Arguably more of a producer's than a musician's art, pure Dub features a reggae rhythm track with plenty of reverb and whacked-out studio effects, sometimes sprinkled with vocals. During Dub's early days in the 1970s, producers like King Tubby, the late Augustus Pablo and the great Lee "Scratch" Perry would frequently start with the A side of a reggae single and load it with thundering piles of bass and reverb to create the "Dub version" B-side, burying the vocals amidst mesmerizing echoes. As the style developed, entire records were cut in the Dub style, with reverb applied to nearly every instrument imaginable. More recently, Dub reggae has influenced numerous electronica genres like Jungle, Drum 'n' Bass and Trip-Hop. Some Dub producers have started to remix music by non-reggae artists as well -- the Mad Professor deconstructed Trip-Hop act Massive Attack's 1994 record Protection and twisted it into a new creature altogether on No Protection: Massive Attack Vs. Mad Professor.
Abyssinians
Roots reggae pioneers the
Abyssinians (Bernard Collins
and brothers Donald and
Linford Manning) formed in
Jamaica in 1969. The grou...
Augustus Pablo
One of Jamaica's greatest
and most ground-breaking
producers, Augustus Pablo
put his stamp on countless
reggae releases. Pablo wa...
Glen Brown
Brown worked with many
of the best DJs of his time,
including Big Youth, Prince
Jazzbo, Berry Simpson and
U-Roy.
King Tubby
Dub music had to come from
somewhere, and the
consensus is that it came
from the mind of Osbourne
Ruddock, aka King Tubby...
Lee "Scratch" Perry
The madman of Black Ark
studios put his singular
stamp on scores of albums,
and had a serious hand in
the creation of Dub. Perr...
Scientist
Born in Kingston in 1960, the
Scientist learned basic
electronics from his father,
who was a TV repairman.
Recording more than 20 al...
Sly and Robbie
Sly Dunbar and Robbie
Shakespeare began
working together in 1975
and quickly became
Jamaica's most wanted rh...