The First International Competition of Sound Engineers

Dear participants of the First International Competition of Sound Engineers!
Due to an excessive number of the submitted phonograms, the Competition results will be announced on 19 June 2019.

1. General Provisions

1.1. The name of the competition is The First International Competition of Sound Engineers (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Competition”).

1.2. The founder of the Competition is Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory (hereinafter to be referred to as “the Conservatory”).

1.3. The Competition will be held from 1 May until 19 June 2019.

1.4. The Competition will be held for participants of the following two categories:
1.4.1. professional sound engineers specializing in the recording of academic music, as well as teachers of sound engineering at higher educational institutions (hereinafter to be referred to as “the competitors of the 1^st category”);
1.4.2. undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students who learn sound engineering both in Russia and abroad (hereinafter to be referred to as “the competitors of the 2^nd category”).

2. The Jury

Co-chairman: Pavel Lavrenenkov (Russia)
Co-chairwoman: Maria Soboleva (Russia)

Members:
Erdo Groot (the Netherlands)
Gennady Papin (Russia)
Nicholas Parker (the United Kingdom)
Vladimir Ryabenko (Russia)

3. Awards for the Competition Laureates

3.1. The Organizing Committee of the Competition announces the following awards:
3.1.1. The competitors of the 1^st category who win the first place:
(1) a round trip to, and accommodation in, Moscow fully covered by the Organizing Committee, in order to be present at the awarding ceremony at the Conservatory;
(2) a diploma of the laureate of the Competition;
(3) memorable gifts;
3.1.2. The competitors of the 1^st category who win the second and third places:
(1) a diploma of the laureate of the Competition;
(2) memorable gifts;
3.1.3. The competitors of the 2^nd category who win the first, second and third places:
(1) a diploma of the laureate of the Competition;
(2) memorable gifts.

3.2. Upon the Organizing Committee’s consent, any public organizations, including foundations and/or mass media, may establish any additional prizes, awards and/or gifts for the competitors. Decisions on the awarding of any special prizes and/or gifts to the competitors will be made by the jury of the Competition.

3.3. Several special prizes will be handed by the Yamaha company.

4. The Competition Procedure

4.1. The Competition will be held in the following six nominations:
4.1.1. the recording of either a symphonic or a vocal-symphonic piece (I);
4.1.2. the recording of a piece for chorus a cappella (II);
4.1.3. the recording of a chamber-instrumental piece (III);
4.1.4. the recording of a chamber-vocal piece (IV);
4.1.5. the recording of an electronic and/or electro-acoustic piece (V);
4.1.6. the recording that doesn’t match any of the five preceding nominations (VI).

4.2. The Competition will consist of one round and be held anonymously: all the recording files to be officially accepted by the Organizing Committee will be forwarded to the jury members under their respective code names only. Every jury member will listen to all the recording files, mark each one with his/her personal score and forward it to the Organizing Committee for calculating the final results. A total list of the recording files with their summarized scores will be published on the Conservatory’s website not later than 19 June 2019.

4.3. Every competitor may submit from one to six phonograms inclusive, but no more than one in each nomination. Points of the competition score will be summarized separately under each nomination, regardless of a total number of phonograms to be submitted by each competitor.

5. The Procedure of Applying

5.1. An application for participation in the Competition shall be the submission of (1) the recording file, (2) its supplementary sheet, (3) the layout of the microphones, and (4) the competitor’s scanned documents.

5.2. Technical requirements to the recording file are as follows:
5.2.1. a maximum duration must be 6 minutes. In case the piece lasts longer than 6 minutes, it is permitted to record any of its fragments that would fit the established limit;
5.2.2. the format must be Waveform Audio File (*.wav). No compressed files (such as *.mp3, *.aac, *.flac, *.aiff and the like) are permitted;
5.2.3. the frequencies must be 44.1, 48.0, 88.2 or 96.0 kHz;
5.2.4. the bit rates must be 16 or 24;
5.2.5. the number of recording channels must be 2 (stereo).

5.3. The recording file shall be submitted as an active link to a file-sharing service. Technical requirements to the link are as follows:
5.3.1. the link must lead to one file only;
5.3.2. the file must be opened without any passwords or captchas;
5.3.3. the file-sharing service may be neither Youtube nor any other online resources with public access, including P2P networks.

5.4. Requirements to the drawing up of the recording file’s supplementary sheet are as follows:
5.4.1. only the *.jpg, *.pdf, *.doc or *.docx formats are permitted;
5.4.2. the supplementary sheet must contain:
(1) the date of the recording of the file;
(2) the author and the title of the recorded piece;
(3) the technique of the recording used by the competitor.

5.5. Requirements to the drawing up of the recording file’s layout of the microphones are as follows:
5.5.1. only the *.jpg, *.pdf, *.doc or *.docx formats are permitted;
5.5.2. the layout of the microphones must contain:
(1) the models of the microphones;
(2) the polar patterns of the microphones.

5.6. In order to participate in the Competition, scanned copies of the following documents must be forwarded to its official e-mail address (see 8.3):
5.6.1. the application, filled out and personally signed (download *.doc);
5.6.2. the competitor’s official permission to process his/her personal data, personally signed (download *.doc);
5.6.3. the front page of a passport or another document, containing the passport holder’s photo and personal signature identifying the competitor.

5.7. The deadline of forwarding the recording file, its supplementary sheet and the layout of the microphones, together with the competitor’s application, consent for processing his/her personal data and scanned documents shall be 1 May 2019.

5.8. In case the recording file and all the accompanying documents fully meet the requirements of these Regulations, the Organizing Committee will forward to each competitor the respective notification in writing within seven days. The Organizing Committee has the right to reject all the documents and recording files that do not meet the above-mentioned requirements.

5.9. In the event an applicant refuses to participate in the Competition, the scans of his/her documents will not be returned.

5.10. The fact of forwarding an application means an applicant’s unconditional consent with all the clauses of these Regulations.

6. Special provisions

6.1. The competitor’s copyright for his/her recording file to be forwarded to the Organizing Committee shall be protected in accordance with the applicable legislation of the Russian Federation.

6.2. These Regulations are published on the Conservatory’s official website both in Russian and in English. In the event any disputes or disagreements arise in the interpretation of any clauses of these Regulations, the version published in Russian shall prevail.

7. Contact Information

7.1. The Competition’s Organizing Committee—Department for Festivals, Competitions and Special Events of Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory’s Center for Coordinating Artistic Projects: 13/6 Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, Bld. 1, Moscow, 125009, Russia
7.2. Telephone: +7 (495) 627 7274
7.3. E-mail: artmosconsv@gmail.com