King Tubby's

[Funky Punk]

not even horn versions? im sure a sax would fit in the vocal booth.

Without knowing for sure, I'd venture to guess that Tommy McCook may have recorded Sax at Tubby's. The number of Tubby dubs with with TM blowing over them is immense. It would make sense to do it in-house.

[Inyaki]

No bands recorded at Tubbys, ever.
Only voicing and overdubs.

Overdubs: on a single track once the riddim is on tape ( melodica, horns, percussion, xylophone, whatever,....)

[Funky Punk]

Overdubs: on a single track once the riddim is on tape ( melodica, horns, percussion, xylophone, whatever,....)

Did Tubby do much in the way of instrumental overdubs in his stand-alone (i.e. not the Tommy McCook/Pablo/etc. stuff) dub work, as a matter of interest? I'd always thought that his principal philosophy was to manipulate and bring out what was already present on tape. Unlike Scratch, for example, who loved to overdub his overdubs onto his overdubs...

[Dave K]

Inyaki wrote :
Overdubs: on a single track once the riddim is on tape ( melodica, horns, percussion, xylophone, whatever,....)

Did Tubby do much in the way of instrumental overdubs in his stand-alone (i.e. not the Tommy McCook/Pablo/etc. stuff) dub work, as a matter of interest? I'd always thought that his principal philosophy was to manipulate and bring out what was already present on tape. Unlike Scratch, for example, who loved to overdub his overdubs onto his overdubs...

It was a working studio, not just a place where one would come for a final mix. Many tracks were voiced there, lots of instrumental overdubs recorded there as well. I was fortunate enough to see Pablo, and his DJ Jah Bull overdub tracks one afternoon, after convincing the King that he was the only one they wanted a mix from. Fortunately he obliged, and did a "on the fly" mix direct to two track.

But there were limits to what you could do, because it was a 4 track studio. As other studios expanded to 16, it meant taking a 16 tracks recorded say at Channel One, and bouncing it down to a 4 track so it could be used at Tubby. This extra step (and cost) made it more difficult to work there, and forced Tubby to upgrade to multi-track
to keep viable.

[Inyaki]

Hi Dave,
could you tell us, if Channel One became a 16-track studio around late 78 / 79 (Joe Gibbs was at least 8-track by then and Dynamics and Harry J 16)....who was grouping the tracks into a 4-track so that they could be mix at Tubbys?
Did someone bounced them down at those studios?
Also, the tape format compatibility: were Tubbys 4-track master tapes 1/2" or 1"? ( then mixed into a stereo 1/4inch?)

[Dave K]

Hi Inyaki

Not sure about JG or Dynamics, but Channel One also had a 4 track recorder. Probably their original one. So you would record to sixteen, but then bounce down to four if you wanted to get it mixed at Tubbys. But people did this less and less, and finally just did the whole recording and mix at Channel One, especially when Scientist moved over from Tubby's.

As for Tubby's recorder, I believe (but I am not positive) it was 1 inch deck, and then mixed to quarter inch.

[Inyaki]

Watching videos sometimes contradicts what's written in many Reggae books.


Did Tubby's studio had not one but in fact two 4-track multitrack recorders (around 82) ?
Cannot see properly but it looks like a 1" and a 1/2"?
I might be wrong, studio experts can spot it....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrNqUWor ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdpuJRpd ... re=related

[Dave K]

Watching videos sometimes contradicts what's written in many Reggae books.

@I
Has this been written about in detail (type, models etc.)? What book (or article) covers this? It would be an interesting read.

[Jumbo]

'@inyaki
isnt it more likey that of the two machines in the video one multitrack played the original tape (1 inch), and the other one is recording the tubby's mix (1/4 or 1/2 inch)?

[Geoffrey]

Apologies if this isn't really the right place to talk about this, but I have a question for you, Dave, regarding Tubby's revamped studio, the one from which the Firehouse digi stuff was put out:

Do you think Tubby's upgraded studio equipment there would have made him the dominant producer on the island once more? And specifically, what type of a setup was Tubbys putting in place?

It's such a tragedy that he was murdered, and I've always thought that the sound of reggae-influenced music today would be quite different if Tubbys had been a big player into the 90s... what do you think?

(Anyone, feel free to post your opinions on this; I'm not *only* asking for Dave's view, though I am keen to hear what he has to say.)

Thanks.