Shure Distribution UK has been a key supporter of the awards since their inception in 2009 - in fact, the awards handed out to the winners are fully working, gold-painted Shure 55SH microphones. (The original design of these classic mics was released as the Shure 55A way back in 1939, and, in its 55S form, was famously used by Elvis and Frank Sinatra in the 1950s).
This year, Shure Distribution was involved in sponsoring two of the awards: Live Production of the Year, sponsored by Shure itself, and Mastering Engineer of the Year, which was sponsored by Radial Engineering, whose products are distributed by Shure in the UK. London-based Mastering Engineer Mandy Parnell picked up this award, which was presented to her by Shure's Graham Logue, for her work over the past year, including the mastering of Björk's 2011 Biophilia album.
In the Live Production of the Year category, three projects were shortlisted: Jools Holland's TV series, The Who's 2010 Super Deluxe Live At Leeds/Hull DVD release and the groundbreaking Radiohead DVD Live in Praha, which won the category. The not-for-profit DVD of a 2009 concert by Radiohead in Prague was assembled from clips of fan-shot footage, all of which was created using mobile phones, and edited together to the professional soundboard recording of the concert, which the band themselves generously donated to the project. The DVD was distributed via a page on the Internet (http://radiohead-prague.nataly.fr), on the condition that no money was charged for it.
Shure UK's Tuomo Tolonen presented the award to Peter Halliwell, one of the team who edited together the mobile phone footage to create the finished DVD. Tolonen commented, "The MPG Awards is one of the annual events that Shure and I look forward to every year; it's nice to have an awards ceremony focused on honouring the people responsible for music production in this country, and recognising their creative talent. The guys behind Live in Praha gave their time and skills to the making of a completely free DVD, all from a mutual love of Radiohead. It was a very cool project and they are most deserving of their MPG award."
(Jim Evans)
