The stage was set on January 18, 2020, in the Pacific Ballroom at the Hilton Hotel in Anaheim, California with great anticipation for the 35th Annual Winter NAMM Awards Ceremony for Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards. This is a BIG event which honors products and innovations on a world-wide scale for the audio and sound recording industry. This is THE show of all shows at NAMM with the Best of the BEST innovators and geniuses in the music industry in attendance.
Just walking in the room, you could feel the joy in the air. The dinner tables were elegantly set and the ambiance in the room set the tone for the celebration of these unsung heroes of the music and film industry. Sponsors, artists, and engineers filled the space with quiet power. It was apparent this awards ceremony was going to be different, as these people possess a great humility and graciousness you don’t often witness at these kinds of things.
The evening began with a VIP dinner package for guests with a buffet and open bar. The VIPs were also given access to the after-party where they could congratulate one another, as well as do some “brainstorming” which I’m sure couldn’t be helped at this peer party! Even if I was a “fly on the wall” I’m sure most of those discussions would be way over my head as these folks speak their own language.
Elliot Easton, Steve Lukather, and Skunk Baxter took the stage accompanied by Musical Director, Larry Batiste, and The 2Cold Chili Bones TEC Band to kick off the TEC Awards Show by performing a musical tribute in honor of Inductee Don Wilson with a Ventures medley “Walk Don’t Run and the Hawaii Five-O Theme Song. Skunk Baxter was “absolutely thrilled” to have the honor of presenting Wilson with the “Music for Life Award”. Billy Bob Thornton showed up on the big screen with a video greeting to deliver a heartfelt message to Don saying it was “one of the greatest honors of his life” to have worked with him. Don Wilson was visibility excited receiving the lifetime achievement award stating “how can you beat that?—You can’t!”
The awards host was Fred Armisen who would check-in and sprinkle his humor throughout the show. As an actor, comedian, writer, producer, and
musician himself, he was thrilled to be hosting this event saying “music means everything to him”.
Well known top studio bassist guitarist, Leland Sklar, came on stage to announce the first nominees, but not until he told a very funny joke and had everyone laughing. Other presenters of the evening included Andrew Huang, Bishop Lamont, Elliot Easton, Lisa Loeb, Maureen Droney, Brian Hardgroove, Michael Braunstein (Les Paul Foundation), and the one and only Herbie Hancock.
The 61stAnnual Grammy Awards (CBS) took the first award of the evening for Creative Achievement in the category of Remote Production/Recording or Broadcasting. They were up against some big-time contenders: 2019 Billboard Music Awards, 2019 CMT Music Awards, 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Sir Paul McCartney Live at ACL Fest 2018.
KORG – minilogue xd won the award for DJ Production Technology (Hardware/Software).
The next award went to Shure for Wireless Technology. “It takes a village to put out a product like this”, said the senior engineer as he thanked the entire pro-wireless team at Shure. The ADX wireless transmitter series provides features such as the first micro bodypack with an internal self-tuning antenna and realtime remote control.
Auratone – A2-30 took the TEC award for Amplification Hardware/Studio & Sound Reinforcement. Auratone is a family-owned business founded over 50 years ago by Jack Wilson who is known throughout the industry for the legendary 5C Super Sound Cubes. His grandson accepted the award, giving thanks to his family, especially his grandfather who built the company, as well as his mom and aunt who ran the company and worked in the factory building the speakers.
The award for Sound Reinforcement Loudspeakers went to JBL Professional – VTX A8 Line Array. They won this category last year too! The general manager accepted the award with thanks going out for everyone’s hard work especially the engineering team. The VTX A8 Line Array caters to small and mid-sized theaters. The A8 combines two 8” woofers, four 3.5” midrange drivers and two 2” high-frequency drivers in a low-profile cabinet.
Musical Instrument Amplification & Effects (instrument amps, preamp/processing/effects rack units, and pedalboards, stomp boxes, etc.) was awarded to Line 6 – HX Stomp. This ultra-compact pedal is a professional-grade guitar processor that delivers the sound of Helix amps, cabs and effects integrating into a variety of applications.
API – 550A 50th Anniversary Edition won the award for Signal Processing Hardware (500 Series Modules) – Displays, reverbs, compressors, limiters, equalizers, noise reduction and other effects in the 500 series format. Each unit is a “work of art” built as an exact reproduction of Walker’s original printed circuit board representing a piece of recording history in this 50th Anniversary Edition.
GAME OF THRONES (HBO/Warner Bros.) won the 2020 NAMM Award for Television Sound Production. They were up against Better Call Saul (AMC), Black Mirror (House of Tomorrow /Netflix), The Orville (Fuzzy Door/20th Century Fox), and Saturday Night Live (NBC). In the acceptance speech, we learned the sound team was 217 people strong!
A short video clip “Minute of TEC History Past Presenters” featuring Sinbad (2015-2017) and Demetri Martin (2018/2019) for a quick “funny break”, followed by our excited 2020 NAMM Host, Fred Armisen, who poked fun about how he and guys in the industry “pretend” dress for events.
Dawn Birr, of Sennheiser and Neumann, and SoundGirls mentor along with bassist Brian Hadgroove presented the award for Studio Design Project which went to Francis Manzella Design Ltd. – Old Mill Road Recording. It sounded like a challenging design, but they certainly “pulled it off”. They wanted to create a state-of-the-art space for talent to “just be and create”. They opened their doors in November of 2018. Check out their website to fully appreciate it!
Musical Instrument Hardware category (hardware-based synths, samplers, drum machines, instruments and controllers) was awarded to Moog Music – Moog One. Moog One is the first polymorphic of analog synthesizers in over three decades allowing for infinite possibilities for transforming sound.
Small Format Console Technology was the next category on tap and was awarded to Allen and Heath – SQ Digital Mixer Series V1.3. With this version, it looks like there are a lot of new features and upgrades for engineers to get excited about!
The Large Format Console Technology (mixing boards over 60 lbs. for recording, broadcast or sound reinforcement) award went to API – 2448 Console. “The 2448 Console represents years and years of progressive change in the recording system based on the basic core of what the API was founded on” stated President and Owner, Larry Droppa in his acceptance speech.
Rupert Neve Designs – 5211 Dual Mic Pre took the 2020 NAMM TEC Award for Microphone Preamplifiers. The 5211 is famous in audio recording so it’s no surprise they won this category.
Microphones – Sound Reinforcement was awarded to Aston Microphones – Stealth. Their microphones are legendary throughout the industry as the world’s most versatile microphone and quality for stage and studio.
Outstanding achievement in Signal Processing Software (Effects) went to the most famous studio in the world, Universal Audio – Capitol Chambers. The Capitol Chambers features an echo chambers plug-in (starting end-to-end recreation) knocking it out of the park!
Interactive Entertainment Sound Production was awarded to Marvel’s Spider-Man (Insomniac Games/Sony Interactive Entertainment). They were up against some stiff competition: Apex Legends (Respawn Entertainment/Electronic Arts), Assassin’s Creed Odyssey (Ubisoft Quebec), Battlefield V (EA DICE/Electronic Arts), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Treyarch/Activision), and Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 (Massive Entertainment/Ubisoft). Congratulations to the team of Audio Directors, Sound Designers, Sound & Music Integrators, and Audio Programmer, Vitor Menez for this incredible honor.
We took another TEC Minute ride down memory lane with a video tribute of Past Les Paul Innovation Honorees, Steve Vai, Pete Townsend, Slash, Jackson Browne, Joe Perry, and last year’s winner, Peter Frampton to name a few… This honor was created in 1991 to recognize high standards of excellence, creativity, and innovation in the recording industry. For more information please visit The Les Paul Foundation website.
American Rapper, Bishop Lamont and DJ/Music Producer Tony Baraz were visibly excited to present the next nominees: 
International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA) are working tirelessly to educate and advocate against piracy. Please join their efforts and spread the word to “Buy the Software You Use” at IMSTA.org. IMSTA sponsors an Annual Songwriter’s Contest and this year’s winner is Caroline Pernick. Congratulations Caroline for this fantastic win!
This year’s Hall of Fame Inductees was awarded to Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick who are famous for their weekly web series Pensado’s Place which focuses on everything for audio and music production. Dave is known to be the “best of the best” mix engineers in the recording industry. He has worked with a variety of A-list artists and has achieved great success winning several Grammy Awards. He is driven by his passion for teaching and speaks at schools and conferences all over the world. He is most gratified by his love for education and has also authored two books. He recently launched a new product, Pensado EQ which is a primary mixing tool plugin (VST/AU/AAX).
Herb Trawick is known throughout the industry as a creative genius and visionary. His career has won him world acclaim having received the Living Legend Award in 2016. He is the creator and Executive Producer of Pensado’s Place hosting along with Dave. Their internet show has grown to an audience of over six million people in 203 countries! Herb’s dynamic presence and experience in the music industry is second to none. This award is a true testament of hard work paying off and I’m sure these two are beyond thrilled to receive it.
The Film Sound Production Award went to Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, GK Films)! They recorded out of Abbey Road Studios in London and Audio Post Facility at Twickenham Film Studios in the UK. They were up against some bigtime productions: A Star is Born (Warner Bros. Pictures), Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios/Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures), Roma (Participant Media, Esperante Filmoj/Netflix, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Marvel Entertainment/Sony Pictures Releasing). Congratulations to Supervising Sound Editors John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone, Re-Recording Mixers Paul Massey and Tim Cavagin, Production Mixer John Casali and the entire team for such an EPIC win!
The Audio Education Technology was awarded to iZotope – Pro Audio Essentials who thanked NAMM for putting on this event and for making a place for people to come together from all corners of the world to do better and to see the entire industry committed to education.
In the category for Production Essentials, Cable Wrangler won the award. This is an amazing cable management storage system which makes life easy and is something probably everyone in the industry wishes they would have thought of. Cable Wranglers patented 12-cup design securely holds 100 lbs. of gear! How cool is that? No offense, but I wonder if a woman was behind this idea?
Neumann – NDH 20 was awarded the outstanding achievement award in the Headphone/Earpiece Technology category delivering a closed-back headphone ideally suited to monitoring and mixing tasks even in noisy/loud environments.
AVID Pro Tools 2019 won the award for Workstation Technology/Recording Devices. A shout out went out to the
engineering team in the Ukraine and U.S. with an emotional message to Pro Tool users: “The Avid team is very passionate about music and recording and very proud of what Pro Tool users create every day with Pro Tools. We are honored to serve you every day and are very humbled by your talent”.
Solid State Logic – Fusion is the winning recipient in the category of Signal Processing Hardware. It’s an all -analogue 2U stereo processor. The Fusion introduces new colouration tools with sound characteristics and quality that only analogue circuits can provide.
Musical Instrument Software (Virtual instruments, music creation software, instrument libraries/loops, amp modulers, etc.) was awarded to Spectrasonics – Omnisphere 2.5. This multifaceted and hyper-powerful software is the first in the world to offer a synth integration feature! Check it out on their website.
Paul McCartney “Freshen Up” (Clair Global) snags the award for Tour /Event Sound Production. The other nominees were: An Evening with Fleetwood Mac, Fleetwood Mac; Beautiful Trauma World Tour, Pink; Farewell Yellow Brick Road, Elton John; and This is America World Tour, Childish Gambino
Grammy Award Winner, Lisa Loeb, and Guitarist, Elliot Easton take the stage and present the next award for Record Production – Single or Track which was awarded to Billie Eillish for Bad Guy (Darkroom/Interscope Records). Recording Engineer and Producer: Finneas O’Connoll, Mixing Engineer, Rob Kineiski, Mastering Engineer, John Greeham, Mastering Facility: John Greenham Mastering, Los Angeles, and Mixing Facility: Fortress of Amplitude.
The winner in the category of Signal Processing Software (Dynamics/EQ/Utilities) was awarded to Fabfilter Pro-Q3. Pro-Q3 is a 24-band EQ that features Dynamic EQ bands with support up to Dolby Atmos 7.2.2. Having been in business for 15 years they were excited to receive this award and dedicated it to the people back in Holland as well as the American team.
Genelec – Aural ID won the award in the category for Audio Apps & Hardware/ Peripherals for Smartphones & Tablets and encouraged the 
audience to get ID’d by going on their website. “Genelec Aural ID is a significant first step towards the use of headphones for actual reference audio monitoring and listening. It’s a big step for Genelec and a giant leap for the professional audio community.” The Studio Monitors award also went to Genelec – S360A SAM. Congratulations on two wins in a row!
Townsend Labs Sphere L22 v1.3 won in Microphone Recording category and Universal Audio – Apollo x16 won the outstanding achievement award for Computer Audio Hardware with a big shout out going to Founder, Bill Putnam, Jr.
The final outstanding achievement TEC Award of the evening was presented to A Star is Born Soundtrack – Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper (Warner Bros. Pictures) for Film Sound Production – Album. Congratulations go out to Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga, Lukas Nelson, as well as Supervising Editor and Sound Designer Alan Robert Murray; Re-Recording Mixers Tom Ozanich, Jason Ruder, Dean Zupancic; Production Mixer, Nick Baxter, and the folks in Burbank, California at Igloo Music and Warner Brothers Post Production Creative Services for a job well done!
For the most anticipated honor of the evening, we are about to witness history in the making as Joni Mitchell is awarded the Les Paul Lifetime 
Achievement Award. She is the 1st woman to receive this prestigious award! Joni looked like a Wise Indian Elder with her braided hair and her black top hat. She received a very long standing ovation as she raised her glass and took a drink. You could feel the love pouring her way beyond the brink.
We watched a video of Joni’s autobiography and got to see old photos throughout her life, as well as some of her original artwork. What a life she
has lived! I can’t think of a better person to deliver the induction speech than Joni’s lifetime friend, Mr. Herbie Hancock. It one of the most inspiring speeches I have ever heard. He began by outlining the elements that make up creative genius such as “unquenchable curiosity, fresh ways to look at the world (as well as fresh and new ways they see the world), correlative intelligence, and a courageous and brave nature.” In other words, “my dear friend, Joni Mitchell is a bad-ass!” He went on to say that “she managed to turn challenges and experiences that she came up against in her life” starting when she overcame polio as a child. Some of the points that stood out to me were articulated, “you have to be “fearless”, and when he said, “the people who move us forward are the people who aren’t afraid to break rules and get after what they’re after.” He continued saying how Joni inspired collaborations with other musicians encouraging them to try new things and to not be afraid to fail. Herbie concludes by saying, “We need others like Joni—to wake us up and to help us remember to be human beings!” As he handed Joni the award, she humbly accepted with a great big smile and a simple thank you. This was truly a moment in time in which I will never forget!
We were treated with some musical performances to highlight Joni Mitchell’s legacy beginning with a beautiful performance of “The River” performed by Suzanne Santo.
Kevin Ross, accompanied by Larry Batiste and the 2-Cold ChiliBone TEC Band, took us to church singing “A Case of You” bringing 
“god bumps” to the moment. We all quietly listened in such a state of grace. What a beautiful Soul…
It felt as though time stood still, as we were lulled by the spellbinding performance by CJ Vanston and Weyes Blood as she sang the iconic anthem “Woodstock”. We all felt the love in this poignant performance which I am sure was a true honor for her. She said her parents really “bonded over Joni’s music” and that “she wouldn’t exist without Joni Mitchell!”
Local favorites, Venice were “pumped to close the show performing “Free Man in Paris”. Long-time Joni Mitchell fans, they were honored to perform for her, esp. since Joni has been such a big musical influence throughout their lives. I was glad I got to hear their performance downstairs right before the awards ceremony. I go see them every chance I get. They are such a class act and “all heart”.
I couldn’t think of a better way to honor Joni Mitchell for her amazing contribution “to humanity”. We were left filled with hope for the future knowing those are going to be hard shoes to fill. After hearing these great performances and seeing the direction and quality of technology in the music industry, there truly is hope for the future.