PHOTO: Mark Sethi

By James Hanley

The Music Producers Guild has unveiled the shortlist for its 2019 awards after receiving a record number of submissions.

The event will take place in London on February 28 next year.

Over a third of those shortlisted are women and the three names shortlisted for the MPG’s 2019 Breakthrough Engineer category are all women - Cecile Desnos, Dani Bennett Spragg and Rhiannon Mair.

Catherine Marks (pictured), the MPG’s 2018 Producer of the Year, said: “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. 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. I am looking forward to the MPG Awards next year and wish everyone who is nominated the best of luck.”

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.

Now in its 11th year, the MPG Awards feature 16 award categories that celebrate the best and brightest talent in music production, along with the industry’s rising stars. Previous award winners have included Sir George Martin, FKA Twigs, Roni Size, Sylvia Massy, Brian Eno, Trevor Horn and Dave Stewart.

Final judging for the 2019 awards will take place at Abbey Road Studios on December 4. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, London, where broadcaster and breakfast show presenter Shaun Keaveny will be the host.

The shortlists for each of the MPG 2019 Awards categories are as follows:

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