HUGE Winston Cup Question

[brandondrury]

Hey dudes,

The biz side of these things is never pretty.

Here's what I need to know. You are minding your own business on some naked lady (or man ) site and you see a much better looking version of one of these ads. Which one is going to make an impact on whether you click further and consider entering 12 freakin' mixing contests?

1) Bare in mind that I threw these terrible gifs together in 2 minutes.
2) It's not exactly the ad that's the super issue here. It's the prizes. I don't really care if the font or positioning in one is superior to another. I'm curious about the impact of the prizes.

Ad A
slate.gif



Ad B
slate_no_preamp.gif

On one hand, winning every single Steven Slate digital product now and for life sounds pretty good. Is it good enough to suck people in when I drop some big cash on promoting this thing (which I will not be directly monetizing)?

Winning a freakin' AMAZING preamp....maybe the best preamp for a home recorder out there...AND all the Slate Stuff sure sound great to me. Would it pull even more people in to a site that you had never otherwise heard of? That's the question. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Brandon

[m24p]

Wow, the entire collection plus all future products products? I would definitely put that in as soon as I could.

Basically I think what would get the average persons attention and make them likely to click would be
1 Gripping opening: Win all of Slate Digitals awesome current software
2 Climax: And all future software for life
(so far, Ad B)
3 Epilogue: Also the amazing preamp (this should just be a single slide that says something like "Not to mention the jaw-dropping fox preamp".)

So like add 2 except a final frame that says "Oh, and you'll get the amazing fox preamp, too." Kind of an epilogue that says "it's not just software".

I can't wait to win this. The more competition I have the more awesome I'll feel when I win it.

[brandondrury]

Wow, the entire collection plus all future products products? I would definitely put that in as soon as I could.

That's one option. (Just to clarify, the DIGITAL products )

That tells me your vote.

Again, the ad wasn't important. That'll be outsourced. I had to word this thing funky for a reason.

Brandon

[bholst]

I don't think you should advertise. That further reduces my chances of winning.

Ad B

[bholst]

Have you established some prizes for the mixes along the way also?

[willj]

I like "A". You gotta come out of the gate with your very best! theres no time for a "grande finale".
Money maker up front!!

Unfortunately, i dont feel like the road to mass membership is thru prizes.
Depends what yr goin for i guess. Is it a continually thriving community, or is a one time sign-up enough to quench your thirst??
1) As soon as i see i can win something i think "whats the catch"
2)Prizes MAY lead to an influx of skilled yet broke engineers looking to shoot fish in a barrel.
3) I had some other good rebuttals, but i got to rubbing my groin and forgot them.

IMHO they key to a thriving community is good information. - sorry. i know. NOT what yr interested in right now.
People come here for one reason. To learn something about recording. If a person feels like he/she left here knowing something they didnt know before, they will return.

Even if a person won something its possible that they may end up with the feeling that they have no further use for this place. And with all that, so ONE person won something, Your only reaching ONE person!!! OK so maybe 5 more stick around for a while. Wont last without *good information*

Think about all of the people who DONT win something. Think about all of the people who feel like they dont even have a chance.

On one hand we're saying, "hey come to RR and learn everything you can about recording drums" and such, but "hey, wait! Here, you dont need no stinking drum recordings, just use these slate samples"!!!!

Just some random thoughts. Feel free to disregard. Guess its all in what yr after.

[m24p]

That's one option. (Just to clarify, the DIGITAL products )

That tells me your vote.

Again, the ad wasn't important. That'll be outsourced. I had to word this thing funky for a reason.

Brandon

I said "future products products" but I meant "future digital products".
And this Slate Digital Cup is sounding awesome. I might post links to it from some other forums where people are talking about getting mix practice because I can't think of a better way!

[brandondrury]

Depends what yr goin for i guess. Is it a continually thriving community, or is a one time sign-up enough to quench your thirst??

In order to win the grand prize, they'd have to do well in 12 consecutive contests. While this doesn't necessarily equate to a long-term thriving community, if people are into the Winston Cup idea, they will have to be regular posters here for an entire year. I seriously doubt that anyone with less than 60 posts will win this thing.

2)Prizes MAY lead to an influx of skilled yet broke engineers looking to shoot fish in a barrel.

The points system makes it absolutely critical for them to help their fellow members. Highly skilled engineers who help people are GREAT! That's exactly what we want here. If a big time engineer were to come in and win all 12 monthly contests but not participate in helping, he'll probably score about 15th (just a guess). I've done a lot of number crunching on this.

I don't think being a great engineer necessarily guarantees victory in a mixing contest. There's too much art/creativity involved. Gun N Roses fired Bob Clearmountain for Use Your Illusion because of sonics. 'nuf said.

Have you established some prizes for the mixes along the way also?

"Established" is a tricky word. I may not go with Slate unless I think the prizes are sexy enough to warrant my investment in time and dollars. We do have a provisional plan for that. I'm holding back until I hear what everyone has to say.

IMHO they key to a thriving community is good information. - sorry. i know

I'd go a step "higher"/more-generic and say a thriving community benefits the user. Good info is part of that. I think we have a lot of good info here (it could always be gooder). The biggest problem the community has had this past year is people starting new threads. The average response is quite high for most threads. We just don't get that many new ones, unfortunately.

Even if a person won something its possible that they may end up with the feeling that they have no further use for this place. And with all that, so ONE person won something, Your only reaching ONE person!!! OK so maybe 5 more stick around for a while. Wont last without *good information*

Think about all of the people who DONT win something. Think about all of the people who feel like they dont even have a chance.

WillJRockstar, I'm getting the feeling that you aren't up on my Winston Cup idear. I've cranked out A LOT of math on this to make a contest that Grammy winners are not-gonna understand.

Here's my original brainstorm: Winston Cup-Like Mixing Contests....Maybe

Think about all of the people who DONT win something.

I have. The incentive is in scoring well in th contest AND providing the most useful information to the younger guys who need help. A person who does both will do very well. A person who just wins the monthly mixing contest will do poorly. A person who just helps a lot will do poorly. Much like the old Winston Cup contest, the real money is in being consistent both in being in the Top 16 in both mixing and helping.

So the younger guys who don't feel they are competitive stand to gain tremendously by getting 1-on-1 help from talented, broke engineers who have incentive to help. That's the way the scoring system is setup.

Think about all of the people who feel like they dont even have a chance.

A person with no chance this year who sticks with it, does their homework, buys and reads KHR, etc will have a chance next year. No doubt about it.

On one hand we're saying, "hey come to RR and learn everything you can about recording drums" and such, but "hey, wait! Here, you dont need no stinking drum recordings, just use these slate samples"!!!!

RecordingReview is not about methodology. It's about removing hurdles to musical intensity. "Just use" implies that the technology is so magical that you instantly go platinum with Slate Samples. Anyone here who has used world class samples knows they are great tools when the project calls for them, but I haven't head a great recording without skilled humans yet.

Because the site is about removing hurdles, the issue is never their chosen weapons of choice unless that weapon has hurdles itself. In other words, I won't tolerate, "Why did you use a dobro?? FAG!!!!!!". It applies to synths, guitars, samples, and everything else.

I might post links to it from some other forums where people are talking about getting mix practice because I can't think of a better way!

I plan on providing incentive for that, too, actually.

Brandon

[kakeux]

Even If I would be more than happy with B, I'll vote ad A...it's better to be more than more than happy

[Dahla]

Wow, the Winston cup sounds grueling! Do well in 12 consecutive contests? I was in two here on RR, and didn't do well in either...

[m24p]

Wow, the Winston cup sounds grueling! Do well in 12 consecutive contests? I was in two here on RR, and didn't do well in either...

The effort might be grueling
but the prizes have me drooling

[paul999]

I choose A.

[brandondrury]

Wow, the Winston cup sounds grueling! Do well in 12 consecutive contests? I was in two here on RR, and didn't do well in either...

Well, I suspect you may have done a bit better than you think based on how this contest will be scored. It's not out of the question for a person to win ZERO monthly contests and take the big time prize at the end.

Brandon

[Dahla]

Well, I suspect you may have done a bit better than you think based on how this contest will be scored. It's not out of the question for a person to win ZERO monthly contests and take the big time prize at the end.

Brandon

Ah, good to hear Brandon. Then I'm in.

[willj]

WillJRockstar, I'm getting the feeling that you aren't up on my Winston Cup idear. I've cranked out A LOT of math on this to make a contest that Grammy winners are not-gonna understand.

Oooops!! "Unaware" would be a more precise term than "aren't up on" , but you are correct. I wasnt seeing the big picture.

In any case you raise a lot of good points. This is why you are the master!

I havent read the link, but i will. Im sure i'll have some different feelings then at some point.

One of the things that makes this site feel different from others is that the "head-cheese" has time fer everybody. Errr wait, the head-honcho!