What makes a good dub album?

[musik-maker]

I'd like to flip the script on this 'Worst Dub Album' question.

1. What in your opinion qualifies as a 'good dub album?' (I know that you may have many, which you consider to be good, please focus on one).

2. What, is it about said album that make's it so good to you?

The one I choose is 'Scientist rids the world of the Curse of the Vampires'

Reason: It not only has echoing, with snippets of vocals, but I also like the way he drops instruments in and out, and that he gives the bassline a mix of its own, plus the overall quality of the mix. (tu)

[MightyZ]

What a question!

How can you answer that?

It got me thinking - as a dub producer - perhaps I should be able to answer it, but I don't think I could talk for everyone.

Here though are some of the key ingredients I feel -

Deep smooth sounding Bass with punchy (if sometimes simple) melodies. Agreed that it's ok to mess around with the bass eq like Scientist in places - as long as it soon returns to the real dub bass sound.

As for dropping in and out and echo - well it wouldn't be dub without that. What makes that good - well echo timing is key. Delay (repeating) echoes can sound bad if they counter the timing of the song too much - Wackies tend to have the echoes trailing away in time with the beat - but it doesn't have to be like this - as long as the echo doesn't destroy the main riddim.
Dropping in an out is all about timing - I can't describe how this works, you just know when it is right - this kind of thing comes from feel. reggae music relies much more on 'feel' than any other music in my opinion.

MightyZ

I have tried to put my knowledge into my own dub album Mighty Dub - see how well I did:

www.last.fm/music/mightyz

[sean]

i like plenty echo, good bass, vocal echoes, a danceable riddim...an example..the dub to big ship by freddie mcgregor on scientist and jammy strike back

[Doctor Tahl]

and a nice spliff of sensi

[Na lef jA]

it would be the BACKING TRACKS(the music itself) and whoever is dubbing it. its up to the instruments and vocals to provide him di vibe to turn di knobs & faders. Just like some DJ's can fling better lyrics, some dubbers can fling better echo.


Overall what makes it GOOD or NOT is simply opinion.

[trev]

- riddims that aren't boring or overplayed. This is probably the biggest one for me and is the reason I haven't found much mid-70s dub that I really like
- interesting, well-placed effects that aren't overdone and add to the feel of the music (why Scientist is my favorite mixer)
- vocal snippets are nice but not essential

[leggo rocker]

I agree with Doctor Tahl



Although I would be happy to add some good friends into the mix to share the vibes.

[MightyZ]

Just listening to leggorockers radio and caught some nice dub which reminded of some of the key ingredients.

The drum mix is key - Scientist mixes tend to be excellent in this direction - Wins the World Cup is my fave. Subtle spacy reverbs especially on the snare, perhaps with gentle phasing/flanging on the hi hat (Wackies do this well), and if you really want a monster sound, occasionally put heavy reverb on the kick drum (use sparingly!):D

MightyZ

[leggo rocker]

I agree with MightyZ.

The drum sound makes or breaks a dub. I love the way King Tubby deals with this.

I have no musical technical knowledge at all so I have no idea how or what he is doing but it works for me!

Same goes for Scientist, he took the dub drum sound to the next level, updating it without seperating it from the roots.

And Lloyd Bullwackies Barnes definately has a superb drum sound in his music.

[musik-maker]

Great answers so far, but we are starting to stray a little.

When selecting your album, please choose the one that has most (if not all) of the elements you mentioned.

If you think this is difficult just wait , I've got the ultimate question to come