Discussion Thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1503323

NG Audio Pub Discord: https://discord.gg/3FmnxmaUmk

Auditions Round Thread: https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1503324

General Rules:

1. To enter, you must either: a) be a scouted Audio Portal musician here on Newgrounds, or b) be eligible to be scouted here on Newgrounds's Audio Portal. If you are unaware of what scouting is or how it works, please refer to this guide:
2. You must follow all guidelines outlined in the Audio Portal Guidelines in your submission: Audio Guidelines
3. You may only submit your own work from the Newgrounds Audio Portal. Works submitted from Soundcloud, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. will not be accepted, and neither will work from your friend made on your behalf.
4. Your work must be original - which means that you should stay away from recognizable hooks and/or memes (sorry!).
5. You may submit a song that pertains to another competition, provided that it follows both competitions' rules.

Judge Sign-Ups (Slots Open!)

If you wish to volunteer this year as a judge, slots are currently open! Please contact me via my Newgrounds DM's @LD-W if you are interested!

Thank you for your interest and for donating your time and expertise into judging the Audio Deathmatch <3

Further information will be given out in detail to those who are interested! (NOTE: A short judging-check will be done in-private for all applicants who wish to apply for a judge role this year!)

Structure

This year, we are introducing a Winners/Losers Bracket system! Everyone will get a second chance to stay in the contest if they are not able to do so. For a full breakdown as-to how it functions, please see the quick diagram I cobbled together for the quickest explanation:

For the Audition Round Only:

1. You may submit any covers, mashups, remixes, VIPs, loops, or any work started before the beginning of the round.
2. You are not allowed to submit anything that is considered a MIDI rip and/or stolen song, as per the Audio Portal Guidelines: Audio Guidelines

For Rounds 1/2/3/4 After the Audition Round:

1. You may not submit any covers, mashups, remixes, VIPs, loops, or anything that is not considered original work.
2. You may not start on a piece for the next round before that round officially begins.
3. All members who scored the highest in their respective groups in will be placed into the 'Winners Bracket', and will remains in 'Winners Bracket' for each round by continuing to score the highest in their groups/pairings. Everyone else will be placed into the 'Losers Bracket', where they will have a second opportunity to try and score as high as possible to stay in the contest. If you fail to get the highest score in your group while in Losers Side again at the end of the round you're in, you are then eliminated!
4. If you drop out of the competition during Round 1, you are automatically eliminated for Round 2, and will not be placed in the losers bracket. This may apply for anyone aswell who did-not-submit and no-shows afterwards, but I may make an exception for anyone who has been dealing with technical issues, and shows at least some proof-of-work that they had tried making an entry during the Round 1 period!
5. If you drop-out of the contest during Round 2, 3 or 4, your slot will:

• On Winners Side: Get filled in by the highest scoring individual from last round, from Losers-Side
• On Losers Side: The slot will remain empty

Finals Round

1. The top-scorer from Winners Bracket in Round 4 (Semi-Finals) will enter the 'Winners Spot' in the Finals Round this year, with a +0.5 (out of 100) bonus added to their NGADM Finals Submission 'Overall Score' (Calculated Average of the Judges Scores) at the end of the finals judging period. The other person who failed to top-score from Winners Bracket in Round 4 will enter the Finals with no score advantage, along with everyone else getting to the finals from the Losers-Side Bracket!
2. Fill-In's will be uniquely available for the finals! The Highest scoring individuals from Losers-Side who didn't make it through to the finals at the end of Round 4 will be kept on-retainer on the off-chance that there is a sudden drop-out!

Teams:

1. If you wish to participate as a duo or band, every member must actively take part in every round. Tag teaming is not allowed.
2. If participating as a band, it is recommended that the producer remains consistent.
3. If a member of a team/duo decides to drop out, they are unable to rejoin the team/duo and the rest of the members may choose to continue without them.

Schedule:

 - Unless otherwise noted, all timeframes will begin and end at 11:59 PM BST (British Summer Time) on their specified days.

 - You may not submit a track after the timeframe for submission has passed.

 - You may not start a track for any round until the round begins its submission timeframe.

 - You may not edit/change your track during the judging timeframe. If you wish to make changes during the submission timeframe, you may do so, and notify us in the submission thread.

(Note: Subject to change if there's any delays!)

Auditions Sign-Up - June 6th (3 Weeks)

Auditions Judging - June 27th (3 Weeks)

Round 1 - July 18th (2 Weeks)

Round 1 Judging - August 1st (2 Weeks)

Round 2 - August 15th (2 Weeks)

Round 2 Judging - August 29th (2 Weeks)

Round 3 (QUARTER-FINALS) - September 12th (2 Weeks)

Round 3 Judging - September 26th (2 Weeks)

Round 4 (SEMI-FINALS) - October 10th (2 Weeks)

Round 4 Judging - October 24th (2 Weeks)

Round 5 (FINALS) - November 7th (2 Weeks)

Round 5 Judging - November 21st (10 Days)

Winners Announced - December 1st

Prizes

Prizes shall be awarded to all participants who reach the Finals and submits a track for that round! The split of the prize pool at the end of the Finals results is as follows:

1st Place: 40% of the Total Pot

2nd Place: 25% of the Total Pot

3rd Place: 15% of the Total Pot

4th Place: 10% of the Total Pot

5th Place: 5% of the Total Pot

6th Place: 5% of the Total Pot

I will speak to the Newgrounds Podcast Crew to see if we can organise a live-podcast stream of all the finalists tracks, along with live-announcements of the results like with previous years. If for any reason this isn't possible, an alternative shall be arranged!

Please note that the prize list/quantities may be subject to change. If you would like to contribute to the prize list, please contact me in my DM's @LD-W and we'll go from there! Further details for anyone interested going forwards will be posted round-by-round.

There is no age-limit this year on prizes, but anyone under the age of 18 who does make it to the NGADM Finals will have an 'equivilent priced alternative' arranged for them instead of a cash prize!

Misc. Info

If anyone has any additional questions, feel free to post them here, or message me over in my DM's here @LD-W or over on Discord in the NG Audio Pub!