This is my entry for Round Two of The Producers Corner "Head2Head" sample challenge, where twenty producers are given the same source from which to sample, and send their results in to be randomly matched up against another producer in an elimination round with possible cash prize rewards. The source for this second week was Jun Fukamachi's 1982 album "Space Cruiser Yamato Synthesizer Fantasy" (https://youtu.be/lj9CARDiBj8), a new wave synth adaptation of Hiroshi Miyagawa's score for the Star Blazers anime series. The rules this week were to add only drums and bass and "one extra sound", which I initially interpreted to mean one other looped sample, but in seeking clarification I received a vague enough response that it seemed using one extra musical instrument would be within the contest parameters, so I picked piano. This being a brand-new challenge with new ears judging my work, I returned to a well-dipped well with an arrangement of a bassline riddim and reggae piano chords which has served me well in other past productions. I edited and layered and combined about twenty samples, snippets, and loops from the source, added my own drum programming, bassline and piano, and ended up with a kind of swingy peppy electro-dub reggae feel. We'll see if it's good enough to advance to the next round; I'm up against some very talented and consistent producers. The judge's advice last week was to try to keep within the realm of "less is more". I don't think I did that. I don't think I CAN do that! :-) But I did follow one piece of advice, to not rush and work longer on my beat; I spent 25 hours on my last one, and this one took 33.
