MPG announces 2019 Awards shortlist

Female producers and engineers make up a third of those shortlisted, while the Breakthrough Engineer category comprises an all-female crew of nominees.

For the second year running, women make up a strong presence at the Music Producers Guild Awards, underlining the significance of female producers and engineers in the industry. The awards ceremony will take place in London on 28 February 2019.

Over a third of all the nominees are women, while the three professionals shortlisted for the Breakthrough Engineer are female, too: Cecile Desnos, Dani Bennett Spragg and Rhiannon Mair, the latter of whom has also received the nod for the Breakthrough Producer category.

“The MPG Awards are such a great event in our year as it gives us an opportunity to recognise the outstanding achievements of our engineering and producer community,” said Catherine Marks, recipient of the MPG’s 2018 Producer of the Year award. “It was such an honour to win Producer of the Year in 2018, especially in a year where so many other women were acknowledged and awarded.”

Other notable names on the 2019 shortlist include: Cam Blackwood, Dave Eringa and James Ford, who are in the running for the Producer of the Year Award; Four Tet (Kieran Hebden), Jon Hopkins and Tori Amos, who are shortlisted in the recently introduced self-producing artist category; and David Byrne, Greg Kurstin and Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) and Ludwig Goransson, who are shortlisted in the International Producer category.

Check out the full list of nominees for all 16 categories here:

UK Producer of the Year

• Cam Blackwood
• Dave Eringa
• James Ford

Recording Engineer of the Year, sponsored by AMS Neve

• Guy Massey
• Matt Wiggins
• Sean Genockey

Mix Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Miloco Studios

• Cenzo Townshend
• David Wrench
• Mark ‘Spike’ Stent

Re-mixer of the Year

• IYEARA
• Matthew Herbert
• Shura

Breakthrough Producer of the Year, sponsored by Focusrite

• Dilip Harris
• Mark Rankin
• Rhiannon Mair

Self-Producing Artist of the Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio

• Four Tet (Kieran Hebden)
• Jon Hopkins
• Tori Amos

Breakthrough Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Genelec

• Cecile Desnos
• Dani Bennet Spragg
• Rhiannon Mair

International Producer of the Year, sponsored by RME

• David Byrne
• Donald Glover (Childish Gambino) and Ludwig Goransson
• Greg Kurstin

Mastering Engineer of the Year, sponsored by Kii Audio

• John Davis
• Mandy Parnell
• Tim Young

UK Album of the Year, sponsored by Universal Audio

• Arctic Monkeys: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino
• Everything Everything: A Fever Dream
• Nadine Shah: Holiday Destination

UK Single Song Release of the Year, sponsored by Shure

• Anna Calvi: Don’t Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy
• George Ezra: Shotgun
• The 1975: Love It If We Made It

The A&R Award

• Briony Turner
• Gilles Peterson
• Holly Manners

Studio of the Year, sponsored by Soundgas

• British Grove Studios
• Strongroom
• Urchin Studios

The MPG 2019 Awards categories in the gift of the MPG are:

• The MPG Inspiration Award, sponsored by Audio Note
• PPL Present The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music, sponsored by PPL
• The Special Recognition Award

Tickets for the 2019 MPG Awards are now on sale. Head to mpg.org.uk for more information.