Music Producers Guild - award winners

18 February 2017 - Press release

It’s a fourth major win for producer Paul Epworth, while David Bowie’s producer Tony Visconti wins in two categories.

 

For the fourth time in his career, producer Paul Epworth received the top accolade at the Music Producers Guild Awards, in association with Prism Sound, by carrying off the prestigious Producer of the Year Award for 2017.

Epworth, who previously won the same award in 2010, 2013 and 2015, was nominated this year for his work with Adele, The Stone Roses and Usher.

The MPG Awards 2017, which took place at Grosvenor House, London, also saw American producer Tony Visconti honoured with the Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music. Sponsored by PPL, this award recognised the enormous impact Visconti has had on the UK music scene over many years thanks to his ground breaking work with artists such as David Bowie, Marc Bolan and T.Rex, The Moody Blues, The Seahorses, Angélique Kidjo, The Manic Street Preachers and Morrissey.

Visconti also received the MPG’s 2017 gong for International Producer of the Year for his work on Bowie’s last album, Blackstar – itself a winner in the UK Album of the Year category.

Now well established as an annual music industry event, the MPG Awards 2017 also honoured producer and DJ Roni Size with the Inspiration Award. His unique approach to music production marks him out as a true pioneer, while his ability to create fresh sounds and styles has given electronic music an entirely new direction by allowing it to move from its original club base to large arenas and festivals stages. Reprazent, the drum and bass collective Size founded in the mid-1990s, took the world by a storm when their New Forms LP won the Mercury Music Prize. The album quickly went platinum thanks to modern day classics such as Watching Windows, Heroes and Brown Paper Bag.

The 350-plus guests at last night’s MPG Awards were treated to a stunning performance by Roni Size, who took to the stage to deliver ….

Introduced in 2009 to recognise the enormous contribution made by recording professionals to the success of the UK’s music industry, the MPG Awards regularly attracts a high turnout of music industry VIPs and celebrities.

Tony Platt, MPG Awards Managing Director, says: "Every year it becomes more and more difficult to find superlatives to describe the fantastic array of talent honoured during our Awards event. It is impossible to overstate the contribution these people make to our industry. The next few years will present many new challenges but with this level of creativity and inspiration to call on, we are well placed to face them.”

 

UK Producer of the Year, sponsored by Prism Sound
Paul Epworth

Outstanding Contribution to UK Music, sponsored by PPL:
Tony Visconti

Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by AMS Neve:
Richard Woodcraft

Mix Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic:
Tom Elmhirst

Mastering Engineer of the Year, sponsored by SADiE:
Mandy Parnell

UK Album of the Year, sponsored by Universal Audio:
David Bowie – Blackstar 

UK Single Song Release of the Year, sponsored by Shure:
Radiohead – Burn The Witch

Re-mixer of the Year, sponsored by Kazbar Systems:
Matthew Herbert

Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Novation:
Andrew Hunt

Breakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Genelec:
Manon Grandjean

International Producer of the Year, sponsored British Grove Studios:
Tony Visconti

Self Producing Artist of the Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio:
Tarek Musa (Spring King)

Studio of the Year, sponsored by G-Technology and Jigsaw24:
RAK Studios

The A&R Award, sponsored by AIM:
Toby L and Tim Dellow (Transgressive Records)

The MPG Award for Inspiration, sponsored by Audio Note:
Roni Size

Special Recognition Award, sponsored by Rupert Neve Designs:
Rupert Neve