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)