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Old 07-13-2009, 07:43 AM   #49 (permalink)
Bulldog
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Dub


The idea of dub as a form of musical expression can be traced back to the studio antics of reggae producers Osbourne 'King Tubby' Ruddock and Lee 'Scratch' Perry in the late 60s and early 70s. This basically entailed remixing already-existing and complete songs to make up B-side material for the artist in question. The consequent dub mix would usually involve the removal of any vocal tracks in order to put an emphasis on bass frequencies and drum tracks, or the 'riddim', mostly by turning up the echo or reverb on them and overdubbing snippets of lyrics and/or guitar or brass from the original mix of the track.

Basically, dub music started out as an early form of remixing by deleting any existing vocal tracks and manipulating the riddim in those ways. This use of the mixing desk as an instrument in itself can easily be seen as a prelude to the electronic dance music which would blossom in future generations, as on top of this rhythm-centric backbone producers could overdub all kinds of sound affects to create a more vivid sonic picture - bird noises, water flowing, thunder striking and so forth. All this still gave room for sound system DJs to rap over a sparse musical backdrop with improvised, heavily-rhymed lyrics (in reggae terms as opposed to hip-hop, the DJ would take over the vocals, while the Selector would be in charge of the vinyls). Lest we forget, in the early days, the main purpose of a lot of Jamaican reggae was to be played at sound systems (aka dancehalls).

So what you're looking at with classic dub was the earliest form of big-shot producers creating instrumental remixes of singles not only to make up for B-side material but also to put to good use in dancehalls as individual pieces of music in their own right. Upon the music industry recognising the market there was for dub music, this would lead to the first dub albums being recorded in the early 70s.

Over the next few posts you'll find out about ten of the essential albums to represent one of the most important revolutions in all music history. I'll be getting started with a couple of picks of my own shortly. So, stay tuned!

Last edited by Bulldog; 07-13-2009 at 07:49 AM.
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