NAMM to honour Don Was with Les Paul Award
Published: WORLD
WORLD: The NAMM Foundation has announced that the 31st annual NAMM Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards and NAMM TECnology Hall of Fame will take place on January 23 during the 2016 NAMM Show. Held to honour the ‘best in audio and sound production as well as the most impactful audio technology products from the last 75 years’, record producer and music industry executive Don Was is to be presented with the 2016 Les Paul Award – an annual recognition of those who embody the ‘creative spirit and legacy of one of the most revered musical geniuses who ever lived’.
Joining a prestigious group of Les Paul honourees including Stevie Wonder, Sting and Pete Townshend, Mr Was has earned multiple Grammy Awards for his production work over the last three decades. Furthermore, as president of Blue Note Records, he oversees the label’s extensive reissue campaigns that serve audiences in both the analogue and digital realms.
The TECnology Hall of Fame ceremony will be presented Saturday January 23 from 4-6PM in room 202A of the Anaheim Convention Center in the TEC Tracks educational area. The Hall of Fame will induct 10 audio products and innovations released between 1928 and 2002 that have made a significant contribution to the advancement of audio technology. Presented by the NAMM Museum of Making Music and hosted by George Petersen, editor of Front of House Magazine, the nominees were selected by a panel of more than 50 audio experts, including authors, educators, engineers, facility owners and other professionals. Seating is limited and available to credentialed NAMM attendees, inductees and their guests.
Some of the products due to be inducted into the Hall of Fame include the Neumann KM84 microphone, Shure SM58 microphone, Wurlitzer’s 1954 Electronic Piano, Roland’s RE-201 Space Echo, 1998 Manley VoxBox and 2002 Avid Digidesign Pro Tools HD.
Following the Hall of Fame, the Namm Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards will take place at the Hilton Anaheim Pacific Ballroom. A reception begins at 6PM with the ceremony following at 7PM.