Creative and Technical Achievement Winners Announced at the 32nd Annual NAMM TEC AwardsWinners in 31 technical and creative achievement categories were announced at the 32nd Annual NAMM TEC Awards, presented annually by the NAMM Foundation and held January 21 in Anaheim, California. The annual event celebrates the best in professional audio and sound production and is held during the NAMM Show, a global music industry trade event. Comedian Sinbad returned to host for the third time. Four companies - Avid, iZotope, Sennheiser, and Solid State Logic -- scored several Outstanding Technical Achievement awards, each taking home two statues each. Avid's Pro Tools Dock and Pro Tools 12.3 picked up in Workstation Technology and Audio Apps & Hardware categories; iZotope in a new designation: Audio Education Technology, for the company's Pro Audio Essentials and the Ozone 7 Advanced in the category of Signal Processing Software; Sennheiser in Wireless and Headphone/Earpiece Technology categories for the Wireless G3 A-1 Band and the HD 25 Plus and finally Solid State Logic for Large and Small Console Technology categories for the System T and the Sigma Delta. Outstanding Technical Achievement honors were chosen in 23 categories. "Game of Thrones" returned for its second win in a year for Outstanding Creative Achievement in the Television Sound Production category. Following a posthumous recent birthday milestone, David Bowie's Blackstar EP won in two categories -- Record Production Album & Single respectively. Several Star Wars-themed projects beat out the competition as well: Star Wars: The Force Awakens from Lucasfilm won for Film Sound Production while Star Wars: Battlefront won for Interactive Entertainment Sound Production. Outstanding Creative Achievement honors were chosen in eight categories. Joe Perry, one of music's most significant artists and executives, received the evening's highest honor, the Les Paul Award, presented to remarkably-distinguished and accomplished individuals from the music industry. Hollywood Vampires bandmate and actor Johnny Depp presented Perry with the award, then joined Perry, Brad Whitford, and Alice Cooper on stage for a live performance. Perry dedicated the award to his manager Howard Kaufman, who recently passed away. News is forthcoming related to Perry's upcoming sixth solo album. Keeping it in the family, famed Aerosmith engineer and producer Jack Douglas also became the newest inductee to the NAMM TEC Awards Hall of Fame. Douglas engineered and produced many multi-platinum associated for many of Aerosmith's most iconic releases and is affectionately dubbed "the sixth member" of the band. A complete list of Technical and Creative Achievement winners can be found at https://www.tecawards.org/ Some of the award winners are listed below: Amplification Hardware -- Studio & Sound Reinforcement
Crown -- XLS DriveCore 2 Ancillary Equipment
Rupert Neve Designs -- RNHP: Precision Headphone Amplifier Audio Apps & Hardware/Peripherals for Smartphones/Tablets
Avid -- Pro Tools | Dock Audio Education Technology - (new category)
iZotope -- Pro Audio Essentials Computer Audio Hardware
Universal Audio -- Apollo Twin USB Interface DJ Production Technology - Hardware/Software - (new category)
Native Instruments -- TRAKTOR Kontrol S5 Headphone / Earpiece Technology
Sennheiser -- HD 25 Plus Large Format Console Technology
Solid State Logic -- System T Microphone Preamplifiers
AMS Neve -- 1073DPX Microphones - Recording
Schoeps -- ORTF-3D Microphones - Sound Reinforcement
Shure -- KSM8 Dualdyne Musical Instrument Amplification & Effects
Softube -- Marshall JMP 2203 Musical Instrument Hardware
Moog Music -- Mother-32 Musical Instrument Software
Softube -- Marshall Bluesbreaker 1962 Signal Processing Hardware
Warm Audio -- WA-2A Tube Opto Compressor Signal Processing Hardware (500 Series Modules)
API -- 512V Signal Processing Software (Dynamics / EQ / Utilities)
iZotope -- Ozone 7 Advanced Signal Processing Software (Effects)
Soundtoys 5 Small Format Console Technology
Solid State Logic -- Sigma Delta Sound Reinforcement Loudspeakers
Meyer Sound -- MJF-208 Stage Monitor Studio Monitors
Genelec -- 8430A IP SAM Wireless Technology
Sennheiser-- evolution Wireless G3 A-1 Band Workstation Technology / Recording Devices
Avid -- Pro Tools 12.3 In total, winners were selected from 180 nominees. Title sponsors for the show included The Les Paul Foundation, Harman, and Visit Anaheim. 
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