The first finalists in this year's New Zealand Music Awards have been announced for best engineer, producer, and album cover.
Thom Powers and Aaron Short of The Naked and Famous are up for awards in the best producer and engineer (along with Olly Harmer) categories, for their album Passive Me, Aggressive You. Singer-songwriter Brooke Fraser (pictured - for Flags) and Nick Roughan, together with Die!Die!Die! (for Form), are the other nominees for best producer. Making up the best engineer category nominations are Neil Baldock for Cairo Knife Fight's self-titled EP, and Harmer again, for Andrew Keoghan's Arctic Tales Divide.
Nominations for best album cover are Angela Keoghan for Bannerman's The Dusty Dream Hole, Baly Gaudin and Thomas Young for Tommy Ill's self-titled release, and Weta Workshop illustrator Nick Keller for Beastwars' debut album.
The technical award winners will be revealed on September 7. The main finalists for the Tuis will be announced then, ahead of the awards ceremony at Vector Arena on November 3.
The line-up for the Critics' Choice showcase and the 2011 Legacy Award recipient will also be announced on September 7.
