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Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition 4

2008 CONTEST WINNERS:

GRAND PRIZE WINNER - Texas State University (San Marcos)

RUNNER UP - University of Hartford (The Hartt School)

HONORABLE MENTION - Biola University

GRAND PRIZE ENTRY:

Congratulations to Texas State University's winning entry.   

Group Members:          Jordan Lott, Joel Cowen, and Adam Brisbin
Song Name:                 "Let It Go"

Composer:                   Graham Wilkinson and the Underground Township
Copyright:                    Graham Wilkinson and the Underground Township
Performers:                 Graham Wilkinson: Voice and Rhythm Guitar

 -- Download the winning project  (PDF)

 -- Listen to the winning single, "Let It Go"

Read below for full contest details, rules, judge information and more.

2008 COMPETITOR RECORDING TEAMS
Congratulations to the ten finalist schools selected by random drawing to participate in last year's contest:  

Fantastic Scholastic 4 Poster

Download a copy of this year's Fantastic Scholastic Poster (590 KB pdf) 

PRIZES

Grand Prize

The school represented by the Grand Prize winning team takes ownership of the entire Microphone Locker, consisting of:

• 1 Beta 52®A kick drum microphone (retail value $336.70)
• 1 Beta 57A instrument microphone (retail value $247.48)
• 1 Beta 91 kick drum microphone (retail value $436.80)
• 3 Beta 98D/S snare/tom microphones (retail value $457.60 each)
• 2 KSM27/SL large single-diaphragm microphones (retail value $575.00 each)
• 2 KSM32/SL embossed single-diaphragm microphones (retail value $1,070.15 each)
• 2 KSM44/SL large dual-diaphragm microphones (retail value $1,393.60 each)
• 2 KSM141/SL dual pattern instrument microphones (retail value $770.00 each)
• 4 SM57-LC instrument microphones (retail value $158.00 each)
• 1 SM7B studio dynamic microphone (retail value $619.50)
• 1 VP88 single-point, stereo condenser microphone (retail value $1,266.60)
• 1 A27M stereo microphone adapter (retail value $76.65)

The school represented by the Grand Prize winning team also receives a donation of $3000.00 towards a scholarship fund for that school. Each individual member of the Grand Prize winning student team (no more than five members) receives a KSM32/SL large single-diaphragm condenser microphone of retail value $1075.00.  

Runner Up
The school represented by the Runner-Up Prize winning team takes ownership of the entire Microphone Locker, consisting of:

• 1 KSM44/SL large dual-diaphragm microphones (retail value $1,393.60)
• 2 KSM141/SL dual pattern instrument microphones (retail value $770.00 each)
  
  

The school represented by the Runner-Up Prize winning team also receives a donation of $1,500.00 towards a scholarship fund for that school. Each individual member of the Runner-Up Prize winning student team (no more than five members) receives a KSM27/SL small diaphragm instrument condenser microphone of retail value $575.00.

Honorable Mention
The school represented by the Honorable Mention Prize winning team will receive a donation of $1000.00 towards a scholarship fund for that school. Each individual member of the Honorable Mention Prize winning student team (no more than five members) receives an SCL4 sound isolating earphone of retail value $319.00.

JUDGES

Shure would like to thank our 2008 Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition judges,  for all the time and energy they contributed to judging the contest. 

This year's judges:

Al Schmitt

With an unparalleled 18 Grammy Awards for engineering, Al Schmitt epitomizes great recording through decades of technological change. Schmitt has engineered breakthrough albums in a variety of musical genres with some of the top artists in the industry, including Madonna, Jefferson Airplane, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Frank Sinatra, and Quincy Jones. Schmitt’s celebrated engineering and mixing skills are showcased on over 150 Gold and Platinum albums. In 1997, Schmitt was inducted into the TEC Awards Hall of Fame, and in 2005 he received the Trustees Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Recording Academy.

Chris Kimsey

Chris Kimsey is known throughout the industry as a “Producers, Producer” and has been an influence on many.  After starting out at Olympic Studios, he engineered a number of classic rock albums from the likes of Ten Years After, Spooky Tooth, Bad Company as well as mixing what was to become the world’s biggest selling live album “Frampton Comes Alive” by Peter Frampton.  Chris’ tenure at Olympic also fostered a relationship with the Rolling Stones that utilized his engineering and production skills on such notable albums as “Some Girls”, “Undercover”, and “Steel Wheels”.

Chuck Ainlay

Multiple Grammy Award winning Producer/Engineer, Chuck Ainlay is one of Nashville’s top engineers and a pioneer in the world of surround sound.  In addition, Chuck has placed his distinctive production stamp on projects with many mainstream artists including Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill, Peter Frampton, and Sheryl Crow, with many of these records achieving platinum status and winning Grammy awards.  A partnership with Nashville’s famed Sound Stage Studios has enabled him to build his own studio dedicated to 5.1 mixing, resulting in ground-breaking projects such as the Grammy award winning 20th anniversary surround remix of the Dire Straits album Brothers In Arms.

Chuck Myers

Chuck E. Myers is COO / V.P. and Director of A&R for Seth Riggs’ speechlevelsinging.com and owns and operates Big Idea Music Productions Inc. His full-service recording studio has hosted a wide range of talent from Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins to commercial clients like Pepsi. Myers is currently the principle composer and producer for a long list of many of today’s most popular video games for the Sony Playstation I, II, PSP, Nintendo Game Cube, GameBoy Advanced and the Microsoft X-Box 360.

Elliott Scheiner

Grammy award-winning producer/engineer Elliot Scheiner is considered one of the world’s foremost authorities on Surround sound and multi-channel mixing.  His talents have been recognized with 20 Grammy nominations (winning five), four Emmy nominations, and five TEC award nominations (winning two). His accomplishments in the field of multi-channel recordings have been acknowledged with numerous awards including the Surround Pioneer Award in December 2002.

Frank Filipetti

Frank Filipetti came to NY as a singer/songwriter in 1971.  Ten years later, he decided to try his hand at engineering and production, becoming known by his peers as an independent thinker and one of the first engineers to explore the potentials of digital audio. His credits include mixes for such Number One singles as Foreigner’s “I Want to Know What Love Is” and “I Don’t Want to Live Without You” (which he also produced), Kiss’ “Lick It Up” and The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame.” He has also recorded and mixed albums for Carly Simon,Vanessa Williams, and James Taylor, whose elegant “Hourglass” Filipetti produced, engineered and mixed, winning Grammy awards in 1998 for Best Engineered Album and Best Pop Album.

Joe Barresi
Over the years, Joe Barresi has produced, engineered and mixed some of the most important hard rock, metal and punk bands of the last 15 years including Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age, Bad Religion, The Melvins, Skunk Anansie, Turbonegro and Clutch.  Although widely respected for his abilities as an engineer, Joe is first and foremost a musician.  He studied classical guitar, piano and music theory at the University of South Florida and the University of Miami.  Joe also studied engineering, and spent hundreds of hours recording local bands, developing patience and understanding for what goes on in the studio.

Mike Fraser
Mike Fraser began his career at Little Mountain Sound in Vancouver working with legendary producers Bruce Fairbairn and Bob Rock. Mikes credits include AC/DC several albums running and currently in the studio putting finishing touches on the new one, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, Satriani and Hatebreed. As the years have gone by Mike has ventured into other styles of music, all chart toppers, no matter what genre or style of music. He loves everything from country to metal. This is evident in his project choices. Frazes recent credits include Jackie Greene, Theory of a Deadman, Elvis Costello, Norah Jones, illScarlett, Hinder, Hedley, Biffy Clyro, and R&B Diva Kelly Rowland.

SHURE FANTASTIC SCHOLASTIC RECORDING COMPETITION
OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES 2008

1. HOW TO ENTER: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.
   
   ELIGIBILITY / SELECTION OF PARTICIPANTS IN THE COMPETITION
   
   Ten (10) entries will be chosen from all eligible entries in a random drawing (a “Drawing” as defined below) to participate in the 2008 Shure Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition (the “Competition”).  The Competition is open to teams of students enrolled at a college, university or institution of higher learning located within the fifty United States or the District of Columbia who are pursuing a bachelor’s degree program with a focus or concentration in fields related to Audio Engineering (for example, Music Production, Audio Recording or Engineering, Electronic Media, Sound Recording, or a similar program). In these Official Competition Rules (the “Official Rules”) each such educational institution is referred to as a “School” and a team of students at a School is referred to as a “Team”. Each Team may be comprised of no more than five students and must have a faculty advisor (who serves on the teaching faculty in a music or related department at the same School as the Students) who serves as the Contact Person (defined below) for the Team in connection with the Competition.  Only one entry per School is permitted for consideration in the Drawing (as defined below).  In the event that multiple entries are received from a School, Shure will conduct a random drawing from among all entries received from a particular School prior to the Drawing so that only one entry from each School is entered into the Drawing.  Failure to abide by these Official Competition Rules (“Official Rules”) will result in disqualification. 
   
   For a chance to participate in the Competition, the Team’s Contact Person should complete the official entry form available at the Shure Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition website at www.shure.com/contest (the "Competition website").  The official entry form requires Entrants (as defined below) to specify all Team members who will participate in the engineering, producing, and recording of the recording that will be submitted in the Competition (the “Recording”) if such official entry form is selected in the Drawing detailed below.  The musical composition to be embodied in the Composition must not have been previously released by a major label.  The official entry form must be completed completely and accurately and submitted during the Registration Period to be eligible to participate in the Competition. The Registration Period begins at 12:00 a.m. (as determined in the Central time zone in the United States (“Central Time”) on Monday, September 10, 2007 and ends 11:59 p.m. Central Time on Friday, October 19, 2007.  For purposes of the administration of the Competition and award of any prizes, Sponsor will communicate with the faculty advisor listed on the official entry form and such person with be deemed the “Contact Person.”  Contact Person, on behalf of himself and/or herself and all Team members represents and warrants that he or she and the Team members, as the case may be, have all authority, rights, and permission to submit the Recording in the Competition, and to permit streaming audio transmissions of the Recording (including the musical composition) from the Competition website without compensation.  Any licenses or permissions required to include the musical compositions embodied in the Recording shall be the sole responsibility of the Entrants.  Entrants must use their legal names in connection with their entry in the Competition.  Entry in the Competition constitutes each Entrant’s consent to receive additional promotional information from Sponsor (as used in these Official Rules, the term “Entrant” refers to the Contact Person and Team members).  The Official Rules will be posted at the Competition website for the duration of the Competition. 
   
   The Competition is sponsored by Shure Incorporated ("Sponsor").  Sponsor assumes no responsibility for any lost, late, misdirected, illegible or incomplete entries, or for any computer, software, online, telephonic, data entry or technological malfunctions. If for any reason the Competition is not capable of being conducted as contemplated in the Official Rules, including, without limitation, if due to computer virus, bugs, tampering or technical failures which compromise the administration or integrity of the Competition, Sponsor, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to terminate or modify the Competition. All entries become the property of the Sponsor and none will be returned. Sponsor and Competition judges reserve the right to disqualify any Entrant who tampers with or attempts to tamper with the entry procedure or the Competition website or violates these Official Rules.
   
   COMPETITOR SELECTION/RECORDING CRITERIA/RECORDING SUBMISSION
   
   On or about Wednesday, October 25, 2007, ten (10) entries will be selected by random drawing from the pool of entries made on the official entry form and submitted during the Registration Period (the “Drawing”).  Subject to eligibility confirmation, the Teams designated in those selected entries will have an opportunity to submit a Recording in the Competition.  Any ineligible entries drawn or Entrants that notify Shure on or before Monday, October 29, 2007 that they have opted not to submit a Recording will be disqualified in which case additional random drawings will be held until a total of ten valid entries of Teams have been selected.
   
   The Teams selected to submit Recordings in the Competition (“Recording Teams”) will be posted at the Competition website on or about Monday, October 29, 2007. 
   
   On or about Monday, October 29, 2007, Sponsor will send to each Contact Person for the Recording Teams a Shure microphone kit (“Toolkit” as defined below), on a loan basis only, for use in making the Recording. The “Toolkit” is defined as the following Shure products: two KSM27/SL, two KSM32/SL, two KSM44/SL, two KSM141/SL, four SM57-LC, one Beta 52A, one Beta91, three Beta 98D/S, one Beta 57A, one SM7B, one VP88, and one A27M.  The Contact Person agrees to return the Toolkit to Shure no later than Monday, February 11, 2008, whether or not a Recording is submitted, using the prepaid UPS return label supplied by the Sponsor.  
   
   The recording shall be of a live ensemble (i.e. no sequencing, samplers, or line level sources) using only the following Shure microphones provided by Sponsor and no other microphones: KSM44/SL, KSM32/SL, KSM27/SL, KSM141/SL, Beta 52A, Beta91, Beta98D/S, Beta 57A, SM7B, SM57-LC, VP88, A27M.  The Recording shall not exceed five minutes in length.  The musical content is at the discretion of the Recording Teams, subject to the above limitations, as long as the submitted Recording contains at least one vocal track. The production and engineering may only be conducted by Recording Team members.
   
   Recordings must be received on CD by Shure at KSM Student Recording Competition, 5800 W Touhy Ave, Niles IL, 60714 (the “Competition Address”) by 11:59 p.m. on Monday, February 11, 2008.  The mastered audio track of the Recording must be delivered in Red Book CD audio format on a separate CD (16 bit, 44.1kHz sample rate).  The project production notes must be provided on a separate CD and include the following information: A) song name, song composer(s), copyright owner of the musical composition and sound recording; B) performers; C) track list for the finished mix; D) designation of microphone used on each track (source); E) placement for each microphone (approximate distance and angle relative to source); F) polar pattern, sensitivity pad, filters used (if applicable); and G) microphone preamp and signal path from microphone to recording device. In addition to the above information, each team is required to provide digital photographic files sufficient to show microphone placement as well as an electronic project journal documenting microphone selection, microphone technique, and signal path choice.  The journal should be a Microsoft Word document and should also be a minimum of five (5) pages and a maximum of ten (10) pages in length.  Each digital photograph must be no larger than 10MB and in TIFF or JPG format.
   
   
2. ADDITIONAL ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS
   Sponsor, its affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising and promotional agencies and the immediate family members of each are not eligible. Any School named the winner of the 2007 Shure Fantastic Scholastic Recording Competition and any participant on such winning team is ineligible to participate in the Competition.  Entry in the Competition constitutes the agreement of Entrants to be bound by these Official Rules. Entrants agree to be bound by the decisions of the Competition judges and such decisions shall be final. In the event of a tie, the Competition judges will break the tie by re-judging the tied entries. All decisions of the Competition judges shall be final.
   
   
3. COMPETITION JUDGING/WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION
   Recordings will be judged by the Competition judges utilizing the following criteria:  (a) Clarity of Sound (30%; fidelity, signal to noise ratio and overall clarity of acoustic sources), (b) Microphone Technique (30%; selection and placement of microphones as they contribute to the overall spectral balance and stereo field, consideration given to creative, or unusual use of microphone selection and placement, phase coherence or room acoustics), (c) Mixing Technique (30%; overall sonic balance of the combined acoustic sources and placement of musical elements in the stereo field.  Greater consideration will be given to effective and creative placement and relative levels of recorded sources in the stereo field and lesser consideration given to the effective use of equalization, compression and other signal processing of sources to create an engaging mix), and (d) Performance/Production (10%; evaluated on performance characteristics over which the recording engineer has some control.  For example, poor intonation of instruments, audible edits or “punch-ins” and inconsistencies within composite takes will grade less well.  Especially energetic or dynamic performances will grade better.
   
   At the conclusion of the judging, a tentative awarding of the Grand Prize, Runner-Up, and Honorable Mention Winners will be declared, pending confirmation of the eligibility of the applicable Entrant(s) and receipt of an Affidavit of Eligibility, Release of Liability and Publicity Release from such Entrant(s).   Announcement of the Grand Prize, Runner-Up, and Honorable Mention Winners will take place on or about Friday May 9, 2008.  Within fourteen (14) days of attempted notification that a Team is the tentative Grand Prize, Runner-Up, or Honorable Mention Winner, the Entrant(s) submitting the Recording designated as the tentative Grand Prize, Runner-Up, or Honorable Mention Winner will be required to execute an Affidavit of Eligibility and Liability and Publicity Release.  By entering the Competition or by accepting a prize each Entrant agrees that Sponsor, the Competition judges, and their respective parents, affiliates, subsidiaries, and the officers, directors, agents and employees of any of the above entities (collectively, “Competition Parties”) are not liable for injury, loss, death, or damage of any kind due to or associated with acceptance, possession, use or misuse of the Toolkit and any prize and/or participation in the Competition. Except where prohibited by law, Entrants submitting the Grand Prize, Runner-Up, or Honorable Mention Winning Recording further grant to the Sponsor the right to use such Entrants names, photographs, voices, likeness, and city of residence for purposes of advertising, promoting and publicizing the efforts and activities of the Sponsor without further consideration or approval, except where prohibited.  Non-compliance or the return of any prize notification as undeliverable may result in disqualification and selection of an alternate Grand Prize, Runner-Up, or Honorable Mention Winner.
   
   
4. PRIZES
   The School represented by the Grand Prize Winning Team will be awarded a new set of microphones that comprise the Toolkit.  The approximate combined retail value of the Shure microphones comprising the Toolkit is $12,500.  The School represented by the Grand Prize Winning Team will also receive a donation of three thousand dollars ($3000) from the Sponsor towards a scholarship fund for that School.  Additionally, each member of the Grand Prize Winning Team will receive a KSM32/SL microphone (approximate retail value $1075 each). 
   
   The School represented by the Runner-Up Prize Winning Team will take ownership of one KSM44/SL, one stereo pair KSM141/SL (approximate retail value of $3,000).  The School represented by the Runner-Up Prize Winning Team will also receive a donation of one thousand, five hundred dollars ($1,500) from the Sponsor towards a scholarship fund for that School.  Additionally, each member of the Runner-Up Prize Winning Team will receive a KSM27/SL microphone (approximate retail value $575 each).
   
   The School represented by the Honorable Mention Prize Winning Team will receive a donation of one thousand dollars ($1,000) from the Sponsor towards a scholarship fund for that School.  Additionally, each member of the Honorable Mention Prize Winning Team will receive an SCL4 sound-isolating earphone (approximate retail value $300 each).
   
   Sponsor reserves the right not to award any prize or prizes, should Competition judges, in their opinion, deem insufficient entries satisfactory to warrant the award of a prize or prizes as the case may be.
   
   
5. GENERAL TERMS/CONDITIONS. GRANT OF LICENSE TO SPONSOR
   All federal, state, and local taxes on prizes awarded in the Competition are the sole responsibility of the recipients. No prize substitutions permitted, except by Sponsor, who may substitute a prize of equal or greater value if advertised prize becomes unavailable. Prizes are not transferable. 
   
   Entrants should retain at least one copy of the Recording, and hereby release Sponsor from any and all liability for loss of, or damage to, the copy of the Recording submitted.  Sponsor may, at its discretion, keep or discard any entry after completion of the judging.  
   
   Recordings submitted in the Competition may not have won previous awards. Team members must also be amateur engineers.  An amateur engineer means that during the twelve-month period preceding the start of the Competition such person did not earn more than $5,000 from recording and/or engineering, including any income earned from royalties and any monies earned from any other recording and/or engineering contests. Sponsor reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to cancel or suspend this Competition should causes beyond the Sponsor’s control corrupt the administration, security or proper administration of the Competition.  
   
   
6. LIST OF WINNERS
   For the name of the Grand Prize, Runner-Up, and Honorable Mention Winners, available after Friday, May 16, 2008 and before Friday, August 29, 2008, send a self-addressed stamped envelope (except where not required by State law) to: Competition Winner’s List at the Competition Address.
   
   
7. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED
   The Competition, including the interpretation of these rules, is governed by the laws of the state of Illinois and is VOID WHERE PROHIBITED.