@BigAlRocks, could you clarify for me (sorry, new to this!): is the feedback we are encouraged to give, to be given only when it’s in BTR status? Or are we to comment on official submissions as well?
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I have this same question.
I have no idea how this has been done in the past, but just a thought: the case could be made that commenting on submissions might influence people’s votes.
And yet I don’t want to forfeit the feedback/critique, cuz that’s how we learn.
I don’t imagine there’s a way to not be able to read comments until after you cast your vote?
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You can comment on both. In fact, commenting on the official submission is what is meant by “how actively you participated in the contest and helped others + the quality of that participation and help”. The BTR comments do not count toward that, at least they haven’t in the past. Judging on your contribution to the contest is only done for the official submission of each mix/mixer. You don’t have to critique every entry, I think 8-10 mix critiques has been considered pretty good participation in the past, but probably more if you’re serious about that helping you win. Obviously, this part of your overall score is pretty subjective, and is determined by the judges.
Perhaps, but there’s no way around it that I know of. Hopefully everyone votes their conscience and gives each one a fair shot. Certainly, overly favorable or overly negative trends on voting and comments for a mix could bias someone’s opinion … I think you just have to resist that and be as objective as possible, and hope others do too. In other words, comments like “I bet this will be the winning mix” or “this mix sucks, you’ll never win” should be avoided. 
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There has been, and could be again, some discussion about how to critique. Usually it’s pretty open-ended, but I have tried using a template with several criteria, or just a paragraph of positives … and a paragraph of negatives or potential improvements (constructive criticism).
The way I look at it, anybody attempting to something like this deserves at least some credit for “here’s what you did right”. Find something, anything, and praise or at least validate that for them. It helps balance out the “this could be better” part that comes next. 
Or at least it helps the ego sit back and relax a bit. 
In critiquing, there’s what should have been done “according to the rules of mixing” (but then we know that you can learn the rules and then break them if it suits your purpose 
). And then there’s your own “taste” as to what the person did. I try to distinguish those things from each other, because things like snare tone and snare reverb (among many others) can be personal taste. But basically, what can you tell the person to help get their mix to the next level so that an imaginary listening audience would like it better. What would be an improvement to the mix that would cause you to rate it with a higher score? (this is where it can be a learning opportunity)
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@Stan_Halen Stan nailed it. I basically stole this contest theme from a previous contest. Thanks for quickly answering!
When I am listening and critiquing, I make it a point not to look at other comments until after I’ve made my post. To my knowledge, there’s no way to hide comments…but I like that idea.
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Me too. I also don’t listen to anyone’s final mix before I submit mine. I usually just start playing the mix then scroll to the bottom and start editing my post as I’m listening…
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deleted post - due to tech issues
Vaughn, @vtr - you mind pulling this off and adding it to your bash thread? I think there’s some problems with the audio too…its like its doubled and one of the audio files has a 200ms delay
oops sorry, was trying to correct the video sync, and only managed to f**k it up… no big deal. 
edit:
was pretty simple, really… Reaper didn’t recognize the original audio format, so didn’t reproduce it, and I forgot to pull the volume of the original track to zero, (don’t mute it) - of course, youtube was happy to play both audio tracks simultaneously and I didn’t have exact sync, as Reaper couldn’t provide that audibly, I got a slight delay I wasn’t expecting. Duh for me… but, Thanks Jonathan. 