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Is Dub Music the New EDM

Reggae has evolved globally and developed many sub-genres and derivatives like Reggaeton and EDM. However, one of the first sub-genres was Dub Music arising in tandem with the innovations and growth of reggae itself in the 60s.

In Jamaica, it seems to have lost out to more popular genres that have arisen like Dancehall, with innovations more centred around the fusion of Reggae with other genres, for example, Reggae Hip-Hop, Reggae Rock and Reggae Jazz. However, Dub is being adopted by a new generation seeing it as something fresh. So, is this the long-overdue rise of Dub music?

How Did Dub Music Start

Dub music is one of the great reggae innovations. Commonly agreed to be created by legendary Jamaican innovator and mixing engineer Osbourne Ruddock better known as 'King Tubby' in the late 60's.

With the early reggae vinyl singles, it was common not to have a 'B-side'. Instead, there would be a 'Version', which, was basically an instrumental version of the vocal A-side. Sound systems had their own 'toasters' (current day DJs / Rappers) who would 'toast' over the instrumental said of the song.

The sound systems were the main driving force that delivered music to the public with fierce competition between them. Sound system owners' box of tricks was to have several mixes of the same track and versions available for their own toasters.

King Tubby, now working for the legendary Duke Reid, would be asked to produce versions for these sound systems and toasters. The production of these versions left room for the mixing engineer to innovate with the rudimentary production effects available at the time.

Initially, the requirement was to remove the vocals but King Tubby decided to use this opportunity to experiment with the available effects delay, reverb and phase. Emphasising certain tracks and removing others. These instrumentals, in effect, became new musical works. With the drum and bass centre stage, small extracts of the vocals were often mixed in. The mixing engineer was the creative force and eventually led to mixing engineers being in as high or greater esteem than the musicians or composer.

Dub, therefore, was the founding genre for modern electronic music such as House, Techno, Jungle, Drum & Bass and Dubstep. Also, Dub innovated and developed the practice of the remix which elevated the status of the producer and engineer. Dub’s development, therefore, revolutionized the entire music production business.

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Dub music became a reggae sub-genre in its own right with albums of Dub only tracks created by sound engineers and producers, like the legendary Lee Scratch Perry, Bunny Lee, King Jammy and Errol Thompson.

Artists like Augustus Pablo, who introduced the melodica to reggae in the early '70s, started using dub as the backbone of his productions and produced groundbreaking dub albums including East of the River Nile and King Tubby’s Meets Rockers Uptown which is ranked as one of the best dub albums ever made.

The latter-day DJ who can attract thousands of fans to a gig, can now use the creativity and spontaneity of a live studio remix because now the DJs create their own music and have the master stems or a remix equivalent to the sound system operators using EQ, faders and effects on an already mixed track.

The Rise of the DJ Sound System

As was traditionally the case with sound systems, the music at your disposal (as well as the sound quality of the sound system) set the top sound systems apart from the competition and enabled their 'brand' to be recognised and followed. The close ties between sound system owners and producers, often one and the same, meant it was easy for sound systems to have exclusive music and so stay ahead of the competition. However, although sound systems had big reputations they were pretty limited as far as a global reach was concerned.

Today, technology has made a big difference in music production and this has also impacted the nature of sound system culture. With the global demand and nature of music listening, sound systems now had the opportunity to exploit their brands.

However, it is not practicable to be moving your sound system hardware all over the world. This has led to sound system owners and promoters to go down another path. This is to take the brand and music to the people in the form of a DJ Set on the hardware of another sound system.

This has enabled Reggae DJs, sound systems and producers to expand their reach in a similar way to the music makers of EDM. This has allowed Dub music to reach a wider audience and create followings that would have been much more difficult to attain otherwise.

The latter-day DJ who can attract thousands of fans to a show can now use the creativity and spontaneity of a live studio remix because now the DJs create their own music and have the master stems. Alternatively, create a remix equivalent to the sound system operators using EQ, faders and effects on an already mixed track.

Is This the Time for Dub Music to Make the Most of Its Heritage

Stuttgart Electronic Music Festival (SEMF)

The point I am getting at is that Dub is still considered niche, with its core following in sound system culture. It has not, in my opinion, made the most of its heritage, until now.

Dub as the foundation stone and precursor to current instrumental based electronic music has nothing to lose and everything to gain by reintroducing the sounds of dub to a new generation.

Look at EDM it has moved into the mainstream with a huge following with events like SEMF (Stuttgart Electronic Music Festival) where tens of thousands of followers attend.

However, dub reggae producers have not been slow to recognize the opportunity available and there has been a continued move towards producing tracks with a danceable tempo.

One of the great sound system owners and producers, Jah Shaka, has been doing this for years and he is in high demand all over the world.

Legendary UK producers Mafia & Fluxy have noticed this new demand for Dub music. According to Leroy Mafia

"There is definitely a demand in Europe, especially with the younger generation. Dub is new to them and there is a lot of demand for uptempo dub music"

Mafia & Fluxy Sound (credit Lucos photography)

So, will dub music finally reap the rewards of its innovations to reach the popularity of its derivatives like EDM. There’s no reason for it not to and with producers like Mafia & Fluxy on the case, watch out, the dubs are coming.

The Rise of the Dub Festival

The popularity of electronic music has meant that dub music has attracted followers who may not have come directly via the reggae route. Many are more familiar with Dubstep and Drum & Bass and are only now becoming familiar with dub music.

In Europe, in particular, Dub music festivals are springing up. One of the best is a festival held over the Easter period in eastern Spain, The International Dub Gathering dedicated specifically to dub music and the sound system culture.

dub music, dub festival,international dub gathering

It was launched in 2016 by Sevi the owner of Greenlight sound system in response to growing demand.

Greenlight Sound (credit rototomsunsplash.com)

I was there for the 2018 edition being its third year on day three of the festival. It seemed very well organized, which was to be expected, as the organizers included the Rototom Sunsplash festival team. It was a three-day event which included sound systems from Europe, UK and Jamaica. including Jah Shaka, Channel One, GreenLight, Mafia & Fluxy Sound and Blackboard Jungle to name a few.

International Dub Gathering, Alicante, Spain

Thousands of dub lovers attended You could move around freely listening and dancing to the Dub Riddims played by the different sound systems. There was enough space so that each sound was not crowding out the other.

For me, this was great to see. Dub music, a form of music created nearly fifty years ago that gave birth to other music genres was finally coming into its own and attracting a new generation of fans and followers.

Hopefully, this is just the beginning of its revival and that one day soon it will become as popular as the genres it laid the foundations for.

King Tubby would truly be proud of his creation.

Bless

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