The Recording Academy has announced the nominees for the 2008 Best Surround Sound Album Grammy Award. Nominees in what is known in the trade as “Field 28 – Surround Sound, Category 95 – Best Surround Album” include albums by the Flaming Lips, Porcupine Tree, Charles Bruffy conducting the Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Bach Choir, the Beatles and Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Chorus. Record companies represented in the list of nominations include Warner Brothers, Atlantic, Chandos, Apple/Capitol and Telarc.
2008 Best Surround Sound Album Nominees
The five nominees for this year’s Surround Sound Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album, for vocal or instrumental albums, albums only (the Grammy Award will go to the Surround Sound Mix Engineer, Surround Sound Mastering Engineer and Surround Sound Producer of the winning album) are:
At War With The Mystics
The Flaming Lips
Surround Mix Engineers – The Flaming Lips & Dave Fridmann
Surround Mastering Engineers – The Flaming Lips & Dave Fridmann
Surround Producers – The Flaming Lips & Dave Fridmann
(Warner Brothers 44141) [DVD-A]
Fear Of A Blank Planet
Porcupine Tree
Surround Mix Engineer – Steven Wilson
Surround Mastering Engineer – Darcy Proper
Surround Producers – Porcupine Tree
(Atlantic Records 115900) [DVD-A]
Grechaninov: Passion Week
Charles Bruffy conducting the Kansas City Chorale & Phoenix Bach Choir
Surround Mix Engineer – John Newton
Surround Mastering Engineer – Jonathan Cooper
Surround Producer – Blanton Alspaugh
(Chandos Records CHSA 5044) [SACD]
Love
The Beatles
Surround Mix Engineer – Paul Hicks
Surround Mastering Engineer – Tim Young
Surround Producers – George Martin & Giles Martin
(Apple/Capitol Records 79810-2) [DVD-A]
Vaughan Williams: Symphony No. 5; Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis; Serenade To Music
Robert Spano conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra & Chamber Chorus
Surround Mix Engineer – Michael Bishop
Surround Mastering Engineer – Michael Bishop
Surround Producer – Elaine Martone
(Telarc SACD-60676) [SACD]
Previous Winners of the Surround Sound Grammy
Last year, the 2007 Surround Sound Grammy was given to the Special Edition of Morph The Cat by Donald Fagen. The special edition was released in DVD-A and featured a Surround Sound mix by Surround Sound Producer Donald Fagen, Surround Sound Mix Engineer Elliot Scheiner and Surround Sound Mastering Engineer Darcy Proper. In 2006, the 2006 Surround Sound Grammy was given to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Brothers in Arms by the Dire Straits. The special anniversary edition was released in both SACD and DVD-A and featured an excellent 5.1 Surround Sound remix by Surround Producers Chuck Ainlay & Mark Knopfler, Surround Mix Engineer Chuck Ainlay and Surround Mastering Engineer Bob Ludwig.
That award followed the initial Best Surround Sound Album Grammy that was given to the Surround Sound Super Audio CD edition of Genius Loves Company by Ray Charles (Concord Records/Hear Music SACD-1033-6). It featured Ray Charles performing duets with a host of famous artists including Norah Jones, James Taylor, Diana Krall, Elton John, Natalie Cole, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Michael McDonald, B.B. King, Gladys Knight, Johnny Mathis & Van Morrison on his final album release. The album featured a 5.1 SACD Surround Sound mix that was produced by John Burk, Phil Ramone & Herbert Waltl, engineered by veteran Surround Sound engineer and producer Al Schmitt and mastered by Robert Hadley & Doug Sax at the Mastering Lab.
50th Edition of the Grammy Awards
The announcement of the Grammy Award Nominees took place at The Music Box at Fonda in Hollywood and was attended by key recording artists and music industry executives. Noting that the coming Grammy Awards ceremony will be the industry’s 50th, Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy said
“This year’s nominations truly reflect a diverse and talented community of artists and creators who represent some of the most exceptional music of the year. The Grammy Awards process once again has yielded a comprehensive group of excellent nominees and coupled with the fact that it’s our milestone 50th year, this year’s telecast promises music fans a spectacular show filled with stellar performances and unique ‘Grammy Moments’ for which Music’s Biggest Night has come to be renowned.”
The 2008 Grammy Awards Telecast
Surround Sound fans will want to be sure and tune into the Grammy Awards telecast on February 10th, 2008 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The show will be broadcast in High Defintion TV (HDTV) and 5.1 Surround Sound on CBS from 8:00 P.M. to 11:30 p.m. (Eastern & Pacific Time). That will be the venue where they will announce which of these five Surround Sound albums takes home the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album of the Year. 