PRO SOUND AWARDS: Toby Alington celebrates double nomination

Audio engineer Toby Alington – a finalist in two Pro Sound Awards categories – has commented on his double nomination and offered his views on the event itself.

Alington is a contender for ‘Studio Engineer of the Year’ – a result of his contribution to numerous high-profile projects in the last 12 months – and ‘Broadcast Team of the Year’, for being crucial to the running of the BRIT Awards for the 19th year in a row, along with his colleagues.

"I was working at Hyde Park on the BST Festival when I got a Tweet saying that I was a Studio Engineer finalist for the Pro Sound Awards. In my excitement I didn’t scroll down until later that morning to discover that my 2013 BRIT Awards audio team was also a finalist for Broadcast Team of the Year," he said. "Some members of that BRITs team were working with me at Hyde Park to celebrate the news, and we were delighted considering what a challenge and success this year’s show had been, with the show receiving its largest TV audience since 2003."

And although the audio veteran is delighted with being a finalist in both categories, it is the ‘Studio Engineer of the Year’ nomination that he is particularly proud of.

"The Studio Engineer category is very exciting for me, because it isn’t just about one project but more a reflection of a year of dedication to many wonderful projects," Alington continued. "The 2012/13 nomination period includes the Classic BRIT Awards, the MTV Europe Music Awards from Frankfurt with over 350 inputs live to air, Emeli Sandé’s much acclaimed Live at the RAH, the James Bond 50th Anniversary concert from the RFH (Royal Festival Hall), my 19th BRIT Awards, Give it Up for Comic Relief for the BBC, and producing and engineering the studio recording of Dionne Warwick and Joe McElderry’sOne World One Song single in support of the The Hunger Project.

"Some of these were live to air, others involved the luxury of mixing in the safe confines of the studio.

"Whether recorded in a mobile studio, or a studio made of bricks and mortar, these were all amazing projects to work on. The BRITs, Classic BRITs and MTV EMAs let me work with over 20 of the best artists in the world across different genres, and it’s fair to say those artists have an expectation of sounding perfect, not least with the BRITs mixes going live to iTunes. Having started my career at Olympic Studios under Keith Grant (RIP), where we had an eclectic mix of film and TV scores and rock n roll albums, recording and mixing all 27 Bond themes was simply an engineer’s dream."

Alington is also pleased to see Digico and Sennheiser supporting the event as Headline Sponsors.

"I am delighted that Digico and Sennheiser are supporting the event. I have used the Digico D4-equipped Alfacam mobile recording unit on the MTV EMAs for twelve years, and this November’s EMAs in Amsterdam will see me behind this touchscreen Digico once again – a tried-and-tested solution for this complex live-to-air multi-artist show.

"Sennheiser’s radio mics, stage mics and audience mics are always deployed on these big events, and Sennheiser’s chief engineer, Andrew Lillywhite, is always on hand at the EMAs, BRITs and others to ensure everything goes smoothly. I also use Sennheiser noise-cancelling headphones in the cockpit of my little plane – simply the best in class.

"I am hugely honoured to be nominated in two categories, and along with my team we have all our fingers crossed that somehow we can slip past the other fiercely talented finalists to pick up a gong or two."

The complete list of finalists for the Pro Sound Awards, which takes place at Ministry of Sound in London on September 19th 2013, can be found here.

For more details on the event, including information on how to book tickets, click here.

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