Today, the Music Producers Guild, in association with Dolby & Mix with Masters Masters revealed the shortlist for their 2024 awards. In their 16th year, the MPG’s are the most prestigious awards in music production, celebrating the best talent working behind the scenes in the British music industry. They will take place on the 25th April at new venue, The Troxy, London E1 0HX. Tickets are on-sale now.

Once again, the MPG received a record number of open submissions from the general public, with MPG members voting to shortlist their peers in each of the 14 award categories. For the previous two years, over 50% of the winners were women, and now for the first time, women represent 50% of the shortlist.

Mike Hillier, Kirsty Whalley and David Wrench are all in the running to receive the Dolby Atmos Mixer Of The Year award. This award was introduced last year to reflect the ever-evolving industry and recognise Dolby Atmos as a new standard for generating creative, engaging and truly immersive audio.

The prestigious Producer of The Year category is hotly contested this year by 2020 winner Catherine Marks (boygenius, The Record), 2021 writer-producer nominee, Steph Marziano (Picture Parlour), Lostboy (Kylie Minogue), and Kwes (Loyle Carter).

Amy Sergeant, Izzy McPhee, & Jess Camilleri are in the mix for the Rising Star award. This breakthrough engineering category includes early-career recording, mix and mastering engineers, in an effort to highlight more of the new talent rising up through the industry.

Matt Taylor, Executive Director of the MPG, said:

“The MPG Awards celebrate excellence in music production and nothing else. It’s what has made them the most esteemed awards in music production. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to share that for the first time women represent over 50% of the shortlist. Not because they are women, but because these producers and engineers are doing amazing work and voted for by their peers. It’s indicative of the positive change the MPG has been showing the industry. The MPG Awards are known for reflecting the industry back on itself, and this year we can see the change is being secured.”

In addition to these are the gifted awards, given by the MPG and announced ahead of the ceremony. The MPG are delighted to announce legendary producer and engineer, Ken Scott as winner of the MPG Special Recognition Award, sponsored by Abbey Road.

2024 celebrates Ken Scott’s 60th year in the industry, having started work at Abbey Road Studios at the age of 16. He went on to work with some of the biggest names in music including The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Elton John, George Harrison, Jeff Beck, Duran Duran and David Bowie. Despite this outstanding contribution to music, Ken has gone largely unrecognised. He has also dedicated his later years to inspiring and educating the next generation. This commitment to growing the talent pipeline and long career of excellence deserves special recognition.

Sally Davies, Managing Director, Abbey Road, said:

“A huge congratulations to Ken Scott on receiving the well-deserved Special Recognition Award, commemorating his remarkable 60 years of invaluable contributions to the music industry. Since starting in our tape library at the age of 16, Ken has left an indelible mark on countless records, artists, music makers and fans worldwide through his unwavering passion for music production and engineering. Abbey Road Studios takes immense pride in supporting the MPG Awards and celebrating legends such as Ken Scott. We look forward to 25 April, where we’ll honour Ken’s extraordinary legacy alongside the industry’s finest talents.”

The remaining two gifted awards, PPL Present The MPG Award For Outstanding Contribution To UK Music, and the MPG Inspiration Award will be announced in the coming weeks.

This year also sees the MPG continue to partner with Mix With The Masters who will be capturing content during the ceremony to run across their platforms reaching their global audience and audio community.

Apple Music presenter, Nada will be hosting, with Apogee sponsoring the reception drinks for the event.

Previous MPG award winners include Paul Epworth (Adele), Kid Harpoon (Harry Styles), Nile Rodgers, Marta Salogni (Björk, Animal Collective, Anna Meredith and Bon Iver), Dr Susan Rodgers (Prince) and Joan Armatrading.