Photo courtesy of Kingston Dub Club
Patricia Meschino walks us down history lane with an explanation of the rise, transformation, and resurgence of the genre that is dub music. Dub rose to fame internationally in the 1970s as music engineers played with, altered, and looped various instrumental tracks.
“Dubbing is a traditional Jamaican sound system vibe; if you go to a dancehall sound system [session] they take out the bass and drop it in as an artist is performing, but they are not dubbing as we would do it. We turn on the bass, turn up the knobs, keeping the craft a little more intricate.”
- Gabre Selsassie, one of the resident DJs at the Kingston Dub Club
Photo courtesy of @Kingston_Dub_Club
Many mark King Tubby (Osborne Ruddick) as one of the crafters of the dub sound. With his electrical engineering skills, he built sound system speakers and gave rise to the concept of a remix.
“The original practitioners established dub not just as a distinctive reggae offshoot but as a prototype for modern electronic music and its associated practices, including the song remix and the elevation of the producer and/or engineer as the artist.”
His experimentation eventually led to the evolution of “dancehall, dubstep, drum and bass, and hip-hop.”
For a more in-depth look at dub music’s history, check out the full Billboard article here.