TMN Tinnies: Producer of the Year nominees

As we near closer to Australia’s free music business awards event, it’s time to take a look at another category filled with hard workers. Production is the behind-the-scenes key to the success for any artist, and we’ve picked five of this year’s best as nominees for Producer of the Year.

The final winner will be announced as one of the eight TMN Tinnies awards handed out on Friday, February 2.

Andy Mak

Having previously worked with Boy & Bear, it was Vera Blue’s second album that marked the turning point in Andy Mak’s year. The pair met in 2015 at independent music publisher Native Tongue’s annual songwriting camp, and the rest is history. Mak acted as engineer, composer, mixer and producer on Perennial, which also picked up an ARIA Award nomination for Best Pop Release.

The producer is also embracing the pop/country crossover that’s popular at the moment, lending a hand on albums for The McClymonts and Drew McAlister in 2017.

Adrian Breakspear

TMN spoke to Breakspear about his incredible year late last year, thanks to his work with Gang of Youths and their standout album Go Farther In Lightness. The in-house engineer at Sony took the opportunity to work with the band once again, and earned himself the ARIA Producer of the Year Award for his work.

You can see his passion for the project for yourself in his ARIA acceptance speech below.

M-Phazes

The evolution of M-Phazes from hip-hop DJ to highly sought-after producer is the classic case of it taking years to become an overnight success. But 2017 saw the 34-year-old work with Amy Shark on arguably one of the biggest tracks of the year ‘Adore’, as well as Guy Sebastian, Zara Larsson and the hottest signing of the year Ruel.

Expect incredible and surprising things from this producer in 2018, including the release of his own highly-anticipated album.

Trials

The success Trials has experienced in the last 12 months as an artist is on par with the success he’s had as a producer. From working on the Game Over LP by Mr. Grevis to the long list of awards A.B. Original’s ‎Reclaim Australia picked up, the rapper-producer has helped shape the hip-hop genre in Australia.

With Funkoars set to release their new album Yeah, Nah later this year, Trials is set to be recognised for his fine work even more.

Eric J. Dubowsky

Arguable one of the busiest producers in the country, the last 12 months has seen Dubowsky achieve some incredible milestones – winning a GRAMMY for his work on Flume’s Skin EP and scoring nine songs in the triple j Hottest 100 (including #1 for the 3rd year in a row thanks to Flume), to working with the likes of Kite String Tangle, Flight Facilities and Demi Lovato, plus acting as vocal engineer on the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack.

With new music from The Presets, as well as two GRAMMY nominations for his work with ODESZA, 2018 looks set to be bigger than ever for this big name.