Award

The Man With The Golden Ear

The Soundedit Festival Award is a distinction that goes to the hands of people for whom music is not only a profession, but above all a passion. Music producers are responsible for the artistic shape of a given album or hit, but the producer is always behind, in the artist’s shadow. That is why the creators of the Festival decided to honor producers whose work is often underestimated, or even worse, unnoticed at all.

Since 2009 – the first edition of Soundedit – the “Man with a Golden Ear” award has been given to fifty two outstanding music producers, artists-sound craftsmen, without whose sensitivity many albums and concerts would not sound so great.

The “Man With The Golden Ear” statuette, based on the idea of Maciej Werk, who wanted “James Bond to meet Salvador Dali”, designed by Artur Malewski, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź.

Award Winners

Year 2009

Daniel Lanois

Canadian producer, producing albums of U2, Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Brain Eno, Michael Brook, Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Geoffrey Oryem, Scott Weiland, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and many other prominent musicians.

Gareth Jones

Music producer responsible for the albums: Depeche Mode, Einstürzende Neubauten, Wire and Erasure

Grzegorz Ciechowski
(1957-2001)

The posthumous award received by the daughter of a musician who died in 2001 – Weronika Ciechowska

Year 2010

Adrian Sherwood

A producer who has developed his own unique style. He collaborated mainly with: Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O’Connor and Skinny Puppy. He runs his own label – On-U Sound Records and is a member of the band Tackhead.

Andrzej Smolik

He is not only a music producer, but also an active musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist and radio journalist. Since 2011, he has been a member of the Council of the ZPAV Phonographic Academy in the pop music section and plays keyboards in the band Wilki.

Martin Hannett
(1948-1991)

The posthumous award received by Peter Hook (bassist of Joy Division) and Chris Nagle (sound engineer) can be justified very briefly. If there are rock fans who are unfamiliar with Joy Division records, they are definitely not true rock fans.

Year 2011

Adam Toczko

Producer responsible for the albums Illusion, Sweet Noise and O.N.A. He received the award from Glaca (Sweet Noise, My Riot, M.T.void).

Daniel Miller

Legendary founder of the legendary Mute Records label.

Mark “Flood” Ellis

He worked on the most important albums of the 20th and 21st centuries. His production portfolio includes cooperation with: The Smashing Pumpkins, U2, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, The Killers, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Erasure 30 Seconds To Mars and Nick Cave.

Year 2012

Eugeniusz Rudnik
(1932-2016)

Mr. Eugeniusz did not listen to the records because, as he said himself, he was “overwhelmed”. He did so much for Polish music and music production that the award for him was obvious. He received the award from the director of the National Center for Culture – Krzysztof Dudek.

Józef B. Nowakowski

He is a well-known, and at the same time incredibly modest producer and recording engineer, bass guitarist. The award was presented to him by Robert Brylewski and Tomasz Lipiński from Brygada Kryzys.

Martin “Youth” Glover

He received the Man With The Golden Ear Award “for his vision and pioneering achievements in the field of music production” by Alan Wilder (ex Depeche Mode).

Steve Osborne

The albums he produced have gone platinum. He received the prestigious award (as written by British magazines) of the Soundedit Festival for: “visionary and pioneering achievements in music production”.

Tim Simenon

He is the leader of the band Bomb the Bass, the producer of the phenomenal album “Ultra” by Depeche Mode. He received the award for producing the album “Shag Tobbaco” (1995) by Gavin Friday. He received a statuette from the hands of Gavin Friday.

Year 2013

Bill Laswell

He received The Man With The Golden Ear Award “for pioneering achievements in the field of music production” from the Director of the Soundedit Festival, Maciej Werk.

Dan Austin

He received The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “visionary and pioneering achievements in music production” from Steve Osborne.

Haydn Bendall

A long-time employee of the Abbey Road studio. He has worked with the most outstanding artists in the world. An extremely modest man, to his rich collection of awards and distinctions (Oscar, Grammy), he added “The Man with the Golden Ear”, received for: “lifetime achievements in the field of music production”.

Władysław Komendarek

The legendary Exodus keyboardist. The Soundedit Festival has prepared a documentary about him, “Władysław Komendarek – It’s always good in space”. He received the award for “exceptional musical sensitivity”.

Year 2014

Howie B

The Man With The Golden Ear Award in recognition of “pioneering achievements in the field of music production”.

John Cale

The Man with the Golden Ear award indisputably – “for lifetime achievements in the field of music production”.

Karl Bartos

The former Kraftwerk member received The Man With The Golden Ear Award “for pioneering achievements in the field of music production”.

Lech Janerka

For the first time, an award also for lyrics, that is “for special musical sensitivity and artistry of the word”.

Year 2015

Józef Skrzek

He received The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “outstanding achievements in the field of music production” with extraordinary wit, class and modesty.

Leszek Biolik

The former musician of Republika was awarded the Man with a Golden Ear for “outstanding achievements in the field of music production”.

Roger Glover

Deep Purple and Rainbow bass player, producer of rock and hard rock albums. He received The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “lifetime achievements in the field of music production”. During the Deep Purple concert at the Atlas Arena in Łódź, the statuette was placed on Roger Glover’s amplifier.

Sir Bob Geldof

The outstanding musician, producer and social activist, The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “exceptional use of music for peaceful purposes in the world” received from the Mayor of the City of Łódź, Hanna Zdanowska.

Wojciech Waglewski

He received The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “outstanding achievements in the field of music production and artistry of the word”.

Year 2016

Adam Nowak

The musician of the band Raz, Dwa, Trzy was honoured with The Man With The Golden Ear Award in recognition of his “special musical sensitivity and artistry of the word”.

Alec Empire

A member of the Atari Teenage Riot team received The Man With The Golden Ear statuette in recognition of “pioneering achievements in the field of music production ”.

Brian Eno

The English composer, music producer and rock musician was honoured with The Man With The Golden Ear Award in recognition of his “lifetime achievement in the field of music production”.

Sir George Martin
(1926-2016)

The fifth Beatles was posthumously honoured with The Man With The Golden Ear in recognition of his “lifetime achievement in the field of music production”.

Year 2017

Gary Numan

The British singer and composer was honoured with The Man With The Golden Ear statuette for “pioneering achievements in the field of music production”.

Marek Biliński

The Polish composer of electronic music received The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “pioneering achievements in the field of music production”.

Michael Nyman

The outstanding British composer was honoured with The Man With The Golden Ear Award for “special musical sensitivity”.

Tony Visconti

The American music producer, musician and singer received The Man With The Golden Ear statuette for “outstanding achievements in the field of music production”.