Content uploaded by Dennis Howard
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Dennis Howard on Jun 15, 2018
Content may be subject to copyright.
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 1 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
Dennis Howard 08
From Ghetto Laboratory to the Technosphere: The
influence of Jamaican studio techniques on popular
music.
Dennis Howard
University of the West Indies, Mona
Abstract
Reggae and dub has brought about many changes in production practices internationally. The studio Innovations
pioneered by Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock and Lee “Scratch” Perry, have revolutionized production techniques in
reggae, dancehall and many popular international genres. The Ruddock and Perry Production Techniques have had a
significant influence on the development of genres such as hip-hop, house drum and bass, trip hop, trance and techno.
Despite this major contribution to pop music production techniques, there has been insufficient recognition for these
“Dub Master’s” role in pioneering studio production styles.
This paper will examine the role of Ruddock and Perry, in the development of these distinctive techniques and juxtapose
them along techniques of Anglo-America, namely Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound, the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and the
Beatles Sgt Pepper Lonely Heart Club band which have been valorized as landmark signposts in the history of pop music
production. By exploring the production techniques involved in creating the 1980s pop hit Genius of Love By Tom Tom
Club. I will show how the techniques of Ruddock and Perry have been appropriated by mainstream culture and how
these techniques have influenced pop music production globally. In the process making a claim for the equal recognition
of the work of Perry and Osbourne placing them in the same hallowed space occupied by their Anglo-American
counterparts.
1 Introduction
“This continuum represents a technosphere, that is a domain of imaginary possibilities and constraints which lies
between performance on one side and the more or less remote reception of sound on the other. The technosphere is
thus premised on the idea of a performative gap or dislocation, but also a belief on the part of musicians that this might
be bridged.” (Toynbee, 69)
The contribution of Jamaican music to world culture is an unquestionable accomplishment and has been celebrated in
academic circles for some time now. However, despite this major feat, very little emphasis has been placed on the
contribution of Jamaican music production to mainstream music production techniques. In fact, only a handful of scholars
have attempted to examine the influence of Jamaican production techniques on the global music industry. (Toop 95, Veal
07, Erlich 82 Alleyne)Yet many major production techniques owe their origins to developments within Jamaica. Hence it
is my contention that innovations within the Jamaican music space, born out of a combination of creativity and economic
and technological expedience, have greatly influenced global pop music production techniques. This paper will explore
the development of Jamaican innovations such as versions,the remix version, dub and dub driven mixing techniques and
how they have been appropriated by the international recording music industry.
2. Version galore
The phenomena of ‘versions’ and dub began in the 1970s and contrary to conventional logic, dub did not emerge out of
the studio production culture. The fact is dub mushroomed out of the creativity of another Jamaican innovation the sound
system. Similar to most great discoveries dub was arguably accidentally discovered. Ruddy Redwood, a popular
businessman and sound system operator from Spanish Town, St. Catherine, has been credited with the discovery of the
instrumental version, which was the progenitor of dub. (Dalton and Borrows, Bradley)
Redwood who had a good relationship with pioneer producer, Duke Reid, owner of the Treasure Isle studio, routinely got
the latest hot recordings from the studio on soft acetate to play on his sound system on the weekends.
This was an imperative imposed on sound systems by the dance culture of the day. Redwood, like other sound system
operators had to have the latest songs and/or pre-releases in order to maintain currency, relevance and popularity
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 2 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
among their fans. On one occasion Redwood received a soft acetate of a popular song from the vocal group, the
Paragons; however, the engineer at Treasure Isle inadvertently omitted the vocals. At that time two-tracked recordings
with rhythm on one track, and the vocals on the other was the norm. When the mistake was discovered, Redwood
decided to take the rhythm track rather than redo the soft acetate. That weekend Redwood played the dub plate at a
dance and found the rhythm track to be a big hit amongst dance fans already familiar with the rhythm track. Most
importantly though, the fans seemed to enjoy the fact that they could sing-along with the record when the vocal were
mixed out over the track. This was the official birth of ‘ the instrumental version.
Prior to the advent of the instrumental version, producers had the sometimes daunting task of finding a B- side track for
each 45-rpm record they produced. This was standard practice at the time; however, in the case of Jamaica this was
particularly costly due to the under-capitalized nature of the small recording business. With the version concept
however, producers no longer needed to record a track for the B-side, but instead used the rhythm track of the same
song to fill that side. Producers who embraced the practice called this B-side instrumental the “version”. This
development was also great for the sound systems as selectors could now talk on the track without interference from the
vocals.
There are several variables in play here. For starters, the technology, or more accurately the lack of superior technology
allowed for a chance occurrence which created a new form of expression, while simultaneously creating a more
economical avenue to produce 45- rpm records.
Acceptance of this new rhythm driven format by dance attendees was due to the following factors..; Firstly, reggae is
heavily based on drum and bass and this resonated well with the mainly black population. Arguably the new sound was
a hit largely due to the remnants of an African past. In other words, the experiment was a success among the dance
crowd given the percussive elements and the low frequency register of the electronic bass which drew on the African
ancestral memory of black working class people who had a long history of identifying with the drums and the percussive
and poly rhythmic elements it translated.
Invoking Paul Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic, echoes of African rhythms were transported via slave ships, cargo
ships and banana boats and are retained throughout the centuries and manifested through the creative imagination,
aptly described as “noises in the blood” by Carolyn Cooper. The instrumental version reinterpretation is another
manifestation of the vibrating drums of ancestral Africa combined with the technological tools of modernity.” labeled by
Erik Davis as the Black Electronic, thus extending Gilroy’s concept of the Black Atlantic.
Versions were accepted by the dance attendees and producers saw an opportunity to reduce their production cost. This
economic relief should not be undervalued, though some scholars have paid scant regard to the economic dimension.
The popularity of the version phenomenon is to a great extent based on the fact that producers were now able to realize
maximum value from their rhythm tracks by using one rhythm on a 45-rpm record, instead of two. So, one can argue
that the economic factor is a critical element in the enduring value and longevity of the version innovation. In support of
this stance, Louis Chude–Sokei describes version/dub as “a product of financial necessity (1997 11, 12) while Jason
Toynbee also notes, “technologies must serve profit-making strategies and have a broader cultural fit if they are to
succeed”. (2000, 99)
3. The Birth of the Deejay
The popularity of the instrumental version in the Kingston dancehalls, created an opening for “toasters” to rise to
stardom within the emerging urban musical space. Armed with an unencumbered rhythm track, it was relatively easy for
dancehall deejays such as Hugh Roy Dennis Alcapone, Dillinger and Big Youth, to talk/toast over the music without
interrupting vocals. Initially, toasting was done to introduce songs, but later it became a means of “vibing” up the
dancehall fans. Legendary producer Sir “Coxsone” Dodd speak on the importance of toasters like Stitt, “King Stitt came
on the scene by storm cause he was real exciting. …before playing a record he’d build up the record. That’s when he’d
put the record on the disc, you’d say: Boy I got to get with this, cause it’s so great” He’d be shouting along the record:
get it! Get it! 1 Pioneer toasters and father of the modern day deejay Ewart “U Roy” Beckford followed in the tradition of
King Stitt and Machukie who were the progenitor of the art form.
However, U Roy took toasting to another level. Instead of intermittent toasting on records or version, Roy began to
insert lyrics in popular song in combination with vocals. Hugh Roy also introduced full-length performance on
instrumental versions engineered by King Tubby. These were performed at dances to the delight of fans who loved the
innovation, which was a live remix of popular tunes. The selector would play the A- side of the song that had the vocals
then this would be flipped to the version where U Roy and later Dennis Alcapone and I Roy would toast on the version.
When Treasure Isle studio recorded one of the first combination songs, “On the Beach” with the Paragons featuring U
Roy, it was a major hit. More importantly, though, it signaled the start of another chapter in Jamaican studio production
techniques. The popularity of U Roy, who had as many as five (5) songs on the chart at the same time soared beyond
stardom and the deejay was solidified as an enduring icon of Jamaican music.
4. The King at the Control
In late 1960s the remix practice of versions was taken a step further by the innovative and very skilled engineer,
Osbourne “King Tubby” Ruddock. King Tubby was once the top mastering engineer at Treasure Isle studio. He began
experimenting with versions at his own small studio, by using tape delay, echo and frequency manipulation. Tubby also
began to strip the rhythm track down to drums, bass and piano dropping in and out different instruments during the
mixing. These methods of mixing were groundbreaking and his signature sound, which I will call Hometown Space
Odyssey, became popular amongst many producers who sought out Tubby to give them the Hometown Sound. I am
calling these methods of mixing/remixing the Ruddock Techniques in honour of the man who was the innovator and main
catalyst and his signature sound
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 3 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
Lee “Scratch” Perry, Keith Hudson, Errol Thompson and Herman Chin Loy and Horace Swaby (Augustus Pablo),
subsequently added their own interpretations to the practice. Perry took the Hometown Space Odyssey further when he
introduced a layered sonic motif to dub by using everyday sounds, harmonies, lead vocals and toasting (Barrows and
Dalton, 2004, 225) to create a ‘full blast of sounds, which I will dub the Black Ark Miracle. Perry’s techniques, which I
will call the Perry Methodology, allowed for the manipulation of musical notes and rhythmic patterns, which were
distorted, delayed, contorted and sustained to create this new soundscape in reggae introducing a sonic dimension, not
previously explored in the music. Perry also started using this technique in production of his vocal songs, which were the
A- sides, and not the B-side remixes.
Perry invokes spirituality and a cosmic dimension in his description of the critical elements in creation of dub
“The bass is a line and people need a good line to listen, the drum is a heart beat which is true, so you need a good
drummer that can make positive, imitate a perfect heart beat like you making a man. So mi si di music like we making
man. God making man and mi si di music as a man, mi si di music as di high priest Melchesidec so wen mi guh to studio
mi guh to mek Melchesidec over with a perfect heartbeat, so we need a perfect drummer to make a perfect heartbeat for
the man we want to make alive. We need a perfect bass player to play a perfect bass line because di bass line goes
around like this that’s the brain, the brain cells. So dats di way we see di line of Solomon is di base an di heart di heart
beat we present di heart beat of fire which some people seh is not Jesus Christ but me call my heart Jesus Christ.”
“The bass is a line, and people need a good line to listen, the drum is a heart beat which is true, therefore, you need a
good drummer that can be positive, imitate a perfect heart beat like you are making a man. Therefore, I see the music
as if we are making man, God making man and I see the music as a man, I see the music as the high priest Melchesidec
so when I go to the studio, I go to make Melchesidec over with a perfect heart beat, so we need a perfect drummer to
make a perfect heart beat for the man we want to make alive. We need a perfect bass player to play a perfect bass line
because the bass line goes around like this, that’s the brain, the brain cells. So that is the way I see the line of Solomon
is the bass and the heart, the heart beat we present, the heart beat of fire which some people say is not Jesus Christ but
I call my heart Jesus Christ.”
5. Mystic Magic Miracle
While I have chosen to refer to this phenomenon as a full blast of sound Lee Perry takes it to mythical dimensions in his
description of the sound. He calls it
“Mystic magic miracle; you hear di sounds from di stones, di stones are magic, rock stones are magic, wen you hear di
stones from di magic clap di genie who create energy whatever di genie create him don’t do like this (snapping fingers)
him do like dat (clapping hands) an it manifest by di clapping. So you call dis thunder clap thunder claps before even di
rain drops, before di thunder claps, but generally, di thunder claps before di rain drops so dey work together so they are
magic miracle, they make things happen, they make the impossible become possible.”
“Mystic magic miracle you hear the sounds from the stones, the stones are magic, rock stones are magic, when you hear
the stones from the magic clap the genie who creates energy whatever the genie creates he does not do like this
(snapping fingers) he does like this (clapping hands) and it manifests by the clapping. So you call this thunder claps
before the rain drops so they work together so they are magic miracle, they make things happen, they make the
impossible become possible.”
6. A Likkle a Dis an a Likkle a Dat (The remix culture)
The studio innovations of version, dub and the Ruddock Techniques and Perry Methodology heralded the remix culture
which is the enduring facet of genres such as disco (now known as dance music), hip hop, techno, house, trance, trip
hop, drum and bass, jungle and electronica. Dub became the first remix when King Tubby remixed instrumental version
of now classic reggae singles, to create the kaleidoscopic soundtrack of sonic booms, polyrhythmic drum patterns,
echoes, low frequency vibrations, psychedelic tripping and ambient sounds reminiscence of the African heartland and the
concrete jungles of Trench Town and Kingston 13, as Lee Perry puts it, “making the impossible possible”.
In brief, dub aesthetics through the Ruddock Techniques and the Perry Methodology, introduced the human ear to
frequencies and sound waves which were hitherto latent in some cases thus allowing for a different experience with
musical notes, aural interpretations and space, affording the studio space a new methodology of mixing /remixing which
are now used by practically all popular genre of music worldwide. Mike Allyene, states
Dub was not simply about the song but about the use of sound, and the vast imaginary soundscapes which were created
on extremely limited equipment, which, by today’s standards, would be considered truly primitive. This, though, is once
again indicative of the inventiveness of dub’s pioneers and of the extent to which the technology served the ideas rather
than imposing itself on creativity. (Allyene 8)
Dub in a real way can be considered the first truly original Jamaican music form. By way of technological reinterpretation
it is the only form of music expression that borrowed nothing from another genre of music, either local or foreign, in
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 4 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
terms of methodology and techniques. It is also the first music form to shift the focus from traditional symbol creators
like singers and musicians. In dub the star of the show was the engineer and his mixing board, an instrument, which
essentially predates the turntable in terms of importance and status. Long before Brain Eno and Adrian Sherwood,
embraced the studio as an instrument.
In terms of the significance of dub methodologies I would have to agree with Louis Chude–Sokie’s assessment that;
“… dub has emerged triumphant for its metaphysical and historical textures and, perhaps most important, as an example
of how cold, alienating Western technologies can be domesticated by those for whom it was not intended. For it is
through dub that the mixing board becomes an instrument and sound becomes isolated within the context of music as
the focus of production. It is through dub that the fundamental dynamics of human thought-sound, silence and echo
become fore-grounded through technology. And it is though dub that memory becomes the explicit focus of ritual.”
Appropriation and adaptation in North America started when disco producers in the 1970s, adopted the instrumental
version concept when they moved to extend disco songs for dance purposes. These early adaptations were more based
on lengthening and reconstruction and not on sonic reinterpretations but the influence of dub and version is indisputable
(Brewster & Broughton,121; Alleyne, 9)
The shift was heralded by a new breed of DJ turned producer/remixer in the US, trailblazers such as Francois Kevorkian,
Larry Levan, Shep Pettibone and Arthur Russell, introduced dub influenced production to the US market. Kevorkian has
acknowledged that dub and other Jamaican studio techniques (The Osborne Techniques and Perry Methodology) have
been a major influence on him. Kevorkian and Levan both encountered producers Sly and Robbie and engineer and
producer Steven Stanley at the famous Compass Point studio in Nassau who introduced them to the dub aesthetic. These
re-mixers subsequent work was steep in dub methodology and technique, which passed on to them by their Jamaican
counterpart.
Dub aesthetic began to emerge in the work of songwriter/producers/musicians, Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards in
the work of disco groups such as Chic, Sister Sledge and Diana Ross. The emphasis of drum bass and guitar reminiscent
of reggae is clearly evident in their work. Edwards’s bass-lines were thumping and prominent in the mix and had a
thunderous low frequency resonance. Tony Thompson’s drum licks although classic 4/4 had a energy similar to reggae
because of his abundant use of his tom toms. While Rodgers guitar riffs were prominent in everyone of their production
possess the same energy of the ubiquitous ska lick of reggae.
The Black Ark Miracle and the Hometown Space Odyssey soundscape can be heard in many of Rodgers and Edwards
works including Good Time, Chic and I’m Coming, Diana Ross. It is not by accident that the first Rap hit single; Rapper’s
Delight sampled the rhythm of Chic’s Good Time. Clive Campbell universally credited for creating hip hop with his break
beat phenomenon and huge sound system famous for his heavy and thunderous bass enclosures had set the trend for
heavy bass–line which became the hallmark of early hip hop. These were the earliest indication of appropriation of the
Osbourne Techniques and Perry Methodology by North American producers,
7. The Rock Mystique
The British band the Beatles, Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club Band album is celebrated as a landmark moment in rock and
is best known for its use of multi-track effects, multiple voice tracks and the manipulation of sound. The Beach Boys Pet
Sounds album influenced the Beatles, which was heralded as groundbreaking in its production techniques. In North
America, famed pop producer, Phil Spector, had revolutionized American pop music in the 60s with the “Wall of Sound”
method of record production. The ‘Wall of Sound’ employed multi tracking to create a cacophony of sound by adding
additional instruments to make the sound full and rich. Mike Allyene surmised
“The subsequent mainstream emergence of multi-track recording technology in the 1960s established the integral role
of the recording studio as a truly creative tool rather than as a passive means for capturing performances independent of
its sonically enhancing equipment. As overdubbing became more commonplace, complex, experimental electronically
generated soundscapes became less peculiar to the Western artistic fringes and a central component of rock’s growth
and development, as notably exemplified by The Beatles and Jimi Hendrix among others,...” (7 Allyene)
Allyene is referring to the seminal work Hendrix did on albums such as Are you Experienced and Electric Ladyland which
I also consider landmark works in studio production. North Atlantic pedagogy have placed these projects and their
production techniques, on a pedestal asserting that they have had the most impact and influence on production in the
modern era of sound recording. This is a notion I challenge, as while Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club Band, the Wall of
Sound and the Beach Boys, Pet Sounds predates dub, the sonic exploits of King Tubby, Errol Thompson and Lee”
Scratch” Perry are not only comparable with the work of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, but in the realm of innovation
Jamaican techniques have had a more profound influence on international recording styles.
I will go even further by asserting that the contributions made by these aural alchemists to mainstream production
technique have simply not been sufficiently acknowledged. I note for instance that while these seminal projects
emphasized multiple vocals tracks, unconventional instruments and more use of out board effects; The Osbourne
Techniques and Perry Methodology have made more of an impact on studio production and have influenced many music
genres and styles. So instrumental was dub and its studio techniques, that it spawned new forms of music globally
including hip hop, reggaeton, kwaito, techno and house. Louis Chude–Sokie’s states that dub is a “deep metaphysical
exploration and which provides even today, some of the most important technological and aesthetic innovations in the
history of recorded sound”.
Techniques such as dropping instruments in and out of the mix, emphasizing some instruments during the mix of the
song, the use of delay, reverb, echoes and flangers, and the “reinventing” of audio console have been appropriated by
musicians and engineers in many genres of popular music. Erik White notes,
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 5 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
“by abruptly dropping guitars, percussion, horns and keyboards in and out of the mix, dubmasters teased the rug from
under the listener’s habitual rhythmic orientation towards the 4/4, creating a subtle virtual analog of the tripping,
constantly shifting conversation of West African drums.” (7)
8. The Tom Tom Club Mash up: A Case Study
It was again at Compass Point studio, that one of the most influential international pop hit, Genius of Love, heavily
influenced by Jamaican studio techniques was produced. In the early 1980s, the rhythm section of the group Talking
Heads Chris Franz and Tina Weymouth, teamed up with Steven Stanley as the Tom Tom Club, to create one of the most
influential and enduring dance hit. The Genius of Love engineered and co - produced by Stanley, utilized techniques, he
had perfected while working first at Aquarius studio in Kingston. Stanley utilized many of the Osborne/Perry mixing
techniques and production aesthetics. Echo, delays and the trademark mixing in and out of particular instrument at
different interval are clearly evident. Stanley explains his process behind the song,
“ Chris Franz said wanted it to sound like more bounce to the ounce, while he was there trying to play the drum trying to
play that double beat o the bass drum it was giving hell because he play rock and roll more straight forward so the funk
beat is kind of mixed up so I tell after a while he can’t get I tell don’t worry play straight, so when he finish now I put a
delay 150 milli second on every first foot drum, so it go “du dup” you know I finger it. “
Stanley relates that the bass line was created by him and was played by engineer Kendal Stubbs who was an
accomplished funk musician. Stanley also used a technique he developed where he arrange the mix sonically. By using
the dub aesthetics Stanley pre arranges where instruments come and go and with the use of effects, creates the aural
space and the psychedelic tonality associated with dub and the remix process. Stanley continues
“ I arrange the song that way remember, I was co producer so they use to trust me to do thing because I have this
energy, they tell me do that do that like a force say do that do that so whatever you hear its not really me pulling it out
that how I arrange it is me arrange the thing like that, like pulling out the guitar here, and doesn’t play anywhere else, if
it play anywhere else I erase it so because I am coming form the Jamaican background that why I get that inspiration
inside of me so it came like that naturally so whatever you hear because it was inside of me to mix it that way, but when
it was mixing time it was easy because everything already arrange in place only like the guitar I put on little delay to
make more exciting.”
Stanley credits as his main influence King Tubby for spatial wizardry, Boris Gardener bassist, singer and engineer for his
precision in frequency tonality and producer/musician Willie Lindo for his arrangement of instruments in mixing. Stanley
fine tuned the process by determining the exact points he wanted a particular instrument or effect in the mix. He did not
rely on feel and spontaneity, which was the methodology of pioneering dubmasters. Employing a variation of the process
of bouncing, pioneered by technical innovator Les Paul in the 1950s, which was also used effectively by Perry at his Black
ark studio, he re-recorded instruments to get the desired effect and impact, by utilizing the Perry and Osbourne
techniques. Stanley was able to achieve the dub aesthetic long before the final mix.
Replacing the organic postmodern construction, which was the hallmark of the Perry and Osbourne methodologies, with a
new skill set which is insisted on aural precision and a more predictable outcome. This “precision is to my mind is
illusionary, reminiscent of Perry’s trickster persona because Stanley still mixed the wild abandon of Perry and Osbourne
when executing his technique. When prompted to name this technique he facetiously calls it "Set it Before You Tek It".
I would suggest a more sophisticated nomenclature for this technique, Stanley’s innovation in mixing can be described as
preset dub bouncing.
Stanley's utterance can be viewed in several ways; firstly his nonchalant reference to his innovation is an indication of a
deeper socio-political manifestation ever present in postcolonial societies like Jamaica. There is an old Jamaican saying
which states "anything too black nuh good" which translate in this case to, anything that is done by Jamaicans cannot be
looked at with any degree of importance and sophistication. This indoctrination of racial and geo-political inferiority has
made us believe that this is indeed a reality inducing Bob Marley to rhetorically ask, "can anything good come out of
Trench Town".2 Hence Stanley does not see his production innovations as anything worthy of valorization. Secondly his
comments underscores the fact that as Stanley notes the techniques are almost within the sprit and psyche of the
Jamaican musicians and engineers calling on ancestral memory and what Hanna Appel calls the disembodied
connectedness of the African Diaspora. . The technique of dub bouncing combined with the techniques pioneered by
Perry and Osbourne, provides an exciting set of tools which are being used by producers and engineers of innumerable
pop genres, such as techno, house, hip hop, dance, trance, reggaeton and ambient. Producers such, Fat Boy Slim,
Moby, Rza (Wu Tang Clan), Guadi, Todd Terry and Kanye West are but a few of the big names who have been influenced
by these techniques.
There has never been any effort to formalize the techniques pioneered by Osbourne, Perry, and Thompson et al, which
have allowed for appropriation without adequate recognition. As noted by Chude – Sokei, “dub has become appropriated
in the west as radical statement of “Third World technological sophistication” (1997, 4). The phrase “Third World
technological sophistication” is somewhat problematic for me as it suggests a hierarchical system of cultural production,
which delineates between Anglo-American technological advances and innovations of the subaltern. With the highest
achievement being the reserve of white male innovators of the North Atlantic, while for the rest of the non white world
innovations are labeled “Third World” not only as an indication of geography or spatial specificity but it also brings to the
conversation issues of authenticity, location and value.
This process of demarcation is consistent with the rock and roll canon, which was developed in the 1960s when Pet
Sound and Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart Club Band were recorded. Ralph J Gleason rock critic and co-founder of the
influential American music magazine the Rolling Stone, elaborates on the nature of this cultural criticism which have
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 6 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
placed any non white innovation in music production to the periphery of cultural critique.
…This new generation of musicians is not interested in being Negro, since that is an absurdity. Today’s new youth,
beginning with the rock band musician but spreading out into the entire movement, into the Haight-Ashbury hippies, is
not ashamed of being white. He is remarkably free from prejudice, but he is not attempting to join Negro culture or to
become part of it, like his musical predecessor, the jazzman, or like his social predecessor the beatnik, I find this of
considerable significance. For the very first time in decades, as I know, something new and important is happening
artistically and musically in this society that is distinct from the Negro, and to which the negro will have to come, if he is
interested in it at all, as in the past white youth went uptown or downtown or crosstown or wherever the Negro
community was centered because there was the locus of artistic creativity. Today the electronic music by the Beatles and
the others (and the Beatles “Strawberry Field” is, I suggest, a three- minute masterpiece, an electronic miniature
symphony) exists somewhere else from and independent of the Negro. This is only one of the more easily observed
manifestations of this movement.3
Robin Markowitz rejects this highly loaded perspective and makes the following insightful observations.
“A music which was created principally by African-American was discounted (though expropriated) as influential on a
movement which was also originally inspired by an African American social movement. Now British and American middle-
class kids could make reformulated black music and only their reformation would be valued as significant.” (1991, 4)
This clearly supports my assertion that there is a lack of sufficient acknowledgement and recognition of the innovations
of Osbourne and Perry as reggae is often stamped with the “black music” label. Despite the efforts of several
ethnomusicologist and cultural studies scholars, (Veal 2007, Toop); Osbourne and Perry and Jamaican studio innovations
instead of being recognized as important moments in the history of sound recording, are far too often viewed through
the North Atlantic lens as the alternative contributions of the other, relegating the discourse to the realm of exoticism
and native inventiveness, reserving most canonic credits for innovations in music and studio techniques, to our Anglo-
American counterparts.
My attempts at giving formal structure to the production techniques of Jamaican innovators, is a belated (but by no
means singular) effort to valorize these contributions as significant and epochal in magnitude. In so doing, it is my hope
that this intervention sets a new framework for the enunciation of a technological canon, which will aid in the
iconography, authority, aural authenticity; technological value and mythology of the reggae/ dub aesthetics. It is also an
attempt to counter the recurring feature of my research which places reggae epistemology, in a position of
underdevelopment, ravaged by multinational exploitations and positioned as peripheral participants whose validation rest
squarely on the North Atlantic gaze. Again Jason Toynbee observations are instructive,
A third approach is oriented towards the far side of the technosphere. The aim here is to construct a sonic environment,
a virtual dimensionality which never existed ‘originally’. In historical terms this is the last strategy to develop. It can be
first discerned at the beginning of the 1950’s with the advent of techniques such as tape echo. It reaches an advanced
stage with Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound in the early 1960’s. Today it is the dominant approach. All popular music now
takes on the aspect of a virtual sonic environment – although it can perhaps be heard to most extravagant effect in
dance music. (2000, 70)
Toynbee makes an unfortunate omission of the works of Osbourne, Perry and Thompson manifested through dub; and
jumps all the way to dance music, which owes its existence in significant measures to dub and its production techniques;
reinforcing Markowitz’s observations, in this case a methodology created by Jamaican reggae being appropriated, but
discounted as influential in the production process.
Genius of Love made it to No 65 on the UK chart and became first a big underground hit via imports to the US then
became a mainstream hit through a release of the single and album, by Sire Records. The single made it to the dance
and R&B charts and the album was certified gold. Genius of Love and the Tom Tom Club album has been a very
influential song in rap and other genres and is hailed as sonic tour de force; this is due to a great extent to the
production style and engineering which Stanley along with Franz and Weymouth steeped in dub aesthetic, employed at
Compass Point. This fact is borne out in the many versions, sampling, adaptations and reinvention of the song by artist
in rap, R&B, dance and pop. The song was sampled by such diverse artists as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,
Dr Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, PM Dawn, Mariah Carey, Redman, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, Tupac Shukur and
Busta Rhymes. The Tom Tom Club project was yet another example of Jamaican studio production techniques, the
spatial dimension of black sound production, being seamlessly appropriated by the North Atlantic music establishment.
End Notes
1 Interview with Rich Lowe1992 reggae directory June 92
2 Trench Town is the inner city shanty town where many of the pioneers of reggae lived and honed their musical skills
3 Cited in Canonizing the popular A paper
delivered by Robin Markowitz at the 1991 conference “ Banality and Fatality,” sponsored by the CUNY Committee for
Cultural Studies, ( Ralph J. Gleason, “ Like A rolling Stone,” in Leap Into Reality—Essays for Now, edited by Richard Peck.
New York, Dell, 1973,pp. 167-169.)
Originally: The American Scholar, Volume 36, Number 3, Autumn 1967.)
References
2/6/13 1:23 PMartofrecordproduction.com - Dennis Howard 08
Page 7 of 7http://www.artofrecordproduction.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=109
Alleyne, Mike."Echoes of Dub: Spatiality, Assimilation & Invisibility." Looking Back, Looking Ahead: Popular Music Studies
20 Years Later – IASPM Conference Proceedings. Eds. K. Karki, R. Leydon, H. Terho. IASPM Norden : 469-475.
Barrow. Steve, Dalton ,Peter The Rough Guide To Reggae, London Penguin, 2004
Bradley, Lloyd. Bass Culture:When Reggae Was King, London. Penguin, 2001
Brewster, Bill, & Frank Broughton, Last Night A DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey, New York , Grove
Press: 1999
Chude-Sokei “Dr. Saton’s Echo Chamber:” Reggae, Technology and the Disapora Process Inagural Bob Marley Lecture
1997
Davis Erik. Roots and Wire: Polyrhythmic Cyberspace and the Black Electronic
http://www.levity.com/figment/cyberconf.html
Markowitz, Robin. Canonizing the Popular A paper delivered by at the 1991 conference "Banality and Fatality," sponsored
by the CUNY Committee for Cultural Studies http://www.culturalstudies.net/canon.html
Toynbee, Jason. Making Popular Muisc: Musicains, Creativity and Institutions London Oxford University Press, 2000
Interview. “Lee Scratch” Perry by Dennis Howard 2007
Close Window
