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dub reggae

Dub Reggae

Jamaica · 1970s
ChillDancingDreamyDarkSentimental

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Description

Dub reggae is a studio-turned-instrumentalist branch of reggae that transforms vocal songs into spacious, bass-heavy soundscapes.

Engineers and producers treat the mixing desk as a performance instrument, muting and unmuting parts, emphasizing drum-and-bass riddims, and sending fragments of guitar, organ, and vocals into spring reverbs, tape delays, and filters. The result is a hypnotic, danceable, and often psychedelic extension of roots reggae that foregrounds space, texture, and the physical impact of low frequencies.

While rooted in Jamaican sound system culture, dub reggae has become a global practice and a production philosophy, influencing electronic music, hip-hop, and experimental scenes far beyond its island origins.


Sources: Spotify, Wikipedia, Discogs, RYM, MB, user feedback and other online sources

History

Origins (late 1960s–early 1970s)

Dub reggae grew from Jamaica’s sound system culture and the practice of releasing “version” B‑sides—instrumental or stripped-down mixes of reggae singles. Pioneering engineers like King Tubby and Lee “Scratch” Perry began transforming these versions in real time on analog consoles, muting vocals, spotlighting drum and bass, and sending select elements into cavernous spring reverbs and tape echoes.

Golden Era and Aesthetic Codification (1970s)

By the mid‑1970s, dub had become a fully fledged style rather than merely a flip-side curiosity. Albums by King Tubby, Lee Perry’s Upsetters, Augustus Pablo, and the engineer/producer circle around Channel One and Joe Gibbs codified the core language: a deep one‑drop or steppers groove, melodic bass lines, skanking guitar/organ, and radical use of space and delay. The studio became a performance venue, and the mixing desk an instrument.

Expansion and Digitization (1980s)

The 1980s saw dub migrate and mutate in the UK and beyond. Producers such as Mad Professor, Scientist, and King Jammy carried the sound into new, often digital contexts (e.g., Sleng Teng era), keeping the weight of the bass while updating drums and FX. UK sound system culture (Jah Shaka, On‑U Sound/Adrian Sherwood) turned dub into a live, improvisatory art, bridging reggae with industrial, post‑punk, and early electronic experiments.

Global Influence (1990s–2000s)

Dub’s production ethos—dropouts, delay feedback, and bass primacy—permeated trip‑hop, jungle, and drum & bass. Illbient and ambient dub adopted its sense of space and texture, while techno artists absorbed its approach to repetition and timbral sculpting (e.g., dub techno). Dub became both a genre and a toolkit.

Present Day

Today, dub reggae persists as a studio and stage performance practice across Jamaica, the UK, Europe, and worldwide. Its aesthetics are integral to bass music, leftfield electronics, and modern reggae/dancehall, and its techniques (live FX riding, send/return improvisation) remain fundamental to contemporary mixing and live electronics.

How to make a track in this genre

Core Groove and Tempo
•   Start from a reggae riddim. Common feels are one‑drop (kick on 3, ghosted/soft 1) at ~70–78 BPM, or steppers (four‑on‑the‑floor) at ~90–110 BPM or half‑time 140–160 BPM contexts. •   Prioritize the bass: write a melodic, syncopated line that anchors harmony while leaving room for drops and FX.
Instrumentation
•   Rhythm section: drum kit (tight kick, round snare, heavy toms), electric bass (flatwound or deep roundwound tone), percussion (shakers, tambourine, nyabinghi drums). •   Harmony and riffing: skank guitar (off‑beat chops), Hammond/organ bubble (16th‑note subdivisions), clavinet or piano stabs, occasional melodica or horn motifs. •   Sound system FX: dub siren, filtered noise sweeps, tape start/stop artifacts.
Mixing as Performance
•   Treat the console as an instrument: ride faders, mute/unmute parts to create dropouts, and feature drum & bass for extended passages. •   FX chain: spring reverb (tanks), tape echo (e.g., Space Echo) or digital delay with feedback riding; use high‑pass/low‑pass filters, phaser, and gentle saturation. •   Use aux sends/returns musically: punch single snare hits or vocal phrases into long echoes; let feedback bloom, then cut abruptly for dramatic negative space.
Harmony, Melody, and Space
•   Harmony is minimal: I–bVII–bVI or i–VII progressions and modal centers are common; keep chord changes sparse to foreground timbre and bass melody. •   Melodic fragments (melodica, guitar licks, vocal snippets) act as call‑and‑response motifs that can be sent into FX to create evolving textures. •   Embrace silence: strategic mutes and empty bars heighten the impact of returns and drops.
Arrangement Tips
•   Build tension with alternating full‑band and drum‑and‑bass sections; reserve vocals as occasional texture (phrases, shouts) rather than the focus. •   Print multiple “versions”: a vocal mix, a rhythm version, and one or more live‑dubbed takes. Curate the best improvisational moments into the final sequence. •   Test on a big system: ensure sub‑bass translation, kick/bass separation, and that FX tails complement—not mask—the groove.

Best playlists

The Sound of Dub Reggae
The Sound of Dub Reggae
Every Noise at Once
Dub Reggae
Dub Reggae
Chosic
Best of Dub Reggae
Best of Dub Reggae
volt.fm

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Dirty World Records
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in this genre
Influenced by
Roots Reggae
Roots reggae is a spiritually and socially conscious strand of reggae that emerged in Jamaica in the early to mid-1970s. It emphasizes Rasta themes, African identity, resistance to oppression, and everyday struggles, delivered through soulful vocals and storytelling lyrics. Musically, it features the one‑drop drum pattern, heavy melodic basslines, offbeat "skank" guitar/piano, warm Hammond/organ bubbles, and spacious, dub-influenced production. Tempos are moderate and rolling, the grooves are hypnotic, and the arrangements leave space for call‑and‑response, harmony vocals, and horn counter‑melodies.
Reggae
Reggae is a popular music genre from Jamaica characterized by a laid-back, syncopated groove, prominent bass lines, and steady offbeat “skank” guitar or keyboard chords. The rhythmic core often emphasizes the third beat in a bar (the “one drop”), creating a spacious, rolling feel that foregrounds bass and drums. Typical instrumentation includes drum kit, electric bass, rhythm and lead guitars, keyboards/organ (notably the Hammond and the percussive "bubble"), and often horn sections. Tempos generally sit around 70–80 BPM (or 140–160 BPM felt in half-time), allowing vocals to breathe and messages to be clearly delivered. Lyrically, reggae ranges from love songs and everyday storytelling to incisive social commentary, resistance, and spirituality, with Rastafarian culture and language (e.g., “I and I”) playing a central role in many classic recordings. Studio production techniques—spring reverbs, tape delays, and creative mixing—became signature elements, especially through dub versions that strip down and reimagine tracks.
Rocksteady
Rocksteady is a Jamaican popular music style that emerged in the mid‑1960s as a slowed‑down, more soulful successor to ska and the direct precursor to reggae. It retains ska’s off‑beat guitar/piano "skank" but lowers the tempo, brings the bass to the foreground, and favors expressive vocal harmonies. Typically recorded by small studio bands with guitar, electric bass, drums, piano/organ, and occasional horns, rocksteady emphasizes melodic, inventive basslines, tight rhythm guitar, rimshot/side‑stick drums, and sparse horn figures. Lyrically it ranges from tender love songs and yearning ballads to rude‑boy narratives and social commentary. Its concise arrangements and groove‑driven feel make it both danceable and emotionally resonant.
Ska
Ska is a Jamaican popular music style characterized by a brisk 4/4 groove, off‑beat guitar or piano upstrokes (the “skank”), walking bass lines, and punchy horn riffs. Emerging in late‑1950s Kingston dancehalls, ska fused local mento and calypso with American rhythm & blues and jazz, creating a lively sound that celebrated independence‑era optimism and street culture. Across time, ska evolved through distinct waves: the original Jamaican ska of the early 1960s, the racially integrated and politically aware 2 Tone movement in late‑1970s Britain, and the third‑wave explosion in the 1990s that blended ska with punk energy around the world.
Psychedelic
Psychedelic is an umbrella term for music that seeks to evoke, emulate, or accompany altered states of consciousness through sound, arrangement, and studio technique. It emphasizes timbral color, drones, modal harmony, surreal or mystical lyrics, and immersive production, often using tape manipulation, extended effects, and non‑Western instruments (notably from Indian classical traditions). The result ranges from delicate, dreamlike textures to dense, kaleidoscopic soundscapes intended to expand perception and dissolve conventional song form.
Has influenced
Dubstep
Dubstep is a bass‑centric electronic dance music genre that emerged in South London in the early 2000s. It is typically around 140 BPM and is defined by a half‑time rhythmic feel, sub‑heavy basslines, sparse yet impactful drums, and a strong emphasis on space, tension, and sound system weight. Hallmark traits include syncopated kick patterns, snares on the third beat of the bar, swung/shuffly hi‑hats inherited from UK garage, and modulated low‑frequency bass (“wobbles”) shaped with LFOs, filters, and distortion. Influences from dub reggae (echo, delay, and minimalism), jungle/drum & bass (bass science and sound system culture), and 2‑step garage (rhythmic swing and shuffles) are central. The style ranges from deep, meditative “dub” aesthetics (often called deep dubstep) to more aggressive, midrange‑driven variants that later informed brostep and festival bass. Atmosphere, negative space, and subwoofer translation are as important as melody or harmony.
Dub Techno
Dub techno is a minimalist offshoot of techno that fuses Detroit/Berlin techno rhythms with classic Jamaican dub studio techniques. It emphasizes space, depth, and decay through extensive use of tape‑style delays, spring/plate reverbs, and filtering. Typical tracks hover around 118–130 BPM with understated 4/4 drums, deep sub‑bass, and repeating, softly struck chord stabs (often minor 7ths or suspended voicings) that are washed in reverb. The result is a hypnotic, immersive sound world—grainy, foggy, and textural—where small timbral changes and delay tails provide the narrative. The genre coalesced in early‑1990s Berlin around Basic Channel and related labels, drawing on Detroit techno’s futurism and Jamaican dub’s mixing philosophy while embodying the austere spatial aesthetics of the Berlin scene.
Post-Dubstep
Post-dubstep is a loosely defined wave of UK-born electronic music that grew out of dubstep but moved away from its rigid 140 BPM wobble-bass formula. It keeps the bass-weight, sound-system focus, and rhythmic syncopation of dubstep and UK garage, but folds in house and techno tempos, R&B vocal chops, ambient space, and experimental production. Typical tracks explore 120–135 BPM (not fixed at 140), use broken 2‑step/garage swing instead of 4/4, and favor detailed sound design over maximal drops. You’ll often hear hushed, intimate vocals (sampled or original), neo-soul/jazz-influenced chords, and micro-edited percussion with lots of negative space. The mood is frequently introspective, melancholic, and textural—more headphone-oriented than festival-leaning—yet still rooted in club culture.
Trip Hop
Trip hop is a downtempo, atmospheric fusion of hip hop rhythm and sampling techniques with the textures of dub, soul, jazz, and ambient music. Emerging from the Bristol scene in the early 1990s, it favors slow, head‑nodding breakbeats, deep bass, and cinematic sound design. The style is characterized by moody harmonies (often in minor keys), woozy tape- and vinyl-derived timbres, and liberal use of delay and reverb. Vocals frequently alternate between intimate, breathy singing and spoken word/rap, and lyrical themes tend toward noir, introspective, and melancholic subjects. Strings, Rhodes pianos, turntable scratches, and field recordings are common, creating a shadowy, filmic vibe.
Jungle
Jungle is a UK-born electronic music style defined by rapid, chopped breakbeats, heavy sub‑bass, and a deep dialogue with Jamaican sound‑system culture. Typical tempos sit around 155–170 BPM, with intensely syncopated drum programming that flips funk and jazz breaks (especially the Amen, Think, and Apache breaks) into kinetic, polyrhythmic mosaics. Its sound palette blends dub’s bass weight and echo, reggae and dancehall vocal toasting, hip‑hop sampling aesthetics, and the rave/hardcore continuum’s rave stabs and euphoria. In contemporary usage, jungle is often grouped under the broader umbrella of drum and bass; historically it directly preceded and seeded mid‑1990s drum and bass and is frequently treated as an early substyle of DnB.
Drum And Bass
Drum and bass (DnB) is a fast, rhythmically intricate form of electronic dance music centered on breakbeats at roughly 160–180 BPM and powerful, sub‑heavy basslines. It grew out of the UK’s early ’90s rave and jungle scenes, combining chopped funk breaks (most famously the Amen break), dub and reggae sound‑system aesthetics, hip‑hop sampling, and techno’s futurist sound design. Across its many substyles—liquid funk’s soulful harmonies, techstep and neurofunk’s cold, machine‑like bass engineering, jump‑up’s hooky bass riffs, atmospheric DnB’s pads and space—drum and bass remains a DJ‑oriented, dancefloor‑driven genre that prizes tight drum programming, deep low end, and precise arrangement for mixing.
Illbient
Illbient is an experimental, sample-based offshoot of ambient and dub that emerged in mid‑1990s New York. Its name fuses hip‑hop slang “ill” (meaning striking, intense, or unsettling) with “ambient,” signaling music that is both atmospheric and disequilibrating. Sonically, it layers heavy dub bass and echo with downtempo breakbeats, detuned drones, gritty field recordings, and noise textures. Rather than offering placid ambience, illbient evokes urban decay and nocturnal space—collaging fragments of speech, sirens, vinyl crackle, and industrial hum into sprawling, cinematic soundscapes. Hip‑hop’s sampling ethos, dub’s studio-as-instrument approach, and the spatial imagination of ambient guide the production, while dissonance, negative space, and slow, unstable grooves create a tense, dreamlike drift.
Ambient Dub
Ambient dub fuses the studio-as-instrument ethos of Jamaican dub with the spacious textures and slow-motion pacing of ambient and ambient house. It is marked by deep sub‑bass, echo‑drenched percussion, and vast, reverb‑heavy soundscapes where delays, filtering, and tape‑style feedback become primary compositional tools. Tracks tend to be long, hypnotic, and minimal, often incorporating field recordings, gentle synth pads, and fragmentary vocals that are treated as atmospheric elements rather than lyrical leads. Emerging in the early 1990s UK, the style crystallized through influential artists and compilations that showcased a reflective, psychedelic, and immersive approach to dub-informed electronic music.
Dub Poetry
Dub poetry is a form of performance poetry that merges spoken-word delivery with the bass-heavy, spacious rhythms of reggae and dub. Unlike Jamaican toasting (the DJ "talk-over" tradition), dub poets typically recite crafted, page-ready poems with deliberate meter, imagery, and rhetorical structure, performing them over live bands or pre-recorded "version" tracks sculpted with echo, delay, and reverb. The style is closely tied to Rastafarian consciousness and social commentary, addressing themes such as anti-racism, diaspora identity, working-class struggle, and state violence. Vocals are often delivered in Jamaican patois (or Caribbean English), with strong rhythmic phrasing that locks into one‑drop and steppers grooves while the mix engineer uses dub techniques to frame the voice in space.
Dancehall
Dancehall is a Jamaican popular music style built around bass‑heavy, groove‑centric riddims and the vocal art of chatting or singjaying in Jamaican Patois. It emphasizes direct, energetic delivery, call‑and‑response hooks, and a party‑forward attitude, while also leaving space for sharp social commentary and witty wordplay. The genre is fundamentally riddim‑based: producers release instrumental tracks (riddims) that many different vocalists "voice" with their own songs. This culture encourages competitive creativity, rapid evolution of styles, and a constant stream of new versions. Tempos typically sit in the midtempo range, with syncopated kicks and snares and prominent sub‑bass. Since the mid‑1980s, digital drum machines and synths have defined much of dancehall’s sound, though live instrumentation and hybrid production are common too.

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