2019 MPG Awards: James Ford, Matt Wiggins and Strongroom among big winners

Over 350 music industry VIPs and celebrities filled London’s Grosvenor House last night for the 2019 Music Producers Guild Awards – an annual event that recognises the creativity, skill and talents of music recording professionals.

The top accolade of Producer Of The Year was won by James Ford for his work on the Arctic Monkey’s sixth studio album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, Everything Everything’s fourth studio album A Fever Dream and Gorillaz’s sixth studio album The Now Now.

For the second year running female recording professionals made their presence felt at the MPG Awards by carrying off a quarter of the accolades, including Breakthrough Engineer of the Year – a category dominated by women and was ultimately won by Dani Bennett Spragg.

Other notable award winners were Skepta, who was given the MPG Inspiration Award; Hugh Padgham, who received the PPL Present The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music, and Rockfield Studios founder Kingsley Ward and his family who received a Special Recognition Award. Their contribution was marked by a unique live performance featuring a number of artists who have recorded seminal projects at Rockfield over the years, including James Dean Bradfield from the Manic Street Preachers.

The full list of 2019 MPG Award winners and sponsors are below:

  • UK Producer Of The Year, sponsored by Flare Audio

James Ford

  • Recording Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by AMS Neve

Matt Wiggins

  • Mix Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Miloco Studios

David Wrench

  • Re-mixer Of The Year, sponsored by Synchro Arts
    Shura
  • Breakthrough Producer Of the Year, sponsored by Focusrite

Dilip Harris

  • Self-Producing Artist Of The Year, sponsored by Spitfire Audio

Jon Hopkins

  • Breakthrough Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Genelec

Dani Bennett Spragg

  • International Producer Of The Year, sponsored by RME

Greg Kurstin

  • Mastering Engineer Of The Year, sponsored by Kii Audio

Mandy Parnell

  • UK Album Of The Year, sponsored by Universal Audio

Everything Everything: A Fever Dream

  • UK Single Song Release Of The Year, sponsored by Shure

Anna Calvi: Don’t Beat The Girl Out Of My Boy

  • The A&R Award, sponsored by DAFT Studios

Gilles Peterson

  • Studio Of The Year, sponsored by Soundgas

Strongroom

The MPG 2019 Awards categories in the gift of the MPG are:

The MPG Inspiration Award, sponsored by Audio Note, which was awarded to Skepta

PPL Present The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music, sponsored by PPL and awarded to Hugh Padgham

The Special Recognition Award, sponsored by Steinberg, was given to the Ward Family and Rockfield Studios.