AMS (Advanced Music Systems) were a manufacturer of professional studio equipment.AMS - Neve About Us
Retrieved on March 16, 2009 The company later merged with Neve Electronics to form AMS Neve.

Background

AMS was established in 1976 by Mark Crabtree and Stuart Nevison. They were

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engineers who moved into the design of professional studio equipment for the manipulation and control of

sound In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by ...

. The first product designed by the company was the DM-20 Tape Phase Simulator. This initial product was used by

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and

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, who used it on the Wings' '' London Town'' album in 1978. AMS was floated on the

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in 1985. In 1990, Siemens bought AMS, merging it with Neve Electronics in 1992 to form AMS Neve, which continues to manufacture professional recording equipment under the Neve and AMS Neve brands. In 1995, Crabtree acquired AMS Neve.

Notable products

DMX 15-80 Digital Delay Line

In 1978, AMS introduced the world's first

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controlled, 15-bit

digital delay line A digital delay line is a discrete element in digital filter theory, which allows a signal to be delayed by a number of samples. If the delay is an integer multiple of samples, digital delay lines are often implemented as circular buffers. This ...

, the AMS DMX 15-80.AMS - Neve History 70s
Retrieved on March 16, 2009 One of the early users of the AMS DMX 15-80 was Manchester record producer

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who would go on to own quite a few of the devices. By 1979, the DMX 15-80 was augmented with pitch changing capabilities. The AMS DMX 15-80S - the stereo version of the DMX 15-80, with stereo inputs and outputs - was introduced in 1980. The delay is identical to the DMX 15-80, but with the addition of two input level controls to re-generation controls (one per channel). In 1981 the DMX was upgraded to include the Loop Editing System, with which loops can be created and they are either run continuously or triggered for special effects and drop-ins. This paved way for the use of digital sampling. The DMX later included pitch changing and up to 32 seconds of delay.

RMX-16 Digital Reverb

In 1981, AMS released the RMX-16 digital reverberator.AMS - Neve History 80s
Retrieved on March 16, 2009 In addition to a range of reverb types, the RMX-16 had a program ("Non Lin 2") which digitally emulated the drum sound of a compressed and gated room microphone, copying the effect used on the

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recording '' In the Air Tonight''. (Collins' drum sound was created by a combination of a room microphone compressed by the "Listen Mic" compressor of an early SSL Console, in combination with cutting off the reverb sound with a noise gate.)

AudioFile

In 1984, AMS released the AudioFile, one of the first 16-bit hard disk based recording systems dedicated to

post-production Post-production is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording individual program segments. Th ...

. The Audiofile saw considerable use in television post-production and was seen by dubbing mixers as a huge technological breakthrough. After decades of mixing on 16mm magnetic film stock, in which mix decisions were extremely difficult to undo, the ability to undo and make changes instantaneously provided dubbing mixers with new opportunities for experimentation in their work.

Logic 1 (Logic Series) Digital Console

In 1988, AMS released ''Logic 1,'' the first dynamically configurable, fully automated

digital mixing console In professional audio, a digital mixing console (DMC) is a type of mixing console used to combine, route, and change the dynamics, equalization and other properties of multiple audio input signals, using digital signal processing rather than an ...

for professional applications. This was followed in 1990 by ''Logic 2'', an expanded version of the Logic design in a large format console.

Awards and recognition

The founders of AMS have been recognised with awards for their contributions to the recording and broadcast industry. In March 2000, Crabtree was the recipient of an Oscar at the Academy Awards for the design and development of the

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for motion picture sound mixing. Crabtree was subsequently awarded a second Oscar in 2004 for "significant contributions to the evolution of digital audio editing for motion picture post production". Nevison was awarded a Fellow of the

Association of Professional Recording Services The Association of Professional Recording Services (APRS) is a trade association for the audio industry in the United Kingdom. Overview The APRS has a strong presence within the industry and lobby on behalf of their members for the best environm ...

(APRS) in 2015.

References

External links

AMS Neve
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ams (Advanced Music Systems) Audio equipment manufacturers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Burnley Electronics companies established in 1976 Manufacturers of professional audio equipment Manufacturing companies of England