January 24, 2014, National Association of Music Merchants, Anaheim— NAMM held the 29th annual TEC AWARDS (Technical Excellence & Creativity) The awards event recognizes the individuals, companies and technical innovations behind the sound of recordings, live performances, films, television, video games and other media.
This event is a set of musical performances interspersed with various awards in many categories. The event was hosted by film composer, dance music technologist “BT”, and presenters included: Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, electro-funk icon George Clinton, EVERCLEAR’s Art Alexakis, “T-Boz” and “Chilli” of the pop group TLC, Jim Keltner (famed session drummer), Dennis Leonard (sound editor and engineer), Ed Cherney (producer and engineer), Al Schmitt (recording engineer), Jimmy Douglass (recording engineer), and musician-writer Michael Bradford. The complete list of category and winners can be accessed at http://tecawards.org/tec/13winners.html.
Newly inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame were Hal Blaine and John Meyer. Dennis Leonard introduced Meyer by noting his accomplishments in sound reinforcement and reproduction with prototypical products that pushed the audio envelope. The speaker and monitor systems resulted from Meyer's passion for sound quality and his dissatisfaction with the status quo. Meyer always is on a quest to make things sound better.
From early stage products, Meyer branched to cinema products while supporting groups like Credence Clearwater and Steve Miller. Meyer's acoustics lab made accurate CD studio monitors and sub woofers. Meyer Sound has received numerous TEC awards for their equipment since starting in 1979.
Meyer noted that he grew up with TV and radio, and developed a passion for sound quality versus images of possible sounds. He considers the process flow of testing and doing to be the key to success. It is important to test a lot before becoming too attached to a concept. People have to recognize their passions and join with others to create quality. A good product is not just an exercise in marketing. The risk of passion is that you often feel bad, because losing is always a bad feeling.
Chad Smith and Jimmy Douglass introduced Hal Blaine. Music is similar to math, it needs a lot of practice and accuracy. Blaine stated that he needed to start a career and get a break. He started as a session player and became one of the key people in the Wrecking Crew, a set of studio musicians responsible for the background music in many hit songs and albums.
Blaine changed the art of recorded drumming and was on 350 top 10 singles and 40 number 1 titles. In addition, he was on 6 Grammy award record of the year albums and participated in over 35 thousand recording sessions. Blain brought innovation to the recording by close micing the drums.
Images from the awards and the presentation to Hal Blaine can be seen at:
https://mandetech.com/gallery/index.php/TEC-Awards-2014