| Full Contest Information |
| An Introduction |
| We’re giving you the chance to remix Marillion’s
complete "Anoraknophobia"
album. Not only that, we will be giving a prize of £500
for the best remix of EACH album track - that’s
£4500 in total - AND including the winners on a
remix album to be released in 2004! One runner-up for
each track will get their remix featured on a future Marillion
Web Fan Club annual Christmas CD (currently planned for
December 2004). |
| The original song master recordings
are available to purchase from Marillion
Online, at a cost of £10 each. Nine tracks in
total are available - the original 8 album tracks, plus
the bonus track "Number One" (which will be
included with the "Between You and Me" masters). |
| Now, you may ask "Why are you charging £10
for only one song?" Well, it turns out that the fewer
CDs you make, the more expensive they are. On top of that,
we will have to make the masters on demand for each person,
which takes up a lot of time; and we also have to ship
them out to you! And finally, we will be using the extra
'profit' from the sales to fund the prize money - we thought
it was necessary to offer a significant cash prize for
a contest/project like this, and by using the profits
from the masters, the entire project is 'self-contained'
financially. For those who are keen to remix ALL the tracks,
we are also offering the complete
set of all 9 songs for a 'package price' of £60.
|
| The Masters |
| Song Masters will be provided on made-to-order CD-R,
in ZIP-compressed WAV file format (we decided to use the
WAV format because it is compatible with both Windows
and Mac OS, and the ZIP format has many free programs
for uncompressing); any audio software/hardware is the
responsibility of the contestant (more on that later).
The files on the Masters are stereo files of different
instruments, played from the start of the track to the
end in its entirety. You will notice that many of the
tracks have long silences at the beginning - this is to
make sure that they are all synchronized. There are some
advantages and limitations doing it this way: the advantages
are you get instruments such as drums in a stereo pair
as opposed to the 16 or so individual tracks they were
recorded on. Everything is equalized ("EQ'ed")
and has effects added ("Wet"). If you are experienced,
you may see this as a disadvantage. We would say that
if you don't like the way something sounds, replace it!
The one exception to the above is the vocals. We have
also included all lead and backing vocals minus any effects,
such as reverb ("Dry") - if your remix is going
to be very different to the original, you may want to
treat the vocals differently. |
| If you want to try your hand at remixing before getting
the full masters, you can download a 'condensed' version
of the "Between You and Me" masters from ACIDplanet.com
for free. |
| Your Remix |
| If you are new to remixing - don't fear! There are plenty
of free software packages on the internet that can help
you create your musical masterpiece. For starters, you
may want to try your hands at the ACID software available
on ACIDplanet.com. Whatever you choose, you WILL need
to make sure that the software can handle multiple audio
tracks (multi-tracking); and it will need to use or import
WAV format files (don’t worry, though, most - if
not all - audio software should support WAV files!). After
choosing your software, you may well want to start by
reproducing the original album mix as producer Dave Meegan
set it. Doing this is easy: simply load the stereo files
(apart from the dry vocals) into the program of your choice,
and make sure they are all lined up to start at the same
place. Then just press play and you should hear a pretty
good reproduction of Dave's mix. You can then start playing
around with the tracks; looping, editing, moving, and
replacing anything you like. If you aren't a musician
or don’t intend to add anything to what Marillion
have already recorded, there is still plenty of scope
to make the songs quite different from the original. Check
out Mark Kelly's remix of "Between You and Me"
(on Disc 2 of the Anoraknophobia
Special Edition, the Between You and Me CD Single, or
streaming online) to see what we mean. |
| You are free to use any loops, audio files, or other
original elements that you certify do not infringe on
any third party's intellectual property rights. You may
use any commercial material for which you have received
and/or obtained requisite clearances and licensing for
such use. You are free to use your own musical creations.
This means that you can use musical instruments and personal
recordings. All performance material must be original
and license free. This means no cover versions of existing
material. Any entrant submitting material that does not
meet with the above criteria, or is believed sufficiently
in violation of the above criteria, will be disqualified
from the contest; suspicion of copyright will be sufficient
basis for disqualification of the submission. In plain
English: if we think there is a copyright on anything
in your song (apart from our original Masters!), we'll
disqualify it from the contest. |
| Submitting Entries |
| You will need to provide a CD-R or DAT of your work
(CD-R is preferred) - WE WILL NOT ACCEPT MP3 SUBMISSIONS
BY EMAIL OR POST, so please do not attempt to email them
to us. All work other than the Masters must be completely
original, and contain only royalty-free content. No unauthorized
samples. Be prepared to prove that the content is yours.
A word of advice: serious submissions only, please. You
may submit as many remixes for as many tracks as you want;
but no fragments, and no works in progress - final versions
only. All submissions should be CLEARLY marked with your
full name, postal address, email address, and telephone
number on both the media (CD-R, DAT) and the packaging.
Submissions without this information will be disqualified.
Submissions should be sent to: Marillion Anoraknophobia
Remix Project, PO Box 252, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire,
HP18 0YS, UK. Because of the volume of submissions Racket
Records expects to receive, we unfortunately cannot acknowledge
receipt of mixes. |
| The contest is open to ANYONE world-wide, and you will
have plenty of time to work on your remixes - all submissions
must be in by 31 December 2003 (NOTE: this has been extended
from the original deadline of 31 October 2003, but does
not include the ACIDplanet portion of the contest - please
see the Terms and Conditions for full details). |
| Artistic Freedom |
| Finally, what kind of remix should you set out to create?
How much original material should you use? Well, go crazy!
Use as much or as little of the original as you like.
If you need some 'inspiration', you may want to check
out Tales from the
Engine Room, the remix CD of our This
Strange Engine album - it is a good representation
of what can be done to radically change a song, yet still
keep its 'essence'. And while there are certainly no 'rules'
to what you can do musically, your remix should have some
reference to the original song - a strong melody, vocal,
or other musical theme. A complete reworking of nothing
but your original music is not what we’re looking
for (for example, "Face 1004" from "Tales…"
may be interesting musically, but bears little resemblance
to the original "Man of 1000 Faces" song!).
Experiment, but submit compelling material. Make sure
your composition grabs the listener, and be open-minded.
But most importantly, have fun! |
| Want to Promote Your Music? |
| If you feel your remix is something special (and we
expect you would, otherwise you wouldn't send it in!)
you can certainly promote it yourself. |
| HOWEVER - if you wish to do this, you MUST
contact us on Racket
Records Email for details to obtain permission to
use the music outside of the Contest. If you do not
obtain Marillion's written permission, you will be in
violation of Copyright law, and liable to prosecution. |
| We DO encourage contestants to promote your own
work, and will be happy to provide support should outside
companies take an interest. It does sound harsh, but
we must stress that you are legally obliged to get our
permission in writing before doing so. |
| |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
| We have been getting many common questions by email
and on our Online Forums, and have decided to answer and
explain the most common for you here. |
| If you have more detailed questions that are not answered
in any of our online documents, please contact us on Racket
Records Email and we will do our best to help you
and post the answer here. |
| Can I use samples from other Marillion
songs? |
| Whether it's Marillion or any other artist, copyright
restrictions (as described in the Terms and Conditions)
still apply. To explain a bit more... |
| Because of the pre-order campaign of Anoraknophobia,
Marillion actually OWN the rights to this album. This
is very unusual in the music business, but also why we
are able to run this remix contest. By buying the Song
Masters for the Remix Contest, you are - in effect - paying
a licensing fee to use them. Because we own them, we can
grant you permission to use them. (But please note, this
applies only to the Song Masters, and not to live, acoustic,
or otherwise alternate recordings of the songs.) |
| In contrast, all the Marillion albums up to 1995 are
owned by EMI, and the three albums from 1997-1999 are
owned by Castle/Sanctuary. So... If you want to use any
material from these albums (or for that matter,
any other music by any other artist) you
will have to get in touch with the record company/music
publisher/copyright holder directly. This includes playing
or recreating music from these albums yourself - not just
to lifting samples from other tracks! |
| However, remember that this is a remix contest, and
you are encouraged to create something NEW
rather than use pre-existing material. |
| I'm not great with Remixing. Can I do
a "cover version" of one of the songs? |
| This is a bit more difficult to answer, but in short
- no. Again, let's explain... |
| One of the main 'requirements' of pretty much any remix
is that at least some part of the original track remains,
and nearly 100% of the time, this part is the Lead Vocal. |
| So, while you are free to re-record the entire song
if you desire, you will still need to purchase
the Song Master for 2 reasons: First, for the licensing
rights (as described above in Question 1). Second, to
have the master track of the original vocal to use in
the remix. |
| Again, this is a remix contest, and we are not looking
for 'carbon copies' of the original songs - if your "cover
version" sounds dramatically different from the original,
then that's your remix! But if you're simply playing an
extra guitar track on top of the original or adding a
sax solo in the middle, etc. - we can let you know in
advance that you're not likely to win! |
| Can I combine more than 1 track together
in a remix? |
| Yes, you certainly may. But there is something very
important to keep in mind: for the purposes of our contest,
you MUST submit your remix into one of the
9 song 'categories'. |
| We obviously reserve the right to add a 'most original'
prize category in addition to the 9 songs, however there
are no plans to do so at this time. |
| If you are using elements from more than one Song Master,
we would strongly suggest that you focus on one
of the songs as the 'main' remix. If the final "combined"
remix is not obviously from one song over another, we
will be unable to assign it to a category, and it will
be disqualified. |
| Are samples of each drum (or other instruments)
included separately? |
| No. The drums (and all other tracks on the Masters)
are stereo tracks.There are plenty of drum libraries out
there with single hits for your sampler. A good sample
with a bit of tweaking and EQ can sound like just about
anyone's drum kit! |
| Many of the sounds ARE separate, but some have also
been combined together. There was no 'rule' as to how
this was done on the original masters, so each one is
different. Our best advice is simply to see what's on
the files that you get, and make the most of what's there
- remember, everyone will have the same Masters, so there's
no unfair advantage from one person to another! |
| Are you providing sheet music or bar
chords for each track? |
| The most 'technical' information we are providing with
the Masters are the song tempos and tempo changes - this
is mainly for time stretching and looping purposes. Again,
with a remix, there is no need to keep it in the same
key. If you want to use the same chords, ss Mark Kelly
has said many times in the past, "Just listen to
it - it's not that difficult!" And with the separate
tracks on the Master, you're able to pull out individual
instruments with no problem! |
| If you're really struggling, there are many MIDI file
and Guitar Tablature sites on the internet that can probably
start you off in the right direction - because there are
so many, though, we'll leave picking the best one up to
you! |
| |
TO CHECK OUT 
