrack.