NAMM 2016: TEC Awards winners revealed
The winners of the 31st annual NAMM TEC Awards, held January 23 during the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California, have been announced.
Divided into 31 Technical and Creative achievement categories, the annual event celebrates the best in professional audio and sound production.
“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 was the jubilant host of the award show this year, and four companies – Avid, iZotope, Shure, and Solid State Logic – won multiple Technical Achievement awards, each coming top in two categories.
Creative Achievement winners were spread across various platforms, including TV, film, touring and more. Winners included everything from the sound production team behind Game of Thrones 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 honours for event sound and remote production (recording).
Musician and producer Don Was was also in attendance to receive the prestigious Les Paul Award, which recognises individuals and institutions that have set the highest standards of excellence in the creative application of audio and music technology.
Steely Dan founding member Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, along with Record Plant’s Chris Stone and the late Gary Kellgren also became the newest inductees to the NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame.
A complete list of winners can be found 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+ (pictured)
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