NZ Music Awards technical finalists revealed

Press Release: 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.


MORE: 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.”