Banner image by @Mart111n

Welcome to the 16th annual Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch!

Hosted by Benji-G & X3LL3N

Discussion Thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1547199#bbspost28101487_post_text

NG Audio Pub Discord: https://discord.gg/EDHmuegt

Auditions Round Thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1547201#bbspost28101494_post_text

HOW DO I ENTER?

To enter NGADM, simply make a post on the Auditions submission thread, and provide a link to a track of yours which you believe represents your best performance. After the auditions have ended, a two-week-long judging period takes place, during which the judges score each entry.

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER AUDITIONS?

The top 64 highest scoring auditionees are divided into 16 brackets of four. For this and the following rounds the entrants have two weeks to produce a completely new track, which will go against the other members of the bracket. The entrant who got the highest score in the first round will proceed further; the entrant who got the second highest score will end up in a different bracket alongside the main bracket where they will have a Second Chance. After round 1 there will be two brackets simultaneously, one for the winners of every round, and one for the people who made it into the Second Chance. The brackets after the first round will become one-on-one battles, culminating into grand finals, where the top two contestants from the main bracket and also the top two contestants from the Second Chance bracket will battle for 1st place.

You can also view the state of the competition visually here:

Made by @AED4

SCHEDULE & THE SECOND CHANCE

Last seen in NGADM 2022, the loser’s bracket is making a return. Originally created by LD-W, we have decided to bring back this concept. We think that giving contestants who performed very well but did unfortunately not move on to the next round deserve a second chance. This makes for an amazing comeback potential, and who doesn’t love a good comeback?

HOW DOES THE SECOND CHANCE COMPARE TO THE LOSER'S BRACKET?

In 2022, everybody who got eliminated at any point in the contest made it into the Loser's Bracket for a second chance. This year, only the highest scoring contestants who did not get a spot in the upcoming round will get a second chance.

1 – GENERAL RULES

1. You must be a scouted user on the Audio Portal or be eligible to be scouted.
2. You must follow all the Newgrounds Audio Guidelines in all your submissions. Take time to familiarize yourself with them, no explicit rules will be written prohibiting that which is already prohibited by the guidelines.
3. You must submit your own work from the Audio Portal. Another user may not submit an entry on your behalf, and linking to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube etc. will be ignored.
4. You must have published your track on Newgrounds and posted it on the current round’s submission thread before the end of the round’s submission period.
5. You may edit or change your submission for a round before the end of the round’s submission period. You may not do so after the submission period has ended.
6. Only one submission is accepted for a round.
7. You may submit a track which was also submitted to another competition, provided it follows the rules for both competitions.

2 - TEAMING UP

1. You may enter as a team of any size. Every member must actively take part in the creative/technical production of the entry for each round, including the auditions, and no members can join the team halfway during the competition. Tag teaming is not allowed.
2. If a member of the team chooses to drop out of the competition, the rest of the members may continue, but the member who chose to drop out may not join the team later.
3. Another user may provide vocals or play an instrument (essentially being in a “featuring” role) for your submission even while not teaming up, but you must still perform all creative and technical (composing, writing, mixing etc.) work outside of singing / playing and recording.

3 - AUDITIONS

1. The track may have been made previously, or for the auditions specifically.
2. The track may be either an original composition or a cover / remix / VIP etc.
3. The track must be a single cohesive piece of music. Albums, DJ sets etc. will be ignored.
4. Submissions created with the use of machine learning / AI are not allowed in this competition, with the exception being the use of certain AI tools like Vocaloid or SynthV where you’re still the one doing all the creative and technical aspects of the song.

4 - ELIMINATION ROUNDS

1. The track must be a completely new production, with no work having been performed on it before the round for which the track is to be submitted to has begun.
2. The track must be a completely new original composition. No covers / remixes / VIPs etc. are accepted.
3. If a contestant drops out, the highest scoring individual from the last round will take their place, provided that have produced a track which follows all the rules.
4. Machine learning / AI may not be utilized, except for the use of AI tools where you yourself have full control over its outcome (Vocaloid, SynthV, etc.). Feel free to reach out to me or @X3LL3N for any questions regarding this.

5 - AI VOCALS

1. Software like Vocaloid and SynthV (that now integrate AI in their workflows) are allowed.
2. Voice changers provided by online services such as MusicFy and Audimee are allowed as long as the voices used are not based on public personalities (for example, Drake and Lil Nas X would be declined, while original voices provided by those services such as "Aaron" and "Nate" are allowed).
3. RVC (Retrieval-based Voice Conversion) is also allowed as long as it's trained on your own voice, or it is trained on material you have the permission to use.
4. The use of Suno, Udio, and similar services are not allowed and will be ignored throughout the entire contest.

JUDGING

This year’s entries will be scored by a panel of six judges who are:

@ADR3-N - @Bary - @Benji-G - @ConnorGrail - @CryNN - @X3LL3N

Each judge will score the entries based on a set of criteria of their own choosing, encompassing a range of technical and creative aspects such as mixing, mastering, sound design, arrangement, atmosphere and originality.

SCHEDULE

Unless otherwise mentioned, all timeframes begin at 12:00 AM EST, and end at 11:59 PM EST. Please do note that the dates may be changed due to any possible delays.

• JUL 01 - JUL 21 - Round 0: Auditions
• JUL 22 - AUG 06* - Round 0 Judging Period
• AUG 07* - AUG 20* - Round 1: Group Stage
• AUG 21* - AUG 25 - Round 1 Judging Period
• AUG 26 - SEP 08 - Round 2: Round of 16
• SEP 09 - SEP 15 - Round 2 Judging Period
• SEP 16 - SEP 29 - Round 3: Quarterfinals
• SEP 30 - OCT 06 - Round 3 Judging Period
• OCT 07 - OCT 20 - Round 4: Semifinals
• OCT 21 - OCT 27 - Round 4 Judging Period
• OCT 28 - NOV 10 - Round 5: Finals
• NOV 11 - NOV 17 - Round 5 Judging Period
• NOV 18 - Final Results Announced

The Second Chance bracket will follow the exact same schedule (from round 2 to round 4), where in the grand finals both brackets will merge for an ultimate final battle.

PRIZES

Prizes will be awarded to all contestants who reached the final round and submitted an entry. More prizes will be as the contest goes on.

1st Place:

• 50% of the Prize Pot

2nd Place:

• 25% of the Prize Pot

3rd Place:

• 12.5% of the Prize Pot

4th Place:

• 12.5% of the Prize Pot

If you would like to contribute to the prize pot, simply make a donation on the supporter page and send @TomFulp a private message mentioning that you’d like it to go towards NGADM. If you would like to sponsor prizes other than contributing to the pool, please contact me (@Benji-G) or X3ll3n (@X3ll3n) via a private message.

There is no age-limit for prizes, but in the case of underage contestants making it to the finals, an equivalently priced alternative will be arranged for them in place of a cash prize.

ADDITIONAL INFO

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them below in the comments, or message me (@Benji-G) or X3ll3n (@X3ll3n) here on Newgrounds or over on Discord in the NG Audio Pub!

The rules for this year are heavily based on previous rules made by @AED4 (host of NGADM 2024), who have also helped us with the technical preparation this year as well as provided the real-time updated scoreboard which he implemented last year as well, so big thank you to him! Thanks to @Mart111n as well for the banner image!