Music / Styles A–Z / The Caribbean and Latin America · 22 of 35
Dub
Dub grew out of Jamaican reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s: a remix with the vocal mostly taken out, drums and bass brought forward, and delay and reverb applied.
- Where and when
- Jamaica, late 1960s
- Tempo
- That of the reggae it remixes
- Played on
- The mixing desk: drums and bass, echo, reverb
What it is
Dub grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A dub is a remix: the vocal mostly taken out, the drums and bass brought forward, effects such as delay and reverb applied, and snippets of voice or instruments dropped in and out. It began on the B-sides of Jamaican 45s, the "version" of the A-side.
For the producer. King Tubby, Scientist, Lee Perry and Errol Thompson treated the mixing console as an instrument. Start from a multitrack, mute the vocal, and perform the mix: echo throws, reverb, mutes and drops.
The records that made it
From the lesson The Caribbean and Latin America, where the sources are listed · links open a search
- The UndertakerDerrick Harriott and the Crystallites · One of the first strictly instrumental reggae albums.
- 1973Blackboard Jungle DubLee "Scratch" Perry · Mixed with King Tubby.
- 1974Pick a DubKeith Hudson · The first deliberately themed dub album.
- Present Arms in DubUB40 · The first dub album in the UK top 40.
Dub in this month’s records
New releases the press we read wrote about, tagged dub on MusicBrainz · updated with every build