Official Rules: Audio Technica/Parsons Audio Recording Competition

Transcription

1 Official Rules: Audio Technica/Parsons Audio Recording Competition NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN SPONSORS This Competition is sponsored jointly by Audio Technica and by Parsons Audio LLC. TEAMS The Competition is open to teams of students enrolled at a School defined as a college, university or institution of higher learning located within the fifty U.S. states or the District of Columbia. Each student on a Team must be pursuing a bachelor s or associate s degree program in fields related to Audio Engineering which includes: Music Production, Audio Recording, Audio Engineering, Electronic Media, Sound Recording, or similar program. Each Team shall be comprised of not more than four (4) students. The official entry form requires Schools to identify and certify the eligibility of all four Team members who will participate in the engineering, producing, and recording of the project for that School. FACULTY ADVISOR Each four-student Team must have a faculty advisor in order to be considered for the Competition. The advisor will serve as the contact point person for the Team and insure proper delivery of the entry and also be responsible for the loaned equipment used in the contest. The faculty advisor may offer guidance but cannot actively participate in any aspect of the competition except in an advisory role. For example, an advisor may NOT participate in mic selection, setup, placement, completion of the recording, or any related activity other than in an advisory role. For purpose of notification and administration of the contest, all contact will be with the designated faculty advisor. NUMBER OF ENTRIES LIMITED TO ONE PER SCHOOL Only one Team per School is permitted for consideration in the Contest. In the event that multiple entries are received from any School, Parsons Audio will disqualify all entries from that institution. The decision to disqualify a Team or a student is within the sole discretion of Parsons Audio LLC. We do, however,

2 encourage you to have your own contest within your program of study to pick the best team to enter. Team members must be identified at the time the entry is submitted for judging and must meet the qualifications for the competition at that time. The advisor must certify that all team members are currently enrolled students and eligible to participate. ENTRY FORM The official entry form must be completed and submitted during the Registration Period to be eligible to compete in the competition. The Registration Period begins at 12:00 a.m. Eastern time on Monday January 12th 2015 and ends 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on Friday January 30th, Selected Schools will be notified on February 4th. Neither Parsons Audio nor Audio Technica assumes any responsibility for any entry including any liability for lost, late, misdirected, illegible or incomplete entries. The institution with the winning Team is ineligible to compete in this Competition for a period of one (1) year after winning the Competition. If for any reason the Competition is not capable of being conducted as contemplated in the Official Rules, the sponsors have the discretion to terminate or modify the competition. RULES These Official Rules of the competition govern the Competition and will be posted on the Parsons Audio website for the duration of the Competition. The Sponsors have the right and may amend the Official Rules at any time without notice. Sponsors and Competition judges reserve the right to disqualify any team that violates the Official Rules. Failure of participants to abide by these Official Rules will result in disqualification. The determination of whether the rules have been breached as well as the eligibility and/or ineligibility of any Team or participant is in the sole discretion of Parsons Audio LLC. SELECTION OF COMPETING TEAMS On Thursday February 6th, 2015 six (6) entries will be selected by random drawing in Estero Florida from the pool of entries made on the official entry form and submitted during the registration period. These Selected Teams will be notified through their faculty advisor by and telephone after the drawing. Subject to eligibility confirmation, the Selected Teams will then have an opportunity to submit a Recording in the Competition as described below. In the event that any team selected chooses not to submit a recording, the Sponsors may elect to choose an alternate to take their place from the entries received. MUSICAL RECORDING SUBMISSION On or about Thursday February 12th 2015, the faculty advisor for each Teams will receive from Parsons Audio LLC, a selection of Audio Technica Microphones to include two (2) AT4040 Large Diaphragm side address, two (2) AT4041 small diaphragm pencil condensers, two (2) ATM250 Dynamic Instrument and two (2) ATM710 handheld condensers all in a provided road case. The faculty advisor agrees to return the microphones and case to Parsons Audio at the end of the contest period in the same condition received, no later than by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 10, All equipment must be returned regardless of, whether a Recording is submitted.

3 The Teams are required to use the equipment provided in their Recording. No other microphones may be used. The Recording shall be of a live ensemble, which may not contain any sequenced, sampled or line level sources. The recording must take place as a live mix to 2-track with no use of artificial effects of any kind using only the microphones supplied with the kit, microphone preamps, consoles and EQ or compression if the team so chooses as part of the recording chain. There can be no postproduction of the Recording and it shall be un-mastered. This competition is designed to enhance student use of proper microphone placement and technique. The musical content is at the discretion of the Recording Teams, subject to the above limitations, but all Recordings must include a vocal as part of the performance. Team members must conduct all production and engineering without assistance from advisors or other third parties. The performers however shall not be members of the team. Any effects such as reverb used must also be natural and captured at the time of the recording. Use of compression and equalization during capture is permitted but must be properly documented by use of submitted photographs of the recording chain at time of capture. The audio track of the Recording must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on March 20, 2015 via Dropbox as a WAV file (16 bit, 44.1 khz sample rate) and should consist of an un-mastered stereo mix. The project production notes must also be submitted via Dropbox, as a PDF, at the same time and must include the following information: 1) The name of the song and the songs composer; 2) the copyright owner of the musical composition; 3) a list of the performers; 4) the microphone used on each track source; 5) photographs and description of the placement for each microphone including the approximate distance and angle relative to the source; 5) selected polar pattern, sensitivity pad, filters used (if applicable); 6) microphone preamp and signal path from microphone to recording device; and 7) digital photographs sufficient to show all microphone placements, including text/captions that document the microphone selection, placement and technique for the given source. The project production notes should be no more than 10 pages in length. In addition to the Recording, teams must submit a short video clip detailing pre-production planning and practice sessions no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on February 26 th, These videos should not exceed one (1) minute in length. These videos also become the property of Sponsors and may be posted without limitations by the Sponsors to the Parsons Audio YouTube channel and distributed in any promotional means as Parsons Audio LLC and Audio Technica determine in their sole discretion to promote the Contest. WARRANTY OF WORK AND RIGHTS Recordings submitted in the Competition must not have been submitted to other competitions or won previous awards. Team members must also be students currently enrolled in a program of study in abovementioned fields at the institution participating in the contest. By submitting a recording each Team member, Faculty Advisor and School ( Entrants ) represent and warrant to Sponsor that the Submission is the original work of the Team and that the Entrants have the sole right to submit it to the Competition; and that the Submission does not violate in any way rights of third parties or any applicable laws; and that Entrants have obtained all necessary licenses or permissions from all appropriate third parties required for the production and submission of the entry in the Competition. The Faculty Advisor and all Team members will warrant that he or she have the authority, rights, and permission to submit the Recording and any other materials submitted to Parsons Audio LLC and Audio Technica in connection with the Contest, including, notes and photo documentation required as part of the competition and will permit streaming audio transmissions of the recording, in whole or in part, from the Parsons Audio and the Audio Technica website and posting of the materials, in whole or in part, without compensation. Any licenses or permissions required to include the musical compositions used in the recording shall be the sole responsibility of the participating team. All entries become the property of the sponsors and none will be returned and by participating therein all participants agree to execute whatever documentation is necessary to affect the property rights of the Sponsors. The musical recording for the

4 Competition to be embodied in the Recording must not have been previously been commercially released by a major label. COMPETITION JUDGING/WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION Recordings will be judged by a committee selected at the sole discretion of Parsons Audio and Audio Technica. The Competition judges will utilize the following criteria: Clarity of the recording: 20% to include signal to noise ratio, overall fidelity of the recording. Microphone Selection: 20% to include matching of microphone types and patterns to instruments for optimal source capture. Microphone Technique: 40% placement and use of microphones to enhance spectral balance, placement in the stereo field and overall balance of instruments. Special consideration will be given for creative use and technique. Performance and Production: 10% limited to items over which the engineer/producer have control including intonation, audible edits or punch ins. Documentation: 10% quality of notes and pictures, which help evaluate the capture methods of the recording concepts used in the process. Entrants agree to be bound by the decisions of the Competition judges and all such decisions shall be final. At the conclusion of the judging, contest winners will be contacted through their Faculty Advisor by and/or telephone. WAIVER OF LIABILITY Each participant, including Team members, School and Faculty Advisor (individually and collectively referred to as the Entrant(s) ) agree that by entering the Competition that neither Parsons Audio, LLC, Audio Technica, or their employees, agents, or assigns, or any of the judges or other decision makers or equipment providers (collectively referred to as Competition Providers ) are liable for injury, loss, death, or damage of any kind due to or associated with acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the loaned microphone kit and any prize and/or participation in the Competition. Each Entrant further releases and agrees to hold harmless and indemnify the Competition Parties from and against any and all claims based on the above liability as well as from any publicity rights, defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, trademark infringement or any other intellectual property related causes of action that relate in any way to the Submission, including the Recording, the digital photos or videos. Each Entrant agrees to fully indemnify and hold harmless Sponsor and the Competition Parties from any and all claims by third parties relating to the Competition without limitation. Except where prohibited by law, Entrants who have been selected as having submitted the Grand Prize, Runner-Up, or Honorable Mention Winning Recording hereby further grant to the Sponsors the right to use such Entrants names, photographs, voices, likenesses, and cities of residence and other identifying information for purposes of advertising, promoting and publicizing the efforts and activities of the Sponsors without further consideration or approval, except where prohibited. Non-compliance or the return of any prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Grand Prize, Runner-Up, Third place winner.

5 PRIZES The School selected as having the Grand Prize Winning Team will be awarded a set of Audio Technica microphones to include: two (2) AT4040 Large Diaphragm side address, two (2) AT4041 small diaphragm pencil condensers, two (2) ATM250 Dynamic Instrument microphones, and two (2) ATM710 Handheld condensers as well as 4 pairs of ATHMK40 headphones. Additionally, each student Team member of the Grand Prize Winning Team will receive a pair of ATH MK40 headphones. The 2nd place team members will receive a pair of ATH MK40 headphones and the school will receive an AT4040 microphone. The Sponsors reserve the right not to award any prize or prizes should Competition judges, in their sole discretion and opinion, deem entries unsatisfactory to warrant the award of a prize or prizes as the case may be. Prizes will be sent by UPS or FedEx to the winning Teams in care of the applicable Contact Person. Prizes will be sent within one (1) month of the determination of winners unless extenuating circumstances require additional time. All federal, state, provincial and local taxes on prizes awarded in the Competition are the sole responsibility of the recipients or their representatives. No prize substitutions are permitted, except by the Sponsors, who may substitute a prize of equal or greater value if advertised prize becomes unavailable or is replaced by a newer model. Prizes are not transferable.