Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a British dub music producer, engineer and remixer. He has collaborated with reggae artists Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, Pato Banton, Jah Shaka and Horace Andy, as well as artists outside the realm of traditional reggae and dub, such as Sade, Massive Attack, the Orb, Gaudi, the Brazilian DJ Marcelinho da Lua, Grace Jones, and Perry Farrell.
Early life Fraser became known as Mad Professor as a boy due to his fascination with electronics. He emigrated from Guyana to London at the age of 13 and later began his music career as a service technician. He gradually collected recording and mixing equipment, and in 1979 opened his own four-track recording studio, Ariwa Sounds, in the living room of his home in Thornton Heath.
Career Fraser began recording lovers rock bands and vocalists for his own label (including the debut recording by Deborahe Glasgow) and recorded his first album after moving the studio to a new location in Peckham in 1982, equipped with an eight-track setup, later expanding to sixteen. Fraser's Dub Me Crazy series of albums won the support of John Peel, who regularly aired tracks from the albums. Although early releases were not big sellers among reggae buyers, the mid-1980s saw this change with releases from Sandra Cross (Country Life), Johnny Clarke, Peter Culture, Pato Banton, and Macka B (Sign of the Times). Fraser moved again, this time to South Norwood, where he set up what was the largest black-owned studio complex in the UK and recorded lovers rock tracks by Cross, John McLean, and Kofi, and attracted Jamaican artists including Bob Andy and Faybiene Miranda. He teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time in 1983 for the recording of the album Mystic Warrior (1989).
Recordings
Mad Professor has created 12 instalments of the Dub Me Crazy series and 5 albums under the Black Liberation Dub banner. The following is a partial discography of his original releases including collaborations with other artists and remixes.
Original recordings 1983 - In A Rub A Dub Style 1985 - A Caribbean Taste of Technology 1992 - True Born African Dub 1994 - The Lost Scrolls of Moses 1995 - It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Professor 1997 - RAS Portraits 2001 - Dubbing You Crazy 2001 - Trix in the Mix 2005 - Method to the Madness 2007 - Dub You Crazy 2008 - The Dubs That Time Forgot 2009 - Audio Illusions of Dub 2012 - The Roots of Dubstep
Dub Me Crazy series 1982 - Dub Me Crazy 1982 - Beyond The Realms of Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.2) 1983 - The African Connection (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.3) 1983 - Escape to the Asylum of Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.4) 1985 - Who Knows The Secret of the Master Tape (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.5) 1986 - Schizophrenic Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.6) 1987 - Adventures of a Dub Sampler (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.7) 1988 - Experiments of the Aural Kind (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.8) 1989 - Science and the Witchdoctor (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.9) 1990 - Psychedelic Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt. 10) 1992 - Hijacked To Jamaica (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.11) 1993 - Dub Maniacs on the Rampage (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.12) 2022 - Covid Illusion (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.20-22)
Black Liberation series 1994 - Black Liberation Dub (Chapter 1) 1995 - Anti-Racist Dub Broadcast (Black Liberation Chapter 2) 1996 - The Evolution of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 3) 1997 - Under The Spell of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 4) 1999 - Afrocentric Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 5)
Dub You Crazy With Love Series 1997 - Dub You Crazy With Love 2000 - Dub You Crazy With Love (Part 2) 2008 - Bitter Sweet Dub
Collaborations
With Lee "Scratch" Perry 1990 - Mystic Warrior 1995 - Black Ark Experryments 1995 - Super Ape Inna Jungle 1996 - Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub 1996 - Who Put The Voodoo Pon Reggae 1996 - Dub Take the Voodoo Out of Reggae 1998 - Live at Maritime Hall 1998 - Fire in Dub 2000 - Lee Perry Meets Mad Professor 2001 - Techno Dub
With other artists 1981 - Kunte Kinte (with Aquizim) 1982 - Rhythm Collision Dub (with Ruts DC) 1983 - Punky Reggae Party (Positive Style) - Anti Social Workers 1984 - Jah Shaka Meets Mad Professor at Ariwa Sounds 1985 - Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton 1989 - Mad Professor Recaptures Pato Banton 1989 - Mad Professor Meets Puls Der Zeit 1989 - Mad Professor Feat The Man Ezeke Remix an Dub for Sheila Giles 1990 - A Feast of Yellow Dub (with Yellowman) 1995 - No Protection (Massive Attack v Mad Professor) 1996 - New Decade of Dub (with Jah Shaka) 2000 - The Inspirational Sounds of Mad Professor 2000 - Marseille London Experience (with Massilia Sound System) 2003 - Psychobelly Dance Music (with Baba Zula) 2004 - Dub Revolutionaries (with Sly and Robbie) 2004 - From The Roots (with Horace Andy) 2004 - In A Dubwise Style (with Marcelinho da Lua) 2005 - Moroccan Sunrise (with Borrah) 2005 - Dancehall Dubs (with Crazy Caribs) 2006- Max Romeo Pocomania Songs (with Mad Professor) 2009 - Revolution Feat. Pato Banton And Mr. Professor (With Tugg) 2009 - Nairobi Meets Mad Professor - Wu Wei 2010 - Izrael Meets Mad Professor and Joe Ariwa 2010 - Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor 2010 - Rewired in Dub (with Pama International) 2011 - Rewired in Dub (with Horace Andy) 2012 - The Roots of Dubstep 2013 - Cedric Congo Meets Mad Professor 2014 - Method to the Madness (various Ariwa artists) 2017 - In The Midst Of The Storm (Mad Professor Meets Jah9) 2019 - Massive Attack vs Mad Professor Part II (Mezzanine Remix Tapes '98) 2019 - Mad Professor meets Gaudi 2025 - Mad Professor Meets Youth
Remixes Since the 1990s he has remixed tracks by Sade, the Orb, The KLF, Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode, Perry Farrell and Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki. In 1995 he produced No Protection, an electronic dub version of Massive Attack's second album, Protection. He has also created a version of I&I for New Zealand reggae band Katchafire, three versions for New Zealand electronic group Salmonella Dub and twelve remixes for Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki.
No Protection - "Dub version of Massive Attack album Protection" (1995) A second remix album with Massive Attack is slated for release in 2018
Soul Coughing - "Sugar Free Jazz (Multiple Remixes (Most were released on the Sugar Free Jazz: Slash In-House Cassette))" (1995) Black Orpheus Dub - Dub version of Black Orpheus for the AIDS-benefit album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot Organization (1996) Urrun Dub - Dub version of Fermin Muguruza's Urrun (1999) Salmonella Dub - "For The Love of It" (1999) Ayumi Hamasaki - "Who... (Who Dub It?)" from Ayu-mi-x II Version US+EU (2000) Ayumi Hamasaki - "key (ARIWA Dub Mix)" from Ayu-mi-x III Non-Stop Mega Mix Version Salmonella Dub - "Tui Dub" (2002) Ayumi Hamasaki - "Hanabi (Ariwa Dub Mix)" from RMX Works from Ayu-mi-x 5 Non-Stop Mega Mix (2003) Salmonella Dub - "Mercy" (2004) Miss Kittin - "Happy Violentine (Mad Professor Smiling Orange Dub)" (2005) Ayumi Hamasaki - "Happy Ending (Mad Professor Remix)" from Ayu-mi-x 6: Gold (2008)
