Tony Visconti, Paul Epworth, Fraser T. Smith and Nigel Godrich are among a host of internationally acclaimed producers vying for gongs at the 2017 Music Producers Guild Awards, which take place in London next year.
The 2017 Shortlist, which was announced today, was fiercely contested with a record number of MPG Full Members casting votes. This has resulted in a strong array of candidates reflecting a wealth of creative talent across many different genres. Final judging will take place on December 5th and the winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony on February 16th at the prestigious Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London.
The newly introduced Self-Producing Artist category was particularly hard fought and the three who made it onto the Shortlist are James Blake, Jeff Lynne and Tarek Musa of Spring King. Other notable entries include David Bowie’s Black Star, Michael Kiwanuka’s Love and Hate and Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool, all of which are shortlisted for UK Album of the Year.
Now in its ninth year, the Music Producers Guild Awards will feature 16 awards categories, recognising the best and brightest names in music production. Previous award winners have included Sir George Martin CBE, Youth, FKA Twigs, Brian Eno, Catherine Marks, Trevor Horn and Dave Stewart.
Tony Platt, MPG Awards Group Managing Director, says: “The MPG Awards are totally unique because they reflect the UK music industry’s incredible wealth of creative talent and also the respect we all have for our colleagues. The roles of producers and engineers are now universally recognised and we can pat ourselves on the back for championing that recognition. The support and encouragement that these production teams give to artists is priceless and should be shouted about at every opportunity.”
The shortlists for each of the MPG 2017 Awards categories (in no particular order) are as follows:
UK Producer Of The Year
• Paul Epworth
• Nigel Godrich
• Fraser T. Smith
International Producer Of The Year, sponsored by Prism Sound
• Josh Homme
• Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee
• Tony Visconti
Breakthrough Producer Of The Year, sponsored by Novation
• Brett Cox
• Andrew Hunt
• Joel Laslett Pott
Self Producing Artist of the Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio
• James Blake
• Jeff Lynne
• Tarek Musa (Spring King)
Recording Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by AMS Neve
• Guy Massey
• Mark Rankin
• Richard Woodcraft
Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Genelec
• Manon Grandjean
• Andrew Hunt
• Jack Ruston
Mix Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic
• Tom Elmhirst
• Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
• Cenzo Townshend
Mastering Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Prism Sound
• John Davis
• Barry Grint
• Mandy Parnell
Re-Mixer of the Year
• Disclosure (Howard & Guy Lawrence)
• Matthew Herbert
• Wideboys
UK Album Of The Year
• Black Star – David Bowie
• Love and Hate – Michael Kiwanuka
• A Moon Shaped Pool – Radiohead
UK Single Song Release Of The Year, sponsored by Shure
• This Is What Your Came For – Calvin Harris feat. Rihanna
• Burn The Witch – Radiohead
• Pillowtalk – ZAYN
Studio Of The Year
• Abbey Road Studios
• British Grove Studios
• RAK Studios
The A&R Award
• Toby L & Tim Dellow (Transgressive Records)
• Bart McDonagh (Domino Records)
• Nigel Reeve (Warner Music International)
The winner of the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, sponsored by PPL, will be announced soon, while the MPG Inspiration Award and the Special Recognition Award will be announced at the ceremony in February. All three of these are in the gift of the MPG,
Tickets for the 2017 MPG Awards are now on sale and there are currently a limited number of super discounted tickets available. For price information and bookings, please follow this link:
https://www.mpg.org.uk/mpg-awards/2017-tickets/
Sponsorship opportunities to suit all budgets are also available for this exciting event. Companies that would like to discuss this should contact MPG Awards Event Organiser Joe Edwards. Telephone: +44 (0) 7701 030 513. Email: joe@offbeatldn.com
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About Music Producers Guild:
The Music Producers Guild is an independent and democratic organisation that encourages the highest standards of music production, and actively engages with other music industry organisations to campaign and lobby on matters of important mutual interest.
The MPG represents and promotes the interests of all those involved in the production of recorded music, including producers, engineers, mixers, re-mixers, programmers and mastering engineers. www.mpg.org.uk