The 28th Annual TEC Awards Winners

Mix magazine congratulates the nominees and winners at the 28th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, held Friday, January 25, at the 2013 Winter NAMM show. This year’s award winners include the design teams responsible for the past year’s groundbreaking audio production tools, as well as the sound engineers, editors, producers and other audio professionals behind the recording, film and live sound mega hits of 2012.

In all, 20 awards were presented for Outstanding Technical Achievement, including double wins for Avid, Moog, Rupert Neve and Universal Audio. Among the eight projects awarded for Outstanding Creative Achievement were Foo Fighters’ Wasting Light album and tour, and Gotye’s hit single “Somebody that I Used To Know”.

Record Plant President Rose Mann-Cherney was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame by recording executive Ron Fair and Slash. Renowned recording artist and composer Pete Townshend was honored with the Les Paul Award, presented by film producer and humorist Martin Lewis and Jeff Salmon, representing The Les Paul Foundation.

Upon receiving the award, Townshend described using his first tape recorders purchased as a teen to write music, and expressed his deep appreciation for the professional audio and music products community.

“In every hope that I ever had for a device that would do something that I wanted to do, you fabulous people made it for me,” Townshend said. “I’m so hip to what you guys do, hip to the amount of time that you spend, and as a musician and as a composer, I sincerely want to thank you!”

The ceremony was hosted by singer/songwriter John Sebastian, who opened the show with “I’m Satisfied”. Larry Batiste and the 2Cold ChiliBone TEC Band carried the night’s music, which included a song dedicated to Mann-Cherney sung by the Rosettes, and climaxed with performances of Townshend’s hits featuring Eric Burdon, Tal Wilkenfeld, Narada Michael Walden, Julia Fordham, David Pack, Phil Chen, Laurence Juber and, lastly, Pete Townshend. Celebrity presenters included Suzanne Ciani, Melora Hardin, Orianthi, and producers Niko Bolas and Csaba Petocz.

The following pages present the list of the 28th Annual TEC Awards winners for Outstanding Technical Achievement and Outstanding Creative Achievement.

Outstanding Technical Achievement

Ancillary Equipment Waves Audio WLM Loudness Meter

Audio Apps Technology for Smartphones & Tablets Moog Animoog

Microphone Preamplifier Technology Apogee Electronics 8-Channel Mic-pre Module for Symphony I/O

Studio Monitor Technology ADAM Audio A77x

Recording Devices Zoom H2n Handy Recorder

Musical Instrument Amplification & Effects Technology Line 6 POD HD Pro Guitar Processor/Amp Simulator

Amplification Hardware/Studio & Sound Reinforcement Dangerous Music “Dangerous Source” USB Monitor Controller

Computer Audio Hardware Universal Audio Apollo High Resolution Audio Interface

Musical Instrument Technology (Hardware) Moog Minitaur

Musical Instrument Technology (Software) Native Instruments Kontakt 5

Signal Processing Technology (Hardware) Rupert Neve Designs Portico II: Master Buss Processor

Signal Processing Technology (Software) Universal Audio Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder Plug-In

Sound Reinforcement Loudspeaker Technology Meyer Sound CAL Column Array Loudspeaker

Microphone Technology/Sound Reinforcement Telefunken Elektroakustik M81

Microphone Technology/Recording Blue Microphones Spark Digital

Headphone/Earpiece Technology Sennheiser HD700 Headphones

Wireless Technology Shure Axient Wireless

Workstation Technology Avid Pro Tools 10

Sound Reinforcement Console Technology Avid VENUE SC48 Remote

Small Format Console Technology Rupert Neve Designs 5059 Satellite Mixer

Outstanding Creative Achievement

Record Production/Single “Somebody That I Used To Know”, Gotye

Record Production/Album Wasting Light, Foo Fighters

Tour Sound Production Foo Fighters “Wasting Light” Tour, Delicate Productions

Remote Production/Recording or Broadcast 54th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS

Film Sound Production The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros.

Television Sound Production Breaking Bad, AMC

Interactive Entertainment Sound Production Journey, Sony Computer Entertainment

Studio Design Project Dreamworks Animation Studios, Glendale, Calif.

Visit the TEC Foundation at www.tecfoundation.com