For the fourth time in his career, producer Paul Epworth received the top accolade at the Music Producers Guild Awards, in association with Prism Sound, by carrying off the prestigious Producer of the Year Award for 2017.
Epworth, who previously won the same award in 2010, 2013 and 2015, was nominated this year for his work with Adele, The Stone Roses and Usher.
The MPG Awards 2017, which took place at Grosvenor House, London, also saw American producer Tony Visconti honoured with the Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music. Sponsored by PPL, this award recognised the enormous impact Visconti has had on the UK music scene over many years thanks to his ground breaking work with artists such as David Bowie, Marc Bolan and T.Rex, The Moody Blues, The Seahorses, Angélique Kidjo, The Manic Street Preachers and Morrissey.
Visconti also received the MPG’s 2017 gong for International Producer of the Year for his work on Bowie’s last album, Blackstar – itself a winner in the UK Album of the Year category.
Now well established as an annual music industry event, the MPG Awards 2017 also honoured producer and DJ Roni Size with the Inspiration Award. His unique approach to music production marks him out as a true pioneer, while his ability to create fresh sounds and styles has given electronic music an entirely new direction by allowing it to move from its original club base to large arenas and festivals stages. Reprazent, the drum and bass collective Size founded in the mid-1990s, took the world by a storm when their New Forms LP won the Mercury Music Prize. The album quickly went platinum thanks to modern day classics such as Watching Windows, Heroes and Brown Paper Bag.
The 350-plus guests at last night’s MPG Awards were treated to a stunning performance by Roni Size, who took to the stage to deliver an outstanding DJ set.
Introduced in 2009 to recognise the enormous contribution made by recording professionals to the success of the UK’s music industry, the MPG Awards regularly attracts a high turnout of music industry VIPs and celebrities.
Tony Platt, MPG Awards Managing Director, says: “Every year it becomes more and more difficult to find superlatives to describe the fantastic array of talent honoured during our Awards event. It is impossible to overstate the contribution these people make to our industry. The next few years will present many new challenges but with this level of creativity and inspiration to call on, we are well placed to face them.”
For a full list of 2016 MPG Award winners and sponsors, please see the list below:
UK Producer of the Year, sponsored by Prism Sound
Paul Epworth
Outstanding Contribution to UK Music, sponsored by PPL:
Tony Visconti
Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by AMS Neve:
Richard Woodcraft
Mix Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic:
Tom Elmhirst
Mastering Engineer of the Year, sponsored by SADiE:
Mandy Parnell
UK Album of the Year, sponsored by Universal Audio:
David Bowie – Blackstar
UK Single Song Release of the Year, sponsored by Shure:
Radiohead – Burn The Witch
Re-mixer of the Year, sponsored by Kazbar Systems:
Matthew Herbert
Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Novation:
Andrew Hunt
Breakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Genelec:
Manon Grandjean
International Producer of the Year, sponsored British Grove Studios:
Tony Visconti
Self Producing Artist of the Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio:
Tarek Musa (Spring King)
Studio of the Year, sponsored by G-Technology and Jigsaw24:
RAK Studios
The A&R Award, sponsored by AIM:
Toby L and Tim Dellow (Transgressive Records)
The MPG Award for Inspiration, sponsored by Audio Note:
Roni Size
Special Recognition Award, sponsored by Rupert Neve Designs:
Rupert Neve
Additional sponsorship was provided by BPI and MQA (judge tables), PMC Speakers (reception drinks) and AVID (nominee seats).
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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.
