New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The third annual Pensado Awards (taking place on Saturday, August 20, 2016, at Sony
Pictures Studios, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232), dubbed by insiders as the must-attend audio event of the year, has announced its nominees in 15 categories.
A few key highlights among the categories and nominees include Game Changer Producer of the Year (nominees: Greg Kurstin for Adele, "
Hello"; Mike Posner,
Martin Terefe and SeeB for Mike Posner, "I Took a Pill in Ibiza [Seeb Remix]"; Dave Cobb and
Chris Stapleton for Chris Stapleton, "
Tennessee Whiskey"; Ninteen85, DJ Maphorisa, Noah "40" Shebib and Wiz Kid for Drake, "
One Dance"; and Pharrell Williams, Sounwave and Michael Kuhle for Kendrick Lamar, "
Alright"); Break Thru Songwriter (Paul Barry and
James Bay for
James Bay, "
Let It Go"; Greg Kurstin for Adele, "
Hello"; Brody Brown for
Lukas Graham, "
7 Years";
Julia Michaels for Fifth Harmony, "
Work From Home"; and Tyler Joseph for Twenty One Pilots, "Ride"); Spin Doctor DJ Award (Henry Fong, Dillon Francis, Flume,
Martin Garrix and Zedd); and Outstanding Achievement in Sound for Visual Medium (nominees include the audio teams behind Darryl's House, The Voice, Empire, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Straight Outta Compton). Other categories include OMG! Mix of the Year, Master of Mastering, Tracking Engineer, Best Non-English Song, Outstanding Brand, Break Thru Mixer Award, Live/FOH, AIR Award (Best Assistant, Intern or Runner), Pensado Giant Award, Dave Pensado Educator Award and Herb Trawick Visionary Award. A full list of nominees can be found at https://pensadoawards.com/award_categories.html.
Created by Herb Trawick and Dave Pensado of Penwick Media (the producers of Pensado's Place and other industry-leading audio-related media), the awards were founded as a means of acknowledging talented music producers, engineers, mixers and their work, serving as a grand opportunity for the best pros, amateurs, brands and press to come together as one community to celebrate the uncelebrated. The awards will be held outdoors under the stars in Calley Park in the middle of the Sony
Pictures Studios lot. A VIP reception will be held on the complex's Main Street area, and an afterparty will take place in the Sony Commissary, which is connected to the park. Co-hosts will include singer-songwriter/actress/fashion designer Taryn Manning (electronic duo Boomkat, 8 Mile,
Orange Is the New Black), drummer Samantha Maloney (Hole, Mötley Crüe, Peaches), producer/engineer Chris Lord-Alge (Pink, Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne, Green Day), recording/mix engineer MixedByAli (Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre,
Robin Thicke) and mastering engineer Gavin Lurssen (Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow, T-Bone Burnett). The musical theme of the evening will be "Celebrate the Guitar"; underscoring that theme will be three live performers throughout the ceremony: Phil X (Triumph, Bon Jovi) on electric guitar, Michael "Fish" Herring (Prince,
Celine Dion,
Christina Aguilera) on acoustic guitar and Ethan Farmer (Aretha Franklin,
Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake) on bass guitar. Tickets for the live ceremony are available for $50.00 here.
Herb Trawick, the Co-host/Executive Producer and Creator of Pensado's Place, as well as Manager and Advisor to Co-host Dave Pensado, stated, "We are getting very close to the awards show date, and we are pleased to unveil our nominees. They represent a diverse cross-section of our industry, from studio employees to established names. Each is a vital piece of the music industry machine, and we are excited to honor each one of them. It is a distinct pleasure to see their names gathered on one list, and we look forward to distributing the awards on August 20."
