TEC Award winners announced at NAMM

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 were among the big winners at the 28th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, Friday evening at 2013 NAMM.

Twenty awards were presented for Outstanding Technical Achievement and included double wins for Avid, Moog, Rupert Neve and Universal Audio. Among the 8 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”.

Highlighting the evening were two lifetime achievement awards, beginning with the induction of Record Plant President Rose Mann-Cherney to the TEC Awards Hall of Fame by recording executive Ron Fair andSlash, followed by the Les Paul Award presentation to renowned recording artist and composer Pete Townshend. The Les Paul Award was 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...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 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.

28^th Annual TEC Awards Winners

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, CA

About The TEC Foundation The TEC Foundation for Excellence in Audio is a 501(c)(3) public benefit corporation headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Proceeds of the TEC Awards have been donated over the years to organizations that educate both sound professionals and music listeners about hearing health. The Foundation has also funded scholarship endowments at a number colleges and universities for students of the audio arts and sciences. For more information about the TEC Foundation and the TEC Awards, visit www.tecfoundation.com.