Following on our catchup of awarding Sonnox Community Awards we get up to date with the winners for May and June 2015, Neil Pickles and Ben Norrington.
Neil Pickles - Winner For May 2015
I'm Neil Pickles a Mastering Engineer and freelance audio lecturer (having previously taught at the prestigious but sadly closed Alchemea College for over 18years). I am a one of the longest serving Avid Certified Expert Instructors having qualified way back in 2003 at their Daly City HQ. I run Reveal Sound from a beautifully equipped studio jointly set up with my fellow audio engineer Marcel Van Limbeek and renowned DJ's Berkson and What.
I've been a keen contributor to Pro Tools Expert for some years now writing occasional articles and helping to host several events, the highlight being the recent Sontronics Microphone and Latchlake Stands event at RedBull Studios (thanks guys!) . I love the sense of community on the PTE site and actively contribute to discussions on it from my perspective as not only an engineer but an educator.
I am incredibly grateful to win this months Sonnox Community Award as I'm a massive fan of their products and appreciate their support for us HDX users with AAX DSP support from the early days. I already own most of their plug ins and have used them as primary tools on 3 Latin Grammy nominated mastering projects and a number 1 LP for Disney, so the plug-in I would really like to complete the full house would be the Supressor, the reason being that I can see definite uses for it in mastering, identifying and selectively turning down the dreaded bass note that sticks out and of course mixing vocals.
The pictures of Neil Pickles are courtesy of Mike Banks from RecordProduction
Ben Norrington - Winner For June 2015
I am a freelance dubbing editor for TV and film; principally a dialogue editor for TV Drama, but I also love doing sound design. I trained and worked at the BBC for over 10 years, starting in film cutting rooms as an assistant film editor, proceeding into dubbing editing via this Film Department route, and progressing into the Sound Department as it became clear that it was where I was most comfortable. I left the BBC in 1998 to become part of De Lane Lea until 2007 when I became completely freelance. I now work from home on a Pro Tools HD native system, running PT 11.0.
I choose the Oxford EQ as the plug-in that I would most like from the Sonnox Elite range, because I feel that I would use eq more than anything else when editing; I have been using Q10, but it seems good to be able to have another weapon up ones sleeve.
What Is The Sonnox Community Award?
As we have said on many occasions we aren’t the only Pro Tools Experts, it works best when we pull together as a community to help each other when and where we can. There are plenty of places on the web for trolls and negativity, but many of our members work hard to create a positive and supportive community of Pro Tools Experts and we think that kind of attitude should be recognised and encouraged. With all of that in mind we are rewarding those in the community who go the extra mile to help others.
Each month we award the Community Member Of The Month Award sponsored by Sonnox. This award goes to the individual, who in the judges opinion, made an ongoing contribution to the Pro Tools Expert community.