This is a list of rules and scheduling details for the NGUAC 2024, a music contest here on Newgrounds. If anything is unclear, please comment below.

How do I enter?

To submit a track for tryouts, simply go to this forum thread, click “respond to this topic” on the top-right, and post a link to your track. BUT FIRST:

1. Make sure it's clear whether you have a teammate/collaborator for the contest. If you are entering as a solo artist, you cannot submit a collaboration to the competition. Having someone else sing or play an instrument for you is fine, but you must still compose the music and lyrics yourself AND mix/master the piece. Your non-teammate singer/instrumentalist is not allowed to improvise for your track. If you are entering as a team of two, you cannot collaborate with anyone beside your teammate. Both team members must contribute to all of the pieces submitted as part of the contest. You can’t just submit a collab as your tryout piece when your team member isn’t around for the rest of the contest. Teams of more than 2 are not allowed. 
2. Obey the NG Audio guidelines. Copyrighted samples are never acceptable and can get independent websites like Newgrounds in a lot of legal trouble. AI-generated content is not your original work, so treat it like a sample and don't upload full-length tracks of it to Newgrounds.
3. Don’t overuse presets or stock loops. Songs that use full-length acapella vocals or pre-made drum loops - even if they’re not copyrighted - will be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Covers, arrangements, remixes, remakes, and mash-ups are acceptable for the tryout round only, not the knock-out or final rounds. 
4. Post a song from NEWGROUNDS. No submissions from Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc. will be accepted! 
5. Submit a piece of MUSIC (of any genre). No comedy pieces, sound effect reels, or voice acting.
6. Only submit ONE song.

Other cool (but optional) things to do:

1. You can change your submission any time BEFORE the deadline. Just clearly state in the thread that you’re changing it. AFTER the submission deadline, please don’t replace or delete the audio file in Newgrounds' Project System until the following round starts.
2. You can submit a song to the NGUAC that you had previously submitted to another contest on Newgrounds, like the NGADM. Just make sure to follow the rules for both contests.  

What happens after tryouts?

The contest has 3 distinct rounds (tryouts, a knock-out round, and finals), each consisting of a submission phase of roughly 2 weeks, when the contestants make and upload their tracks, and a judging phase of 4-9 days, when the judges score those tracks. Some contestants are eliminated after each round, and once you're eliminated you can't get back in (unlike the NGADM, there are no substitutions for people who drop out).

The last two rounds are tougher than tryouts, for a couple of reasons. First, PARTICIPANTS MUST WAIT to start working on their tracks until the corresponding forum thread is posted. You also can’t create samples for the purpose of using them in a Knock-out or Final round piece before that round begins. Also, in the last two rounds, covers, arrangements, VIPs, mash-ups, remakes, and remixes ARE NOT ALLOWED.

All submission phases close at 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) Eastern Daylight Time on the final date of each phase (see the schedule below). Submission phases open as soon as the forum thread for that round is posted.

Full contest schedule:

How will my song be scored/judged? 

The judges score participants out of 10 by considering a variety of parameters. These parameters and how much they each influence your score may vary by judge. Scores are averaged among the judges to determine who advances to future rounds. Generally, the top 50% of competitors from each group are accepted into the Knock-out Round from Tryouts, and about 20% are accepted into the Final Round from the Knock-out Round. Most rounds, a given judge won’t score all of the competitors; we’ll divide it up by group. 

Late submissions to any round will be accepted until 24 hours after the deadline with a “tax” on your score, according to the following paradigm:

Hours late = percentage off final score

<1 = 5% 

1-3 = 10% 

3-6 = 15%

6-24 = 20%

>24 = 100%

If you’re, say, EXACTLY 3 hours late, your submission will fall in the “3-6 hours” category. 

How do the contest groups work?

After the tryout submission phase, participants are grouped evenly based on their fan totals. These groupings help ensure that the best of the “Underdogs” advance as far as possible without directly competing with more experienced and knowledgeable musicians. It’s kinda the premise of the entire competition. 

To be clear, the groupings are NOT an indicator of how good you are at making music - often Underdogs have fewer fans because they’re relatively new to the site, and All Stars have more fans for non-music reasons. But overall, fans are probably the best, reasonably simple way of determining who might have a similar experience level, both with music-making and Newgrounds.   

Also, if your team members would belong to different groups as solo artists, the team will be assigned to the group with the highest fan total among its members (i.e., if one member has 20 fans and one has 60, and the All Stars each have 50+ fans, the team will compete in the All Stars group).

What happens if I win the contest?

Prizes will include forum signatures for the top 3 finishers boasting of their success in the competition, and your Final Round track will get posted on the front page of the Audio Portal the week after the competition. This year, I’ll also personally give a year-long supporter status to the top 3 finishers.

TL;DR: DEFINITELY DON’T DO THESE THINGS

• Submit a piece to the Knock-out or Final Round that you worked on before the round started
• Submit a collaboration as your tryout piece when you’re not on a team
• Update your track in the project system during the judging phase
• Submit your track after the deadline
• Use copyrighted or stolen content

Thank you in advance for following the rules. Good luck and (most importantly) have fun! :D

In January 2024, there were 12,218 submissions to the Newgrounds Audio Portal, by far the most in the Portal's 21-year history. This is actually quite easy to verify: the first submission of February was @Urielthepro's "February", and the first one of January that wasn't subsequently taken down was @IvySnyder's "24-1-1-1-1" (the true first of the month - this one - was taken down sometime in January). Just subtract the audio IDs from each other, and add 1 for the missing "true first," and you come up with 12,218.

And yes, I figure out this number every month because I'm an absolutely UNWIELDY stat nerd. The previous record was 11,646 submissions in June 2021. Here's a chart of the number of Audio Portal submissions every month since February 2003:

TL;DR: I'm a huge dweeb and the AP is as popular as ever. :)

There were 93,596 uploads to the Newgrounds Audio Portal in 2023. While I haven't listened to all of them, here are some of the ones I've heard that really made a lasting impression on me, in chronological order of upload date. As usual, there's a limit of one song per artist.

"Kings & Queens" by @Trackers

If you're in the mood for powerful vocals and some serious guitar shreddage, please check out this banger. With a feature from YouTube rock vocalist Rob Lundgren, "Kings & Queens" feels more like a metal track than the pop song it's labeled as on Newgrounds. Also, I'm a total sucker for ambiguous and cryptic lyrics, and this song has a line I particularly like for that reason. The refrain speaks of kings and queens "having one thing binding them," but NEVER mentions what that thing is. :D

"Barely Here" by @LLAAPPSSEE

From the energetic to the downtempo and moody. LLAAPPSSEE absolutely nails the introspective vocals and jazzy instrumentals here, with an experimental twist towards the end that keeps the listener paying attention. The E-piano defines a rich atmosphere, and the glitchy details give the song a distinct sense of unease, speaking to the feeling of anxiety and isolation implied by the title.

"Worlds Between" by @BeyondOurEyes

Back to something more upbeat. BeyondOurEyes effortlessly combines rock and electronic influences to produce this sometimes-dreamy, sometimes-hard-hitting banger. There's plenty of variety and bold melodies to keep the energy up, with some fun rhythmic sections providing a break from the frantic lead guitar riffs. BOE covers a lot of ground here - between worlds indeed.

"Clad" by @Waterflame

It was an incredibly prolific year for Waterflame, but one of the more unique and creative tracks of his this year was this hip-hop-inspired set. Rife with vocal samples and jazzy instrumental breaks, it will get your foot tapping while instilling a strong sense of nostalgia (assuming you were alive in the 90s, that is). Watch out for the upright bass solo about 3/4 of the way through, too - no matter how many times I listen to this track, that solo is always a pleasant surprise.

"Eyes" by @Ajtastic

Speaking of nostalgia, Ajtastic brings a strong dose of 2000s-era coffee shop rock with "Eyes." I love the lyrics for their visceral description of anatomy and the instrumentals for their mellow tone and good use of blending. The vocal layering is also quite impressive, with some good "call-and-response" moments between different recordings. This track has really grown on me since I first listened to it in July.

"Suntrap" by @florianscreek

Criminally underrated artist alert. The relatable lyrics. The smoothly-executed combination of indie and rap. The gentle pacing and subtle atmospheric details. This guy is delivering professional-quality tracks (and yes, he has several others on Newgrounds), but only has 18 fans! Florian's Creek claims to make music for "introverts and outsiders," and boy is he succeeding at it.

"100.000" by @ColBreakz

ColBreakz made this track to commemorate passing 100,000 subscribers on YouTube. Sometimes, tracks released specifically for milestones are kinda half-ass. This one is absolutely full-ass. It's an upbeat, energetic EDM banger with a ton of variety and some really creative tempo changes, transitions, and rhythmic content. Really captures the euphoric sensation of getting to a 6-figure sub total. Well-deserved, ColBreakz!

"Chuvstva" by @Wushyx

It was a good year for hip-hop on Newgrounds, and Wushyx is a big reason why. This track is incredibly memorable and well-structured considering how short it is. Wushyx's vocal performance is full of passion and (according to Google Translate) hurt feelings over a love interest who slipped away. The raw, gritty synth riff backing the vocals fits perfectly with the sharp-edged lyrics, too, and overall the piece is really well-produced. You don't need to speak Russian to appreciate this one.

"Aztec Reaper" by @Ryzmik

Ryzmik could've saved this one for Halloween, but instead he posted it in June. It's creepy as hell. Isolated woodwind riffs, exotic percussion, dramatic sweeps, and an angry synth bass will chase you as you're trying to escape the haunted forest before nightfall. It's a great balance of cinematic flair and danceability, really. Super creative stuff.

"Dancing On Our Graves" by @CrossCarrasco

And once the Aztec Reaper has completed its work, the afterlife is portrayed perfectly by this morbid masterpiece. Inspired by Chicano culture, and complete with maracas, castanets, and brass flourishes, "Dancing On Our Graves" describes a night out among the undead. It's a fun piece with a great guitar solo and vocal melodies - one might even say it's to die for.

"Toy Soldiers" by @ZaneLittle

Cutest piece you've heard in your life. The sound design just perfectly encapsulates life as a toy soldier - the militaristic percussion, the cutesy melodies, the VGM-caliber synths, you name it. The "wind up" and "wind down" effects bookend the piece so nicely, putting a vivid image in the listeners' heads, and a bittersweet and wistful feeling in their hearts.

"Eclipse" by @Benji-G

Equal parts eerie and adventuresome, "Eclipse" has all the authoritative vocals, four-on-the-floor beats, and catchy synth riffs to round out another EDM banger. In a fun twist, the climax of the piece occurs at the end of the bridge, right around the 2-minute mark, and with the most prominent melody up to that point, it feels rather cinematic. @ADR3-N said it best in her August 25th review: "This is about as good as house sound design gets!"

"Locked In" by @CrowdDoll"

CrowdDoll has a ton of more popular uploads from the past year, but I don't care. "Locked In" is just so damn soothing, and the sub-bass sits really well in the mix. The first drop gives me chills every time. Another piece with killer sound design, it also has a good amount of variety and a great atmosphere. My favorite sound design choice is probably the vocal yelps that first appear about halfway through - they really add a sense of urgency and conflict to an otherwise laid-back track.

"Emerald Funk" by @Walpang

How does this track not have more hits? It's very relaxed at the beginning, but really hits you with a slow-burning, funky vibe by the end. The sound design is great, the rhythmic content is SO CATCHY, and all the saxophone riffs and mini-solos flow into each other very well. No wonder the saxophone is an original recording, because it's incredibly expressive. Fantastic track. Sounds like I'm walking through a snooty, upscale hotel before finding a bunch of hippies partying on the roof.

"Summer Fan" by @SPIRALi

Blissful. Catchy. Well-produced. Cute vocals and other sound design. Punchy drums. A ton of prominent melodies. What more do you want out of a summer hit? There's a ton of EDM on Newgrounds, but tracks like this really stand out to me in a good way.

"Moonlighting" by @Troisnyx and @DisOmikron ("Two Meeps")

This is one track where I'm going to let the artists speak for themselves about the piece. The tags include "angry," "angsty," and "rock-opera." The lyrics speak of "false memories" and "pretty lies." The author's description alludes to suicide and the abuse of power and authority. Please read it in full as you listen to get the full story behind the piece.

"Be That As It May" by @Spoonman420

This meditative indie ballad will lure you in with its soothing vocals and strummed acoustic guitar riffs. The lyrics, however, betray an underlying anxiety and desire for escape, which ultimately yields to a full acceptance of the present moment in the end. It's a really beautiful narrative arc, and the texture of the piece mirrors that narrative well. Spoonman420 also has a number of other tracks that are stylistically very similar to "Be That As It May," if you're curious.

"Guest of Honour" by @Mischa-head

Another guitar track that lures you in with some soothing riffs and gentle vocals towards the beginning. This one goes in a bit of a different direction, though, with a powerful refrain whose lyrics discuss world-changing ambition. The verses have a characteristic ascending bass line that gives the piece a distinctly unstable feeling, like the quaking of internal conflict and unrealized potential. At least that's my interpretation. But regardless of the thematic content, Mischa's authoritative vocals and strong guitar work will have you coming back for multiple listens here.

"Run Away" by @KayozKun

Unlike the last two, there's nothing soothing or gentle about this piece. KayozKun hits the listener over the head with frantic synth riffs and a variety of vocal samples. The melodic content is rather blissful-sounding, but is interspersed with rhythmic club beats and sometimes-chaotic transitions. If you're ever in danger of falling asleep during a late-night study session, this track will wake you right up again, and maybe help you start a dance party to boot.

"Different Shapes" by @ALGOfficial

Another EDM banger with some great sound design. This one is spacey and offbeat, with quirky chopped vocals and clubbish drums that eventually yield to a dreamy atmosphere and more breathy vox. It's rare to find an EDM track on Newgrounds that has such a strong narrative appeal, but the reinvented energetic refrain in the last minute really hits the piece home. ALGO also really tested my one-song-per-artist rule for this list; Mallet is another baller track of his from 2023.

"My Infinity" by @LucidShadowDreamer

Just about no one on Newgrounds has been as consistently and incredibly good at what they do for more than a decade like LucidShadowDreamer has been at original piano compositions. This one also incorporates some ethnic flutes and strings that, in his words, "transport you into a different world as you listen; one filled with complex events and emotions." The cinematic appeal of the piece is self-evident. The melodies and progression are indeed packed with an incredible level of complexity and emotion. I feel like I've experienced the entertainment value of a feature-length movie in just 5 minutes.

"A Star Like Me" by @Lordant

In case you haven't heard, @Lordant won the NGADM this year by producing 5 amazing cinematic beauties over the course of about 3 months. Any of them could have easily made this list. But I like "A Star Like Me" for capturing such a sense of wonder that I associate both with outer space and with the process of self-discovery. It also happens to be Lordant's winning track from the final round of the contest. Speaking of a sense of wonder, a close second in my mind is "Rain Elegy."

"Resolution" by @Papkee

Much like Lordant, Papkee also saved his best work in the NGADM for last in my opinion. With tranquil mallets and subdued strings, this orchestral majesty slowly blossoms into a triumphant and melodious masterpiece. The pitter-pattering piano riff also gives the piece a restorative flair, as if the titular resolution only yields a new beginning (2024, perhaps?).

---

Here's to another year of inspiring Newgrounds artistry! But I'm not sure I like how I've set a precedent that I match the number of tracks I put on my year-end favorites list with the year itself. Will I come up with 87 best tracks of the year for 2087? Stay tuned to find out! ^_^

This is a list of rules and scheduling details for the NGUAC 2023, a music contest here on Newgrounds. If anything is unclear, please leave a comment below.

"I WANT TO ENTER! WHAT DO I DO???"

To submit a track for tryouts, simply go to this forum thread, click “respond to this topic” on the top-right, and post a link to your track. BUT FIRST, please make sure you:

1. Only submit ONE song.
2. Submit a piece of music. No comedy pieces, sound effect reels, or voice acting.
3. Don’t overuse presets or stock loops. Songs that use full-length acapella vocal tracks or drum loops with little modification - even if they’re not copyrighted - will be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Covers, arrangements, remixes, remakes, and mash-ups are acceptable for the tryout round only, not the knock-out or final rounds. 
4. POST A SONG FROM NEWGROUNDS. No submissions from Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc. will be accepted! Also, make sure you actually press “publish audio” - the judges can’t access your piece if it’s left unpublished in the project system. 
5. Follow the NG Audio Portal guidelines. Samples ripped directly from Nintendo or whatever not only show a lack of originality, but they also get small, independent websites like Newgrounds in a lot of legal trouble.
6. Make it clear whether you have a teammate/collaborator for the contest. In the NGUAC, you can enter the competition either by yourself or with ONE other person. If you are entering by yourself, YOU CANNOT SUBMIT A COLLABORATION to the competition. If you are entering as a team of 2, you cannot collaborate with anyone besides your teammate. Having someone else sing or play an instrument for you is fine, but you must still compose the music and lyrics yourself AND mix/master the piece. Your non-teammate singer/instrumentalist is not allowed to improvise for your track. Teams of more than 2 are not allowed. Also, both members of a team must contribute to all of the pieces submitted as part of the contest. You can’t just submit a collab as your audition piece when your team member is AWOL for the rest of the contest. 

OTHER COOL (BUT OPTIONAL) THINGS TO DO:

1. You can change the piece you submit to the contest, up until the submission deadline. Just CLEARLY state in the thread that you’d like to change it. However, please do not update your track (i.e., replace or delete the audio file in Newgrounds' Project System) during the judging phases until results are released for the following round.
2. You can submit a song to the NGUAC that you had previously submitted to another contest on NG, like the NGADM or AIM. Please just make sure to follow the rules for BOTH contests. 
3. You can post a track of any genre you want to. Just know that the judges are looking for well-rounded musicians here. Neither a repetitive, minimal club beat nor an acoustic jam with terrible recording/mixing quality will get you very far in this contest.  

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER TRYOUTS?

The contest has 3 distinct rounds (tryouts, a knock-out round, and finals), each consisting of a submission phase of roughly 2.5 weeks, when the contestants make and upload their tracks, and a judging phase of 4-9 days, when the judges score those tracks. Some contestants are eliminated after each round.

The latter two rounds are tougher than tryouts, for a couple of reasons. First, PARTICIPANTS MUST WAIT to start working on their Knock-out or Final Round tracks until the corresponding forum thread is posted. You also can’t create samples for the purpose of using them in a Knock-out or Final round piece before that corresponding round begins. Making a track on a deadline is part of the challenge of this contest. Also, in the Knock-out and Final rounds, covers, arrangements, VIPs, mash-ups, remakes, and remixes ARE NOT ALLOWED.

All submission phases close at 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) Eastern Daylight Time on the final date of each phase (see the schedule below). Submission phases open as soon as the forum thread for that round is posted.

FULL CONTEST SCHEDULE:

HOW WILL MY SONG BE SCORED/JUDGED? 

The judges give participants a score out of 10 by considering a variety of parameters. These parameters may vary by judge. Scores are averaged among the judges to determine who advances to future rounds. Generally, the top 50% of competitors from each group are accepted into the Knock-out Round from Tryouts, and about 20% are accepted into the Final Round from the Knock-out Round. Most rounds, a given judge won’t score all of the competitors; we’ll divide it up by group. 

If you have any questions about judges’ scores or the contest in general, please PM ME instead of getting combative in the thread. Standard BBS and Audio Portal rules ALWAYS apply.

Late submissions to any round will be accepted until 24 hours after the deadline with a “tax” on your score, according to the following paradigm: 

Hours late = percentage off final score

<1 = 5% 

1-3 = 10% 

3-6 = 15%

6-24 = 20%

>24 = 100%

If you’re, say, EXACTLY 3 hours late, your submission will fall in the “3-6 hours” category. 

HOW DO THE CONTEST “GROUPS” WORK?

Immediately after the tryout submission phase, the participants will be grouped evenly based on their fan totals. These groupings are meant to ensure that the best of the “Underdogs” advance as far as possible without directly competing with more experienced and knowledgeable musicians. It’s kinda the premise of the entire competition. 

To be clear, being in the “Underdogs” group doesn’t mean you’re bad at making music - it just means that you have fewer fans on the site than most of the other competitors, often because you’re relatively new to the site. Likewise, you being in the “All Stars” group isn’t an honor either. Sometimes, All Stars have gained those fans from their presence in the forums or other aspects of the site that have nothing to do with music. But overall, I think fan totals are the best, reasonably simple way of parsing out who might have a roughly similar experience level, both with music-making and with the Newgrounds community.   

Also, if the members of your team would otherwise be placed in different groups as solo artists, the team will be placed in the group corresponding to the highest fan total among its members (e.x., if one member has 20 fans and the other has 60, and the All Stars each have 50 fans or more, the team will compete in the All Stars group).

WHAT HAPPENS IF I WIN THE CONTEST?

Prizes will include forum signatures for the top 3 finishers boasting of their success in the competition, as well as spots on the front page of the Audio Portal the week after the competition. This year, I’ll also personally give a year-long supporter status to the top 3 finishers.

TL;DR: DEFINITELY DON’T DO THESE THINGS

• Submit a piece to the Knock-out or Final Round that you worked on before the round started
• Submit a collaboration as your tryout piece when you’re not on a team
• Update your track in the project system during the judging phase
• Submit your track after the deadline
• Use copyrighted or stolen content

Thank you in advance for following the rules. Good luck and (most importantly) have fun! :D

Hello friends! The following is a list of rules and scheduling details for the 2023 rendition of the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch (NGADM)!

I WANT TO ENTER! WHAT DO I DO???!!!

To submit a track for the audition round, simply go to this forum thread, click “respond to this topic” on the top-right, and post a link to your track. For this round, your track should fit the following criteria:

• The track is either made from scratch for the competition, or a track that you've made in the past. Either is fine.
• The track is of any genre you want.
• The track is only ONE song. There’s no length limit for NGADM submissions, but it should be an internally cohesive whole. Please don't submit entire albums, DJ sets, or the like.
• The track is uploaded to Newgrounds. No submissions from Bandcamp, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. will be accepted. 
• The audition track is either an original composition, or a cover/arrangement of someone else’s track that DOES NOT use any direct samples from the original. If you want to grab a mic and try to mimic Waluigi’s voice on your track, that’s fine. But you can’t rip sounds directly from copyrighted songs, movies, TV shows, or video games just because someone else has uploaded clips of them to YouTube.
• Relatedly, the track must conform to ALL of the Newgrounds Audio Guidelines. 
• The track makes it clear and obvious whether you have any collaborators. You're allowed to enter the competition as a team of two, BUT your audition must be a collaborative effort between you and your collab partner, not a track made by either one of you individually. Likewise, if you’re NOT entering the competition as a team of 2, then you CAN’T submit a collaboration as your audition piece unless you truly did all of the creative work (composing notes, mixing, and mastering) yourself. Example: if you want your friend who’s a killer saxophone player to bust out a solo on your track, that’s fine, but you need to write all of the notes that he’s playing. He’s not allowed to have any creative control or do any improv unless he’s your teammate for the entire competition.
• The track is submitted on time! The submission deadline is July 13th at 11:59 p.m. EDT (GMT -4). Any and all exceptions must be cleared by me personally in advance of July 13th. That said, if you’d like to switch out your previous submission for a new one before the deadline, that’s totally fine. Simply post the new submission in the thread and make it clear that you’d rather have the new one in the competition.

WHAT HAPPENS IF I PASS AUDITIONS?

The contest itself is split into two phases: the group stage and the single-elimination phase. During the group stage, the top 64 competitors from the audition round will be seeded into groups of 4, where they will have 3 weeks to make a brand-new track. The (one) winner from each of these groups will advance to the next phase, in which each matchup is 1-v-1 and the participant with the lowest score is eliminated each time. For all of these rounds (the group stage and the single-elimination phase), your tracks should fit the following criteria:

• Each track must be made from scratch, by you, for the competition. No remixes, covers, arrangements, or revisiting old tracks. Having said that, you may still ask someone to play an instrument and/or sing for you IF you write all of their notes and lyrics and mix/master the track yourself.
• Each track must have been made (i.e., both started and finished) during the round that you’re submitting it to. You can’t just pick your favorite tracks that you made months and/or years ago and post a different one for each round. You also can’t start on a track for a future round if you finish your track for a previous round early. No selecting the instruments you want to use. No writing out chord progressions. The one exception is if you have a mixing template or customized DAW settings you use for all of your tracks.
• If you entered as a two-person team, each track should reflect the contributions of both members of the team. “Tag teaming” is not allowed.
• Each track must be posted in the forum thread corresponding to a given round of the competition. Upon creating these separate threads, I will tag users who have advanced to that round within the first few posts. Unlike previous NGADMs, you may also post any kind of discussion related to the NGADM or music in general in these threads. There’s no separate discussion thread.
• Each track should conform to all Audio Portal and all BBS rules. This should go without saying!
• Each track should reflect your best work. This contest is tough! You're expected to crank out a new track within two weeks. We love the huge turnout we get each year in terms of participants, but if you can't keep up with the pace, consider backing out of this one. Walkovers and last-minute dropouts tend to happen no matter what, but we'd like to keep them to a minimum.

FAQ

Will I get reviews on my submissions?

Not necessarily, especially in the earlier rounds. There are likely going to be several hundred auditions this year, and it'll be pretty much impossible for the judges to review them all. That said, in the past, judges have been very receptive to specific review requests sent via PM. Just make sure to be non-confrontational about it. These people are volunteering their time to help you improve your music, after all.

Is there a maximum/minimum length requirement for the contest track?

No, but use your common sense! Anything too long will be harder to keep interesting and coherent/structured, and anything too short might not have enough memorable content in it.

Can I use my NGADM submission for other contest submissions on Newgrounds? Or vice versa? 

Absolutely, yes! Just make sure you’re following the rules for both competitions. 

Who will be judging my submissions?

@ADR3-N, @Bosa, @ConnorGrail, @SplatterDash, @TaintedLogic, @TeraVex, @Wobwobrob, and @X3LL3N.

What is the judging criteria for the music?

Every judge is given free rein on how to judge the music. However, for general guidelines:

• Judges will take into consideration everything from mixing to mastering to melodies to harmonies to structure to originality to transitions to everything in-between.
• Make sure your track is one cohesive experience, has a suitable amount of content, and adequately maintains interest from start to finish. This means that "background music" that's 8 minutes long and only changes slightly once every 16 bars, 1-minute loops with little musical content and tracks that sound like three different tracks glued together all will have marks deducted.
• DO NOT blame any shortcoming of your track on the genre it's in. Comments like "This is House, obviously it will sound repetitive" or "This is Orchestral, it doesn't need good mixing" will get you nowhere. This competition receives submissions consisting of many different genres, and we try to remain as unbiased as possible, so we won't be turning a blind eye to any kind of shortcomings simply based upon the genre of a track.
• Remember that, first and foremost, this is a music competition. The less your track sounds like a piece of music, the lower your chances of success. Experimental noise, atonal ambience, voice-acting, sound effect compilations, etc... don't expect these to make it very high on a judge's score sheet.

PRIZES

1st place: Newgrounds Supporter Upgrade, 1st Place NGADM 2023 Forum Signature, Frontpage Showcase

2nd place: Newgrounds Supporter Upgrade, 2nd Place NGADM 2023 Forum Signature, Frontpage Showcase

3rd place: Newgrounds Supporter Upgrade, 3rd Place NGADM 2023 Forum Signature, Frontpage Showcase

4th place: Newgrounds Supporter Upgrade

FULL SCHEDULE

Thank you in advance for following the rules. Good luck and (most importantly) have fun! :D

Also, special thanks to @LD-W and @ChronoNomad. I’ve literally ripped bits and pieces of these rules directly from previous posts of theirs. 

Exciting news, everyone! I just found out this morning that I've been whitelisted for Geometry Dash, meaning you can use my music on Newgrounds to construct a level. The funny thing is, I never asked to be whitelisted, which probably means a GD moderator just added me at some point. I consider this an enormous honor, and if that moderator happens to be reading this, THANK YOU!

You're free to use any of my tracks in the game. I would appreciate it if you could let me know when/if you use a track of mine for the game, but you don't have to. I'm just curious what track you're using, how the level plays, etc. Who knows - maybe this will even motivate me to play GD for the first time, haha.

Either way, massive shout-out to RobTop Games and the entire GD community. Me getting whitelisted easily made my day. ^_^

Is it too late to make a best-of-2022 song list? No? Good, because I've been busy for the last few days.

Here are some songs from the Newgrounds Audio Portal that made a lasting impression on me from this past year. Just understand that I didn't listen to ALL 83,001 tracks uploaded to the site in 2022, so I'm sure there are many more that deserve to be on this list. So without further ado...

@Waterflame - Jungle Driver

Yes, I'll admit it: I'm a Waterflame fanboy. This was a particularly prolific year for him, and this track has all the danceability and variety that I'm used to hearing from him. I think this track has an especially good balance between variety and cohesion, though. Listen closely (or just dozens of times, as I have), and you'll realize that many of the same motifs are threaded carefully throughout the piece, despite the sense that it also continually evolves. Really neat track.

@PrettyMuchBryce - Designated Drivers

As I've said before in these best-music-of-the-year posts, there are a lot of underrated vocalists on Newgrounds. Tracks like "Designated Drivers" have an appealing combination of approachable pop-rock sensibilities with heavy and multi-layered lyrics. Also be sure to check out PMB's song "Blame," which is as relatable as it is catchy.

@XUMAMUSIC (formerly "Xeufe") - Pretend

To select a song that doesn't have the word "driver" in the title, we go to XUMA's "Pretend," a hard-hitting and eerie track that I interpreted as about unrequited love. Characterized by carefully processed vocals and brutal drops, this piece is not for sticklers on over-compression. But it IS for people who like pitch-shifting effects, creepypasta-caliber arpeggios, and gritty mid-range basses. I like all of those things.

@LLAAPPSSEE - Glow

Let's get to something more relaxing, shall we? LLAAPPSSEE went on a jazz tear early in the year, which sounds really smooth when combined with his atmospheric flair and glitchy compositional details. This particular piece has a great slow-burn sort of climax that makes a fashionable arrival at this glorious piano line. And if you like "Glow," I'd also recommend tracks like "Tired of This Place," "Can't," and "8,760 Hours."

@Cresince - Thistle

Speaking of jazz, @Cresince is really good at making it. The harmonies in "Thistle" may challenge your notions of tonality at first, but like a chocolate mousse, sometimes richer is better. Really evocative and beautiful piece. Cresince even doubled down on the jazzy harmonies when he wrote "Koi Brook" later in the summer.

@EliasAlija - Squared Modern Nihilism

Usually known for his cinematic tracks, Elias nails chiptune with "Squared Modern Nihilism." Dreamy and atmospheric, with an ominous and glitchy undertone, this track has a complexity that gives it serious replay value. I can only hope he has a similar piece in the works for Pixel Day in 2023.

@Linearity (formerly Skillidm) - Future Automations

To return to the catchy and the danceable, Linearity gets me off my feet with "Future Automations." The powerful synth pads and crisp beats help keep the energy up between the blissful refrains, and the whole production is really clean and punchy. The piece is also one of the most underrated of the year, with fewer than 100 plays as of this writing. Show it some love, y'all!

@CadeComposer - Dynamism

Quirky, moody, and...well...dynamic, this piece pushes all the right buttons for me. The rhythmic content is as creative as the sound design, and the spacey melodies tie it all together really nicely. Watch out for some well-placed vocal samples and some really nice filtering and automation work as well. Turning the outro into this dreamy slow jam was also a really great choice. Hard not to love this piece.

@JesseTikka - Starting Anew

It’s about dang time for a downtempo, majestic piano piece to be on this list. Jesse Tikka has another criminally underrated list item in “Starting Anew,” which has some killer melodies and a great sense of pacing and flow. The entry of the strings about ⅓ of the way through the piece helps take it in a new direction, giving the piece a great sense of variety despite its short length. Overall, this one really tugs at the heartstrings.

@M3llowo - Celeste

I’m also a huge sucker for carefully phrased atmospheric fade-ins, and M3llowo does that twice in this piece, once at the beginning and then at the re-intro midway through. The mix is really clean and well-balanced, and the blissful pads and rhythmic appeal of the drop give the composition a well-balanced flair as well. A true foot-tapper. 

@Spadezer - Beware

Halloween came in June this year when Spadezer submitted this piece, displaying his vocal talents and knack for narrative composition. The laughter of the evil minions is so well-done that I thought it was sampled at first, and the mixing and mastering work on the vocals is just as impressive as the recordings themselves - the vocals sound just artificial enough to be creepy, but believable. Don’t listen to this piece alone at night. 

@AnthonyRagus (formerly Celestial-Sticker) - The Mystical Forest

“The Mystical Forest” was the winning piece from the NGUAC this year, so of course it’s going to make this list! A cinematic masterpiece with well-placed nature effects, a luscious atmosphere, and triumphant melodies, it succeeds at capturing the mystical quality of the great outdoors. Punctuated with Celtic flair amidst a pitter-pattering piano line (perhaps symbolizing a river?), the sound design rivals the composition for my favorite element of the piece.

@PRGX - Potato

PRGX is a prolific and very young EDM artist, the kind who deserves more attention on this site. “Potato” has a lot of creative breaks, flashy synths, and also some comedic value considering it’s about, well, potatoes. The rhythmic syncopations, especially at the drop at 1:30, get me bopping my head every time. Stylistically, it’s a refreshing combination of chiptune and dubstep. But PRGX dabbles in a lot of different genres, so go find something that speaks to you in their discography!

@BAOWZ-Tobass - The Deamon

Yet more blissful and catchy EDM. That melodic refrain/drop is just gold. The gritty bass during the bridge adds some nice contrast to the otherwise light and cutesy sound design, and the mix is super clean and bouncy to boot. BAOWZ said “my ego is taking off” in response to my initial review on the piece. It should be landing on the moon right about now.

@SicraMusic - Wanderers

Alright, chalk this one up in the blissful, danceable EDM category as well. The vocals are especially well-used in “Wanderers,” and the bass is really juicy too. The melody only needs to play one or two times to get stuck in your head, and the piano breakdown section and vocal pads add some nice atmospheric details to the composition. Need I say more?

@Veryfakeguest & @SamuraiOwl - The Custodian

Those familiar with my reviews know that I often harp on people for just copying and pasting drops and/or refrains. In “The Custodian,” VFG and SO demonstrate exactly how effective it can be to have two distinct drops in a piece, and that minimal arpeggio that plays during the intro and build-ups is the glue that holds it all together. I’m thoroughly convinced that my school should hire this custodian. 

@EliasAlija - Village Fest

Yeah, so I’m going to have to break my own rule regarding only having one piece per artist on this list. I don’t know what it is with me and Celtic-sounding melodies, but my goodness - this entire track is bursting with whimsical sound design and uplifting orchestral riffs. Did I mention that it was a banner year for Elias? He finished 3rd in the NGADM, got front-paged 6 times, and was also rather prolific. I’d highly recommend checking out his entire discography.

@Everratic - The Witch at the Prom

Speaking of the NGADM, top-5 finisher Everratic made “The Witch at the Prom” for the final round in November, and its enchanting cinematic quality captured my attention immediately. By the sound of that sultry saxophone solo midway through, as well as the triumphant conclusion, the witch charmed some lucky fellas on her night out. Anyway, dear reader, Everratic is yet another artist who deserves a thorough search of his discography. 

@Zip-Zap-Official - Moonlighter

A feel-good pop-rock tune, “Moonlighter” is the result of some impressive humanization work that turns some in-box DAW instruments into a loose and organic-feeling jam session. Energetic and  well-balanced, with a crisp production, Zip Zap nails an upbeat modern rock vibe with catchy melodies and enjoyable sound design. 

@Vividlance - Speed of Light  

This is a piece I just discovered a few weeks ago. The rich and robotic vocals blend so nicely with the dreamy instrumentals, and the frantic drums offer some contrast from the atmospheric intro and outro. Also, don’t let the generic title fool you: the lyrics are poetic and elegant. The dramatic descending line (“downer”) at the end reminds me of a shooting star, in keeping with the piece’s cosmic theme. The twinkling bells and spacey pads don’t hurt in that regard, either.

—

Alright, that’s it! All 20 of them, folks. As usual, there’s a LOT of EDM on this list, but then again there’s a lot of EDM on this site, haha. Until next (i.e., this) year, Newgrounds! ^_^

Today I’m celebrating a full decade on Newgrounds.com, a place that has given me a spate of friends I probably would never have met otherwise, in addition to a lot of listening, reading, and viewing pleasure over the years. Since that greasy-haired high school kid started using the platform to upload and comment on music, I’ve shared 88 songs, posted 3,855 reviews, contributed to some crazy multi-media collabs, and, somehow, attracted 509 fans! Shout-out to @ArramEggleston for being the 500th, btw. :)

So, in commemoration of these 10 years, I thought I’d share some fun NG memories and personal tidbits that some users might not know about me. 

Weird analogies in my reviews

It’s often been pointed out to me that I use some weird analogies to explain things while reviewing music on Newgrounds. Here are some of my favorites, one for each year:

• A couple of months ago, I told @SkyeWint one of her piece’s transitions sounded like “an overripe avocado thrown at a wall of sound.” And in context, that was supposed to be a good thing. :D
• Earlier this year, @LLAAPPSSEE’s piece captured that feeling when an “aspiring actor moves back to Ohio from Los Angeles.”
• In 2020, I commented that one of @xZiriusx’s guitar riffs “could convince me to leave my family and join a religious cult if it wanted to.” 
• Meanwhile, this 2019 piece by @MegaSphere unambiguously sounds like a “spiked ABBA song.” 
• In 2018, I told @LucidShadowDreamer that “I can't decide if the piece is so slow-paced because the protagonist is lying by the pool high out of his mind or because he's slowly bleeding out on the kitchen floor.”
• In 2017, this piece by @CANDYdisturber sounded like “I'm a curious kid who snuck behind the curtain in a circus, and the ringmaster started giving me a lecture.”
• In 2016, @Johnfn found out that “the staccato, echo-y harmonies also gave this piece a really frantic, fleeting character, like all my relationships with cute girls have been so far.” (Cringey, I know, but to be fair it was 6 years ago…and nothing has changed lol). 
• In 2015, I told @Chris354 that “the first 20 seconds of this piece sound like a baby organ that's taking its first steps while learning to walk.”
• Way back in 2014, I told @Step and @camoshark that “I can just perfectly picture a bunch of jungle animals doing jazz hands all the way to the river to get a drink of water” while listening to their piece.
• And finally, in 2013, I described one of @Lockyn’s transitions in this piece as “like I just walked from an NYC club to the Ritz hotel.” 

NGUAC “Stall Stories”

In the early days of the Newgrounds Underdogs’ Audio Contest, shortly before the results were posted, I would build anticipation for the results by concocting an elaborate fictional narrative in a series of posts explaining why the results and/or judges were in danger. Like many aspects of the NGUAC, these “stall stories” were inspired by some (tamer) jokes made by @Step and @Echo in the early days of the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch. One of my favorite stall stories of all time was actually in anticipation of the final round results of the very first NGUAC in 2014. You can read that thread here.

Eventually, I discontinued the stall stories, in part because some contestants got very confused and even angry with me. A lot of the forum discussion about the NGUAC now takes place off of Newgrounds itself, especially on Discord.

iTunes

Believe it or not, I don’t use Spotify or Apple Music to listen to songs. I primarily use iTunes. A big reason for that is a lot of songs I download or buy from Newgrounds, Soundcloud, and Bandcamp aren’t available on “modern” streaming service platforms. Today, I conservatively estimate that 50% of the songs on my iTunes library (so, 540 or so in total) were downloaded directly from Newgrounds, and I would never have heard many of the others if it weren’t for Newgrounds. Newgrounders I started following that have gone on to produce professional releases I’ve bought elsewhere include @FinnMK, @FarOutOfficial, @SpitfyaUK, @Garlagan, and so many others. As of today, the most played song I downloaded from Newgrounds in my iTunes library is “Run Away” by @NutronicUK, and the most played overall is “The Ghost” by Nutronic, which I discovered after following Nutronic on other platforms. 

Xmillsa

I also owe a lot of my early interest in Newgrounds music to @millsa, better known for his YouTube channel. He widely shared songs by @F-777, @EnV, @Dimrain47, and others back in the day, and they consistently showed up in my suggested videos because I spent hours on end listening to Waterflame songs on YouTube back then, too. :D Later on, some of my personal friends on Newgrounds got featured on Xmillsa’s channel, including @Johnfn (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n0Isc-t8lw) and @SkyeWint (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1SCd_pGgRQ). Xmillsa’s channel is not too active anymore, but occasionally I take a stroll down memory lane and watch the absolutely dope visualizers he has for songs like “Amity” by @NIGHTkilla and @TIMarbury.   

Haikus

From 2014 to 2016, I posted a haiku almost every day on the forum page “A Haiku a Day.” Later, some of them even ended up in @TheTankTribune. Again, here are some of my personal favorites:

Silence seeps in like

toxic gas. Planes fall upward.

It's war out there, boys.

—----------------

Eyelashes wave like

flags half-staff on plastic skin.

Too much mascara.

—----------------

My dreams were shoved in

a pinhole of time. Few will

make it out alive.

—----------------

Life flows like rivers,

stretches out like plains, and bites

the sky like mountains.

—----------------

Voices chatter, glass

shatters, and water pours. The

stare is all I hear.

—----------------

Weave a path to this

light. Every step in the

dark is a wrong one.

—----------------

Locking memories

down, a cage of paper and

bars of ink. Wistful.

—----------------

Her skyscrapers are

mountains, her neighbors trees. Warm

hugs in summer breeze.

—----------------

Lying awake. My

mind overflows thinking of

you. I wet the bed.

—----------------

Lay the feast out. Plug

me in like a vacuum. I'll

clean that up for you.

Audio Portal Popularity

The popularity of the Newgrounds Audio Portal, as measured by the number of monthly submissions, has changed enormously since I first joined the site. It was close to its trough for most of my first few years here, but Geometry Dash changed all that around 2014-2015. More widely, the Art Portal was helped by Tumblr’s ban on adult content in 2018, and of course Friday Night Funkin’ had a major sitewide impact on all portals in 2020. But when FNF dropped, the Newgrounds Audio Portal was already in the midst of a surge in popularity seemingly related to the COVID-19 lockdowns. 

Since I’m a giant dweeb, I’ve kept track of how many songs are posted to the NGAP each month since its inception in 2003. June 2021 was the month with the most Audio Portal submissions on record. The chart below is updated through July 2022, and I find it fascinating:  

Friends

I’d be remiss not to mention some of the good friends I’ve made over the last 10 years. People I really felt a human connection with on the site, whether through long PM conversations, hours spent trading reviews on each other’s songs, obsessing over the NGUAC and other NG music contests, or even hanging out in real life after an initial encounter on the Grounds. Fast, early, and often, I’ve gotten to know users like @ADR3-N, @Dylnmatrix, @Etherealwinds, @Everratic, @Johnfn, @Larrynachos, @Lockyn, @LunacyEcho, @LucidShadowDreamer, @midimachine, @SkyeWint, @SplatterDash, @Step, and @TeraVex. I’ve met @BlazingDragon, @Etherealwinds, @Everratic, @LucidShadowDreamer, @LunacyEcho in real life. My friends also include users who have since left the site, like @mistarogerz, @Oswald, and @hamedn, who first introduced me to Newgrounds in 2009, when we were in middle school together. Special shout-out to @Dylnmatrix for scouting me for the Audio Portal way back in December 2012.    

Name Change

In September 2014, I changed my original username of “TheDoor6” to “TaintedLogic.” I had long thought TheDoor6 was a pretty vanilla username, and I still do, but the name change had other, weirder reasons. For example, I wanted to start the names of some of my songs with “the,” but I thought that “The Storm by TheDoor6” sounded kind of stupid. The usernames originate from my teenage self’s attitudes towards change and life transitions (doors symbolize change, etc.) and the tension between rationality and creativity (both music and adolescent minds are illogical, in a way). Despite the philosophical origins of these usernames, I feel like “TaintedLogic” comes across as a bit too edgy sometimes. I’m not changing it now, though, mostly because of inertia (people recognize it, I’ve already invested so much time into creating associated logos and branding, etc.). 

Also, speaking of logos, the one I made for my new “TaintedLogic” name in 2014 purposely has a door embedded in the middle of it, something that’s hard to see when you’re viewing the thumbnail image on a forum post or something. :D  

Collabs

Most of the songs I’ve posted on Newgrounds over the years have been solo projects, but occasionally I’ve been able to collaborate with other users to produce something much better than I could alone. It’s one of the reasons why posting music on Newgrounds, as opposed to on a site like Soundcloud or YouTube, is especially valuable to me. On websites that have several (or several thousand) songs posted every second, there’s no way you could maintain the sense of community that you could on NG.

I’ve had several collabs over the years with @Everratic, and I learn so much every time! He always seems one step ahead of me, whether it’s with mixing, sound design quality, or composition. I highly suggest you check out his stuff. These are the pieces we’ve worked on together, often over school vacations and such:

In 2014, I worked with @Dylnmatrix on this piece. Parts of it sound a little dissonant (I blame myself for that entirely, haha), but the way it uses limiters and automation on the drum patterns was very influential to me at the time. Thanks for that, DM!

And last year, I got to be a part of much bigger collabs organized by @Ceevro. Graced with the production wizardry of @Step and @MetalRenard and the vocal talents of @Troisnyx and others, we covered tracks by Stan Rogers and Incubus. I used the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, working a lot on vocal layering and harmonizing, as well as playing my cello and recorder on Newgrounds to an extent that I really hadn’t before. The results were awesome, as you can see here: 

The Next 10 Years

Going through all these memories - old forum posts, reviews, poetry, and songs - only makes me more excited about what the next 10 years will hold. I have another year of graduate school, after which I plan on securing a 9-5 job that will keep my evenings and weekends free. I’ll be keeping a keen eye on Newgrounds as it continues to grow and change, and I want to continue running the NGUAC for the foreseeable future too. 

I’m also getting back into the writing forums more actively with a submission or two to the 2nd edition of the Newgrounds Writing Anthology, which is currently in the editing phase. Ask @EKublai for details if you’re interested in participating yourself, but be aware that time to submit is short!

I’ve been rather less prolific with writing music since graduating from college, but I’m still optimistic that this is a temporary phenomenon. Since my summer internship ended last week, I have much more time now to focus on music until school starts on the 31st - in between NGUAC judging phases, at least. But then there’s always school breaks and whatnot. We’ll see…

—

Welp, I hope this news post was amusing, everyone! I remain open to collabs, commissions, review requests, or just having a chat via PM if you’re going through a tough time. Stay awesome, Newgrounds! ^_^

~TL

This is a list of rules and scheduling details for the NGUAC 2022, a music contest here on Newgrounds. If anything is unclear, please leave a comment below.

I WANT TO ENTER! WHAT DO I DO???

To submit a track for tryouts, simply go to this forum thread, click “respond to this topic” on the top-right, and post a link to your track. BUT FIRST, please make sure you:

1. Only submit ONE song.
2. Submit a piece of music. No comedy pieces, sound effect reels, or voice acting.
3. Don’t overuse presets or stock loops. Songs that use full-length acapella vocal tracks or drum loops with little modification - even if they’re not copyrighted - will be accepted on a case-by-case basis. Covers, arrangements, remixes, remakes, and mash-ups are acceptable for the tryout round only, not the knock-out or final rounds. 
4. POST A SONG FROM NEWGROUNDS. No submissions from Soundcloud, Bandcamp, etc. will be accepted! Also, make sure you actually press “publish audio” - the judges can’t access your piece if it’s left unpublished in the project system. 
5. Follow the NG Audio Portal guidelines. Samples ripped directly from Nintendo or whatever not only show a lack of originality, but they also get small, independent websites like Newgrounds in a lot of legal trouble.
6. Make it clear whether you have a teammate/collaborator for the contest. 

Explanation: In the NGUAC, you can enter the competition either by yourself or with ONE other person. If you are entering by yourself, YOU CANNOT SUBMIT A COLLABORATION to the competition. If you are entering as a team of 2, you cannot collaborate with anyone besides your teammate. Having someone else sing or play an instrument for you is fine, but you must still compose the music and lyrics yourself AND mix/master the piece. Your non-teammate singer/instrumentalist is not allowed to improvise for your track. 

Teams of more than 2 are not allowed. Also, both members of a team must contribute to all of the pieces submitted as part of the contest. You can’t just submit a collab as your audition piece when your team member is AWOL for the rest of the contest. 

OTHER COOL (BUT OPTIONAL) THINGS TO DO:

1. You can change the piece you submit to the contest, up until the submission deadline. Just CLEARLY state in the thread that you’d like to change it. However, please do not update your track (i.e., replace or delete the audio file in Newgrounds' Project System) during the judging phases until results are released for the following round.
2. You can submit a song to the NGUAC that you had previously submitted to another contest on NG, like the NGADM or AIM. Please just make sure to follow the rules for BOTH contests. 
3. You can post a track of any genre you want to. Just know that the judges are looking for well-rounded musicians here. Neither a repetitive, minimal club beat nor an acoustic jam with terrible recording/mixing quality will get you very far in this contest.  

GIVE ME ALL OF THEM DATES AND DEADLINES!

Phase - Start date - End date

Tryout submission - 6/28 - 7/21

Tryout judging - 7/22 - 7/30

K-O submission - 7/31 - 8/16

K-O judging - 8/17 - 8/21

Final submission - 8/22 - 9/7

Final judging - 9/8 - 9/10

Explanation: The contest has 3 distinct rounds (tryouts, a knock-out round, and finals), each consisting of a submission phase of roughly 2.5 weeks, when the contestants make and upload their tracks, and a judging phase of 4-9 days, when the judges score those tracks. Some contestants are eliminated after each round.

The latter two rounds are tougher than tryouts, for a couple of reasons. First, PARTICIPANTS MUST WAIT to start working on their Knock-out or Final Round tracks until the corresponding forum thread is posted. You also can’t create samples for the purpose of using them in a Knock-out or Final round piece before that corresponding round begins. Making a track on a deadline is part of the challenge of this contest. Also, in the Knock-out and Final rounds, covers, arrangements, VIPs, mash-ups, remakes, and remixes ARE NOT ALLOWED.

All submission phases close at 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) Eastern Daylight Time on the final date of each phase (see the schedule above). Submission phases open as soon as the forum thread for that round is posted.

HOW WILL MY SONG BE SCORED/JUDGED? 

The judges give participants a score out of 10 by considering a variety of parameters. These parameters may vary by judge. Scores are averaged among the judges to determine who advances to future rounds. Generally, the top 50% of competitors from each group are accepted into the Knock-out Round from Tryouts, and about 20% are accepted into the Final Round from the Knock-out Round. Most rounds, a given judge won’t score all of the competitors; we’ll divide it up by group. 

If you have any questions about judges’ scores or the contest in general, please PM ME instead of getting combative in the thread. Standard BBS and Audio Portal rules ALWAYS apply.

Late submissions will be accepted until 24 hours after the deadline with a “tax” on your score, according to the following paradigm: 

Hours late = percentage off final score

<1 = 5% 

1-3 = 10% 

3-6 = 15%

6-24 = 20%

>24 = 100%

If you’re, say, EXACTLY 3 hours late, your submission will fall in the “3-6 hours” category. 

HOW DO THE CONTEST “GROUPS” WORK?

Immediately after the tryout submission phase, the participants will be grouped evenly based on their fan totals. These groupings are meant to ensure that the best of the “Underdogs” advance as far as possible without directly competing with more experienced and knowledgeable musicians. It’s kinda the premise of the entire competition. 

To be clear, being in the “Underdogs” group doesn’t mean you’re bad at making music - it just means that you have fewer fans on the site than most of the other competitors, often because you’re relatively new to the site. Likewise, you being in the “All Stars” group isn’t an honor either. Sometimes, All Stars have gained those fans from their presence in the forums or other aspects of the site that have nothing to do with music. But overall, I think fan totals are the best, reasonably simple way of parsing out who might have a roughly similar experience level, both with music-making and with the Newgrounds community.   

Also, if the members of your team would otherwise be placed in different groups as solo artists, the team will be placed in the group corresponding to the highest fan total among its members (e.x., if one member has 20 fans and the other has 60, and the All Stars each have 50 fans or more, the team will compete in the All Stars group).

WHAT HAPPENS IF I WIN THE CONTEST?

Prizes will include forum signatures for the top 3 finishers boasting of their success in the competition, as well as spots on the front page of the Audio Portal the week after the competition.

TL;DR: DEFINITELY DON’T DO THESE THINGS

• Submit a piece to the Knock-out or Final Round that you worked on before the round started
• Submit a collaboration as your tryout piece when you’re not on a team
• Update your track in the project system during the judging phase
• Submit your track after the deadline
• Use copyrighted or stolen content

Thank you in advance for following the rules. Good luck and (most importantly) have fun! :D

I'd like to thank my parents, and, uh...my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Whitehouse. And of course Jesus Christ...

Also, instead of showering me with gifts or whatever happens to UOTD, please just donate to GiveWell's Maximum Impact Fund, where the money will be used for things like malaria prevention and removing parasitic worms from impoverished children. You could even donate $33.24, one cent for each day I've been on Newgrounds. ^_^

Thanks! Love y'all!