NZ Music Awards 2013 Technical Award Finalists Announced

The New Zealand Music Awards Technical Award finalists for 2013 have been announced. Categories include Best Producer, Best Engineer and Best Album Cover with the winners to be revealed on 22nd October when finalists for the majority of Music Awards categories will be announced along with the Critics Choice prize nominees. Here are the Technical Award finalists....

Best Producer

Fat Freddy’s Drop for  Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
Sam McCarthy, Jaden Parkes, Jordan Arts for Kids of 88 – Modern Love
Shapeshifter and the Upbeats for Shapeshifter – Delta
The Phoenix Foundation / Lee Prebble / Brett Stanton  for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango

Best Engineer

Brett Stanton / Lee Prebble / The Phoenix Foundation  for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango
Lee Prebble  for Iva Lamkum – Black Eagle
Neil Baldock for Eden Mullholand – Feed the Beast

Best Album Cover

Gina Kiel and Harry A’Court for  Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
Heather Liddell for Strahan – Posters
Nick Keller for  Beastwars – Blood Becomes Fire

Press Release:

MULTI-TALENTED ARTISTS DOMINATE TECHNICAL AWARDS FINALISTS LIST Recorded Music NZ announces the Technical Award finalists for the 2013 Vodafone NZ Music Awards.

The Technical Award finalists for the 48th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards have been announced by Recorded Music NZ shining the spotlight on Kiwi music’s backstage-professionals.

The 2013 finalist line-up includes a mix of previous winners and finalists as well as several multi-talented artists who have worked behind the scenes on the technical side of their albums.

Renowned indie rock band The Phoenix Foundation dominates the call-up with nominations in the Best Engineer and Best Producer categories.

The Wellington-formed band shares its nomination with Brett Stanton and Lee Prebble who worked with them on their fifth album, Fandango. The album debuted at number four on the Official NZ Music Charts.

Lee Prebble demonstrates his noted engineering skills with a second solo nomination for his work on Iva Lamkum’s album Black Eagle.

Neil Baldock also joins the Best Engineer line up and he’s no stranger to the limelight. In his 23 years of engineering Neil has clocked up some stellar achievements, including working with iconic Kiwi music stars Fred Dagg, Che Fu, Nathan Haines and Flight of the Conchords. Neil also took out the award for Best Engineer last year.

Shapeshifter and Fat Freddy’s Drop continue the theme of bands recognised for their technical work on their own albums.

Shapeshifter and the Upbeats are finalists in the Best Producer category for Shapeshifter’s album Delta. Fat Freddy’s Drop joins them in the Best Producer line-up for the Blackbird album.

Blackbird also features in the Best Album Cover category with designers Gina Kiel & Harry A’Court nabbing a spot.

Recorded Music NZ chief executive Damian Vaughan says: “It’s important to recognise the very special talents of the skilled technicians who bring the music to life and we have a fantastic line up this year. Congratulations to all the finalists.”

The full list of finalists for the Technical Awards at the 48th annual Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards is:

Best Producer

Fat Freddy’s Drop for  Fat Freddy’s Drop – ‘Blackbird’
Sam McCarthy, Jaden Parkes, Jordan Arts  for Kids of 88 – ‘Modern Love’
Shapeshifter and the Upbeats for  Shapeshifter – Delta
The Phoenix Foundation / Lee Prebble / Brett Stanton  for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango

Best Engineer

Brett Stanton / Lee Prebble / The Phoenix Foundation  for The Phoenix Foundation – Fandango
Lee Prebble  for Iva Lamkum – Black Eagle
Neil Baldock for Eden Mullholand – Feed the Beast

Best Album Cover

Gina Kiel and Harry A’Court for  Fat Freddy’s Drop – Blackbird
Heather Liddell for Strahan – Posters
Nick Keller for  Beastwars – Blood Becomes Fire

The winners of the Technical Awards are revealed at VNZMA Finalists Announcement at The Pullman Auckland on 22 October.

The line-up for this year’s Hallensteins Brothers Critics’ Choice Showcase and the 2013 New Zealand Herald Legacy Award recipient is also being unveiled at the event.

The Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards awards categories are:

Mentos Album Of The Year
Vodafone Single Of The Year
Steinlager Pure Best Group
Spotify Best Male Solo Artist
Spotify Best Female Solo Artist
Westpac Hotpoints Breakthrough Artist Of The Year
NZ On Air Best Music Video
The Edge Best Pop Album
Best Rock Album
Best Urban / Hip Hop Album
Best Electronica Album
Best Roots Album
Numa Trust Best Maori Album
Best Alternative Album
Best Gospel / Christian Album
Best Classical Album
Vodafone Peoples’ Choice Award
New Zealand Herald Legacy Award

No finalists are announced for the Vodafone Highest Selling NZ Single, the FOUR Highest Selling NZ Album, NZ On Air Radio Airplay Award and the Xbox International Achievement awards. They are awarded at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards ceremony at Auckland’s Vector Arena on November 21.