Clients / Pinewood

Client profiles
• Air Studios
• Anvil Post
• David Bowie
• Chemical Brothers
• The Cure
• De Lane Lea
• Goldcrest
• Kipper/Sting
• Liondubbs Studio
• Massive Attack
• Owlspace Studios
• Pinewood
• Playstation Studios
• The Sanctuary
• Shepperton Studios
• VTR North

Cold Mountain feature
• Feature index

 Pinewood's back for Bond 20


With the 20th Bond block-buster now in production at its historical home, Pinewood Studios, it seemed an opportune time to talk to Graham Hartstone. Now head of post production at Pinewood, Hartstone reckons to have worked on "just about all of them" and was chief dubbing mixer on Bond releases including Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, the latter earning him a Golden Reel Award – as did Aliens and The Living Daylights. (Other personal favourites for Hartstone include A Passage to India and Blade Runner, which he remembers as his "first big feature mix".)



"I've been in the sound department here for 40 years and one of the earliest things I did was to be involved with some artists' tests for Ursula Andress on Dr No," Hartstone reveals. "That was as a 'cable monkey' on the set, running the big cables that we used to use for sound." That was in 1962. Hartstone would on later Bond films be found variously in the transfer bay, the Foley studio, or ADR before becoming fully involved with the mixing process.

As a world-class studio, Pinewood has often found itself at the cutting edge of technology. "We were the first people to have multitrack stems, which I think we did for Moonraker," Hartstone recalls. "That was following the big stereo mix we did on Superman: The Movie, everyone told us they would not want separates afterwards but then of course, they decided they did. We had to mix the film again for the separates, so we said; we'll never do that again. From now on, we'll record separate stems."

"We led the field with Avid AudioVision," Hartstone adds. "They proved to be a fantastic tool for ADR and Foley, with the obvious advantages of instant access to any part of the programme."



"There is also the ability to record as many tracks as you like and play back any combination of 16 at a time, and edit them when you play back."

Pinewood was not an early adopter of Pro Tools. With a range of competing systems, the studio decided to wait until the market had picked a clear winner. "We sat back for a while and let it sort itself out," Hartstone affirms. "Now it appears obvious that the majority of work is coming in on Pro Tools, so we've begun to invest in that."

Today, Pinewood and Shepperton Studios are owned by the same holding company. Although the two maintain separate infrastructures, the situation gives both studios the chance to offer clients an alternative venue. As both studios have an enviable reputation across the world for the quality of their personnel and equipment, it is obviously an arrangement that works to their mutual benefit.

According to Hartstone, there is also a beneficial exchange of technical intelligence. So when Pinewood wanted a Pro Tools system they, like Shepperton, turned to GearBox, not that GearBox had the contract on a plate. "We had several quotes and GearBox were very helpful," Hartstone notes. "As we're in the same group as Shepperton, it made sense to go along with the same supplier."

So, 40 years after the first Bond film, what can Hartstone tell us of the latest? Not a lot it seems, although he will reveal the title: "It's called Die Another Day." Very Secret Service. Very Bond.

For further information please visit:
Pinewood Studios