ISSUE ARCHIVE
NO. 171 | Nov 2025
NO. 170 | Sep 2025
NO. 169 | Sep 2025
NO. 168 | Jul 2025
NO. 167 | May 2025
NO. 166 | Mar 2025
NO. 165 | Jan 2025
NO. 164 | Nov 2024
Mar/Apr 2020
Dub. Even the word is a technical term from the studio, making a copy of a recording to another media. But what do we mean when we talk about dub music? Musique concrète, later works by The Beatles, and many other sources may stake a similar "studio-only" claim, but dub originated from the mix consoles and tape decks of Jamaica, with roots tracing back to events in 1968. These were songs that only existed on vinyl and tape, through an inspired intersection of technology and creativity, and not simply based on live music performances. Practitioners like Lee "Scratch" Perry, Osborne "King Tubby" Ruddock, Errol Thompson, and artists like Augustus Pablo and Keith Hudson embraced this new style.
For anyone excited about making music and capturing creativity in the studio, dub is not something we can take lightly. Dub, the "toasting" that followed it, and legendary DJ Kool Herc's move to the Bronx from Jamaica all helped forge the basis of hip-hop. The effect of this music on everything we do in the studio to this day is immeasurable, so welcome to an issue where we focus on dub music. It sounded like the future when it first appeared, and its impact continues to change the future of music today.
Lee "Scatch" Perry's Black Ark Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, 1978.
— LARRY CRANE,EDITOR & FOUNDER
As one half of The Black Keys with Dan Auerbach [Tape Op #127], Patrick Carney has witnessed their band achieve the sort of commercial success they would have once considered impossible. But more than...
If you are a music producer, mixer, label owner, songwriter, or electronic music maker, you owe a debt to Lee "Scratch" Perry. He was, and continues to be, a spiritual guide and compass for true artis...
Jamaican electronics whiz kid Hopeton Overton Brown got his moniker "Scientist" from none other than one of dub music production's founding fathers, King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock). As a teenager he beg...
I remember the first time I heard the Dub Syndicate album, Tunesfrom the Missing Channel, in 1984. I was used to reggae being somethingearthy and warm, but here was a record that sizzled and popped wi...
Co-founded by Emch in 1999, Subatomic Sound System is a collective of musicians and others with a focus on combining the new and old technologies of music, as inspired by Jamaican dub studio work and...
I first met Kyle Crane at the airport in Austin before a barrage of SXSW showcases in 2012, when the band I was playing with flew him in from L.A. to be our drummer for the week. Eight years later, Ky...
Jon Castelli is a mix engineer and producer working out of his studio, The Gift Shop, in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles. Jon studied with Tony Maserati for five years and has since construc...
The article you are searching for has been removed due to copyright issues. Please check out Edison, Musicians, and the Phonograph: A Century in Retrospect for an interview with Ray Moore and many oth...
DIY Recording Equipment (DIYRE) is a cool company, making great, easy-to-build DIY studio gear. I've written a few enthusiastic reviews of their kits for Tape Op, and I was glad to get an hour of DIYR...
