Sound System Dub
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Dub made for and by the sound system: heavyweight, exclusive dubplate mixes and steppers riddims designed to be played loud through a hand-built rig, with the selector and the crowd as the ultimate arbiters. Bass is enormous and drawn-out, drums crack and echo, and mixes are stripped for maximum weight and space, often existing only as one-off acetates cut for a particular set. The music lives in the dance, in the physical pressure of the speakers and the ritual of the session. Community, rig and dubplate are inseparable from the sound.
History
Dub was a sound-system music from birth: King Tubby cut exclusive versions for Kingston operators, and the practice migrated to Britain, where Jah Shaka's roots-and-culture sessions, and later Aba Shanti-I, Iration Steppas and Channel One, built a whole scene on heavyweight dub, live mixing and dubplate specials. Producers from Augustus Pablo and Scientist to Prince Jammy and Mad Professor supplied the riddims, while UK operators developed the steppers style and the ritual of the all-night session. Sound-system dub remains a living, participatory tradition from Notting Hill Carnival to European dub festivals, the point where recording, mixing and dance become one event.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown(1976) — Augustus PabloSpotifyYouTube
- Dub from the Roots(1974) — King TubbySpotifyYouTube
- Super Ape(1976) — The UpsettersSpotifyYouTube
- Dance of the Vampires(1981) — ScientistSpotifyYouTube
- Conspiracy on Neptune(1982) — Prince JammySpotifyYouTube
- Dub Me Crazy(1982) — Mad ProfessorSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Joe Muggs & Brian David Stevens, Bass, Mids, Tops: An Oral History of Sound System Culture (2019)
- Lloyd Bradley, Bass Culture: When Reggae Was King (2000)
- Michael E. Veal, Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae (2007)