Guitar Tone Competition 2

[MarkG]

The competition has ended! Voting rounds can be found here:

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/549870-tone-competition-2-round-1-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/550988-tone-competition-2-round-2-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/550996-tone-competition-2-round-3-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/553004-tone-competition-2-round-4-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/553005-tone-competition-2-round-5-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/554344-tone-competition-2-round-6-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/rate-my-mix-tone-threads/554345-tone-competition-2-round-7-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...5264-guitar-tone-competition-2-round-8-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...5265-guitar-tone-competition-2-round-9-a.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...ar-tone-competition-2-final-round-really.html


======================================================================================


Hello, welcome to the second Andy Sneap forum guitar tone competition!

In case there is something you want to ask, don't hesitate to contact MarkG: markv.d.giessen@gmail.com


GENERAL INFO
-------------------------

The competition is hosted by MarkG. The composition, drum track and guitar DI tracks are courtesy of lolzgreg and the bass track was provided by Slipkyesbass.
Ahjteam mixed the backing track to be recording ready according lolzgreg's guidance.

The submission deadline is November 30 2009, and the voting will take place in December 2009.

This competition is sponsored by Slate Digital and the winner of the competition will receive brand new Slate Digital plugins!

See http://www.slatedigital.com for more info on the plugins.


WHAT DO I HAVE TO SUBMIT?
-------------------------

- Mixdown which has the backing track and guitars.
- Mixdown which has only the guitars soloed (= backing tracks muted).
- Description of the signal chain (with pictures and/or screenshots if possible for educational purposes).
- Submission format is 24-Bit 44.1 KHz interlaced stereo wav, no exceptions. Failing to meet this requirement leads to disqualification.
- Name the files "username_mixdown.wav" and "username_guitars.wav"


SUBMISSION
-------------------------

- Submission deadline: November 30th 2009, Monday. Only submissions by Ultimate Metal forum members are accepted.
- Send your submission to email address markv.d.giessen@gmail.com with topic "Guitar tone competition: username"
- Files preferably archived and hosted on the web (we recommend http://www.getdropbox.com), but email attachments are fine. Please note the maximum attachment size is 25mb
- Only one submission per member, so make it count!


WE WILL SUPPLY YOU WITH:
-------------------------

- A pre-processed stereo mixdown of the backing track, containing drums and bass guitar.
- 2 guitar di-tracks for reamping.
- Guitar tabs in case you want to participate without reamping.
- This text document with the rules, deadlines etc.
- The tempo of the song is 230BPM


YOU ARE ALLOWED TO:
-------------------------

- Process, pan and automate the guitar tracks in any way you want.
- Record replacement guitar tracks if you don't have reamping capabilities.
- If you record your guitars instead of reamping, you have to try to make the performance as similar to the supplied tracks as your skills allow.


YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO:
-------------------------

- Modify the composition or edit the performance on the supplied di-tracks.
- Edit or process the backing track in any way. You have to make the guitar tones fit the supplied drums and bass.
- Add any additional instruments.
- Use any master bus processing.


WHAT TO DO WITH THE FILES:
-------------------------

- Put the backing track to a stereo track, panned hard left and hard right.
- Set the level of the backing track and master bus to unity gain (+- 0dB).
- You are not allowed to raise the volume of the backing track*, or process the backing track in any way, or use any master bus processing.
- Mix the guitars to fit the volume of the backing tracks, not the backing track to fit the guitars.
- Do not let the mixdown clip.
- Do not normalize the bounced tracks.


* If the level of the backing track is too loud, possible editing for the submission may occur by QC,
but it is only setting the levels of the submitted guitar track to the supplied drums and bass. As this may change the envisioned soundscape,
it is encouraged you follow the guidelines.

 

[MarkG]

The files you will need:

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1010558/guitartonecompetition2_files.zip

 

[MarkG]

This is a list of everyone who has told me he/she entered. You don't have to tell me, just be sure to send in the files before nov 30 in the right format and I'll count you in. If you DO tell me I will add you to this list and send you a pm when the deadline gets close if you happen to forget to submit anything.

::XeS::
006
2000ContourSVT
AEL89
AeternusEternus
ahjteam
analgrinder333
arcturian
Bloodjinn
BrettT
CatharsisStudios
crazykarl
calippo tecks
cococo
DaWolf
Dom Ostarig
Eddy(Rawmachine)
Ermz
Glenn Fricker
Gubbkuk
Hamish666
Hkollner
id3alism
iekobrid
James-Doolan
Jevil
Jgolden
jhrv
Killzone2kX
Korpse Pop
kramer1309
lolzgreg
Maamar Huq
MacyMalone
Mancha
mefourtwelve
Melb_shredder
MetalMiller
mickrich
Mikko_Vainiala
monolithsound
Morgue
MT01
Nebulous
NickL
Nowherecatastrophe
Nukular!
Nuno Filipe
opeth57
P-E
Petrovsk Mizinski
poisoned dreams
ProjectHamsterdam
rcg
rlcramer
Scootbaloo
ShreddyMarz
Sickan
sexan
slayercannibalsuffohead
srv_ray
Teddyboy
TheDude
TheXRatedDodo
The_Shred
Unavailable
vespiz
Warwickwhore
Wolfeman

 

[MarkG]

Feel free to post! If you have any questions, let me know.

A special thanks to lolzgreg for requesting this competition and supplying the backing track + guitar DIs, Slipkyesbass for his awesome bass track and ahjteam for mixing the backing track and helping me organize this!

Also a monster thanks to Andy Sneap for this wonderful community, and Steven Slate for offering his (unreleased) software to the winner!

You guys can have my babies

 

[ahjteam]

and special thanks to Steven Slate and Alex from Yellow Matter Entertainment for sponsoring the competition!


I added plenty of headroom on the backing tracks (the backingtrack file is peaking at -4dBFS) and we tested with greg that we could get the mixdown to peak at -2.5dBFS with quite prominent guitars, so if you can make the mixdown clip, the guitars on your mix are super loud and/or then there is really something wrong with your guitartone.

 

[Hamish666]

dl now

 

[TheDude]

downloaded.

 

[P-E]

Downloaded

Thanks

 

[MarkG]

I have pm'ed almost everyone who showed interest. Some boxes were full, one person wouldn't allow pms from me.

 

[AerialThesis]

Can I Simply DL the files and post before november 30 to get in or do i need to confirm with someone?

 

[MarkG]

Can I Simply DL the files and post before november 30 to get in or do i need to confirm with someone?

Just email me the required files in the prescribed format before the 30th and all will be fine.

 

[AerialThesis]

cool

 

[Wolfeman]

Fuckin A, thanks a million Slate! Prizes always make things better.

 

[AerialThesis]

So I can't normalize the final mix? or can I ?

 

[macymalone]

Participating so far (not a closed list, you can still enter):


::XeS::
006
2000ContourSVT
AEL89
AeternusEternus
ahjteam
analgrinder333
arcturian
Bloodjinn
BrettT
CatharsisStudios
crazykarl
calippo tecks
cococo
DaWolf
Dom Ostarig
Eddy(Rawmachine)
Ermz
Glenn Fricker
Hamish666
Hkollner
id3alism
iekobrid
James-Doolan
Jevil
Jgolden
jhrv
Killzone2kX
Korpse Pop
kramer1309
lolzgreg
Maamar Huq
macymalone
Mancha
mefourtwelve
Melb_shredder
MetalMiller
mickrich
Mikko_Vainiala
monolithsound
Morgue
MT01
Nebulous
NickL
Nowherecatastrophe
Nukular!
Nuno Filipe
opeth57
P-E
Petrovsk Mizinski
ProjectHamsterdam
rcg
rlcramer
Scootbaloo
ShreddyMarz
sexan
slayercannibalsuffohead
srv_ray
Teddyboy
TheDude
TheXRatedDodo
The_Shred
Unavailable
vespiz
Warwickwhore
Wolfeman

I'm in!
This is awesome!!!!!

 

[ahjteam]

So I can't normalize the final mix? or can I ?

you can not, just like it says in the rules:

- Do not normalize the bounced tracks.

 

[Sickan]

Sign me up for this plx.

 

[Petrocker]

Im in! Sign me up.

 

[MarkG]

Well you don't really have to "sign up", just send me the files in the right format before nov 30 The list was more for me to keep track on who to pm when I made this thread, and to keep tabs on who submitted work. "Signing up" to the list means I'll send you a pm in case you forget...but thats about all it means now.

 

[lolzgreg]

I am excited.

I really like this idea that Anssi had about no processing on the master bus. This is a failsafe and a blessing, in fact. If you have too much low frequencies in your guitars or you just mixed them too loud, the clipping on the master bus will give you the heads up! This way, everyone will have very similar levels for everything. I made the drums really punchy, so if you lose the drums in the clip, you definitely have too much chunk/volume in those guitars.

Good luck everyone. I hope you enjoy the contest.