A creative audio production company which recreates the authentic, exciting sound of world rally car driving has discovered a vroom with a view in York.

Media Mill, formed by ex-BBC Radio York broadcaster Jerry Ibbotson to provide specialist audio production for the computer games industry, has moved into top floor offices in the city's Shambles.

The firm, which boasts three gold discs, one for each of the Evolution Studios' Sony Playstation 11 World Rally Championship series, was found its new studio by Dave Taylor, marketing director of inward investment agency, york-england.com, and the move bolsters York's growing reputation as a multi-media centre, home to organisations like Mindwave and Revolution Software.

From here, with a view of York's medieval skyline, Mr Ibbotson and his team will digitally process the sounds of roaring engines they captured from the likes of real souped-up Subarus, Mitsubishis, Skodas and Fords at rallies they visited all over Europe.

They work with games designers so that they can interact with the actions of game players and into the reactive compendium of sound they weave the roar of crowds, squeals of brakes and occasional thud of metal on tree bark.

"This place is ideal," said Mr Ibbotson, who started off using his home in Poppleton, then moved to temporary offices in Fossgate before going to Shambles, where he has now fully soundproofed the rooms. "The low medieval ceilings help and none of the walls are at perfectly straight angles. You don't want the sound bouncing off straight lines like a ball on a billiard table," he said.

Mr Ibbotson, a former reporter with BBC Radio York and for Radio One's Newsbeat programme, works with his wife, Louise, whom he met at Radio York and is now business manager; and Tim Shepherd, of York, a graduate in music from London's City University and a York Minster chorister.

Each of their World Rally Championship contributions has helped sales top the million mark.

As well as becoming an integral part of the design team at Evolution Studios, Media Mill has also worked with York's Revolution Software - a fact welcomed by Anna Rooke, manager of Science City York.

She said: "Media Mill is one of the leading companies in its field and one of the very innovative companies in the 'Creative York' cluster. I'm delighted to see that its success has led to this new office and studio."

Right now Media Mill is working on a fourth in the World Rally series and is producing the audio for a game on a new - and at this stage hugely secret -Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP).

Mr Ibbotson said: "I can't say anything about it just yet apart from the fact that it's an adventure game." So much is obvious from the sounds in that studio - of vehicles, gun shots, speedboats and excited voices...

Our photo montage shows Tim Shepherd and Jerry Ibbotsen, of Media Mill, with some of the computer game rally cars, for which they supply the sounds

Updated: 09:42 Thursday, April 15, 2004