7 Tips on How to Successfully Take Part in a Remix Contest

Ok, after having received over 300 remixes as part of my “Losing My Mind” remix contest, I have seen a lot of things. And when I mean a lot of things, I really mean it. A lot of mistakes have been done and I want you guys to not do them again in the future. It significantly lowers the chances of you winning a remix contest. Therefore, here are my 7 tips on how to successfully take part in a remix contest.

1. Send a Mastered Version of Your Remix

Even though this is not a dealbreaker, I believe it is beneficial for you to send a mastered version of your remix. The judges will listen to tens and hundreds of remixes and you don’t want your remix to negatively stand out by being too quiet. It just isn’t a good first impression. At least use a limiter and push it to a loudness that is ok. But ultimately, you want your remix to sound the best possible way and that is only possible with a proper mastering.

2. Send FINAL Version

As a judge there is nothing more annoying than receiving two more amended versions of your remix with messages such as: “Sorry, the snare needed a 0.2dB boost at 650 KHz. I felt that this really improved the remix.”

NO, it didn’t! These small insignificant changes will not be a dealbreaker. What counts is the idea, originality, structure, sounds, creativity etc.

Even though it may sound brutal and a bit horrible, but I am personally ignoring these messages. Every participant has one chance to shine. Ever resubmission is kind of cheating and frankly speaking, I as a judge also don’t have the time to check 10 different versions of one remix, especially if there are hundreds of remixes submitted.

3. Use the Official Method of Delivery for Your Remix

Check EXACTLY what the remix contest rules say on how to submit your remix. And only use this method to submit your remix, no matter if you are connected with the artist on social media, WhatsApp or anywhere else.

Most probably the remix contest will be organised in a certain way so that the workload throughout the team of judges will be minimised. That means you are helping keeping the workload to a minimum if you deliver your remix the proper way.

It is really very annoying to receive the remix various times through Instagram direct message, Facebook direct message, WhatsApp message and official delivery method. Just do yourself a favour and submit it once through the official submission way and that’s it!

Don’t try to stand out by being the annoying guy. 😉

4. Make Sure Your Link is Working

I feel that I shouldn’t mention this but I have received numerous remix contest submissions and the link wasn’t working. Your private Soundcloud link should look somewhat like this:

https://soundcloud.com/dennissheperd/dennis-sheperd-x-katty-heath-losing-my-mind-dennissheperd-remix/s-tlwhFPX1m3w

The unique code in the end is very important, without that code the link won’t work.

With Dropbox it’s similar. DO NOT rename or move your remix after delivery as this will change the Dropbox link and when the judges click on the link, the file will not be available.

5. Do not Attach the MP3 to Your Email

If the contest rules ask you to deliver a link to your remix via email, please do not attached the remix as an MP3. It can easily cause the email account to reach its space limit and this doesn’t only suck for you but for everyone taking part in the remix contest.

It may even cause the judges to delete your email immediately as you may be violating the rules and the email account needs to be freed up for additional space.

6. Name Your MP3 Correctly

I just couldn’t believe it! There are people who name their remix “Losing My Mind Remix v58.mp3”. No way to connect such an MP3 to the correct remixer. Imagine, as a judge, downloading 200 remixes and then you find a remix MP3 that is named liked that. Do you really think the judge is going to check all 200 remix contest emails to find out who sent in this remix? Probably not.

7. Read the Rules & Terms Properly

Self-explanatory but still, this had to be mentioned here.

Final Thoughts – 7 Tips on How to Successfully Take Part in a Remix Contest

It really isn’t so hard and I would have thought that all these points are self-explanatory. But apparently that’s not the case. I have seen many mistakes being made and hope that you guys can avoid doing these mistakes by having read this article. I really hope these 7 tips on how to successfully take part in a remix contest were helpful. Good luck for your next remix contest!