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The 2014 TEC Awards Nominees Drawn From Among Sound and Production Industry’s Finest. Ceremony honors top achievements in product innovation and sound production. Todd Rundgren to receive Les Paul Award. John Meyer and Hal Blaine to be inducted into Hall of Fame.
The NAMM Foundation has finalized nominees for the 29th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards. Nominees across 30 technical and creative categories include production teams for artists such as Adele, Bruno Mars, and Daft Punk, as well as for television and film projects such as Game of Thrones and Argo, and for interactive games such as Assassin’s Creed. The awards ceremony is set for Friday, Jan. 24, during the NAMM Show, one of the world’s largest global music industry trade shows, held annually in Anaheim, Calif.
As the longest-running awards show that specifically recognizes outstanding achievement in product innovation and sound production, the TEC Awards are the professional audio industry’s most prestigious show. Produced by the NAMM Foundation, the show recognizes Outstanding Technical Achievement in Product Design across 22 categories and Outstanding Creative Achievement in Sound Production in eight categories. Each technical category includes six nominees; each creative category recognizes five nominees.
The Outstanding Technical Achievement category encompasses everything from recording devices and headphones, to musical instrument technology and sound reinforcement loudspeaker technology. Nominees are listed here. The category for Outstanding Creative Achievement highlights producers and engineers who have played significant roles in the audio production of hit songs, concert tours, films, television, and interactive entertainment. Those nominees are listed here.
A carefully selected panel of sound and music industry professionals chose the nominees from hundreds of entries. Products and projects released and in commercial use during the period of Sept. 1, 2012 to Aug. 31, 2013 were eligible for nomination. Online voting by members of professional audio industry organizations begins in December.
A precursor to the Grammy Awards®, which are held on the same weekend, the 29th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards ceremony takes place the second night of the world-famous NAMM Show. The TEC Awards ceremony will include a presentation of the Les Paul Award to recording artist Todd Rundgren. Legendary audio engineer John Meyer and renowned session drummer Hal Blaine will be inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame. Tickets for this exciting event will be made available in November.
Nominees for the 29th Annual TEC Awards
Technical Achievement
ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT
Access Products Triad-Orbit Advanced Mic Stand
IsoAcoustics ISO-L8R130 Speaker Stands
iZotope Insight Metering Suite
Radial Engineering StageBug SB-5 DI Box
Rational Acoustics Smaart v.7-Di Analysis Software
Whirlwind Power Link 3-Phase AC Power Distro
AUDIO APPS FOR SMARTPHONES & TABLETS
Focusrite Tape
JoeCo BlackBox Remote
Propellerhead Thor
Soundcraft/Studer Audio Calc Toolkit
TC Electronic TonePrint Editor
Yamaha CL StageMix
HARDWARE/PERIPHERALS FOR SMARTPHONES & TABLETS
Akai MPC Fly 30
Apogee Quartet
IK Multimedia iRig HD
Line 6 Sonic Port
Peavey AmpKit LiNK HD
RØDE iXY iOS Mic
MICROPHONE PREAMPLIFIER TECHNOLOGY
AMS-Neve 1073N
Aphex Project Channel
Earthworks 521
Millennia Media HV-37
RME OctaMic XTC
Rupert Neve Designs Portico 511
STUDIO MONITOR TECHNOLOGY
Emotiva Pro Stealth 8
Eve Audio SC300 Series
Genelec M Series
JBL Professional M2
Neumann KH 310 A
Pelonis Signature Series 4288 MK II
RECORDING DEVICES
Allen & Heath ICE-16
iZ Corp. RADAR 6
JoeCo BlackBox v2.2.7
Roland R-88 v 1.1
TASCAM DR-60D
Zoom H6
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT AMPLIFICATION & EFFECTS TECHNOLOGY
Ampeg Heritage B-15N Combo
Eventide H9 Harmonizer Stompbox
Fender Excelsior Pro
Line 6 POD HD500X
Orange OR100
TC Electronic Ditto Looper
AMPLIFICATION HARDWARE/STUDIO & SOUND REINFORCEMENT
Ashly Audio nX Series
Crest Audio CLh 5000
Drawmer MC2.1 Monitor Controller
Lab.gruppen IPD Series
QSC Audio PLD Series
Sennheiser HDVD 800 Headphone Amp/DAC
COMPUTER AUDIO HARDWARE
Antelope Audio Orion32
Apogee Symphony 64 | ThunderBridge
Audient iD22
Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
Merging Technologies Horus DSD-DXD Edition
Universal Audio Apollo 16
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY/HARDWARE
Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12
Fishman TriplePlay
Moog Music Sub Phatty
Nord Lead 4
Roland Integra-7
Tronical TronicalTune
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT TECHNOLOGY/SOFTWARE
Arturia Analog Lab
Native Instruments KOMPLETE 9
Propellerhead Radical Keys
Sound Magic Imperial Grand v2.9
Steinberg Padshop Pro
Waves Element
SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY/HARDWARE
CEDAR DNS 8 Live Dialogue Noise Suppressor
Crane Song Falcon Compressor
Lake Controller 6.1 for LM/PLM Series
PreSonus ADL 700 Tube Channel Strip
Rupert Neve Designs Portico 542 Tape Effects
Solid State Logic 500 Series Buss Compressor
SIGNAL PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY/SOFTWARE
Eventide H3000 Factory Native
iZotope Trash 2
Kush Audio Clariphonic DSP
Slate Digital Virtual Buss Compressors
SoundToys Radiator
Universal Audio Teletronix LA-2A Classic Leveler Collection
SOUND REINFORCEMENT LOUDSPEAKER TECHNOLOGY
Electro-Voice ZLX Series
JBL Professional PRX700 Series
Line 6 StageSource L2t
QSC Audio AcousticPerformance Series
Tannoy VLS Series
VUE Audiotechnik al-8
MICROPHONE TECHNOLOGY/SOUND REINFORCEMENT
AKG D12VR
DPA d:facto II
Holophone Super C
Lewitt DTP 340 REX
Shure KSM9HS
Telefunken Elektroakustik M82
MICROPHONE TECHNOLOGY/RECORDING
AKG C451 Limited Edition Classic
Audio-Technica AT5040
Blue Microphones Nessie
JZ Microphones J1
Lewitt Audio LCT 940
Royer Labs SF-2
HEADPHONE/EARPIECE TECHNOLOGY
AKG Acoustics K712 Pro Headphones
Audio-Technica ATH-M50RD Headphones
Aurisonics AG-2 In-Ear Monitors
Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Headphones
CAD Audio The Sessions MH510 Headphones
Shure SE846 Sound Isolating Earphones
WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY
AKG WMS4500 Series
Audio-Technica System 10
Line 6 Relay G55
Sennheiser Digital 9000
Shure GLX-D Handheld Systems
Sony Electronics DWZ Series
WORKSTATION TECHNOLOGY
Ableton Live 9
Apple Logic Pro X
Avid Pro Tools 11
MOTU Digital Performer 8
PreSonus Studio One Professional 2.6
Propellerhead Reason 7
SOUND REINFORCEMENT CONSOLE TECHNOLOGY
Avid S3L
DiGiCo SD7T
Midas Pro1
Solid State Logic LIVE
Soundcraft Si Performer
Studer Vista 1
SMALL FORMAT CONSOLE TECHNOLOGY
Allen & Heath Qu-16
Behringer X32 Compact
Mackie DL1608
Rupert Neve Designs 5060 Centerpiece
Soundcraft Si Expression
Solid State Logic Sigma
LARGE FORMAT CONSOLE TECHNOLOGY
Calrec Artemis with Automixer
Harrison MPC5
Lawo MC2 version v4.12
Slate Pro Audio Raven MTX
Solid State Logic Duality Pro-Station
Studer Vista 5 M3
Creative Achievement
RECORD PRODUCTION/SINGLE OR TRACK
“Get Lucky,” Daft Punk
“I Will Wait,” Mumford & Sons
“Locked Out of Heaven,” Bruno Mars
“Mirrors,” Justin Timberlake
“Skyfall,” Adele
RECORD PRODUCTION/ALBUM
Girl On Fire, Alicia Keys
Old Yellow Moon, Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell
Psychedelic Pill, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Random Access Memories, Daft Punk
Unorthodox Jukebox, Bruno Mars
TOUR/EVENT SOUND PRODUCTION
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band—Wrecking Ball Tour
Paul McCartney—Out There! Tour
Peter Gabriel—Back to Front
The Rolling Stones—50 & Counting
Sting—Back to Bass Tour
REMOTE PRODUCTION/RECORDING OR BROADCAST
12-12-12 Concert for Sandy Relief
35th Annual Kennedy Center Honors
55th Annual Grammy Awards
Carnegie Hall Live: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, ‘Carmina Burana’
Centric Live: Fantasia at The Fillmore
FILM SOUND PRODUCTION
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Skyfall
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
TELEVISION SOUND PRODUCTION
Boardwalk Empire
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland
Treme
INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT SOUND PRODUCTION
Assassin’s Creed III
Battlefield 3: End Game
Halo 4
The Last of Us
The Unfinished Swan
STUDIO DESIGN PROJECT
Berklee Valencia, Spain
Kaleidoscope Sound—The Patio, Union City, NY
Sony PlayStation Sound Studios, Redwood City, CA
Strange Weather, New York City
Vintage King Nashville, Nashville, TN
About the TEC Awards
The TEC Awards were founded in 1985 and presented by the TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio. In 2013 the TEC Foundation was merged with the NAMM Foundation, the educational and charitable arm of NAMM, presenters of the largest trade show for the music products industry.
About the NAMM Foundation
The NAMM Foundation is a nonprofit organization with the mission of advancing active participation in music making across the lifespan by supporting scientific research, philanthropic giving and public service programs from the international music products industry.