PRESS RELEASE / February 9^th, 2011

Music Producers Guild (UK) Announces The Winners Of Its 2011 Awards

London, UK: A host of music industry VIPs and celebrities filled London’s Cafe de Paris last night for the 2011 Music Producers Guild Awards – an annual event that recognises the skill and talents of music recording professionals.

The top award for Producer of the Year – which also earned its winner a BRIT Award for Best Producer – went to Markus Dravs, who was nominated for his work as producer on Mumford & Sons album Sigh No More and his co-production work alongside the band on Arcade Fire’s album The Suburbs. Dravs was presented with both his Music Producers Guild and BRIT awards by Chris Martin from Coldplay, whose album he is currently producing.

Other award recipients included Mute founder Daniel Miller, who won the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music Award, and internationally acclaimed producer Tony Visconti, who won the coveted Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production.

Although only in its third year, The Music Producers Guild Awards has now firmly established itself as a ‘must attend’ event on the music industry calendar. Hosted by BBC 6 Music’s Nemone Metaxas, this year’s Awards were a complete sell-out indicating the importance placed on the contribution recording professionals make to the UK music industry and the UK economy.

Steve Levine, chairman of the Music Producers Guild, says: “We had many more nominations this year and the calibre and array of genres represented by the nominees was incredibly high. These awards mean a great deal to the UK’s professional recording community because they know they are being judged by their peers. Audio professionals are positioned at the very heart of the music industry – we guide the artistic creation that is the lifeblood of our industry. We are delighted that, once again, we have been able to highlight their remarkable achievements before such an extensive and illustrious audience.”

In total, 15 Awards were presented (see below for a full list of winners). The relationship between artist and recording professional is often close and this was highlighted by the number of artists who attended the ceremony to present their producer with an award. Among them were Boy George, The Coral, Alison Goldfapp, Gary Numan and Razorlight’s Andy Burrows. Others who were not able to attend in person sent video messages of support.

MUSIC PRODUCERS GUILD AWARDS 2011 – THE WINNERS

Producer of The Year - sponsored by the BPI: Markus Dravs

Shortlist: Ethan Johns, John Leckie, Mike Pela, Stuart Price

Recording Engineer of The Year – sponsored by Prism Sound: Guy Massey

Shortlist: Phil Brown, Matt Lawrence, Tony Platt

Mix Engineer of The Year – sponsored by Solid State Logic: Mark ‘Spike’ Stent

Shortlist: Mark Rankin, Cenzo Townshend

Mastering Engineer of The Year – sponsored by SADiE: Tim Young

Shortlist: John Davis, Ray Staff

International Producer of the Year – sponsored by British Grove Studios: Daniel Lanois

Shortlist: T-Bone Burnett, The Black Keys

Live Album of The Year – sponsored by Shure: BBC Electric Proms 2009

Shortlist: Il Divo – An Evening in Barcelona, Take That – Greatest Day

UK Album of The Year – sponsored by Focusrite: The Coral – Butterfly House, awarded to producer, John Leckie, and engineer, Guy Massey

Shortlist: Mumford and Sons - Sigh No More, Robert Plant and The Band of Joy - Band of Joy

UK Single of The Year – sponsored by PMC : Plan B – She Said, awarded to producers, Ben Drew, David McEwan & Eric Appapoulay

Shortlist: Mumford & Sons – The Cave, Paloma Faith – Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful?

The Joe Meek Award for Innovation In Production – sponsored by Joe Meek International: Tony Visconti

Shortlist: Bjork, Trevor Horn

Re-mixer of The Year– sponsored by Novation: James Rutledge

Shortlist: Freemasons, Simon Gogerly

Breakthrough Producer of The Year - sponsored by Deep Recording Studios: Eliot James

Shortlist: Labrinth (Timothy McKenzie), Starsmith (Finlay Dow-Smith)

Breakthrough Engineer of The Year - sponsored by Genelec: Jake Jackson

Shortlist: Stevan Krakovic, Andy Savours

Studio of the Year– sponsored by Music Week: Air Studios

Shortlist: Livingston Studios, Metropolis, Strongroom

Outstanding Contribution to UK Music - sponsored by PPL: Daniel Miller

Unsung Hero – sponsored by Pro Sound News: Adam Sieff

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The Music Producers Guild (UK)