Winners of the Engadget theme song contest!
By Ryan Block 
posted Nov 10th 2006 2:56PM
posted Nov 10th 2006 2:56PM
P.S. -Be sure to check out our own Paul Miller's Engadget song. He obviously wasn't allowed to enter it, but the ditty he wrote for Peter's birthday this year was a little too good not to include.
First place
Aleksandr Karpets' Engadget Jingle (MP3)
Second place
RKNY's Theme to Engadget (MP3)
Third place
Robert Lenz's Engadget Theme
Runners up
Kevin Fleming (MP3)
Justin Reznick (M4A)
Mark Rosengarten (MP3)
Engadget creepo
Paul Miller (MP3)
I feel second place should have taken first, it's a better mix.
I love how half of them used the default Macintosh speech program.. [/sarcasm] -.-
i though i was the only one to notice
Peter Rojaaaaaas
You don't know I live on your block!
Awesome. Send him a prize.
Aleksandr Karpets' Engadget Jingle (MP3)
is incredible, ahead of the other contestants for sure. but great work all.
the only thing i didn't like is the "clapping" sound at the begining and end of the jingle.
Ha! I love the clapping at the end of Aleksandr Karpets' track. Nice breakdown of the spelling of ENGADGET, too. Good stuff.
Pecos - I agree, the mix is better on the 2nd Place entry, but both were very clever. It was probably an extremely difficult choice! (That horrid repeating modem sound might have played a roll in the decision. . . who knows.)
I vote for 2nd place as well!
Honestly I have to agree with the way things broke down. You kids picked them in order. Number two was great but about halfway through I just got tired of it, and I REALLY liked it in the beginning. Number one is comedy, I still have a smile on my face as I type this! The Creepo track was disturbing enough that I stopped listening after the first few lines.
His prize should be a restraining order, kidding. Good show all!
The Paul Miller thing was great.
That said I don't like any of the theme songs. Third place wasn't bad, but it was very generic. The rest are all very amaturish. If it's a meaningless contest then fine, but if your actually going to use this somewhere like the podcasts I would get professional help.
Yea most of these seem to be horrible attempts at a Daft Punk styled song, or just trying to be quirky/funky, but come out lame, bland, and lack any sort of inspiration. No offense to anyone but these are just too amateur sounding as Tim said...
Having worked as a producer in the industry, run a successful production company (where I selected the theme songs) and have successfully predicted the careers of several commercial artists, I have to say I'm amazed that Engadget would pick the one they did as #1. I think they need to make sure they didn't reverse their selections on some piece of paper somewhere. Of those presented, #3 is clearly the best suited for Engadget. Instantly I saw the opening of a TV show/Video Podcast.
Oh well, it's not my decision only my suffering.
I entered the contest but didn't make the list... and that's okay. But, my honest opinion is that the 1st place song was the best and deserved to win. The only other one I liked was the Mark Rosengarten one, but the vocals were way too loud on it. My least favorite was 2nd place... loops and samples just aren't my thing.
the third place winner was the best in my book.
Umm... Robert Lenz... Got a website with more of your stuff? If so, shoot me an e-mail through my contact form on my website. I liked what I heard.
http://robertdot.org
I've listened to them all, and the first one is a definite standout to me. Congratulations Aleksandar!
My fingers are crossed that the results of the photo contest are not far behind. :)
Agree with AIVAS, and I'm a professional music-boy too. Track three is definitely identity-building material. The other two sound very amateurish, especially the first one.
How did third place not win? CLEARLY the superior musician. Not to mention that this is something I wouldn't mind hearing over and over, which is the intent of any theme song...
Daa daa daaa !!
Hey, Mark Rosengarten here. I liked the songs...if all they wanted were professionals, they would have gone out and hired a professional instead of dangling a Zune as a carrot to all of the readers of this site. I am an amateur, I am not a musician (obviously) but I wanted to have fun with the contest. My song was originally part of a video clip entered in a Gadgeteer contest, and when I saw this contest I decided to enter the music clip. Nice job to everyone who participated in this contest, and to the person who said that the clips were "lame, bland, and lack any sort of inspiration", I am waiting to hear your contribution, which will obviously be much, much better than anything anyone else came up with. I write songs for my chemistry students and have a CD of them (better produced)...with samples at my web site, www.markrosengarten.com. Many might view them as amateurish and not professionally done, and you are right...I have a small studio in my upstairs bedroom and do everything in Garageband...but my students love the CD, as does every chemistry teacher who has heard them and used them in their classes. Before you insult the work of others, you'd better back it up with superior work of your own!
I don't understand how people are claiming the 3rd place entry should win. Sure - it's got high production values and musicianship. Let me dust off any generic riff I wrote, play it for one minute, and then add at the end - "engadget". Well blow my socks off.
God bless GarageBand and its loops!
My favorite: Kevin Fleming's ditty. Simple, quick, and catchy.
So, slim pickings then, eh??
Is it true that playing RKNY's theme into your phone lets you make long distance phone calls for free?
Third place should have won. That one seems the most professional. The other two are kitch.
Beef
I like the winning songs Engadget picked but I wished I submitted my rap song that I was working on, but I didn't have time to finish it with finals..
Hello! Robert Lenz here... just wanted to thank Engadget for this contest, it was fun to make this theme in my free time... and thanks to the commenters for the kind words! I appreciate it.
My website isn't finished yet, but for those who are interested, its:
http://www.robertlenz.com
Third place should have won.
Paul's song haunts my dreams.
Haha, love those first two! Love em, love em, love em! I smile every time.