Mix Challenge - Official Rules and Guidelines

[Compyfox]

These are the official rules for the "Mix Challenge"

All changes to the rules will be handled in here. The Gossip, Submission and Voting threads will link to here if there are questions regarding rules.

The rule set is split over the course of the following posts, for easier understanding and simplicity in terms of finding. Please consult the appropriate sub-point if you want to read up on the rules and limitation:

Post 1: General information about the challenge, time limits, who are the hosts, social media
Post 2: Song Providers Guidelines, information how to provide the RAW tracks
Post 3: Rules for participants of the mix challenge
Post 4: Song Provider Evaluation Guidelines
Post 5: Rules and General Information for winning goods
Post 6: FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions
Post 7: Sponsors and Donators of prices
Post 8: Winners of the Mix Challenge
Post 9: Song Providers List


If there are any questions, feel free to ask them in the Gossip thread. Take note that the rules can be modified at any time(!) - though we will inform the contestants of the changes.


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GENERAL INFORMATION

What is this about (concept and idea):
The Mix Challenge (currently hosted on KVR Audio) is aimed to be a friendly competition with a focus on handling a multi-track mixdown (though remix and mastering challenges are possible in the future). The idea (and twist) is to create a realistic client-to-business (C2B) scenario. Fixed time frames and maybe additional set rules will force you to be creative within boundaries, something that you might not encounter when working freely at your own pace and expression.

Furthermore, the original concept was to post documentation of what you did with the song. While this is not necessary and/or mandatory anymore, this adds to the learning factor. Documentation can be as simple as a screenshot, or an in-depth listing of plugins/modules and settings being used. This is not to steal your knowledge but to actually expand on it, learn from your possible mistakes and/or for others to benefit from your findings, ideas and gather some inspiration from your type of mixing. Nobody can improve if you can't learn anything.





The competition time frames (as of MC05, overhauled with MC15, unless stated otherwise):

• 21 days for mixing and submitting (1st of the month until 21st of the month)
• 3-5 days post mixing: feedback by the song provider on favored 6-8 songs
• 5 days (around 24th to 26th of the month, can be sooner): resubmission period of top 6-10 selected entries
• after either mix round: evaluation by the client (maximum time frame: 7 days)

Currently, the MC is held on a monthly basis.
We might expand the Mix Challenge to a "Mastering" and/or "Remixing" challenge to mix things up. This will be addressed in each challenge related thread.

Ideally the challenge always starts on 0:01am (GMT+1/CET) of the 1st of the month and runs until 21st of the month at 11:59pm (GMT+1/CET).

Confused with the times, use this tool and select "Berlin (Germany)" as Location 2:
http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html



Who is in charge of the Mix Challenge:
Technical Questions, Host: Compyfox (from http://www.studio-comypfox.de )
Headmaster, License Management: Uncle E (Eric Dahlberg from JRR Shop)
Handling of Sponsored Licenses, SoundCloud Wizardry: satYatunes (from http://www.satyatunes.com )

Voting Process (Client Based): the client for the current challenge



Social Media and User Interaction:

Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MixChallenge (new hashtag in the making)
Help us out with new audio material: Help the Mix Challenge "Campaign" thread (in Music Cafe)
Join our Mailing List: <soon>

Thread for questions, giving feedback and OT talk: Mix Challenge - Gossip and Discussion

[Compyfox]

SONG PROVIDER GUIDELINES:
If you want to provide the "Mix Challenge" a song for overhauling (mixing), please take note of the following notes and helpful guidelines.

If you have questions, or are unsure what to do (this post does look a bit intimidating!) - please feel free to contact us and we will guide you through. We do not keep you hanging.


General Notes/Guidelines for providing Songs

• a song provider/a client can be anyone. It must not need to be the winner of a former competition. If you're no songwriter, you can't provide musical content. No pressure.
• the provided track can be an old and/or already known release or even a work-in-progress production
• any music genre is welcome
• the clients presence during and after the Mix Challenge is mandatory - may it be via mail, or directly on KVR Audio (see "Guidelines for Evaluation" below for further detail)
• Song provider must not be a member of the GEMA, RIAA or other music tax collection societies related to your area - in this case, license fees are involved, and an offering of source material not possible!
• Song provider must agree (consent), that the provided content is used for this particular competition only(!) and that the participants can/will make their mixdowns public
• Songs are not allowed to be released through a sale of some sort by the contestants. The rights remain with the creator. The creator of the song is free to start a collaboration with the possible winner (congratulations to that). This will be beyond our boundaries.
• Songs need a special permission to be released as part of a portfolio of the contestants! These songs are only allowed to be released as part of this competition! This will be beyond out boundaries.
• Songs must not(!) be foreign content. Meaning, as song provider you must have(!) the permission to share this song for this competition.
• the song provider has no(!) influence how the song will turn out. He/she agrees to full artistic freedom by the participants of the competition - with certain limitations (see mixing rules) or otherwise clearly stated rules
• on that behalf, the song provider should ideally write down a couple of sentences (aka: "Words by the song provider") what you'd like to see during mixing, what are absolute no-no's, possible special rules, which tracks are absolutely mandatory, if provided guitar tracks are DI or already processed, mix examples, etc. The more info, the easier it is for the participants to get a certain picture what you look for.
• the song provider is not(!) allowed to join the mix competition for this particular round - he/she provided this material due to the fact that he/she is obviously interested in an alternate mix. A participation like a regular participant would null that. Doing a mix "just for fun and games" is allowed of course

Helpful tips for providing a song:

TECHNICAL:

• If you contact us for the first time, please provide us with a demo mix! Not only for us hosts, but also for the mix participants to have a starting point
• Songs needs to ideally be provided individual WAV tracks. If the challenge is a Mastering Challenge (declared separately), the song should at bar minimum be a stereo WAV file, already properly mixed.
• please provide the speed of the track (bpm), the time signature (i.e. 4/4) and if possible also the key.
• If your track changes time signatures several times, please provide a TXT at which bar this is happening.
• all individual tracks must start on the same bar, and should ideally end on the same bar. If the track goes from bar 2 to bar 204, all tracks should have that length. (read: consolidated files, strip silence prior to consolidating is not necessary, the mix participants handle that)
• we do recommend to render one extra bar of silence both in front and at the end of the song, to prevent sudden cutoffs of signals, or smeared transients at the beginning of the song
• the source material can be at anything between 44/24 (bar minimum!) to 96/32. Please do not Dither anything! Though keep in mind, the higher the resolution, the higher the file sizes for distribution (a production in 44/24 rendered in 96/32 would be overkill).
• the tracks can be at any signal level/reference level, but should ideally not be lower than -24dBFS digital peak and not be higher than -1dBFS digital peak - this is to prevent high noise floors (especially with 16bit files) and/or clipping
• Please provide tracks as clean as possible. Ideally also as DI tracks (guitars) for possible re-amping. Nobody is forcing you to provide tracks without FX. If you used a specific insert chain to create a certain sound that you'd like to see expanded upon, render it (i.e. "special delay/reverb combo", a guitar chain, etc). It adds to the "limitation" of the challenge. If you imagined a song to be like that and others shall expand upon it, provide it like that.
• send FX, group channels and the likes should ideally be turned off. They can be added as "bonus guide tracks" in a subfolder however for the mix participants to draw inspiration from

BONUS INFO AND A COUPLE OF SIDENOTES:

• if you are worried about file size, you can either create FLAC files up to 96kHz/24bit (FLAC is limited to 24bit resolutions), or compress the WAV files with 7zip LZMA compression. MP3s are not recommended (we prefer WAV)
• at bar minimum, ZIP or RAR the files with the strongest compression possible. We can recommend 7zip Portable, with LZMA compression being enabled
• we are aware of WavPack which can even handle 96/32float - but WavPack is not as widespread and also not necessarily freely available
• Be aware that provided songs by members of music replay tax collection services can cause a lot of issues for participating mixers - so unfortunately those people are left out to provide a song. As good as the opportunity might be to get a stab at an about-to-be-released track.
• Please also take note that your tracks are available to the public and might find it's way to bootleg pages!
• Furthermore, chances are that there will be backups made of both the source material and the contest entries to review that material at a later state (also see voting rules below). This can be revoked by the song provider if there is a regular/commercial release imminent and the song creator clearly states "do not share this anymore".

[Compyfox]

RULES FOR PARTICIPANTS OF THE MIX CHALLENGE:
These rules and guidelines are for the challenge participants and the actual competition itself. This is the most important rule set for those that want to participate with an own mix. Violation of the rules will result in a public warning, and in worse cases even in an instant disqualification.



Rule set for mix participants

• This is a mix challenge, NOT a (pre)mastering challenge (unless declared otherwise). The main focus is to create a balanced mix, which can later be used for a possible mastering process
• The contestants have artistic freedom in terms of mixing (no limits on used modules/effects, neither hardware nor software) - within given boundaries (see add-on rules of the corresponding challenge thread)
• It is allowed to use plugins on the summing bus, as long as they are for broad/general sound shaping (e.g. console emulation, "print to tape" sound, "mix through a compressor" trick, etc) or metering tools, but not for mastering purposes (see "Recommendations for a balanced mix" below)
• The participants are limited to the provided source material
• the provided arrangement must remain the same (take note of a given audio demo). Unless otherwise stated, do not add an additional beat or instruments (e.g. replay a guitar), move parts around and therefore change the arrangement. Unless otherwise stated (i.e. radio mix, loops being allowed for reordering, creative audio effects like glitching, etc)
• it is allowed to edit and to a certain extend even mangle the source material to improve the production (e.g. pitch correction, timing/phase correction within given boundaries, re-amping of bass/guitars if DI track were present, vocal comping, noise gating/strip silence, etc), as long as this does not result in drastic sound design and a complete new sound (e.g. morphing one sound into another one - example: flute into trumpet) - unless otherwise stated
• We do recommend to not send in your mix within the first 24 hours. Take a day off, give your ears time to relax, take another listen the next day. Your entry is final - no re-submissions with changes allowed unless you're selected for Mix Round 2 (also see FAQ section Q1 and Q2)
• Participants are not forced to document their mix, but it would be appreciated. If you wish to document your production, it can be as short (e.g. just screenshots), or as detailed as you like. No extra points gained, none lost. This is a bonus info for others to learn from
• SPECIAL RULES MAY APPLY PER CHALLENGE, these will be highlighted and mentioned separately directly under the "Words by the Song Provider" paragraph of the current mix challenge thread

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A BALANCED MIX

• It is recommended to work with a certain reference level. We recommend to work at -18dBFS = 0VU
• ideally, the mixes shall be anywhere within the the following range: -22dB RMS realtime on average to -16dB RMS realtime on average, while the maximum digital signal strength shall ideally not exceed -1dBFS
• you are not forced to work with given reference levels or recommended values, though keep in mind - your mix might suffer from over-compression, clipping, or in the other extreme from too low signal level (and during loudness normalization on the client/song provider side with an undesired huge of noise floor)

Fellow KVR user Compyfox has written a lot of very informative posts about this topic. You can find that in his KVR marks. Or more detailed in the Gossip Thread (also here: this post). Another recommendation is to take a look at the FAQ section, Q4




UPLOADING GUIDELINES:

• you can upload wherever you feel like. Just make the songs available to download without the need of any special login (SoundCloud for example) or download tools, ideally if the files can be played back directly
• the entries must be properly named. ideally "Name of the Artist - Name of the Song - MC<nr> - contest participant", with a possible added tag for Mix Round 2 (example: R2, MixRound2, Round2, etc)
• if possible to you, please provide both a MP3 version (320kbit) as preview and a "raw" WAV file (FLAC is also suitable) - a mp3 is mandatory at bar minimum if you're low on internet bandwidth
• please be reasonable with your release - 44kHz or 48kHz source material does not need to be released in 96kHz or even 192kHz
• we do not recommend to use dithering, or bit truncation - render in the bitrate you worked in, or higher (e.g. Source Material provided in 16bit, please provide a 24bit mix / you worked in 24bit, please provide a 24bit mix, etc)

Sidenote: we are currently investigating the MP4 Audio/AAC format as alternative audio format for low internet bandwidth users

[Compyfox]

SONG PROVIDER EVALUATION GUIDELINES:
The Mix Challenge was originally laid out to not have feedback by the virtual client, but the mix participants (read: participant voting). This changed as of MC04/MC05 to recreate a true real world scenario. The winners podium is declared by the song provider (in other words, the client) after giving feedback to the tracks after the first and second submission period. We call this "Song Evaluation Period".



General Evaluation Guidelines

• Evaluation happens after the first mix round (21 days) has ended, and after the second mix round (5 days post the first evaluation). Please take note of the challenge time frames.
• Post the 21 day mixing period, the song provider can and must give feedback to all of the submitted tracks (if we exceed 20 submissions by participants, then only for the top 15-20 mixes). The song provider can bundle the feedback in one post during the 3-5 days post first submission round
• The song provider must(!) select 6-8 tracks (depending on the participants amount) after this evaluation period, and ask these participants for a re-submission. This marks the start of Mix Round 2
• After the feedback period of the first mix round, the selected participants have 5 days max to overhaul and resubmit their track. Every other participant is out of the game. But we do recommend to leave the links to the submissions intact for others to learn from
• Once the additional 3-5 days are over, the song provider/client must give feedback to all submissions again, and then declare the top-3 participants or in other words the "WInners Podium".
• The song provider can opt for a single mix round only - but in order to make the challenge more interesting, and to back the idea for more interaction, we do recommend to run the second mix round as well.

If the song provider/client wishes to do "Loudness Normalization" for a more objective A/B of tracks, we do recommend to take a dive into the FAQ section (Q&A No 3) or this post by Compyfox on "manual loudness normalization".



Important note for Song Providers/Clients

• As of Mix Challenge 11, the clients presence during and after the Mix Challenge is mandatory. May it be via mail, or directly on KVR Audio
• If the song provider is not approachable within a reasonable time frame of 14 days post submission period for Mix Round 1 or 7 days post submission period for Mix Round 2, then the Mix Challenge staff will take helm and cast a decision.
  In case of the former (radio silence post Mix Round 1), there will be no second Mix Round.

Feedback by the bystanders and mix participants is allowed, but the song provider (read: the client) ultimately has the final word. Feedback by the song provider during the challenge is not mandatory, and we actually do recommend to not do that until the mix round in question is over. This is to not influence an otherwise objective feedback.

General questions and feedback, rule debates, and praise and hate shall please be addressed in the Gossip thread.

[Compyfox]

GENERAL RULES AND INFORMATION FOR WINNING GOODS:
Since we now have sponsors for the particular Mix Challenge (mentioned separately in each corresponding challenge thread), people that participate with a mix have the chance to win tools. But in order to do so, we need to unfortunately set up an additional set of rules.


General rules

• people allowed to win are participants of the mix challenge that sent in a track
• the winners of the challenge(s) are solely declared by the song provider (see voting rules)
• the three winners of the competition can choose from the available content by the sponsors. First come, first serve.
• Since we have several sponsors for this Challenge, the first winner has the first pick, the second winner can choose from what is left available in the pool, etc.
• Price distribution will be cleared/handled in public in the voting thread
• If you happen to be among the top spots but don't want to pick a license, the next winner in line can pick up what's left in the pool. You are not forced to pick up anything.
• the winner can provide the next song to mix, if he/she is a songwriter and wants to provide a new track. Else something out of the queue will be used (please also see song provider rules above)
• the winner should ideally stay to answer further in-depth questions regarding the mix

Additional information for the license winners (status: August 2015)

• you have to pick the license in public. Picking a license is on order of the winners podium
• the license winner then has to get in touch with the Mix Challenge license handler (that is usually satYatunes)
• please provide your contact information (name and mail address) and then either the company in question get's in touch with you directly, or the license handler
• Should you not(!) get an answer within reasonable time (7 days bar minimum), contact the Mix Challenge license handler again (usually satYatunes), and ask for a status. DO NOT CONTACT THE COMPANY OFFERING THE LICENSE DIRECTLY!
• should you ignore this repeatedly, you'll be closed out of winning licenses in the future.

[Compyfox]

The FAQ?!
This section is for frequently asked questions of things that are not really clear.


Q1) Why is there a time limit in terms of submission? Why can't we send in our mix within the first 24 hours?
A1) Reason behind it to to simulate a a real life scenario. For a very skilled mix/mastering engineer a turnaround can range from 1,5-4 work hours (single track mastering), to 6-12 work hours (16-24 track mix, plus extra time for preparation) to even several days (32+ channels). Not counting breaks in between, testing gear, creating backups, uploading the content and getting in touch with the client.

In either way, and from my own experience (point of view: Compyfox), I always recommend to take a day off and listen to the content again with fresh ears - see if a severe mistake sneaked into your mix. Especially if you pulled an all-nighter. You have a time limit, but you don't need to be first in line either. Imagine what a client in a real life scenario might think, if you submit a faulty mix and be like "whoops, I did mistake, need to change that" and a couple of hours or days later "whoops - need to change that again". Try to prevent that. Your first entry is final (we will find out!).



Q2) What stops us from holding back the track until the last day of the challenge?!
A2) Nothing. Though it will give both the song provider and us (the hosts) a lot of concern that the challenge might have failed. If you have finished your mix, you're happy with it and checked it again the next day. Please post it. Or at least give us a short shout out like "I'm still on it".

Suspense good and fine - but we want this to be fun, not frustrating because nobody joined. And having that uncertainty for the whole challenge, does strain nerves.



Q3) ARG! I don't have the time to join! I won't make it! Can you extend the time limits?
A3) No, but you can put away some time and join the next round of course.



Q4) I don't get the reference level thing - why?! Can't we just mix how we feel like?
A4) You still can, but we do recommend to at least check out and maybe adapt new mixing techniques.

Interesting reads can be found at the following places:
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=391672
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 4#p5775714 (middle section)
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 8#p5845478 (and the next 3 following posts)
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 5#p5867105 (an information about Loudness and Dynamic Range Analysis // ITU-R BS.1770-x LRA vs DR Meter values)
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much- ... tored.html



Q5) Artistic freedom but we're not allowed to rearrange, do heavy sound design or sound replacement?! But this track has issues!
A5) Another real life scenario. If you get tracks "as is", you shall threat them "as is". You are a mix engineer in this case, not the composer / songwriter / producer or actual remixer. Ideally you have contact with the client and you can communicate about these issues, work them out with him, ask for permission. In the case of this challenge however, the tracks are given. You have to expand upon them.

Yes, we know the lines blur these days. But imagine a virtual client that will be major ticked off if you changed his arrangement or core sound of a song without feedback and asked permission, just because you felt like it "added to the production". Unless he/she trusts you and your ideas, provided a track without any pre-set effects (EQ/Compression, etc) whatsoever, random snippets/outtakes and says "work from scratch, you have all my source filed, rearrange to your hearts content, mix how you feel like - show me what you can do" instead of "I wrote this song like that and have a specific sound in my mind, please expand on it". The former would definitely count to remixing and active sound design. And this always needs active communication!



Q6) The rules are too much - it kills the fun of the challenge
A6) We hear your opinion, but we can't agree on that. Unfortunately, we have to set up fairly strict rules for everyone to be on common ground. Pretty much every challenge or competition in the music realm has this. Even if they seem like a lot, they are still fairly simple however and less rights cutting than certain remix competition we have seen through the years. And as of MC17, the rules were even further simplified.



Q7) Why is that person "Compyfox" pretty much handling this alone?! What's his benefit in all of this?!
A7 answered by Compyfox) Initially I was a mere helper of the challenge, took care of technical questions, the Loudness Normalization, etc. During the curse of the first months, it was pretty much clear that our day jobs and families literally ran us over - and we had to massively restructure/simplify/streamline things. As of this moment, Uncle E is now our main man of contact regarding companies and musicians (he is also the main voice of reason), satYatunes handles designs and licenses, I still do everything technical behind the scenes, handle the Twitter account and also host the challenge. Show must go on!



Q8) I won the challenge! How can I pick up my license?
A8) Please get in touch with user satYatunes - he'll guide you through. But please don't wait too long for your "first pick", the other winners want to choose as well.



more FAQs will be added as soon as there are more similar questions popping up...

[Compyfox]

PRICE SPONSORS AND DONATIONS:
This section shows donated gifts for the current running Mix Challenge. This post will edited each month. Each corresponding "submission" thread will still list the sponsors for the particular month however.


Status: August 2015

Prices for mix participants (in alphabetical order):


Acon Digital is kind enough give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info on Acon Digital: http://acondigital.de



Ghostwave Audio (KVR User Karten) is kind enough to donate MixRight (a Reaktor Ensemble) to the winner (until further notice)
License won't turn into NFR, you need Native Instruments Reaktor 5.8+ for this
More info on Ghostwave Audio: http://ghostwaveaudio.com/



JRR Shop will give away a free copy of Audiffex/Audified STA Preamp (until further notice)
More info about the plugins on Audiffex (now known as Audified): http://shop.audified.com/
More info about the sponsor: http://www.jrrshop.com/



Metric Halo will give away a single plugin of winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info about Metric Halo: http://mhsecure.com/metric_halo/



Nyrv Systems offers AGENT incl. all currently available NyrvDevices and free update to at least v1.5 of winner's choice (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info about Nyrv Systems: http://www.nyrvsystems.com/



Sound and Graphic, KVR user and Mix Challenge staff satYatunes is donating one commercial product of winner's choice (until further notice)
More info on satYatune's page: http://www.satyatunes.com/



Tone2 is kind enough to donate either a bundle consisting of AkustiX Enhancer and WarmVerb, or a license of Ultraspace to the winner (until further notice)
License will turn into NFR
More info on Tone2: https://tone2.com



Two Notes Audio Engineering is kind enough to donate one license of Torpedo Wall of Sound III to the winner, loaded with 57 cabinets (equivalent to "Torpedo WoS II") (until Autumn 2017)
License will not turn into NFR
More info on Two Notes: http://www.two-notes.com/en/


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Month Exclusive Sponsor (August 2014):

U-HE is kind enough to donate any 1 plugin out of their plugin or instrument range
License will turn into NFR
More infor on U-HE: http://www.u-he.com


Month Exclusive Sponsor (September 2014):

IK Multimedia is kind enough to donate either EQ 73, EQ 81 or Master EQ 432 out of their T-Racks processor series.
License will turn into NFR
More infor on IK Multimedia: http://www.ikmultimedia.com


Month Exclusive Sponsor (October 2014):
NO IMAGE AVAILABLE
MuTools is kind enough to donate a license of MUX (currently Engine 5).
License will turn into NFR
More infor on MuTools: http://www.mutools.com


Month Exclusive Sponsor (June 2016):

Bjulin Waves is kind enough to offer bonus license exclusive to this challenge:
3 soundsets of choice to the 1st place, 2 soundsets of choice to the 2nc place and 1 soundset of choice to the third place
More info on Bjulin Waves: http://bjulin.de


Longtime Sponsorship (October 2014 to Juli 2015):
NO IMAGE AVAILABLE
IK Multimedia is kind enough to donate any one plugin of their T-Racks Singles range. Winner's choice.
License will turn into NFR
More info on IKM: http://www.ikmultimedia.com



JRR Shop will give away either one of the following plugins:
SONiVOX Wobble, Pulse or Twist (until further notice)
More info about the plugins on SONiVOX: http://www.sonivoxmi.com
More info about the sponsor: http://www.jrrshop.com/


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Prices for one random drawn voter (was dropped after MC03)

JRR Shop themselves, and JRR Shop in cooperation with UVI, will give away either one of the following plugins:
SONiVOX Wobble, Pulse, Vocalizer, or Twist (until further notice)
or
UVI Mello or Digital Synsations (for this month, License will turn into NFR)
More info about the plugins on SONiVOX: http://www.sonivoxmi.com
More info about the plugins on UVI: http://www.uvi.net/
More info about the sponsor: http://www.jrrshop.com/


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THANK YOU FOR THE DONATIONS!
our sponsorship is/ contributions/donations are very generous of you. We can't thank you enough. And since the page is limited in terms of visuals, here is a list of (all) previous donors that provided anything so far

Melda Production (donated MCompressor June 2014), Klanghelm (donated a bundle of all their plugins July 2014), U-HE (donated any 1 of their whole plugin range for August 2014), IK Multimedia (donated either EQ 73, EQ 81 or Master EQ 432 for month September 2014, any API type plugin for month November/December 2014, any-one plugin of the T-Racks range from January 2015 to July 2015), MuTools (donated MUX Engine 5 for month October 2014), Camel Audio (donated CamelSpace and CamelPhat until they closed doors in January 2015), JRR Shop (in cooperation with SONiVOX, donated Vocalizer until November 2015, and Wobble/Twist/Pulse until February 2016) and Bjulin Waves (donating three soundsets for June 2016)



Sponsors for "random voter license winner":
JRR Shop in cooperation with UVI (donated UVI Mello or Digital Synsations, KVR MC02 to MC03).


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Thank you to satYatunes for providing visuals.


If you want to sponsor content (please have a focus on mix plugins, bundles and the likes), please get in touch with the initiators of the competition.

[Compyfox]

WINNERS OF THE MIX CHALLENGE:
This section honors the winners of former Mix Challenges. Thanks for your contribution, and congratulations to your success.



2014 - June - Mix Challenge 01:
17 mix entries, 16 votes (14 times 3 votes, 2 times 1 vote) // 4 winner licenses

Winners Podium:
Place 1: mwaudioprod (7 votes) || Place 2: Compyfox (6 votes) || Place 3: photonic (5 votes), shroom feeverish (no voted tag, 5 votes) || Place 4: Halma (4 votes)

Threads: MC01 Submissions, Feedback and Q&A || MC01 Voting Thread



2014 - July - Mix Challenge 02:
12 mix entries, 14 votes // 3 winner licenses

Winners Podium:
Place 1: mwaudioprod (22pts) || Place 2: photonic (16pts) || Place 3: shroom feverish (12pts)

Random license Winners: H-Man

Threads: MC02 Submissions, Feedback and Q&A || MC02 Voting Thread



2014 - August - Mix Challenge 03:
22 mix entries, 22 votes // 5 winner licenses

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Photonic (19pts) || Place 2: Solitrax (17pts) || Place 3: Doc Jon (14pts)

License winners (participant /4 rule): Photonic, Solidtrax, Doc Jon, Shroom Feverish, blind
Random License Winner: bassbreakers (bystander)

Thread: MC03 - Multi Purpose Thread



2014 - September - Mix Challenge 04:
28 mix entries // new "client" evaluation system // no second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: mwaudioprod || Place 2: jhkennedy5 || Place 3: 3ee

Thread: MC04 - Multi Purpose Thread



2014 - October - Mix Challenge 05:
18 mix entries // new "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Doc Jon|| Place 2: Cruisy185|| Place 3: 3ee

Thread: MC05 - Multi Purpose Thread



2014 - November - Mix Challenge 06:
11 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Aditya.inHim|| Place 2: 3ee || Place 3: Westcoast -- Place 4: MixedMind || Place 5: XorXist

Thread: MC06 - Multi Purpose Thread



2014 - December - Mix Challenge 07:
10 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Geroyannis || Place 2: Shroomfeverish || Place 3: Photonic

Thread: MC07 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - February - Mix Challenge 08:
20 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Aditya.inHim || Place 2: photonic || Place 3: mkd

Thread: MC08 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - April - Mix Challenge 09:
14 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // CHANGED HELM (evaluation by staff) // no second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Davias || Place 2: 3ee || Place 3: Stonecutter

Thread: MC09 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - May - Mix Challenge 10:
11 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Jim Kennedy || Place 2: Photonic || Place 3: Pirahna81

Thread: MC10 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - June - Mix Challenge 11:
16 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Kolyev || Place 2: nineofkings || Place 3: Davias

Thread: MC11 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - July - Mix Challenge 12:
7 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // one mix round only

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Photonic || Place 2: Kolyev || Place 3: VasDim

Thread: MC12 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - August - Mix Challenge 13:
10 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Kolyev || Place 2: polygonsheep || Place 3: Compyfox

Thread: MC13 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - September - Mix Challenge 14:
14 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Compyfox || Place 2: Jim Kennedy || Place 3: photonic

Thread: MC14 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - October - Mix Challenge 15 (#Rocktober):
16 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: photonic || Place 2: DR Audio Labs || Place 3: radio12

Thread: MC15 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - November - Mix Challenge 16:
7 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Kolyev || Place 2: photonic || Place 3: Davias

Thread: MC16 - Multi Purpose Thread



2015 - December - Mix Challenge 17 (#HolidayMix):
13 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: G_Liou || Place 2: photonic || Place 3: Kolyev || Place 4: VasDim || Place 5: Piranha81

Thread: MC17 - Multi Purpose Thread



2016 - February - Mix Challenge 18:
11 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Davias || Place 2: photonic || Place 3: 3ee

Thread: MC18 - Multi Purpose Thread


2016 - March - Mix Challenge 19:
16 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: photonic || Place 2: G_Liou || Place 3: Gamma-ut

Thread: MC19 - Multi Purpose Thread


2016 - April - Mix Challenge 20:
15 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: radio12 || Place 2: ykon28 || Place 3: jhkennedy5

Thread: MC20 - Multi Purpose Thread


2016 - May - Mix Challenge 21:
8 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round (with all participants!)

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Kolyev || Place 2: kevin gobin || Place 3: Davias

Thread: MC21 - Multi Purpose Thread


2016 - June - Mix Challenge 22:
12 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Kolyev || Place 2: Dave McIsaac || Place 3: 3ee

Thread: MC22 - Multi Purpose Thread


2016 - July - Mix Challenge 23:
14 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round

Winners Podium:
Place 1: piranha81 || Place 2: Kolyev|| Place 3: 3ee

Thread: MC23 - Multi Purpose Thread



2016 - August - Mix Challenge 24:
7 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // second mix round (with all participants!)

Winners Podium:
Place 1: Davias || Place 2: photonic || Place 3: piranha81

Thread: MC24 - Multi Purpose Thread



2016 - September - Mix Challenge 25:
17 mix entries // "client" evaluation system // - - -

Winners Podium:
Place 1: - - - || Place 2: - - - || Place 3: - - -

Thread: MC25 - Multi Purpose Thread



2016 - October - Mix Challenge 26:
- - - mix entries // "client" evaluation system // - - -

Winners Podium:
Place 1: - - - || Place 2: - - - || Place 3: - - -

Thread: MC26 - Multi Purpose Thread


Thank you to all mix contributors and bystander who voted.

[Compyfox]

SONG PROVIDERS LIST:
This section honors the song providers of the KVR Mix Challenge. Thank you very much for your mixes. Without you, the Mix Challenge wouldn't exist. Please check out their social media, song pages, what have you, and show them some love.


EDIT:
Complete listing, now on http://mix-challenge.com/


2016 - August - Mix Challenge 24:
Song Provider: Loris Solic (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Blue Wings, 4:16min
Artist Page: https://soundcloud.com/loris-solic


2016 - September - Mix Challenge 25:
Song Provider: The Present (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Don't Turn Me Away, 3:32min
Artist Page: https://soundcloud.com/the-present-o-1968


2016 - MONTH - Mix Challenge 26:
Song Provider: Action Cat (KVR Profile)
Song Name and Length: Tomorrow, 4:19min
Artist Page: https://soundcloud.com/action-cat-1


2016 - MONTH - Mix Challenge 27:
Song Provider: - - -
Song Name and Length: - - -
Artist Page: - - -