Roots Archives Forum

in no particular order
gussie
keith hudson
peter chemist
bunny lee
sojie

1. Lee Perry - original producer
2. King Tubby - he did all the mixing for Augustus Pablo, Yabby U & Glen Brown
3. Duke Reid - the best rocksteady imo
4. Sly & Robbie - one of the best in the dancehall music
5. Tappa Zukie - tuffest rockers & roots

Right now I'd say;
Henry Junjo Lawes
Jo-Jo Hookim
Sly & Robbie (counts as one, right? )
King Culture
Linval Thompson

Today i feel like this:

Derrick Harriott (60's - early 70's)
Bunny Lee (60's - late 70's)
Tubbies (way up into the 80's)
Junjo
Dub Judah (new UK roots era)

Thats in no particular order of favouritism....
May feel different tomorrow.......but only slightly.

I think many will agree that my choices are quite valid..
Maybe Jammys should be in there somewhere too?? Too controversial i guess.........

Sly & Robbie
Lee Perry
Clive Hunt
Tommy McCook
Familyman Barrett

Oh s*** how did i 4get to mention Scratch??

Does that decrease my credibility within this forum??

Oh and btw, Junjo, Jammies and Linval - dem all a big teef!!! Just ask Wesley Tinglin!!
And Phil Pratt too - BIG TIME TIEF!!!! And Scratch....ROBBER!!

Sum1 should start a new topic - WHICH PRODUCERS HAD THE MOST DECENCY, HONESTY AND INTEGRITY?

I hear Tubbys was one for good moral values and looking after his "clients" and associates so he'd probably top that list.......maybe??

Bless Up Jah People......

sly & robbie
family man
augustus pablo
jackie mitto
and scratch...

the decency issue always taunts me. Recently I heard a song that claimed to be produced by some name (dont remember) but it trully seemed to be a sliy & robbie production. more on that please, interesting topic

Sly & Robbie
Chris Blackwell
Lee Perry
Jack Ruby
Clive Hunt

Which producers are actually producing recordings and who are /were just financing them has been debated a few times before.
In the Reggae business the producer tends to be the owner of the label
( the same role as what in other types of music would be called “executive producer”), while the "musical producer" tends to be the MD of the session band, the engineer, or in many cases a combination of ideas and personalities in the studio.
We could define "producer" in 20 different ways, every producer is different. Many don't do much musically, others nearly everything. Some play instruments some can't tell between an G from an Eflat. Some are engineers while some couldn’t find where the EQ is on the desk. Some have arrangers on their side to run the sessions, some aren’t even in the studio!

Is a fine line sometimes between being a composer or an arranger and being a producer. Many engineers are producers but not credited (they call the shots on takes.....which is a producer's decision really). Many musicians compose and arrange even when they are suppose to be "just" studio musicians.

From the legal point of view (Convention of Rome - 'Convention for the Protection of Producers of Phonograms Against Unauthorized Duplication of Their Phonograms' )

"...(a) “performers” means actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in, or otherwise perform literary or artistic works;

(b) “phonogram” means any exclusively aural fixation of sounds of a performance or of other sounds;

(c) “producer of phonograms” means the person who, or the legal entity which, first fixes the sounds of a performance or other sounds..............Producers of phonograms shall enjoy the right to authorize or prohibit the direct or indirect reproduction of their phonograms"


The producer as far as the law is established is the owner of the recordings, the person or company that can exploit that work. The owner of the mastertape (yeah...the good old days of analogue mastering...these days is probably a pendrive!)
Normally we refer to this person as an "executive producer".
Nothing to do with who composed, played, mixed, arranged or did any musical or creative work during the recording sessions.
In Jamaica, cause of the particular nature of the music scene, this person is the owner of a small label. The guy that goes to the pressing plant!

Also, depending who you talk to you 'll hear about "rip off", thieves, "reducers" or artists who spent 20 minutes in the studio voicing a take and who claim afterwards they composed a classic tune and they were ripped off (when in fact the riddim was done before they enter the studio and the lyrics were written or co-written by somebody else!).
People who work in studios can tell different experiences about how the recording process goes, the input of the people involved and the final decisions.
Certainly ( in my opinion) with musicians and engineers like Sly & Robbie, Familyman, Clive Hunt, Lee Perry, Augustus Pablo, Ossie Hibbert,Errol T, Sylvain Morris, LLoyd Parks and many more.....there is no doubt they are producers....sometimes they get credited, sometimes they don't.

I dont think he has been mentioned yet, but Ive recently noticed that Errol Flabba Holt has been credited as producer on some Radics/Barry Brown releases, and I believe also on the 'Scientist Meets Roots Radics' lp. Maybe not the best/most prolific producer ever, but he deserves a mention in this thread for being credited as such on those awesome releases.