Catherine J Marks wins top gong as UK Producer of the Year at the MPG Awards. (Photo: Marc Sethi)
The tenth annual Music Producers Guild Awards saw strong female representation in music production tonight, with five of the coveted awards going to women. The top accolade — UK Producer Of The Year — was picked up by Catherine Marks for her work on The Amazons’ self-titled album, Manchester Orchestra’s album A Black Mile To The Surface and The Big Moon’s Love In The 4th Dimension. Marks previously won the MPG’s Breakthrough Producer Of The Year Award in 2016.
The MPG Awards 2018 also honoured producer and musician Imogen Heap with the Inspiration Award. The only female artist ever to win a Grammy for engineering, Heap’s career has spanned writing musicals, production and even working to develop the Mi.Mu performance-shaping controller gloves.
Manon Grandjean awarded Recording Engineer of the Year by Stormzy (photo:Jennifer McCord)
In addition, Manon Grandjean carried off the Recording Engineer Of The Year Award, Marta Salogni won Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year and Jane Third took home the A&R Award. The artists they have worked with are among the music industry’s most successful and critically acclaimed and include Stormzy, London Grammar, The xx, Kasabian, Feist, Goldfrapp, Frank Ocean and Slaves.
Veteran producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley honoured with the Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music
The MPG Awards 2018 also saw Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley honoured with the PPL sponsored Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Music. This award recognises one of the most influential partnerships in music production over the last 40 years. Developing a sound described as “That English Pop Thing”, Langer and Winstanley have a credit list that reads like a pop hall of fame and includes many classic albums, not least Elvis Costello’s Punch The Clock, Dexys Midnight Runners’ Too-Rye-Ay and Bush’s best-selling album Sixteen Stone as well as numerous Madness albums.
Recognising the enormous contribution made by recording professionals to the success of the UK’s music industry, the Music Producers Guild Awards regularly attracts a high turnout of music industry VIPs and celebrities and this year was no exception with over 350 people attending the celebrations.
The full list of winners are as follows:
UK Producer Of The Year, sponsored by Kii Audio
Catherine Marks
PPL Presents The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music:
Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley
Recording Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by AMS Neve:
Manon Grandjean
Mix Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic:
Mark ‘Spike’ Stent
Mastering Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Miloco Studios:
Matt Colton
UK Album Of The Year, sponsored by Universal Audio:
Glass Animals – How To Be A Human
UK Single Song Release Of The Year, sponsored by Shure:
Royal Blood – 'Lights Out'
Re-mixer Of The Year, sponsored by Novation:
UNKLE
Breakthrough Producer Of The Year, sponsored by Focusrite:
Jolyon Thomas
Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Genelec:
Marta Salogni
International Producer Of The Year, sponsored by British Grove Studios:
Garret ‘Jacknife’ Lee
Self Producing Artist Of The Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio:
Dave Bayley (Glass Animals)
Studio Of The Year, sponsored by RME:
Abbey Road
The A&R Award, sponsored by The Association of Independent Music (AIM):
Jane Third
The MPG Special Recognition Award sponsored by Solid State Logic:
Colin Sanders
The MPG Award For Inspiration, sponsored by Audio Note:
Imogen Heap
