Producer/engineer Mark Ronson (pictured) received Record of the Year for Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, for his work on Winehouse’s Back to Black and Lily Allen’s Alright, Still, at the 50th annual Grammy Awards ceremony held on February 10.
Pictured at the grand piano in Ocean Way’s Studio B is Herbie Hancock with (standing L-R) producer/arranger Larry Klein, bassist Dave Holland, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, assistant engineer Wesley Seidman and recording engineer Helik Hadar. Photo: David Goggin.
Album of the Year went to Herbie Hancock’s River: The Joni Letters. Sharing in that award are producers Hancock and Larry Klein, engineer/mixer Helik Hadar and mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. (Hancock was interviewed at Winter NAMM 2008 by EM executive editor Mike Levine, who asked Hancock about his favorite production tools of late; click here to watch the video.)
Winning Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical were Tchad Blake, Cameron Craig, Emery Dobyns and Jimmy Hogarth for Suzanne Vega’s Blue Note release, Beauty & Crime. The Beatles’ Love album, created for the Cirque du Soleil production, won Best Surround Sound Album; the award went to producers Sir George Martin and Giles Martin, mix engineer Paul Hicks and mastering engineer Tim Young.
Best Engineered Album, Classical went to engineer John Newton for Grechaninov: Passion Week (Chandos Records) featuring the Phoenix Bach Choir and the Kansas City Chorale, conducted by Charles Bruffy. Producer Judith Sherman was recognized as Producer of the Year, Classical, for her work on Rachel Barton Pine and Matthew Hagle’s American Virtuosa:Tribute to Maud Powell; Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s From Barrelhouse to Broadway: The Musical Odyssey of Joe Jordan; Kronos Quartet’s Górecki: String Quartet No. 3; Eighth Blackbird’s Strange Imaginary Animals; and Ying Quartet’s Tchaikovsky: Three String Quartets, Souvenir De Florence.
Visit Mix‘s special Grammy Website at http://mixonline.com/grammys/ for profiles of this year’s producer and engineer nominees, video from the production truck and more. For the complete list of Grammy winners, go to the official Grammy Website.
