Sunday, January 22, 2017

Les Paul Award Winner Joe Perry Jams With Johnny Depp, Alice Cooper

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for NAMM

Winners in 31 technical and creative achievement categories were announced at the 32nd Annual NAMM TEC AWARDS, presented annually by the NAMM Foundation and held January 21 in Anaheim, CA. 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. Comedian Sinbad returned to host for the third time.

Four companies – AVID, iZotope, Sennheiser and Solid State Logic – scored several Outstanding Technical Achievement awards, each taking home two statues each. AVID’s Pro Tools Dock and Pro Tools 12.3 picked up in Workstation Technology and Audio Apps & Hardware categories; iZotope in a new designation: Audio Education Technology, for the company’s Pro Audio Essentials and the Ozone 7 Advanced in the category of Signal Processing Software; Sennheiser in Wireless and Headphone/Earpiece Technology categories for the Wireless G3 A-1 Band and the HD 25 Plus and finally Solid State Logic for Large and Small Console Technology categories for the System T and the Sigma Delta. Outstanding Technical Achievement honors were chosen in 23 categories.

“Game of Thrones” returned for its second win in a year for Outstanding Creative Achievement in the Television Sound Production category. Following a posthumous recent birthday milestone, David Bowie’s Blackstar EP won in two categories – Record Production Album & Single respectively. Several Star Wars-themed projects beat out the competition as well: Star Wars: The Force Awakens from Lucasfilm won for Film Sound Production while Star Wars: Battlefront won for Interactive Entertainment Sound Production. Outstanding Creative Achievement honors were chosen in eight categories.

Joe Perry, one of music’s most significant artists and executives, received the evening’s highest honor, the Les Paul Award, presented to remarkably-distinguished and accomplished individuals from the music industry. Hollywood Vampires bandmate and actor Johnny Depp presented Perry with the award, then joined Perry, Brad Whitford, and Alice Cooper on stage for a live performance.

Perry dedicated the award to his manager Howard Kaufman, who recently passed away. News is forthcoming related to Perry’s upcoming sixth solo album. Learn more here.

Keeping it in the family, famed Aerosmith engineer and producer Jack Douglas also became the newest inductee to the NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame. Douglas engineered and produced many multi-platinum associated for many of Aerosmith’s most iconic releases and is affectionately dubbed "the sixth member” of the band.

A complete list of Technical and Creative Achievement winners can be found here and below:

TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
Amplification Hardware - Studio & Sound Reinforcement
Crown     XLS DriveCore 2

Ancillary Equipment
Rupert Neve Designs     RNHP: Precision Headphone Amplifier

Audio Apps & Hardware/Peripherals for Smartphones/Tablets
AVID    Pro Tools | Dock

Audio Education Technology – (new category)
iZotope    Pro Audio Essentials

Computer Audio Hardware
Universal Audio    Apollo Twin USB Interface

DJ Production Technology - Hardware/Software – (new category)
Native Instruments    TRAKTOR Kontrol S5

Headphone / Earpiece Technology
Sennheiser    HD 25 Plus

Large Format Console Technology
Solid State Logic    System T

Microphone Preamplifiers
AMS Neve   1073DPX

Microphones – Recording
Schoeps    ORTF-3D

Microphones - Sound Reinforcement
Shure    KSM8 Dualdyne

Musical Instrument Amplification & Effects
Softube    Marshall JMP 2203

Musical Instrument Hardware
Moog Music    Mother-32

Musical Instrument Software
Softube    Marshall Bluesbreaker 1962

Signal Processing Hardware
Warm Audio    WA-2A Tube Opto Compressor

Signal Processing Hardware (500 Series Modules)
API    512V

Signal Processing Software (Dynamics / EQ / Utilities)
iZotope    Ozone 7 Advanced

Signal Processing Software (Effects)
Soundtoys 5

Small Format Console Technology
Solid State Logic    Sigma Delta

Sound Reinforcement Loudspeakers
Meyer Sound    MJF-208 Stage Monitor

Studio Monitors
Genelec    8430A IP SAM

Wireless Technology
Sennheiser   evolution Wireless G3 A-1 Band

Workstation Technology / Recording Devices
AVID   Pro Tools 12.3

CREATIVE ACHIEVEMENT
Film Sound Production
Lucasfilm Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Interactive Entertainment Sound Production
DICE / Electronic Arts    Star Wars: Battlefront

Record Production – Album
David Bowie    Blackstar

Record Production – Single
David Bowie    Blackstar

Remote Production - Recording or Broadcast
CBS     58th Grammy Awards

Studio Design Project
Walters-Storyk Design Group Boston Symphony Orchestra Control Room

Television Sound Production
HBO     Game of Thrones

Tour/Event Sound Production
Sting and Peter Gabriel     Rock Paper Scissors North American Tour

In total, winners were selected from 180 nominees. Title sponsors for the show included The Les Paul Foundation, Harman and Visit Anaheim. A full list of sponsors can be found here. Many of the evening’s winning products and technologies are available at music and pro audio retailers worldwide both online and in stores.

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