Beat Studies

“Don’t Mean A Thing” – Behind the Production

Posted by Beko in Blog, News, music videos | May 24th, 2010

Picture yourself at a modern day speakeasy in the bowels of the city. All the cool cats and kitties have found their way to that particular evening’s hot spot and are primed for a sizzlin’ night. The band is working hard to keep the crowd moving. The drinks are flowing and so are the emcee’s. Inhibitions start to dissipate as the electricity takes hold and the room becomes alive.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Beat Studies and Binkis Recs “Don’t Mean A Thing”

The conception of this musical brainchild occurred over 2 years ago in the lab when SIMP suggested blending the genres of hip hop with swing. I was intrigued by the idea. The next morning I immediately went to the local record shop, Wax-N-Facts, and asked the vinyl head behind the counter, “Who is the epitome of swing?” Without any acknowledgment of my question, he stood up and began walking toward the B’s. He pulled out 3 records; All of which bared the name… Count Basie. I thought what better way to get acquainted with a legend than a “best of” album. Luckily for me, Roulette Birdland had put one out some 50 years ago that was a fine summation of recordings from Basie and his orchestra. I took it home, isolated a solid bass loop and some horn hits and sampled them to my MPC. I then loaded some bangin’ hip-hop drum sounds from a disc a bought from mpcsounds.com. By the end of that day the song had completed its first phase of gestation as the instrumental track took shape.

Continue Reading