The producer. The beatsmith, tune-wrangler and chief MIDI file manipulator.  While its the artists that are front and centre, it's the producers that are responsible for merging together instruments and sampling old records to form the backbone for some of our favourite tunes.

So next Tuesday we'll be celebrating that fact. With Sporting Life - the man behind the beats for New York rap disciplies, Ratking - in town, we've married together some of the best production heads from his extended family. That means that sublow samurai Faze Miyake will be rubbing shoulders with hip-hop maestro, Black Mack. Slackk will be pallying up with Tri Angle Records rep, Boothroyd. It's set to be a chilled affair, up in our office studio and taking place during the mid-afternoon hours. Tune in.