RBMA's 'Beat Repeat' Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking For The Perfect Beat"
Beat Repeat is RBMA NYC's tactful breakdown of some hip-hop's most buried gems, giving us the techie's eye-view of the creation of seminal cuts like Man Parrish's "Boogie Down Bronx", Mtume's "Juicy Fruit" and today Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force's "Looking For The Perfect Beat." Its a proper window into the jungle-funk production styles of "Perfect Beat"'s frantic, yet masterful drum programming. The track's producers Arthur Baker and John Robie make us keen to a longstanding sound engineer's secret; that the mixing board itself is but another instrument (just go ask D'Angelo.) What follows is an expert demonstration of the Baker's programming prowess and a spot-on live reconstruction of the track. Those unfamiliar with Beat Repeat can play catch-up with the Man Parrish and Mtume installments below.
