Winners in 31 technical and creative achievement categories were announced at the 31st Annual NAMM TEC AWARDS held on January 23 in Anaheim, California.
The annual event celebrates the best in professional audio and sound production and is held during the NAMM Show, the world’s leading global music industry trade event drawing nearly 100,000 decision-makers and musicians to the Anaheim Convention Center.
“This gathering of the music technology and pro audio world at NAMM helps to complete the full spectrum of music making tribes at the NAMM Show,” said Joe Lamond, president and CEO of NAMM. “The NAMM TEC Awards are the opportunity to recognize the inventors, creatives, musicians and brands who are fueling the next wave of innovation behind how the world experiences music and sound.”
Comedian Sinbad brought the laughs as the jubilant host of the award show. Four companies, Avid, iZotope, Shure, and Solid State Logic, won multiple awards in the Technical Achievement category each taking home two TEC Awards. Creative Achievement top honors were spread across various platforms including television, film, touring and more. Creative winners included everything from the sound production team behind HBO’s popular Game of Thrones series to the producers of James Taylor’s latest album Before This World. Projects tied to the Foo Fighters’ eighth album Sonic Highways were also awarded double honors for event sound and remote production (recording).
Don Was, one of music’s most significant artists and executives, received the evening’s highest honor, the Les Paul award. Mr. Was ended the night and his own celebration with a live music performance that included his former Was (Not Was) band’s catchy ‘80s hit “Walk the Dinosaur.” The Les Paul award recognizes individuals and institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio and music technology.
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter along with Record Plant’s Chris Stone and the late Gary Kellgren became the newest inductees to the NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame. Baxter, a founding member of Steely Dan, took to the stage for a set that included the group’s famous track “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.”
A complete list of winners can be found here and below:
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
AMPLIFICATION HARDWARE – STUDIO & SOUND REINFORCEMENT
Antelope Audio / Satori Monitoring Controller
ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
Rupert Neve Designs / RNDI: Active Transformer Direct Interface
AUDIO APPS FOR SMARTPHONES & TABLETS
PreSonus / Notion 2 for iOS
COMPUTER AUDIO HARDWARE
Universal Audio / Apollo 8p Thunderbolt 2 Audio Interface
HARDWARE / PERIPHERALS FOR SMARTPHONES & TABLETS
Shure / MOTIV MV88 iOS Digital Stereo Condenser Mic
HEADPHONE / EARPIECE TECHNOLOGY
Audio-Technica Corporation / ATH-R70x Pro
LARGE FORMAT CONSOLE TECHNOLOGY
Solid State Logic / XL DESK
MICROPHONE PREAMPLIFIERS
Manley Labs / Manley FORCE
MICROPHONES – RECORDING
Neumann / U47 FET
MICROPHONES – SOUND REINFORCEMENT
Shure / 5575LE Unidyne 75th Anniversary Vocal Microphone
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AMPLIFICATION & EFFECTS
Eventide / H9 MAX
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT HARDWARE
Moog Music / Modular Recreation
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT SOFTWARE
iZotope / Iris 2
RECORDING DEVICES
Zoom/F8 MultiTrack Field Recorder
SIGNAL PROCESSING HARDWARE
Tube-Tech / HLT 2A Equalizer
SIGNAL PROCESSING HARDWARE (500 SERIES MODULES)
Solid State Logic / 500-Format LMC+
SIGNAL PROCESSING SOFTWARE (DYNAMICS/EQ/UTILITIES)
iZotope / RX 4 Complete Audio Repair & Enhancement
SIGNAL PROCESSING SOFTWARE (EFFECTS)
AMS Neve / AMS RMX16 Digital Reverb Plug-In For UAD-2 Platform
SMALL FORMAT CONSOLE TECHNOLOGY
Avid / Pro Tools I S3
SOUND REINFORCEMENT LOUDSPEAKERS
Meyer Sound / LEOPARD
STUDIO MONITORS
Genelec / 8351A SAM
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
Sennheiser / Evolution Wireless D1
WORKSTATION TECHNOLOGY
Avid / Pro Tools 12
CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
FILM SOUND PRODUCTION
Birdman
INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SOUND PRODUCTION
Batman: Arkham Knight
RECORD PRODUCTION / ALBUM
Before This World by James Taylor
RECORD PRODUCTION / SINGLE OR TRACK
Dreams by Beck
REMOTE PRODUCTION / RECORDING OR BROADCAST
Foo Fighters Sonic Highways
STUDIO DESIGN PROJECT
Paul Epworth’s The Church Studios, London, UK
TELEVISION SOUND PRODUCTION
Game of Thrones
TOUR / EVENT SOUND PRODUCTION
Sonic Highways World Tour, Foo Fighters
In total, winners in more 31 categories were selected from 180 nominees by voters from major pro audio publications including Mix, Pro Sound News, Pro Audio Review, Sound & Video Contractor, and Electronic Musician magazines, as well as members of the Producers & Engineers Wing of the Recording Academy, Game Audio Network Guild and select NAMM members.
The NAMM Tec Awards sponsors are HARMAN International Industries, Inc., the Les Paul Foundation, D’Angelico and Sennheiser. Many of tonight’s winning products and technologies are available at music and pro audio retailers worldwide both online and in stores.
For more information, visit www.tecawards.org.
Photo: Guitarist Jeff Baxter speaks on stage during the 31st Annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity (TEC) Awards at the Anaheim Hilton on January 23, 2016 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for NAMM)
