The Contest

Inside Home Recording is close to the auspicious milestone of its 100th episode and we’ve been running the “Write a New IHR Theme Contest!” brought to you with the most generous support of:

• PreSonus
• Audio-Technica
• Home Studio Corner
• The Recording Revolution
• KRK
• Production Advice
• Audiofile Engineering

I can’t thank these guys enough for their sponsorship of this event.

I’ve decided to retire the current theme:

Acidic Bond by Steven Dennis

“Acidic Bond” is a fantastic track that has served the show so well as the intro and outro music for the show these past years. In its place, I’m inviting existing and new IHR listeners to put their creative hats on and compose a new theme for the show.

Theme Guidelines

What am I looking for from your masterpiece? Well, nothing incredibly specific – any style, genre, tempo, instrumentation, etc. is acceptable to me. The only parameters I have are as follows:

• A full-length “song” of 3-4 minutes would be ideal (but I can work with something shorter).
• Entries with lyrics / singing / rhyming are welcome, but be aware that the the majority of the theme (past the first 15-20 seconds) will be “ducked” under spoken word voice overs.
• The intention of the piece is to “set the tone” of the show within the first 30 seconds – therefore, think about keeping your intro relatively short and get to the “meat” sooner than later.
• If you’re a regular listener, then you probably know that IHR covers a wide range of topics and we touch on pretty well any and every musical genre. If you’re looking for creative inspiration, think variety in the vein of pot-pourri, smorgasborg and Jackson Pollock (minus the questionable techniques) and of course, some humour.

The Prizes

This section is probably why you’re reading the page!

There are prize packages for the top three entries based on votes by the judges as well as two random draw prizes:

1. FIRST PLACE:
   (see the Prize Package Page for more details)
   - One PreSonus AudioBox 1818VSL 18×18 USB 2.0 interface ($499)
   - One Audio-Technica AT4050/LE : LIMITED EDITION Multi-pattern Condenser Microphone ($995)
   - A copy of PreSonus Studio One 2 Professional ($399)
   - A seat at Home Studio Corner‘s (Joe Gilder) Production Club ($497)
   - A set of KRK KNS-8400 headphones ($199)
   - Your choice of a license to Audiofile Engineering‘s Quiztones frequency ear training app for Mac ($19.99) or Quiztones for iOS ($4.99)
   – Your song as the new intro and outro theme on Inside Home Recording (priceless)
2. SECOND PLACE:
   (see the Prize Package Page for more details)
   - One PreSonus AudioBox 44VSL 4×4 USB 2.0 interface ($299)
   - A copy of PreSonus Studio One 2 Producer ($249)
   - The entire REthink Mixing Series from The Recording Revolution ($165)
   - Your choice of a license to Audiofile Engineering‘s Quiztones frequency ear training app for Mac ($19.99) or Quiztones for iOS ($4.99)
   – Bragging rights and your song used as bumper / feature theme music on Inside Home Recording (again, priceless)
3. THIRD PLACE:
   (see the Prize Package Page for more details)
   - One Presonus AudioBox 22VSL 2×2 USB 2.0 interface with bundled Studio One 2 Artist ($179)
   - The “JumpStart” Complete Bundle from The Recording Revolution ($125)
   - Your choice of a license to Audiofile Engineering‘s Quiztones frequency ear training app for Mac ($19.99) or Quiztones for iOS ($4.99)
   – Bragging rights and your song used as bumper / feature theme music on Inside Home Recording (again, priceless)
4. RANDOM DRAW PRIZES:
   (see the Prize Package Page for more details)
   - Production Advice’s “How to Master with Multiband Compression“ ($67.00)
   - Audiofile Engineering‘s FiRe – Field Recorder for iOS ($5.99)
   - Audiofile Engineering‘s Fidelia – Premium Music Player for Mac ($19.99)

How To Enter

Entry to the contest is now closed…

Please feel free to listen to and vote for your favourite entries by visiting the “Lists”:

• Voting Leaderboard
• Entries – Alphabetical Order
• Entries – by Number of Votes
• Entries – by Submission Date

Rules

1. One entry per person!
2. Each song submitted must be contestant’s original work. Entries may have multiple co-writers, but please designate one contact when submitting your entry.
3. This contest is open to amateur and professional songwriters and composers.
4. Each entry will be posted on the Inside Home Recording website after it is received.
5. The top 24 entries will be chosen by community vote ranking on this site. (see below for schedule)
6. Winning entries will be chosen by a select panel of judges comprised of myself and some of the past co-hosts on this show. (see below for schedule)
7. All aspects of your entry – writing, production, arrangement, mixing and mastering – will be considered.
8. To be eligible to win, each entrant will be required to rate and constructively comment (“that was good dude” – is NOT an example of good constructive comment) on at least 5 other submissions.
9. Winners will be notified by email and must grant Inside Home Recording unrestricted, non-exclusive, worldwide license to their song. Winners will retain the underlying copyrights to their song.
10. Winners must be able to provide CD-Quality, lossless versions of their song (at least 16 bit/44.1kHz WAV or AIFF – higher sample/bitrates would be accepted).

I (Dave) am the “Contest Overlord” ;) which means that I will have final say on anything and everything as this contest progresses.

Not that I’m not expecting any issues, but may as well get this out: Any spam, disparaging comments, unacceptable language / behaviour will not be tolerated and will result in your entry being withdrawn (if you are an entrant) and your IP being blacklisted on this site.

Schedule

• January 6th: Contest is Open for Entries & Community Voting begins.
• February 9th: Contest is Closed for Entries (11:59PM PST)
• February 16th: Community Voting closes (11:59PM PST)
• February 17th: Top 24 based upon Community Voting rating is revealed
• February 18th: Top 24 Judging begins
• February 23rd: Top 24 Judging closes
• February 24th: Winners are revealed.

Questions / Feedback

Any and all questions regarding this contest can be sent to no.whining@insidehomerecording.com, or you can post something in the comment box below.