Monday 28 February 2011

Burnley Business sweeps the board at last night’s Oscars

Oscars accolade for Burnley’s global leader in sound engineering

A BURNLEY based digital technology business specialising in sound engineering last night enjoyed huge success at the Oscars.

The prestigious ceremony – watched by a global TV audience in excess of 150 million people - saw massive success for films associated with AMS Neve. Winners that used AMS Neve’s technology included The King's Speech, Inception, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, Black Swan, Alice in Wonderland and True Grit.

Notably, Inception won 2 Oscars that are especially pertinent to AMS Neve, given their expertise - Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing. The sound for Inception was produced on the AMS Neve 88RS analogue audio console at Air Lyndhurst (London) and also on the AMS Neve DFC Gemini console at Warner Bros. (Los Angeles).

AMS Neve enjoys global renown in the ultra high-end feature film scoring and mixing environments, the post-production and broadcast industries, as well as in professional and project music studios.

From their headquarters in Burnley, Lancashire the business employs a team of world class analogue and digital designers, software specialists and audio purists who over the years have been at the cutting edge of the advancement and evolution of professional audio products.

AMS Neve founder and Managing Director, Mark Crabtree said: “We’re delighted to see so many films that use AMS Neve technology winning at this year’s Oscars. It’s a great testament to the quality of our work and the dedication of our people. We see ourselves as inheritors of Burnley’s tradition of engineering excellence.”

“This is a great accolade for AMS Neve and for Burnley’s high tech and digital sector. I hope this will support the work of the Burnley Bondholders group, as we transform perceptions and establish Burnley as a destination for investment opportunities, relocation and tourism.”

---ENDS---

Friday 11 February 2011

Local girl joins Brandspankin PR and Marketing Agency

EARBY lass Madeline Horth is the newest member of the Nelson-based marketing and public relations agency BrandSpankin’.

Madeline, a final year public relations student at UCLAN University is on track for a 2:1 degree and will work as a marketing and public relations executive with the business.

Madeline has a passion for public relations and is immensely enthusiastic about her work. Whilst studying for a BTEC Media at Craven College in Skipton Madeline achieved the ITV Yorkshire television award for outstanding student of the year.

This will be a great experience for Madeline and give her an insight to the working world. Madeline said: “I am really excited to work with Brandspankin’ - it is such a fantastic opportunity and the people I am working with have lots of experience in the field so I will be able to learn a lot from them.”

Madeline’s dream job is to move to Dubai and ultimately have her own public relations agency.


ENDS

Wednesday 9 February 2011

33 and counting for Harry Garlick’s Long Player!

OUR client,electrical retailer, Harry Garlick is set to celebrate the big 33 for its very own Long Player!
But that’s not 33rpm like a vinyl LP – it’s 33 years with the business for longest serving employee Ian Heald, the manager of Harry Garlick’s Barnoldswick branch.

Iain first joined the business in 1978 after he left school and for 28 years worked at the Burnley branch, starting on the shop floor and working his way up to be the branch manager.

He admits that keeping up with the latest developments in technology gets harder as you get older, but he recalls fondly the first thing that he sold - an Ultra Music Centre, that in 1978 cost a whopping £189 – which was the equivalent of three weeks wages for most people!

“It was a music centre,” Iain recalled, “so it was a record deck, a tape recorder and radio - like a radio gram. It was expensive at the time, but now you’d get that type of equipment for next to nothing. At the time it was cutting edge and the thing to have.”

“Things have moved on a lot, because nowadays the thing to have would be wifi equipment, so people can have music all round their house wirelessly.”

Harry Garlick may have diversified into many areas of consumer electronics, but they have a long association with television. Ian says that this is another area where things have progressed tremendously.

“3D is the latest thing in TV, but I can remember in the 1980’s when people were shown 3D and they had to wear green and red glasses. The picture quality was awful and people still think of that. It’s changed massively - I watched the Ryder cup on 3D and it was amazing. The contours on the green were really visible - it was fantastic.”

Besides the changes in technology, Ian fondly remembers the people and characters that he’s worked with and served down the years. But the funniest incident involved his father.

“He rang to say that my son had ruined his new video recorder. My son had been giving him instructions over the phone on how to set it up. When he put the video in and pressed play it just made a horrible grinding noise and got stuck. I asked how was that my son’s fault and he said, “well he didn’t bloody tell me to take the cellophane off the tape!”. So when people come in and say they’re techno-phobic, I tell them not to worry - they can’t be as bad as my dad!”

One of Ian’s sons now works at Harry Garlick’s Clitheroe branch, so it’s fair to say he’s kept it in the family!

“Harry Garlick is also a family run business, so it’s got a very good atmosphere, which is important to me. Plus I think it helps as customers have a sense of knowing that they can trust us to give good customer service. We’ve kept that friendly, family approach throughout my time here – even with the advent of new technology and an evolving market place. So for example, this Christmas we used our TV to have a family skype call between us in Barlick, my sister’s family in Nottingham and her daughter in Australia. Being able to do that so easily for all the family is just amazing, especially for the older generation is just mind blowing!