SAE buys AMS Neve!!!!

[Jules]

Date: 17th June 2005

In a surprise move Mr Tom Misner * President and Founder of the
multi-national SAE Group announced today the acquisition of the world¹s
leading console manufacturer AMS Neve. Tom, an audio technologist,
visionary, & educator in the music field has maintained a very strong
industry association and has been a user of Neve consoles for the past 30
years.

AMS Neve Ltd Managing Director Mr. Mark Crabtree said "we are very happy to
now be part of such a strong global organization" Mr. Crabtree adds "with
the full support of the SAE Group it will enable us to increase our market
share and above all accelerate the introduction of our new product range."

SAE Institute will now be providing through its network in over 45 colleges
in 20 countries AMS Neve broadcast/music/film and post seminars for past and
new clients. This will be a first of a kind service only AMS Neve is now
able to offer.

Mr Romy Hawatt, SAE¹s Strategic Business Development advisor said, "the
coming together of AMS Neve & SAE is a unique strategic alliance of two of
the worlds leading audio industry organisations. One in audio technology &
manufacturing and the other in audio education & training. Both the AMS Neve
and SAE brands have a very strong global synergy."

Tom Misner adds "the feedback we have attained over the years from our large
international student network has provided us with valuable information and
insight that is now being applied by AMS Neve in the development of the soon
to be released range of new products".

The acquisition of AMS Neve by SAE represents a new Genesis in the world of
audio technology.

[Lindell]

Holy crap..... some thoughts;
Why ?
Whats he gonna do with Neve?
Where in the hell did he get that amount of money?

Seems that there's huge changes to come in the console business. First SSL and Peter Gabriel, now this.
Who's gonna buy Harrison GLW ?

[AnalogBob]

Off the backs of students..... If this aquisition by a School doesn't speak volumes as to the size and wealth of the education industry I don't know what does. Kindoff funny now I guess now the SAE will gouge their students twice..... You go to school learn how to use a Neve and when your done....you'll have to buy one...(Cause they'll make it affordable for the their students just tack it on their loans. I'm sure the SAE might even set up their own loan program for their "post grads" he he.... Too boot you'll go to school kids will get sold and hyped on Neve the whole time..(Not thats that a bad thing)... Now thats heavy Gear Pimpin......

The Irony of it is almost overwhelming...

[Jules]

Janitorial crisis at AMS Neve?

[AnalogBob]

I predict this in the future Enroll at SAE and get a 1073....like I.T schools did with laptops...... It will be a wierd world in a couple of years all of these grads looking for work walking around with neve strips...

[andreªs]

http://www.ams-neve.com/news/pr/pr_sae.htm

The "END" at the bottom looks & feels quite strange...

[GilWave]

First Peter Gabriel buys SSL, now SAE buys AMS Neve...

I hate to be cynical, but could it be that these studio owners are simply securing a long-term supply of spare parts to protect their investments in each respective companies consoles?

-g

[AnalogBob]

Originally Posted by andreªs

http://www.ams-neve.com/news/pr/pr_sae.htm

The "END" at the bottom looks & feels quite strange...

Sure does...wonder what that means.. Perhaps a last breath...

[Country Boy]

Who was AMS? What does AMS stand for? How long did AMS own Neve? From who did AMS buy Neve?

[Country Boy]

Originally Posted by GilWave

I hate to be cynical, but could it be that these studio owners are simply securing a long-term supply of spare parts to protect their investments in each respective companies consoles?

That's not that cynical. If one owns 50 or so (I'm just guessing) Neve consoles then you have to worry about that.

On the other hand, buying the whole shootin'-match of AMS-Neve might have been a bigger bargain than we can imagine.

[AnalogBob]

I hope I don't heve nightmares....I'll dream I am getting the console of my dreams but the catch was I had to go back to school eeekkk....

[Jules]

Methinks teaching audio engineering leads to big $$$$$

[Ziggy!!]

Originally Posted by Country Boy

Who was AMS? What does AMS stand for? How long did AMS own Neve? From who did AMS buy Neve?

AMS bought Neve back in about '92. They were a digital based company of some sort originally owned by Seimens. Up to that point Neve was just Neve i beleive run as a private company. Though please correct me if i am wrong.


"the feedback we have attained over the years from our large
international student network has provided us with valuable information and
insight that is now being applied by AMS Neve in the development of the soon
to be released range of new products".


You all know what that means right? I can see them all demanding something cheaper... Neve is gunna start churning out cheap, poorly made autotuners for the up and coming engineers to fix bad vocals


I always knew Tim Misner had a lotta dough... I drive past one of his 301 Studios everyday... I hope he does something right

[toolskid]

I've done a fair few guest lectures and workshops for SAE. Fabulously resourced teaching facilities. FULL of students all paying a healthy chunk o cash for the privilege. They recently bought 10 icons, loadsa AWS9000s etc.. etc... If you're a go-getter its a great place to learn some useful stuff.

[Ziggy!!]

Originally Posted by toolskid

I've done a fair few guest lectures and workshops for SAE. Fabulously resourced teaching facilities. FULL of students all paying a healthy chunk o cash for the privilege. They recently bought 10 icons, loadsa AWS9000s etc.. etc... If you're a go-getter its a great place to learn some useful stuff.

Oh yeah, its certianly the place to learn how to use the latest stuff... I read that Tom bought 10 Focusrite LC's. They do actually make sense as a teaching resource for identifying small tonal differences...

[Geoff_T]

Originally Posted by Country Boy

Who was AMS? What does AMS stand for? How long did AMS own Neve? From who did AMS buy Neve?

Hi

I don't think they ever did.. it's not as simple as that.

Neve were very rocky in the early 1970's when, with record sales, things should have been very rosey. I recall bouncing pay cheques on at least two occassions.

Bonochord took over Neve in 1973 and Robin Rigby, Chairman of the Bonochord group, replaced Rupert as MD. Rupert left in 1975.

Bonochord changed their name to E.S.E (Energy Services and Equipment, I believe) and then off loaded Neve to the Siemens group around 1985. AMS were also part of Siemens.

Without going into too many gory details, but building a new factory when there wasn't the $$$ coming in might have been one of them, but Siemens lost patience with the Neve board. This was 1991 and lead to hundreds of layoffs. Some staff, particularly Sales, moved to AMS's sales office in London. Engineers and designers moved North to Burnley where houses were cheaper than Cambridge. Not so funny for folk that returned south.

So Neve was amalgamated with AMS to become AMS-Neve. More recently, Mark Crabtree pulled out of their asssociation with Siemens so it was an independent identity.

That's the history as far as I know it... as most of these things happened after I left in Dec 1985 others may have better input. I was at the pub in Litlington (sp?) when those laid off were drowning their sorrows.

[Number Three]

Originally Posted by Jules

Methinks teaching audio engineering leads to big $$$$$

As far as I know the guy makes his money from real estate and I know 'cause I sell and buy it for!!!!!

[Number Three]

Originally Posted by Lindell

Holy crap..... some thoughts;
Why ?
Whats he gonna do with Neve?
Where in the hell did he get that amount of money?

Seems that there's huge changes to come in the console business. First SSL and Peter Gabriel, now this.
Who's gonna buy Harrison GLW ?

He got his money from real estate!!!

[toolskid]

Originally Posted by Ziggy!!

Oh yeah, its certianly the place to learn how to use the latest stuff... I read that Tom bought 10 Focusrite LC's. They do actually make sense as a teaching resource for identifying small tonal differences...

I seem to remember they bought THIRTY!!!

[Ziggy!!]

Originally Posted by toolskid

I seem to remember they bought THIRTY!!!

In an SAE Newsletter they said 10... but it wouldn't surprise me if he ordered more...

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by Jules

Methinks teaching audio engineering leads to big $$$$$

Probably the most profitable brach in audio nowadays.

Problem is: are there as many engineering vacancies/freelance opportunities as the eber growing number of students coming out of those schools in an industry that's been shrinking so much over the past 10 years?

[JulianBrightnes]

Originally Posted by Lindell

Holy crap..... some thoughts;
Why ?
Whats he gonna do with Neve?
Where in the hell did he get that amount of money?

This guy is a real money-maker, that's why he's in this business, I worked for SAE and IMHO they underpay their staff and overcharge their students.
I believe I heard Misner is the richest or second richest guy in Australia!

Having said that: I do think the SAE branche where I studied and later worked for a short period of time was a great school, thanks to the dedicated people there...

I think I would rather have PG as a CEO of my company than TM, I actually heard his 'taste' in music and mixing on SAE training CD's

Cheers, Julian

[deft_bonz]

and who's going to buy trident, euphonix or api?

[Riccardo]

Originally Posted by deft_bonz

and who's going to buy trident, euphonix or api?

Maybe Jules!

[doorknocker]

Originally Posted by Riccardo

Problem is: are there as many engineering vacancies/freelance opportunities as the eber growing number of students coming out of those schools in an industry that's been shrinking so much over the past 10 years?

What happens is that some of these students will eventually teach there or even start up their own audio schools in less metropolic aereas.

The same thing happenes with the MIT/Berklee crowd. People studying with the intention of 'making it' and ultimately realizing that they won't, thus teaching and starting schools, eventually breeding the next generation of teachers.......

And you know, there's nothing wrong with schools. Some major artist came out of Berklee/MIT, etc (and not just jazzers).

Ultimately, the question is about the quality of the education. I know of some people teaching at audio schools here that I wouldn't even hire if they paid ME for their engineering work.....

About 5 years ago, I was part of a particuarily hellish recording experience on a 'manager pays for everything but decides on who and where' basis. We ended up with what I honestly believe to be the worst 'audio engineer' in the whole of Germany. Believe me, the guy didn't even know what a 57 was. The singer 5 feet away from the mic and still getting distortion,etc...
You can imagine the end results, it had a lot to do with me getting into recording after 15 years of being 'just' a guitar player.

Just for fun, I was Googling up the guy a few years later and sure enough he's 'guest lecturing' at some Audio Academy somewhere in Germany. My ass!


Anyway, with great schools and teachers and the right attitude (knowing that this just a small part of the big picture) a student could surely profit from places like AES.

Knowing that your changes of finding work are very small, all effort should be focused on getting the best education and real-world experience.

Anybody going there in the belief of getting a 'ticket to the industry' will only fool himself though. The people I know that went through AES are mostly working as live engineers, nothing wrong with that either but you get my drift.....

Andi

www.doorknocker.ch

[deft_bonz]

hey jules, are you going then to give us as gs-members a discount

[imusic]

well, Euphonix is owned by Dieter Meier/Yellow, also nothing new on this one,...

cheers, imusic

[Shaman]

Originally Posted by Jules

Methinks teaching audio engineering leads to big $$$$$

Originally Posted by Riccardo

Probably the most profitable brach in audio nowadays.

Problem is: are there as many engineering vacancies/freelance opportunities as the eber growing number of students coming out of those schools in an industry that's been shrinking so much over the past 10 years?

Jules & Ricardo hit the point.

SAE sells dreams to young people and most of them don´t get a job in the audio industry after an expensive course except at the SAE itself ( minor percentage)
Not that other companies don´t do the same in their business area...

But since lack of ethics is one of the main symptoms in our business and until nobody else mentioned it clearly I have to say:

Taking money from naive kids (...or their parents) by creating illusions about job future etc. SUCKS BIGTIME stike and getting rich by that is not impressive at all.

THIS IS A ****ING SHAME !

No week passes without at least one SAE or msg (their Munich counterpart for the poor...) graduate asking for a job at my place...
Nobody wants nor needs them (except those, who don´t do toilet cleaning by themselves like me...). So I´m having a short talk with them explaining the job situation in this business in general - and they´re surprised - every single time about what has been promised to them / they wanted to believe in and how the reality is...

If Misner or any other bored millionair buys Microsoft, Neve or Coca Cola -
it´s somehow redundand to me unless they are checking their basic moral principles. tutt

Cheers - and - I don´t mind if all of you SAE employes are flaming me now ! Do, what you have to do !

[Jules]

I consider SAE graduates OFTEN for intern vacancies!!!

And I encorage small studio set ups to consider hireing interns

I'm all for it -

Shaman, you ought to get one!

Here's an ad idea for you!

Wanted - Green / Yellow tree frog, for well equiped project studio. must like Yello. no toilet cleaning nessesary

[imusic]

same situation here,...

we are in only for the money (Frank Zappa) ,... ;-)