Diesel 13 Mix Contest
I hereby announce the launch of a special mixing contest exclusively for Patrons, based around these multitracks of Diesel13’s song ‘Colour Me Red’. There are lots of reasons to get involved:
It’s a great song.
Diesel himself will be providing some direct feedback for you, and will also be choosing the eventual winner.
I’ll personally provide mix critiques for everyone who enters, and may also assist Diesel with the final adjudication process.
Oh, and did I mention there are also a couple of prizes for bookworms?
OK. So I’ve got your attention. 🙂 Here’s the deal…
Who can enter?
The competition is open to all Cambridge-MT Patrons. Simple as that.
How do I enter?
By registering for the Discussion Zone (if you haven’t already) and uploading an MP3/M4A file of your mix via your own thread in the Diesel13 ‘Colour Me Red’ sub-forum before the end of Sunday November 27th. In addition, Patrons who post their mixes before Sunday November 13th will receive direct mix feedback from me on their thread – although all entrants may still continue posting updated mix versions until the November 27th competition deadline. (Just make sure it’s clear in your thread which mix version you want feedback on and which is the final version you’re submitting for adjudication!) The results announcement will appear, along with further critique points and related discussion, in December’s Patrons Podcast.
What’s the mixing brief?
In short: it’s wide open. Diesel tells me that he honestly welcomes any slant you may want to put on his music. So if you want to get radically creative with the multitrack elements, or completely change the style, then go ahead – knock yourself out! It’s all good as far as Diesel’s concerned, and he’s excited to hear what you all come up with. That said, whichever direction you choose to head in, Diesel’s also interested in hearing mixes with a modern sensibility, things that might compete in one way or another with current artists in today’s music market, so do also bear that in mind.
From a technical perspective, you can use up to 320kbps encoding (if you wish) for your MP3/M4A mix uploads, and I’d recommend at least 192kbps. The loudness of the mix will not be a contributing factor in the competition adjudication, but(!) the way in which the mix responds to loudness processing may be taken into consideration, depending on the market expectations for the target style in each specific case.
Prizes
- 1st Prize: $100-worth of books from the Routledge catalogue.
- 2nd Prize: $50-worth of books from the Routledge catalogue.
Bear in mind that the Routledge catalogue includes all the Focal Press titles, as well as books from many other Taylor & Francis imprints.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Diesel13 for allowing us to use his song as the basis of this competition. Please support him and his music by clicking here. Thanks also to Joe Lonsdale of Joe Public Studios for making such great multitrack material available to mixing students – for more information about how this particular song was produced, check out Joe’s new e-book ‘Building The Band In The Bedroom’.
Any Small Print?
The only condition of entry is that you agree to me using your mixes and Discussion Zone comments to build a collated ‘competition report’ page at some point in the future (along the lines my The Great ‘Blood To Bone’ Mixoff page), because I reckon that might end up being a cool educational resource for mixing students in general.
Further questions?
If any of the above isn’t clear, do please let me know and I’ll try to clarify the wording on this page as necessary.