Portland mastering engineer Bob Ludwig, who last year won four Grammy Awards, has five more nominations this year.

The nominations were announced Friday. The Grammys will be awarded on Feb 8.

Ludwig was nominated twice in the category of Album of the Year for “Morning Phase” by Beck and “Girl” by Pharrell Williams.

He also has two nominations in the category of Best Engineered Album Non-Classical, for the albums “Bass & Mandolin” by Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer and “Morning Phase” by Beck. He was also nominated in the category of Best Surround Sound Album for “Beyonce” by Beyonce.

Mastering engineers are eligible to win a Grammy outright, in their own names, in only five categories: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Engineered Album Non-Classical, Best Surround Sound Album and Best Historical Album.

The nominees in 83 categories for this year’s Grammy Awards were announced Friday, and by the evening Ludwig and his fellow Gateway Mastering engineer Adam Ayan could count more than 20 nominated recordings they worked on.

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Mastering is the final, technical adjusting of a sound recording. Ludwig and Ayan often do their work alone, without the artist being present in Portland.

Both have worked on many Grammy-nominated works in the past. Ludwig, after more than 40 years in the business, has worked on hundreds.

The recordings nominated for 2015 Grammys that Ludwig worked on include “Girl” by Pharrell Williams, for Best Urban Contemporary Album; “Happy” (live version), also by Williams, for Best Pop Solo Performance; “Blue Moon” by Beck and “Lazaretto” by Jack White, both for Best Rock Song; “Morning Phase” by Beck for Best Rock Album; “Bass & Mandolin” by Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer, for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album; “Lazaretto” by Jack White, for Best Alternative Music Album; “Multiplied” by Needtobreathe, for Best Contemporary Christian Song; and “Frozen,” for Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Score Soundtrack.

Ayan’s nominated works include “Meanwhile Back at Mama’s” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, for Best Country Song and Best Country Duo/Group Performance; “Partners” by Barbra Streisand, for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album; and “Invisible” by Hunter Hayes and “Something In the Water” by Carrie Underwood in the Best Country Solo Performance category.

Ayan mastered McGraw’s album “Sundown Heaven Town,” which also includes the song “Portland, Maine,” which is not actually about Portland.

Ludwig’s Grammy wins last year were for his work on “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk, Williams and Niles Rodgers (Record of the Year); “Random Access Memories” by Daft Punk (Album of the Year); “Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965” by the Rolling Stones (Best Historical Album); and “Random Access Memories” by Daft Punk (Best Engineered Album, non-classical).

Ray Routhier can be contacted at 791-6454 or at:

rrouthier@pressherald.com


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