Dub
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The Jamaican studio art of remixing a reggae recording into a heavy, spacious instrumental soundscape: the engineer strips the vocal, pushes the bass and drums to the front, and drops individual tracks in and out while drenching stabs of horn, guitar and voice in cavernous reverb, tape echo, delay and phasing. The mixing desk becomes the instrument, with faders and outboard effects performed live so the "riddim" dissolves and reassembles in real time. The mood is deep, hypnotic and psychoactive, all sub-bass weight and echoing negative space. Dub is arguably the first music where the producer-as-remixer is the true author.
History
Dub emerged in Kingston around 1968–1973 out of the sound-system practice of cutting instrumental "version" B-sides, which engineers began radically reshaping at the mixing board; King Tubby, working from his Waterhouse studio, and Lee "Scratch" Perry at the Black Ark are the twin architects, alongside Errol Thompson and the young apprentices Prince Jammy and Scientist. Landmark albums such as Perry's productions, Keith Hudson's "Pick a Dub" and Augustus Pablo and Tubby's "King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown" codified the form, exported through Britain's sound systems and reissue labels. Dub's remix logic and studio-as-instrument ethos went on to shape hip-hop, disco remixing, post-punk, jungle, techno, dubstep and virtually all bass-centred electronic music.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown(1976) — Augustus PabloSpotifyYouTube
- Dub from the Roots(1974) — King TubbySpotifyYouTube
- Super Ape(1976) — The UpsettersSpotifyYouTube
- Pick a Dub(1974) — Keith HudsonSpotifyYouTube
- Dance of the Vampires(1981) — ScientistSpotifyYouTube
- Conspiracy on Neptune(1982) — Prince JammySpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Michael E. Veal, Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (2007)
- David Katz, People Funny Boy: The Genius of Lee 'Scratch' Perry (2000)
- Lloyd Bradley, Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King (2000)