The live ceremony for the second annual Pensado Awards took place on Sunday, August 30, 2015, at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA.
The event attendees read like a who’s-who of the audio community, with over 700 in attendance, including prominent TV personality, producer and musician Randy Jackson (American Idol, Journey, etc.), producer Young Guru (Jay Z, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey), producer Quincy Jones, producer/recording artist Dave Stewart, producer/engineer Al Schmitt, vocalist Patti Austin, songwriter and vocalist Siedah Garrett and more.
A video production of the ceremony will be posted soon through Pensado’s Place online channels.
At the ceremony, the following winners were announced:
Live / Front of House: Fred Archambault, for Last Call with Carson Daly
Master of Mastering: Gavin Lurrsen
Outstanding Brand: Focusrite
Outstanding Achievement for Sound in a Visual Medium: Last Call with Carson Daly
Game Changer of the Year: Manny Marroquin
Best Non-English Song: “Ethnik Funk” – Gaurav Dayal
Break Thru Songwriter: DJ Frank E for “See You Again,” and Noel Zancanella for “Maps”
Break Thru Mixer: James Royo
Spin Doctor DJ: Above & Beyond
Tracking Engineer: Josh Gudwin
Unique Project Studio: Jam In The Van
AIR Award (Best Assistant, Intern or Runner): Jake Kiyokane
OMG! Mix of the Year: Dave Reitzas – “Earned It” [mix for The Weeknd]
Pensado Giant Award: Bruce Swedien
Dave Pensado Educator Award: Berklee Colege Of Music & New Look Foundation
Herb Trawick Visionary Award: Native Instruments
An evening highlight was a taped message from Barbra Streisand congratulating Dave Reitzas on his OMG! Mix of the Year award, where she stated, “I’m so happy you’re [Dave] being recognized by the Pensado Awards this evening. For the past two decades, since 1993, Dave has been on the other side of the glass for so many of my recordings. He’s always willing to go the extra mile with me on my recordings, because, as he said, on more than a few occasions, ‘If it’s gotta be right, it’s gotta be righteous’ … I mean, Reitzas!”
The evening’s culmination was the presentation of the Pensado Giant Award to Bruce Swedien.
Ed Cherney kicked off this segment, introducing a short video that chronicled Swedien’s six-decade-plus career in music. Artists Patti Austin and Siedah Garrett then hit the stage to give their personal Swedien tributes and introduce Quincy Jones. Jones gave a heartfelt speech presenting the award to Swedien.
Jones stated, “I am so thrilled to be here tonight to celebrate one of the greatest engineers to ever walk into a recording studio, my dear friend and brother Bruce ‘Svensk’ Swedien. I look at producing like working with a big band, you have to have the right players in all the chairs. And as the third leg of the stool that is the centerpiece of my musical mafia, my killer Q posse, along with Rod Temperton, I never worried about the sound because I knew Bruce always had us covered.”
“Bruce is the guru of engineers. We’ve recorded more albums together than I can remember from Dinah and Basie in Chicago in the 50’s, to the Brothers Johnson, Michael, right up until today, and I can’t imagine recording one of those albums without him. [Bruce] took the art of recording to a new level and has defined the sound of recorded music, and that is why every engineer and artist today, 30 years later, still go to our music as a reference. Bruce, I am so happy to be able to be here tonight to celebrate you personally and professionally. You deserve every honor and adulation that is bestowed upon you. Congratulations Bruce.”
