So I just watched an awesome documentary about Rick Rubin and he talked about his approach as a “reductionist” rather than as a producer. He helps people simply their sound to focus on one main idea.
Below is an article which seems to touch on his approach. Worth a read if you are looking for a interlude in the middle of your creative process:
nice… that sounds good. i’m down for whatever.
my first pass relied a lot on the fela kuti percussion. it definitely grooved, but i worried the chops carried too much of the vibe. it almost felt like a loop despite not using a loop at all. the second track doesn’t rely on any of the percussion, letting the drums stand alone a bit.
one thing that seems tougher here is using the vocals as a chorus. i’ve pretty much made peace with not taking that approach. it’ll end up being something else entirely, i think.
Did you find anything delicious in the Manu Dibango track? It is definitely on the “Soleside” downtempo vibe, but I think some gems in that Hibiscus track as well.
All done. Looking forward to hearing what everyone else did.
Gross draft done. Takin a few days off on holiday to come back and polish it. Having so much fun 
I had so much fun making my track. Great sample pool
Kind reminder. Deadline for track submission is upcoming friday 
7 submissions so far 
I guess it’s fair if I don’t take part at the blind vote.
I won’t listen to any track before the blind vote though, I want to be surprised as well
can you get a non invested 3rd party to number and upload the files to soundcloud? then you’ll be blind too
Submitted today! Can’t wait to hear what everyone came up with.
Probably but I want to take of my tasks as a host
I’m sure we will have enough participants to vote
I finally got my act together so hopefully I’ll have mine finished soon! Can’t wait to try the blind voting. It’ll be fun to try to guess people from their styles.
The Fourth Phase!
And sent ! (That was also a kindly reminder that I need to get way better to mixing and mastering if anyone has good ressources on that? For now I use Audacity)
Actually got mine in ‘early’ for the first time but only because I’m off on a trip from today feels weird not to be able to explain away the issues I have with it before people listen but of course I’m not 100% happy with it 
I have finished mine already on the first weekend of phase 2 
I really loved the samples
Yeah amazing samples all round 
Really interesting samples.
I haven’t even started yet, because of lack of time over the last couple of weeks my plan was to start and finish tomorrow so I’ll probably submit mine very late Friday evening or in the early hours of Saturday uk time.
That’s the plan anyway haha
Looking forward to the blind listening. I wish I had the chance to get something in this round, but between work and travel it’s a tall order. I do appreciate finding Fatoumata through the sample selections though!
I’m afraid I won’t have time to submit something this go around. Just to say though, the organisation and plan for this battle has been brilliant. Was good to hear people’s background in phase 1 and the blind listening is a neat idea.
Take a bow @surfacescan @Unifono
Looking forward to hearing the submissions.
Just reread the rules and think I might have messed up. I’ve used more than two samples from the group contributions. Thought it was at least two like the main sample tracks. Can’t change mine now, damn. Oh well!