GENRE GUIDE
DUB.
IMAGE CREDIT: Original Genre Guide visual by SJELF.
BRIEFLY EXPLAINED
What is dub?
Dub is a Jamaican approach in which existing recordings are rebuilt through mixing. Bass, drums, echo, reverb, and the omission of instruments turn the studio into an instrument.
Start listening: Augustus Pablo — King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown. View the listening selection →
Dub usually begins with music that already exists. A reggae track is stripped down to bass and drums, after which individual instruments appear and disappear. A snare drum continues to echo through the space. A snatch of vocals surfaces and dissolves again. The mix becomes a new composition.
THE B-SIDE OPENED THE DOOR.
In Jamaica, producers released records with the vocal track on one side and an instrumental version on the other. Sound system DJs could speak and sing over these versions, while selectors received exclusive material for their audiences.
Engineers started making increasingly radical versions. They didn't just remove the vocals, but altered the balance of the entire recording. An alternative to the A-side grew into an art form of its own.
KING TUBBY PLAYED THE MIXING DESK.
Osbourne Ruddock, better known as King Tubby, understood electronics and built and repaired equipment for sound systems. He used that technical knowledge to reshape existing multitrack recordings.
With faders, he abruptly pulled instruments in and out of the mix. Filters made sounds thin or dark, while echo and reverb turned short fragments into long, spatial movements. The mixing desk was played as if it were an instrument itself.
THE RHYTHM SECTION HELD THE GROUND.
No matter how experimental a dub mix became, bass and drums usually remained the foundation. The bass was given extra weight and melodic space. The drums became dry and physical, before a single beat suddenly disappeared into a cloud of echo.
This allowed dub to be both abstract and danceable. The music lost its traditional form, but retained the physical power of reggae and the sound system culture for which it was created.
LEE PERRY BUILT THE BLACK ARK.
Lee “Scratch” Perry developed a recognizable, layered sound in his Black Ark studio. He combined technical experiments with an intuitive and spiritual approach to recording.
Sounds were fed back, distorted, and layered over each other. Perry treated the studio not as a neutral space, but as a living environment where a recording could take on a new character during the mixing process.
Dub discovered that absence could be an instrument.
THE VERSION NEVER HAD TO BE FINAL.
The same riddim could appear in different versions: with a different singer, a DJ, an instrumental mix, or a completely broken-down dub. Music became not a finished product, but material that could be reused.
In this way, dub anticipated remix culture, sampling, and electronic production. The identity of a song didn't have to be fixed in a single official performance.
THE ECHO TRAVELLED EVERYWHERE.
Dub influenced punk, post-punk, hip hop, house, techno, jungle, drum & bass, trip hop, and dubstep. Producers outside Jamaica didn't just adopt the sound, but above all the idea that mixing is a form of composition.
Modern producers have access to virtually unlimited digital effects, but the core of dub remains surprisingly simple: choose what should stay, remove what seemed obvious, and give the remaining sounds space to move.
LISTEN TO WHAT DISAPPEARS.
Follow an instrument until it is suddenly removed from the mix. The empty space left behind is not an interruption of the composition; that absence ís the composition.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT DUB
What is dub music?
Dub is a Jamaican way of mixing and composing in which existing reggae recordings are rebuilt. Bass and drums are given space, while vocals and other instruments move in and out of the mix with echo, reverb, filters, and silence.
Where does dub come from?
Dub originated in Jamaica from the sound system and reggae practices of the late sixties and early seventies. Producers first made instrumental “versions” for the B-side; engineers turned them into increasingly radical, independent mixes.
Who were important to the development of dub?
King Tubby, Lee “Scratch” Perry, Errol Thompson, and later Scientist are among the definitive creators. They showed that a mixing desk doesn't have to be the end station of a recording, but an instrument with which you can play a new version.
What is the difference between reggae and dub?
Reggae is a broad Jamaican music style with songs, singers, and bands; dub often starts from such a recording and places the mix at the center. A dub version can therefore use the same riddim but deliver a completely different experience by altering the balance and effects.
Which dub records are good for starting to listen?
King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown by Augustus Pablo and King Tubby brings the melodica, bass, and spatial mix together beautifully. Super Ape by Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters and Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires by Scientist are also strong entry points.
DUB AT A GLANCE.
Jamaica, late sixties and early seventies.
Reggae riddims, versions, sound systems, and multitrack recordings.
Heavy bass and drums, removed vocals, echo, reverb, filters, and sudden silence.
ESSENTIAL DUB RECORDS.
- 01 Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters — Blackboard Jungle Dub — 1973
- 02 King Tubby — Dub from the Roots — 1974
- 03 Augustus Pablo — King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown — 1976
- 04 Lee “Scratch” Perry & The Upsetters — Super Ape — 1976
- 05 Prince Jammy — Kamikazi Dub — 1979
- 06 Scientist — Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires — 1981
- 07 African Head Charge — My Life in a Hole in the Ground — 1981
- 08 Rhythm & Sound — Rhythm & Sound w/ the Artists — 2003
THE STUDIO BECAME AN INSTRUMENT.
Dub proved that a recording never has to be definitive. By removing sounds, replacing them, and sending them through an imaginary space, the mix itself turned into music.
