Pensado Awards Announces Winners

	Pensado Giant Award winner Al Schmitt (foreground), with presenters Niko Bolas and Neil Young (background). Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for The Pensado Awards.

The Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica, California, was the place to be on June 28, 2014, as a standing-room-only crowd gathered for the inaugural Pensado Awards, an award show created by the producers of the online video series Pensado's Place. A live video production of the ceremony is now online on the Pensado's Place YouTube channel at http://youtu.be/sB7r2u2EWRs. The ceremony hosted a crowd of over 600 recording industry figures -- some as proud nominees, some as presenters, some there to simply be a part of the evening -- including Martina McBride, Neil Young, Rami Jaffee (Wallflowers, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam), Manny Marroquin (Bruno Mars, Rolling Stones, Imagine Dragons), Jack Joseph Puig (Florence + the Machine, U2, Lady Gaga), Ron Fair (Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Keyshia Cole), and many more. A special highlight was a taped tribute to the winner of the Pensado Giant Award from Sir Paul McCartney.

Co-hosts included singer-songwriter Lisa Loeb along with producer-engineers Chris Lord-Alge (Muse, Pink, Foo Fighters, Avril Lavigne, Green Day, Daughtry, Paramore, Black Eyed Peas), Marcella Araica (Britney Spears, Madonna, Pink, Duran Duran, Keri Hilson), and Young Guru (Jay Z, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey).

In recent years, developments in music and technology have changed the landscape for producers, songwriters, engineers, and musicians, encouraging artists and composers of all types to hone their craft. The Pensado Awards acknowledges the following talented individuals and their work:

• Game Changer Producer of the Year: Alex da Kid
• Break Thru Songwriter: Kendrick Lamar for "Swimming Pools"
• Spin Doctor DJ Award: DJ Ali and MAKJ
• Outstanding Achievement in Sound for Film, Television, and Gaming: Saturday Night Live and Alan Meyerson for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
• OMG! Mix of the Year: Tony Maserati and Manny Marroquin
• Unique Project Studio: HeartsRevolution
• Break Thru Mixer: Drumsonic Daniel
• Best Non-English Song: Jeff Kung for "Suspended Memories"
• Tracking Engineer: Ross Hogarth
• Master of Mastering: Brad Blackwood
• Live/Front-of-House: John McBride
• AIR Award (Best Assistant, Intern, or Runner): Ghosts Web of SoundCap Audio
• Outstanding Brand: Universal Audio/UAD and Vintage King Audio
• Dave Pensado Educator Award: John McBride
• Herb Trawick Visionary Award: Steven Slate and Alex da Kid
• Pensado Giant Award: Al Schmitt, presented by Neil Young with a special video tribute from Sir Paul McCartney

A full list of nominees can be found at the URL below.

Herb Trawick, the co-host/executive producer and creator of Pensado's Place, stated, "It was truly thrilling to be able to honor these winners and the rest of the nominees with the inaugural Pensado Awards. We thank them for their contributions to the industry."

Dave Pensado, co-host of Pensado's Place, Grammy-winning mix engineer, teacher, added, "So many talented individuals go unnoticed every year in the music industry, and the Pensado Awards was able to honor a few of these figures and congratulate them on a job well done. The show was a huge success, and we are excited at the prospect of doing it all again next year."