2023 Grammy nominations

[privateuniverse]

Best Immersive Audio Album

For vocal or instrumental albums in any genre. Must be commercially released on DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, SACD, Blu-Ray, or burned download-only/streaming-only copies and must provide a new immersive mix of four or more channels. Award to the immersive mix engineer, immersive producer (if any) and immersive mastering engineer (if any).

• AGUILERA
  Jaycen Joshua, immersive mix engineer; Jaycen Joshua, immersive mastering engineer (Christina Aguilera)
• Divine Tides
  Eric Schilling, immersive mix engineer; Stewart Copeland, Ricky Kej & Herbert Waltl, immersive producers (Stewart Copeland & Ricky Kej)
• Memories...Do Not Open
  Mike Piacentini, immersive mix engineer; Mike Piacentini, immersive mastering engineer; Adam Alpert, Alex Pall, Jordan Stilwell & Andrew Taggart, immersive producers (The Chainsmokers)
• Picturing The Invisible - Focus 1
  Jim Anderson, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg & Ulrike Schwarz, immersive mastering engineers; Jane Ira Bloom & Ulrike Schwarz, immersive producers (Jane Ira Bloom)
• Tuvayhun — Beatitudes For A Wounded World
  Morten Lindberg, immersive mix engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive mastering engineer; Morten Lindberg, immersive producer (Nidarosdomens Jentekor & Trondheimsolistene)

 

[rtbluray]

IMHO, the good stuff either isn't going up for consideration or not enough people are voting on certain titles to get them to the nomination stage, but either way, it's a bunch of crap

 

[stormchaser]

Huh. Well I suppose I at least have a few more titles to look into.

 

[sjcorne]

I would've thought for sure that Porcupine Tree's Closure/Continuation would at least make it to the nomination stage. I'll have to check out that Chainsmokers title on Apple, didn't even know it existed.

 

[popshop]

Yep, nonsense. I would imagine the overall QQ award would go to....
Tears for Fears - The Tipping Point.
At least I think it's the best physical release from 2022

 

[fredblue]

for your consideration..

 

[atlantasteve]

Maybe we should have our own poll for the nominated albums.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Thank you Adam ...... Wonder if Sono Luminus will release the Jane Ira Bloom ATMOS remix on their label as they did with her EARLY AMERICANS DTS~HD MA 5.1 BD~A?

 

[fredblue]

Maybe we should have our own poll for the nominated albums.

...and the winner is...

Elton John : "Diamonds"

hooray!!!

ohh.. umm.. really? ok..

 

[humprof]

Everyone seems to understand that the Grammys, like all such awards, are ********--in every category, not just immersive--and that at best a nomination will only glancingly or accidentally have much to do with merit. And yet every year we get all butt-hurt about what a travesty the nominee list is, how undeserving the finalists are, and what grave injustices have been done to our favorite overlooked recordings. (Most years I don't join the complain-train, actually, but this year I'll jump on board.)

But: at least professional audio engineers who understand immersive mixing have always been the ones doing the nominating and judging in this category, even after the broad, ceremony-wide rule changes that went into effect this year. (The makeup and power of the various Craft Committees have been "realigned," however, in ways that are still somewhat opaque to me. Also this.) Moreover, according to the first article linked at the end of this post, Michael Romanowski and George Massenburg--no slouches--are chairing a subcommittee of the Producers and Engineers Wing that's been tasked with "developing a [new] set of technical guidelines for immersive audio." (The old set, written in 2004, is still online here.)

Anyway, according to the Recording Academy's process FAQ, the Craft Production Committee determines the final nominees. Where the longlist that they whittle down comes from and how it's generated are still a little unclear. But I've always maintained that you can't wind up a finalist unless someone has nominated you in the first place--and I don't think that every potentially deserving recording necessarily ever gets nominated. Furthermore, I don't think that's the Recording Academy's fault. On the FAQ I just cited, the answer to the question "Who can enter recordings for consideration? Do I qualify" is:

The Recording Academy accepts entries online from Professional and Voting Members, as well as registered media companies. Members are permitted to submit their own eligible recordings as well as the recordings of their peers for consideration.

So if a "Professional" or "Voting" member (and in the case of immersive recordings, that may also be limited to the 20-25 members on the Craft Production committee) doesn't think to submit a nomination for you between July 11th and August 31st (the Online Entry Period), and/or your "registered media company"--i.e., your label or your agent--doesn't get around to doing it either (maybe they just flaked, or they forgot to renew their membership or verify their online credentials on time, or it didn't occur to them that you had a record that qualified in that relatively minor category), then you're not gonna be a finalist, because you were never even on the longlist.

https://www.grammy.com/news/what-is-immersive-audio-industry-explainer-dolby-atmoshttps://naras.a.bigcontent.io/v1/static/RulesAndGuidelines_2022

Immersive Audio Album Nominations in the Best Immersive Audio Album Category are selected by a committee of Voting Members. To be eligible to serve on this committee, one must be a Voting Member of the Academy, in good dues standing, and must meet certain qualifications in the Engineering or Producing Fields and be approved by the Trustees. The committee consists of 20–25 members. They review all Immersive Audio Album entries in their meeting and vote for the final five nominees in the Category.

 

[fredblue]

ps. i mean no disrespect to lovers of Jane Ira Bloom, Christina Aguilera or the Chainsmokers

etc., just to me it is a rather underwhelming shortlist given what's eligible. i doubt the likes of the wonderful EJ's Diamonds were even submitted!

 

[4-earredwonder]

ps. i mean no disrespect to lovers of Jane Ira Bloom, Christina Aguilera or the Chainsmokers

etc., just to me it is a rather underwhelming shortlist given what's eligible. i doubt the likes of the wonderful EJ's Diamonds were even submitted!

The only album I do own from the list is 2L's WONDROUS TUVAHUN which gets MY personal highest recommendation. Currently available in ATMOS and Auro 3D and even has a [gulp] MQA~CD layer on the SACD.

Talk about covering ALL bases.

Hopefully, Adam, UMG and the EJ camp will see fit to release DIAMONDS on a well deserved Pure Audio BD~A in ATMOS!

 

[GOS]

Only 1 comment comes to mind...

 

[ted_b]

Thank you Adam ...... Wonder if Sono Luminus will release the Jane Ira Bloom ATMOS remix on their label as they did with her EARLY AMERICANS DTS~HD MA 5.1 BD~A?

Sorry for the personal (no financial gain though) plug, but we at NativeDSD worked with both Morten (2L) and Ulrike (Anderson Audio NY) to get the Auro3D (and soon Atmos MKV) releases of Morten's recording of Tuvayhun and Ulrike's recording of Jane Ira Bloom's Pictruing The Invisible - Focus One to be available for download on our site. Morten has all his on there now, too.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Sorry for the personal (no financial gain though) plug, but we at NativeDSD worked with both Morten (2L) and Ulrike (Anderson Audio NY) to get the Auro3D (and soon Atmos MKV) releases of Morten's recording of Tuvayhun and Ulrike's recording of Jane Ira Bloom's Pictruing The Invisible - Focus One to be available for download on our site. Morten has all his on there now, too.

Any chance Jane Ira Bloom's Picturing the Invisible ~ Focus One will receive a Pure BD~A physical disc release like 2L's Tuvayhun as it's quite a departure from her earlier works and I'm certain the ATMOS mix will be revelatory.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Shocked, that “Willie Nelson - A Beautiful Time” wasn’t nominated

Could there be some “genre” bias, and label/power players influence as well?

 

[ted_b]

Any chance Jane Ira Bloom's Picturing the Invisible ~ Focus One will receive a Pure BD~A physical disc release like 2L's Tuvayhun as it's quite a departure from her earlier works and I'm certain the ATMOS mix will be revelatory.

I asked Ulrike and she said no, at least not anytime soon. Jane likes the flexibility of the digital formats (download). The immersive downloads are not compressed, of course, unlike the Apple Music links.

She reminded me that Capital Audio Fest has a "bloom22" code for NativeDSD.

 

[edisonbaggins]

Tuvayhun is definitely deserving. I haven't checked out any of the others.

The Tipping Point would have been cool. Can @PaulatSDE nominate titles?

 

[humprof]

Can @PaulatSDE nominate titles?

https://www.recordingacademy.com/awards/media-company-registration-and-online-entry-process-oep

 

[humprof]

Could there be some “genre” bias, and label/power players influence as well?

Keeping in mind that the finalists are selected by a 20-25 member committee made up of Academy members from the P&E Wing with expertise in immersive recording, mixing, and mastering, label influence seems unlikely--except to the extent that labels might have more time, attention, and resources to submit entries during the six-week online entry period to begin with. (In all the interviews I've read with mixing engineers over the past couple of years, I haven't seen a lot of love for particular labels.) Genre bias is always possible, but those engineers work in all genres, and I would think their focus would be on the mix rather than the music.

Here's the latest info on P&E leadership, including its Steering Committee. Don't know how much overlap there is with the ad hoc selection committee.
https://www.recordingacademy.com/producers-engineers-wing/leadership