Producer Charlie Andrew received the MPG & BRIT Award for UK Producer of the Year.Producer Charlie Andrew received the top award at tonight's annual Music Producers Guild Awards ceremony, which took place at the prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane, London. Andrew, who received the MPG Award for Breakthrough Producer in 2013, was nominated for this year's Producer of the Year Award for his work with Alt-J, Marika Hackman and Sivu. Winning this honour meant that he automatically received the 2016 BRIT Award for Best Producer.
This year's MPG Awards also saw a significant increase in the number of female recording professionals carrying off gongs. Olga Fitzroy (Coldplay) and Catherine Marks (Wolf Alice, Foals) won the awards for Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by AMS Neve and Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Focusrite, respectively. While FKA Twigs won the Awards for UK Single (Pendulum) and UK Album (LP1) of the Year, both of which she co-produced. There was also an MPG Inspiration Award sponsored by Universal Audio, for Sylvia Massy (Tool, Prince, Johnny Cash), whose hugely successful career in the recording industry has embraced many roles including producer, engineer, mixer, writer, artist and educator.
Jimmy Page also made a surprise appearance at the awards ceremony, presenting John Davis with his award for Mastering Engineer of the Year, thanks to his work with Royal Blood, Lana Del Rey and The Prodigy. Page and Davis met during the mastering of Led Zeppelin’s Mothership, and have worked together several times since.
FKA Twigs took home awards for UK Single and UK Album of the Year. (L-R) Tom Robinson, FKA Twigs, Joe Hartwell-Jones, David Wrench, Tic and Cy An.
Mixer David Wrench took to the stage more than once during the evening — once with FKA Twigs and again to receive his award for Mix Engineer of the Year, earned for his work with aforementioned as well as Jamie XX and Jungle. We’re delighted to be welcoming David to the Sound On Sound Presents event in April.
Now well established as an annual music industry event, the MPG Awards 2016, in association with Prism Sound, also honoured producer and artist Youth (Martin Glover) with the MPG's Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, sponsored by PPL. Youth, who is one of the founding members of Killing Joke, later took to the stage to entertain guests with a live performance featuring a number of the artists he has produced over the years including Killing Joke, Alex Paterson from the Orb and The Verve's Richard Ashcroft.
The 2016 MPG Awards saw a total of 16 Awards presented. These included the MPG Award for Innovation sponsored by Audio Note, which was won by Geoff Emerick who engineered all but a few of the Beatles' recordings between 1966 and 1968. There was also a Special Recognition Award for former PPL chairman Fran Nevrkla in honour of the sterling work he has done over the years to promote the financial interests of recording professionals.
For a full list of 2016 MPG Award winners and sponsors, please see below:
UK Producer of the Year, sponsored by The BRITS 2016: Charlie Andrew
Outstanding Contribution to UK Music, sponsored by PPL: Youth (Martin Glover)
Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by AMS Neve: Olga Fitzroy
Mix Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Solid State Logic: David Wrench
Mastering Engineer of the Year, sponsored by SADiE and Transco Blanx: John Davis
UK Album of the Year, sponsored by G-tech and Jigsaw24: FKA Twigs – LP1
UK Single Song Release of the Year, sponsored by Shure: FKA Twigs – Pendulum
Re-mixer of the Year, sponsored by Prism Sound: UNKLE
Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Focusrite: Catherine Marks
Breakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Musicguard Insurance: Brett Cox
International Producer of the Year, sponsored by Pro Tools Expert: Max Martin
Studio of the Year, sponsored by Avid: Air Studios
The A&R Award: Chris Briggs
The MPG Award for Innovation sponsored by Audio Note: Geoff Emerick
The MPG Award for Inspiration sponsored by Universal Audio: Sylvia Massy
Special Recognition Award: Fran Nevrkla
