Here's a toast to the creativity and engineering excellence of the audio pros who stake their careers on the tools they use in the studio and whose recordings were spotlighted at the 2010 Grammy Awards.

• Virtuoso, classical engineer Michael Bishop earned his ninth Grammy Award for his surround sound recording and post-production work on Transmigration an album devoted to honor and remembrance. For years, Bishop has relied on the unflinchingly honest sound of his ATC monitors to produce works that are well-balanced and aurally stunning on any playback system.

• Super-engineer and 17-time Grammy winner Al Schmitt, along with Helik Hadar, was nominated for "Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical" for Melody Gardot's My One and Only Thrill. Schmitt is fond of the TUBE-TECH SMC-2B stereo multiband compressor, which serves as his go-to compressor for all of the mixes that pass under his talented hands.

• Producer Butch Vig (Nirvana's Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream) and engineer Chris Dugan stood behind Green Day's latest release, 21st Century Breakdown (Reprise), which took home the award for "Best Rock Album" and spawned nominations for "Best Rock Song" and "Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals." Vig is a champion of Bock microphones.