Respecta.is - The Ultimate Hip Hop Portal

Fat Beats Records is proud to present Baker's Dozen, an exclusive vinyl series that shines a light on the best minds of instrumental hiphop, ambient, and electronic music. Each installment gives one artist carte blanche to capture their signature sound.

Volume One highlights Los Angeles born / Sacramento based beat maker Dibiase, whose style is best described in his own words:

"It's crazy to think that my equipment collection and beat making process started back in high school with just an 8 second Gemini sampler and a Sony Walkman. It was a super basic set up. Back then I used whatever I could get my hands on. Finding different samples, looping them up, running the layers back through the Walkman. Adding more layers and repeating that process until I had a beat. It worked.

My process is a lot different now but in some ways it's the same. I still do a lot of layering. I use a combination of hardware and software. Sometimes I start with a sample. Sometime I start with drums. It depends on my mood and the genre. Sometime I use a kit. Other times I will sample and layer drums, run them through another piece of equipment like the SP-12 or 404 to dirty them up, then dump them back into Ableton.

I really don't have a set way of doing things musically. I like to experiment with different technics and styles. I like my music to have a certain sound. Most of the time I let the process happen naturally."