The Mastering Gauntlet Champion Announced!
The 2019 Mastering Gauntlet’s debut season, Electric Summer, has officially concluded, and a champion has emerged! I went head-to-head against Christian Caicedo of Envious Audio during the entire month of September, mastering as many submissions as we could get in order to do 1 song a day.
We had a variety of sub-genres of electronic music submitted, which made the challenge very interesting and quite fun. Each submission presented its own nuanced set of differences and approaches.
The Breakdown
Week 1 started off strong after nearly two months of marketing and reaching out to artists in all sorts of groups and circles. We had a nine-day streak of submissions to work on. Christian started out strong, winning most of the approvals in the beginning.
However, by week 2, we had to redouble our efforts on marketing and drawing more interest for producers and artists to submit their mixes. We ended up with a lot of bys. As we marched into week 3, the outlook started to set in that this may be all the submissions we get. Thankfully, mixes started to trickle in.
Week 3 seemed to hold the tides of change. Whatever the reason, I started to catch up, and just barely pulled ahead by the end of the week, which left only 2 days to close out week 4.
A Close Race
Cameron
[Neologic Studios]
Approved Masters
%
total share
VS.
Total Masters Delivered
%
Master sessions booked
Christian
[Envious Audio]
Approved Masters
%
total share
With one master still left unapproved, the jury is out as to who can fairly claim the title of The Mastering Gauntlet Champion. If that master had gone to Christian, it would be an even tie. I’m looking forward to an upcoming lightning round against Christian that could very well change the outcome!
A Special Announcement!
We’re working with Dylan and the team at Producer Dojo on a special lightning round of sorts. We should be announcing more details around it shortly. Possibly on the date of the giveaway!
Speaking of, the giveaway winners will be chosen and announced on October 8th. There are 4 prizes up for grabs from Producer Dojo, Warp Academy, Sample Hero, and Teknofonic.
This giveaway has over $5,000 worth of value, and with 75% of them continually growing as new content gets added, that value has likely grown beyond even that!
I’d like to take a moment to personally thank Christian. He’s been a humble, knowledgable, and super-insightful collaborator in this whole endeavor. I couldn’t have done this thing alone. He brought so much to the table, from marketing efforts to advertising, and high-level ideas for really making the Mastering Gauntlet something special.
This has been quite a journey for us both, and the partnership that has laid the framework for this concept has been an exceptional one! I’m grateful for the opportunity to get to engage in this friendly competition, learn from, and lean on each other.
Post-Season educational Vlog series is coming
If you haven’t subscribed to my Youtube channel then go here and do it now, and don’t forget to hit the notification button so you receive notifications. I will be doing an episode for each session of the mastering gauntlet challenge. I have screencaptured & recorded a timelapse of each session not only to show proof of the 2 hour time allotment, but also to be able to share my process and workflow.
This is also a great opportunity to answer mastering questions you may have! If you have questions about mastering, or perhaps mixing or sound design tips that may impact the mastering stage, leave a comment below and I will incorporate the questions into each episode.
Need your song mastered? I offer free mix critiques and mastering previews! Reach out to me with a brief description of your project, and what your goals are with this release and your brand! I’d love to hear from you.