Welcome to the Newgrounds Audio Deathmatch 2023 Round of 16! :D

The top scorer from each of the 16 groups in the Group Stage was accepted into this Round of 16. From now on, the competition is a 1-v-1 single-elimination-style tournament, such that in a given round each competitor only has one opponent. 

What do I do if I’m in the top 16?

The remaining competitors have until Saturday, September 9th at 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time to submit a completely original track (i.e., made from scratch for the competition) to this thread. Notice how this submission phase is A FULL WEEK SHORTER than the last one. It’s called a deathmatch for a reason, folks. 

Otherwise, all of the rules that applied to the Group Stage apply to the Round of 16. No remixes, remakes, mash-ups, etc. No copyrighted samples. No finishing a piece you started before August 27th for your submission.

I promise that two weeks is the shortest a submission phase will be in this competition. But the judging turnaround time will keep getting shorter, so please familiarize yourself with the full contest schedule if you haven’t already.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you made it into the top 16, but you won’t have time to compete, please let me know as soon as possible! There are a lot of other competitors waiting in the wings for a chance to rejoin the Deathmatch as a fill-in!

What if I didn’t make it in?

That really depends on your position. Again, the NGADM likes to provide fill-ins for walkovers, when contestants aren’t able to submit to subsequent rounds despite making it in. Contestants who didn’t quite make it into the Round of 16 might have a chance to rejoin the competition, and will be prioritized to rejoin according to their score in the Group Stage. If you had a particularly strong group contestant knock you out in the Group Stage, but you still scored above an 8.75, you should probably start making a track for the Round of 16 regardless.

Otherwise, I’d suggest politely asking the judges for some feedback. @ADR3-N, @Bosa, @ConnorGrail, @SplatterDash, @TeraVex, @WobWobRob, and myself all worked really hard to deliver these scores in a timely manner, so please be patient and respectful with us. Please keep any discussion of your entry to a PM, not the thread. 

SO WHERE ARE THE RESULTS?

RIGHT HERE! People who made it into the top 16 are highlighted in green. People who didn’t are not. The list is sorted by group, so please keep scrolling if you don’t see it at first.

Congratulations to all of the competitors for their hard work. If you’re moving on to the next round, you may now begin working on your tracks. If not, hope to see you back next year! ^_^

—

The Round of 16 match-ups are as follows:

@BeyondOurEyes vs. @ZaneLittle

@Lordant vs. @Ryzmik

@Papkee vs. @Mischa-head

@DenPelm vs. @NashQP

@FJOB vs. @TheRiskster

@Spoonman420 vs. @Benji-G

@LordAndiso vs. @Troisnyx + @DisOmikron

@CrossCarrasco vs. @LucidShadowDreamer

Tomorrow, I’ll even share a bracket so that you can all see your “path” to the finals. I just need some sleep first, tbh. :) 

For absolute clarity, the following users scored second in their groups, but still got more than an 8.75 out of 10 overall. You technically didn’t make it into the Round of 16, but you may have a chance to compete anyway because of AWOL members of the original top 16. You should strongly consider working on a piece that follows the rules of the competition over the next couple of weeks, in case you have an opportunity to rejoin the Deathmatch. 

@AlbeGian @IAmWontolla @3xBlastMx @CloakedSoup @Cresince

Again, for absolute clarity, the following users were not accepted into the Round of 16 of the competition, and are unlikely to have an opportunity to rejoin because of walkovers. Making it into the Group Stage itself is a huge honor, though - there are a LOT of VERY talented musicians in this taglist, and I hope to see many of you back next year. 

@A145 @Irish-Soul @JensVide @Trunotfals @Finnsfolks @xxxZigZagxxx @Bassclefff @Semzaiy @ET16 @Mauxus @PsiStarOfficial @Gdfoxy0021 @WingsOfAsh @Zip-Zap-Official @CrowdDoll @IglicaV @Kreagato @ColBreakz @JinZ @Trackers @ALGOfficial @CHPSK8 @MetaHumanBoi @Qshunt @NDXLOfficial @ThePal @MetatronMusic @ErikMcClure @InventoryObjects @Ackee39 @Ketyri @Deemo-R @Mockany @SPIRALi

good luck guys thank yall for letting me be a part of this

Honestly, I'm not upset.

There was a TON of talent in the group stage, and if I'm honest, I couldn't really give it my all, due to depression, and a bit of writers block. I made something kind of rushed. But I stuck to it, and that was my absolute biggest goal, to complete something I'm at least proud of.

If I'm being honest AGAIN, I'm kind of grateful I didn't make it in, since I didn't give it my all. If I made it, I would've felt like I took the spot of someone who put more into their work, AND (most importantly) I'm back in school and would've DEFINITELY not been able to give it my all in the next round, and need to focus on school pretty hard this semester.

Congrats to all that made it in! I hope to see your names more often around Newgrounds, and next year!

Ehhh, upsetting to get the lowest score in my group, and I'm a little sad by this, since I thought I've been getting better, lately. Nonetheless, I am thankful to have at least made it this far, and hopefully I can improve further for whenever the next time comes around. The feedback the relatively helpful as well, almost all of it being stuff I'm willing to take into account for the future, so even just for that, I'm thankful to have participated. Cheers for hosting this, and best of luck to the ones that made it!

Not sure if this will be perceived negatively but I made my submission specifically to lose cuz personal stuff next week happens (move out, study, etc)

This was quite an experience.

Good luck to the rest of the competitors!

GG everyone, you fought valiantly 🥺🙏🏽

why am I playing completely different opponents in the group stage in the results chart versus the actual announcement in the group stage thread? I was never assigned Troisnyx. All of the groups are completely wrong

Because in round 1, two of the scores got miscalculated and so the groups had to be rearranged. A separate set of pings was given in the round 1 thread to address this, thereby completely reshuffling the groups.

EDIT: To be clear, it was this post.

https://www.newgrounds.com/bbs/post/history/27740172

Super happy with my score and the feedback I got on the track despite not winning in my group, the competition was super strong! Gonna check out all the other tracks and the feedback they got, lot to learn from reading that!

Will be working on a new track just in case 🙏

Yoooo I struggled so hard to pass with that score... Zoftle was very mercyful, if he showed up in the 1st round he would've kicked my ass musically talking (?).

I feel like I am a nobody among the pros here, although I've had formidable competition and listen a ton of cool music.

For now, I still want to take further steps as it has been given to me an opportunity beyond compare. Now let's get risky. Well played everyone!

Honestly, I cant even say I’m surprised, or even upset really. I was up against so many talented people, and I’d honestly feel bad if some random experiment I quickly made would beat some of these incredibly good submissions.

And on the flip side, I stepped out of my comfort zone, and I got a full half point higher than my tryout submission, something I’m incredibly happy about.

As far as I’m concerned, this is a W

Good luck to everyone moving on to the group stage!!! <3

Yeah I heard @BeyondOurEyes 's audition track and knew I wasn't winning. So I whipped up a piece to get feedback on my process, since you and @ADR3-N have great ears for music, and you're honest about your feedback. And it was really valuable!

I'll consider making something in case there's a dropout, but otherwise, thanks for letting me participate!

Thank you for providing the opportunity to participate in this event. This requires a lot of effort by plenty judges so I am really happy and thankful that you all took the time aside to judge. It was a privilege! This is the first time I’ve qualified and I felt so good to be validated in that way by a community I’ve been lurking in for a decade. Thanks very much!

The best part of this competition for me is being able to give feedback where people want and need it, not to mention the insane amount of talent. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I come away each year feeling like an absolute amateur, with new favorites and friends.

I wanted to say that I didn't come across a single sub par piece this round. You all did amazing! It was legitimately really hard to pick a favorite out of any of the brackets, which is really saying something!

It's been a pleasure having you all ❤️

WOW, top 16! I'm blown away, now I really gotta step it up for this round haha. Good luck everyone!

@ZaneLittle You better win.

Just going to jolt this thread back to life to say that you now have less than a week left to submit your Round of 16 tracks!

@BeyondOurEyes @ZaneLittle @Lordant @Ryzmik @Papkee @Mischa-head @DenPelm @NashQP @FJOB @TheRiskster @Spoonman420 @Benji-G @LordAndiso @Troisnyx + @DisOmikron @CrossCarrasco @LucidShadowDreamer

'ERE WE GO YEP!!!!!

Here's mine!

With several days to spare even!

It's here 🙏🏽

College really wore me down, but I hope a one-minute song doesn't do badly.

meet me outside (newgrounds.com)

2 days and 1 hour to go!

@BeyondOurEyes @Lordant @Ryzmik @Mischa-head @DenPelm @FJOB @TheRiskster @Spoonman420 @LordAndiso @CrossCarrasco @LucidShadowDreamer

Also, friendly reminder to @AlbeGian @IAmWontolla @3xBlastMx @CloakedSoup @Cresince: don't be shy about posting a track here, as long as it follows the rules. If the deadline comes and passes, and you have a track here, and one of the folks above doesn't, you can easily get back into contention.

( . ͜ .)7

Started a song, we'll see what I can do!

Made it just in time! Here's my entry - good luck everyone!

Arcade themed Colour Bass