Pensado Awards 2015 Preview: 5 Questions with Herb Trawick and Dave Pensado

Thomas Alva Edison’s tinfoil phonograph? Nope. The player piano? Guess again:

(l-r) Dave Pensado and Herb Trawick are set to preside over The Pensado Awards 2015. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for The Pensado Awards)

If you want to find history’s first-ever instance of mechanical music reproduction, you need to travel waaaaaaaaaaay back in time – to the 9^th Century. That’s when an inventive pair of siblings named the Banū Mūsā brothers created the first-ever mechanical musical instrument: a hydropowered organ that played interchangeable cylinders.

That the world should have to wait a millennium plus two centuries for an awards show dedicated to the field of audio engineering seems unfair, but in 2014 the delay was done: The Pensado Awards debuted, and recordists finally got their due.

The founders of Pensado’s Place, co-hosts Herb Trawick and Dave Pensado, wouldn’t know until all was said and done if they had a hit on their hands. But with hundreds of audience members, music superstars (Martina McBride, Neil Young) and audio pros in attendance — plus a taped tribute to the winner of the Pensado Giant Award from Sir Paul McCartney himself — validation came fast: Studio pros of every stripe were ready to recognize on their very own night.

Now it’s time for the Pensado Awards 2015, taking place Sunday, August 30th, 7 PM at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA. The show will take place au naturel under the stars, followed by a VIP party, an afterparty…and probably some partying after that.

No one will be more ready to raise a glass afterward then Trawick and Pensado, who only pull off the Awards after a massive effort by the duo and a dedicated team. What makes these two tick before and after Awards time? Read on in this exclusive Q&A with SonicScoop:

What’s different about preparing for the second Pensado Awards then last year, when you were launching the first?

HT: Because the inaugural show was deemed successful, the pressure and expectations are much higher — some of it self-induced by our own exacting standards.

The process is arduous as hell, plus requires managing an extraordinary amount of detail and talented people. And it’s very, very expensive so it has to be funded.  It’s a pretty heavy lift.

What was your own personal highlight and takeaways from the inaugural event?

HT & DP: Dave and I had the same, emotional reaction when we heard Paul McCartney say, Pensado’s Place: Slayed us.  Still does.

How did the Pensado Awards arrive at its categories and nominees for 2015?

DP: We try to be uber-aware of the marketplace for the professional awards, and have the Pro Committee vote.  For the Enthusiasts Level award, we attempt to make it easy for them to submit, nominate and be involved.

Five co-hosts will help put audio’s best foot forward on August 30th.

This year’s hosts are Chris Lord-Alge, Sylvia Massy, Young Guru, Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Randy Jackson.  How was this particular quintet selected?

HT: Like everything we do, it’s a mixture of feel and analysis.  The factors include gravitas and credits, genre specialty, energy and willingness to do it.

Most importantly it’s a 10-camera television show with live switching, cues, video packages, graphics, teleprompters, scripts and the like.  So you have to be comfortable with all the responsibility and work involved.

Finally, what is your optimal outcome of the Pensado Awards – can this event help lead to better music?

HT& DP: Our optimum is that we’ve made the audio community proud. Globally.  That we democratize the pros and enthusiasts.  That we continue to be the hub that people come together around.

We are a show about audio.  We have seen that people take winning the award, very, very seriously.  If they are inspired to do better work by what we do, that’s the cherry on top.

The Pensado Awards 2015 take place Sunday, August 30, 2015. 

— David Weiss

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