TEC Finalists Announced, Celebration Awaits at The 2023 NAMM Show

NAMM is proud to announce the finalists of the 38th Annual TEC Awards. Presented annually during The NAMM Show, the TEC Awards recognize the individuals, companies, and technical innovations behind the sound of recordings, live performances, films, television, video games, and multimedia. At the ceremony, one artist will be presented with the Les Paul Innovation Award. The annual award honors musical artists whose work has exemplified the creative application of audio technology.

In total, 21 Technical Achievement and Studio Design Project categories were evaluated by a group of industry experts from all facets of the pro audio and sound production industries. Finalists are those products and projects that, in the opinion of the nominating panel, represent superior accomplishments in their respective fields.

For invited members, voting in each category will begin on December 21 and end on March 1, 2023. Finalists from the 22 categories will be selected by industry professionals across major music, sound, and game audio associations, along with pro audio focused media groups.

The finalists will be celebrated at The 2023 NAMM Show at the TEC Experience, a special, communal reception designed to gather the crossroads of the industry to applaud the achievements of the researchers and developers, product designers, marketers, and innovators behind the innovations. The event, which is open to all NAMM Show attendees and precedes the return of the TEC Awards in 2024, will be held on the campus of the Anaheim Convention Center on the evening of Thursday, April 13.

Congratulations to the 38th TEC Awards nominees:

Amplification Hardware / Studio & Sound Reinforcement
Amphion - Amp400.8
Avantone Pro - CLA-400 Studio Reference Amplifier
Crest Audio - CPX Series Power Amps
d&b audiotechnik - D40 Amplifier
K-Array Kommander
L-Acoustics - LA7.16i Amplified Controller

Audio Apps & Hardware / Peripherals for Smartphones & Tablets
Apogee Electronics - Control 2 for iOS
Flock Audio - PATCH APP DX
JBL Professional - Performance
Moog Music - Animoog Z
Steinberg - Cubasis 3.4
Universal Audio - Volt 2 USB Audio Interface
Waves - MyFOH

Audio Education Technology
Audio Test Kitchen - ATK Mobile
Audiomovers - Listento Standard Plus
Berklee Press - Hip-Hop Production: Inside the Beats
iZotope - Are You Listening, Season 4
Mix with the Masters - Mix with the Masters
Shure - Microphone Techniques for Recording Educational Booklet

Computer Audio Hardware
Antelope Audio - Galaxy 32 Synergy Core
Digital Audio Denmark - Core 256
Flock Audio - PATCH XT
Focusrite - Clarett+ Series
Focusrite - Vocaster
Neve - 88M
Universal Audio - Volt 276 USB Audio Interface

Console Technology 
Allen & Heath - Avantis V1.2
DiGiCo - SD12T
RØDE  - RØDECaster Pro II
Solid State Logic - ORIGIN
Solid State Logic - UC1
Waves - CA3000-MX Commercial Audio Mixer

DJ Production Technology (Hardware / Software)
Numark - NS4FX
Omnitronic - TRM-422
Pioneer DJ - DDJ REV-7
Reloop - Mixon 8 Pro
Roland - SP-404MKII Creative Sampler and Effector

Headphone / Earpiece Technology  
Audeze - MM-500
Audio-Technica - ATH-M50xMO
Austrian Audio - Hi-X60 Professional Closed-Back Over-Ear Headphones
JH Audio - Sharona Custom In-Ear Monitors
Neumann - NDH 30 Open-Back Studio Headphone
Shure - SRH840A Professional Studio Headphones
Ultimate Ears Professional - UE LIVE

Microphone Preamplifiers    
AEA - TRP500 Preamp
Antelope Audio - Discrete 8 Pro Synergy Core
Audient - iD44 20in|24out Audio Interface
Daking Audio – Mic Pre 4T
Focusrite - Clarett+ OctoPre
Rupert Neve Designs - 5025 Dual Shelford Mic Pre
sE Electronics - DM2 TNT

Microphones - Recording
AKG - Ara Two-Pattern USB Microphone
Austrian Audio - CC8 Cardioid True Condenser Microphone
Earthworks Audio - ETHOS XLR Broadcasting Microphone
LEWITT - LCT 1040
Mojave Audio - MA-37
Warm Audio - WA-8000

Microphones - Sound Reinforcement
Audio-Technica - ATND1061
Austrian Audio - OC707 True Condenser Vocal Microphone
Austrian Audio - OD505 Active Dynamic Vocal Microphone
DPA Microphones - 4055 Kick Drum Microphone
Neumann - Miniature Clip Mic System
Shure - KSM11 Wireless Cardioid Condenser Vocal Microphone

Musical Instrument Amplification and Effects
Ampeg - Micro VR Stack Limited Edition White
BOSS - Katana Bass Guitar Amplifiers
BOSS - RE-202 Space Echo
Hotone - Ampero II StompSoftube - Marshall Murder One Lemmy Signature
Strymon - Deco V.2
Strymon - El Capistan V.2
Universal Audio - UAFX Dream '65 Reverb Amplifier

Musical Instrument Hardware
Moog Music - Etherwave Theremin
Moog Music - Mavis
NORD - Piano 5 88
Oberheim - OB-X8
Robkoo - Wind Synthesizer R1
Roland - JUNO-X Programmable Polyphonic Synthesizer

Musical Instrument Software
EastWest Sounds - Forbidden Planet
ILIO - Andy Narell Steel Pans — The Ellie Mannette Collection
Roland - JUPITER-4 Software Synthesizer
Spectrasonics - Omnisphere - Sonic Extensions
Sound Magic - China Ensemble
Universal Audio - Opal Morphing Synthesizer
Vienna Symphonic Library - Synchron Brass
Vienna Symphonic Library - Synchron Woodwinds

Production Essentials
Genelec - GLM V4.2 GRADE Report
Merging Technologies - Ovation 10
Other World Computing - OWC Flex 1U4
Radial Engineering - Power-1
Rational Acoustics - Smaart v8.5
U-he and Bitwig - CLAP

Signal Processing Hardware
Antelope Audio - Synergy Core
Bettermaker - Stereo Passive Equalizer
Black Lion Audio - Auteur MKIII
GC Audio - Density Compressor
Line 6 - DL4 MkII
Pultec - MEQ-500 Jack Douglas Edition
rockruepel - sidechain.one
Solid State Logic - THE BUS+

Signal Processing Software (Dynamics / EQ / Utilities)
Eventide - SplitEQ
Softube - Overstayer M-A-S
Sonarworks - SoundID Reference for Multichannel
Steinberg - SpectraLayers 9
Universal Audio - Hitsville EQ Collection
Waves - Nx Germano Studios New York
Waves - SSL EV2 Channel

Signal Processing Software (Effects)
FabFilter - Volcano 3
New Audio Technology - Spatial Audio Designer
Roland - JUNO-60 Chorus Software Effect
Softube - Atlantis Dual Chambers
Solid State Logic - SSL X-Delay Plug-in
Universal Audio - UAD AMS DMX Digital Delay & Pitch Shifter

Sound Reinforcement Loudspeakers
Celestion - CF1025BMB
d&b audiotechnik - XSL Series Loudspeakers
DAS Audio - LARA
Eastern Acoustic Works (EAW) - AC6 ADAPTive Column Loudspeaker
HOLOPLOT - X1 Matrix Array
JBL Professional - SRX900 Series
LD Systems - MAILA Intelligent Array
Meyer Sound - PANTHER Large-Format Line Array

Studio Monitors
Augspurger - MX-65 MinimaX
Auratone - Active 5C Super Sound Cube
Focal Professional - Solo6 ST6
Genelec - 6040R Smart Active Loudspeaker
Neumann - KH 750 AES67 Subwoofer
PreSonus Audio Electronics - Eris E5 BT

Wireless Technology
Audio-Technica - 3000 Series IEM System
BOSS - Waza-Air Bass
Carvin Audio - EM900 IEM System
Lectrosonics - IFBlue
Sennheiser - XS Wireless IEM

Workstation Technology / Recording Devices
Merging Technologies - Pyramix 14
PreSonus Audio Electronics - Studio One 5 Professional v.5.5
Steinberg - Cubase 12
Steinberg - Nuendo 12
Tracktion - Waveform Pro 12
Universal Audio - LUNA v1.2.5

Studio Design Project
Expanding Sky Studio - Francis Manzella Design
Hermes Sound PhantomFocus MixRoom - Carl Tatz Design
MTSU Studios - nonzero\architecture (+ studio bau:ton)
Rambling Rose Recording Studio - Russ Berger Design Group
Spotify at Mateo - WSDG (Walters-Storyk Design Group)
Warm Studios - Alex Otto - Otto System Works

The TEC Awards will also honor an individual for their contributions to music and recording. Soon to be announced, an honoree who embodies the creative, innovative, and enterprising spirit of Les Paul will be honored with the Les Paul Innovation Award. Past Les Paul recipients include Carol Kaye, Peter Frampton, Jackson Browne, Joe Perry (Aerosmith, Hollywood Vampires), Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Don Was (Was, Not Was), Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Pete Townsend, Stevie Wonder, Todd Rundgren, and others.

Media interested in attending the TEC Experience at The 2023 NAMM Show are welcome to contact publicrelations@namm.org to learn more about the event.

ABOUT THE TEC AWARDS
Presented annually by The NAMM Foundation during The NAMM Show, The NAMM TEC Awards recognizes the individuals, companies and technical innovations behind the sound of recordings, live performances, films, television, video games and other media. The Les Paul Award is given at the event in tribute to musical artists and others whose work has exemplified the creative application of audio technology. Through its Hall of Fame, The TEC Awards also honors the pioneers of audio technology and the music industry’s most accomplished producers and audio technicians. The NAMM Foundation’s TECnology Hall of Fame celebrates innovations and groundbreaking technical achievements of the past. For more information, visit tecawards.org.