— Taryn Manning and Samantha Maloney added as co-hosts; Phil X, Michael “Fish” Herring and Ethan Farmer announced as live performers as the awards “Celebrate the Guitar” —

LOS ANGELES, CA — Excitement is building for the third annual Pensado Awards – dubbed by insiders as the must-attend audio event of the year. Today, the awards’ organizers have announced additional co-hosts for the ceremony, as well as three live performers who will contribute their unique talents to this special evening. This year’s festivities will take place on Saturday, August 20, 2016, at Sony Pictures Studios, 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232. Newly announced co-hosts include acclaimed singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer Taryn Manning (electronic duo Boomkat, 8 Mile, Orange Is the New Black) and drummer Samantha Maloney (Hole, Mötley Crüe, Peaches). These two women join the following previously announced co-hosts: 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. Created by Herb Trawick and Dave Pensado of Penwick Media (the producers of Pensado's Place and other industry-leading audio-related media), the Pensado 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. Tickets for the live ceremony are available for $50.00 here. A complete list of award categories can be found here. An extensive list of sponsors, as well as a full roster of categories, nominees and co-hosts, will be announced in the coming weeks. The Pensado Awards are a natural outgrowth of the ethos behind Pensado’s Place. In recent years, developments in music and technology have changed the landscape for producers, songwriters, engineers and musicians, encouraging artists and composers of all types to hone their craft. From the self-taught basement amateur to the seasoned industry producer, all manner of music professionals are discovering new methods of working and novel ways to reach fans. The science and art of music-making are in a rapid state of flux, with exciting opportunities awaiting among the talented figures in and out of the spotlight – the people who are currently engineering the next sound that will move the world in the music, film, television and digital realms. Over 100,000 albums and millions of songs are released every year, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of concerts put on worldwide, but the awards often end up in the hands of a lucky select group. So the brilliance and hard work of all those producers, songwriters, DJ’s, engineers, mixers, live wizards and behind-the-scenes technicians in audio often go unnoticed. The Pensado Awards were founded as a means of acknowledging these talented individuals and their work. 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 have an amazingly talented and diverse group of co-hosts and performers lined up for this year’s awards. We welcome Taryn, Samantha, Phil, Fish and Ethan on board, and we can’t wait to see what they contribute to our biggest awards yet.”

Photo caption 1: Pensado Awards co-host Taryn Manning Photo caption 2: Pensado Awards co-host Samantha Maloney