New York (February 14, 2011)–Sunday night found the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony held once again at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. While many may have been focused on who wore what (Lady Gaga), who hatched from an egg (Lady Gaga), or Heaven forbid, what music won (Arcade Fire), the pro audio community was understandably focused on the production categories.
The Winners:
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Battle Studies
Michael H. Brauer, Joe Ferla, Chad Franscoviak & Manny Marroquin, engineers
(John Mayer)
[Columbia Records]
Best Engineered Album, Classical
Tie Winners:
Daugherty: Metropolis Symphony; Deus Ex Machina
Mark Donahue, John Hill & Dirk Sobotka, engineers (Giancarlo Guerrero &
Nashville Symphony Orchestra)
[Naxos]
Porter, Quincy: Complete Viola Works
Leslie Ann Jones, Kory Kruckenberg, Brandie Lane & David Sabee, engineers (Eliesha Nelson & John McLaughlin Williams)
[Dorian Sono Luminus]
Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
Danger Mouse
• Broken Bells (Broken Bells) (A)
• Dark Night Of The Soul (Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse) (A)
• Tighten Up (The Black Keys) (T)
Producer Of The Year, Classical
David Frost
• Britten’s Orchestra (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)
• Chambers, Evan: The Old Burying Ground (Kenneth Kiesler & The University Of Michigan Symphony Orchestra)
• Dorman, Avner: Concertos For Mandolin, Piccolo, Piano And Concerto Grosso (Andrew Cyr, Eliran Avni, Mindy Kaufman, Avi Avital & Metropolis Ensemble)
• The 5 Browns In Hollywood (5 Browns)
• Mackey, Steven: Dreamhouse (Gil Rose, Rinde Eckert, Catch Electric Guitar Quartet, Synergy Vocals & Boston Modern Orchestra Project)
• Meeting Of The Spirits (Matt Haimovitz)
• Two Roads To Exile (ARC Ensemble)
Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical
Revolver (David Guetta’s One Love Club Remix)
David Guetta & Afrojack, remixers (Madonna)
[Warner Bros.]
Best Surround Sound Album
Winner: Britten’s Orchestra
Keith O. Johnson, surround mix engineer; Keith O. Johnson, surround mastering
engineer; David Frost, surround producer (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony)
[Reference Recordings]
In other news from the event, The Arcade Fire won a surprise upset victory over Lady Gaga and Eminem for Album of the Year with its collection, The Suburbs (Merge). This marks the third year in a row that an Indie label album has take the top prize, following last year’s winner, Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Big Machine), and 2009’s winner, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raising Sand (Rounder).
Meanwhile, Lady Antebellum scored five trophies, including both Record and Song of the Year, for “Need You Now.” In another upset, the Best new artist trophy went to jazz bassist/vocalist Esperanza Spalding, who beat both heavily-tipped teen acts Justin Beiber and Drake for the title.
Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals went to Train for “Hey, Soul Sister (Live),” while the Pop Vocal Album award went home with Lady Gaga for The Fame Monster. British rockers Muse took Best Rock album for The Resistance, and Eminem nabbed Best Rap album with Recovery.
The Recording Academy
www.grammy.com
