MESSIAN DREAD - DUB
WHYZE
DUBROOM NET LABEL RELEASE
WWW, November 2014 - The urban, futuristic
atmosphere of this release is depicted in the art work that comes with it. Over
ten minutes of deep Dub created from two brand new original Dubroom riddims:
here is Dub Whyze!
In many ways, this release marks the beginning
of yet another change in the Dubroom's studio. With the recent arrival of
Propellerhead's Reason 8.0 music production software and the Dubroom's in-depth
coverage of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) came changes for the way the
music is actually produced. Those who follow the Dubroom recently will have
noticed all this coverage as it was the sole focus of the Dubroom throughout the
months October and November in this 2014. Several tracks have been created and
put on You Tube as part of this coverage, but Dub Whyze is the first official
release from the Dubroom's Net Label.
Both tracks have an effect on the vocals that
is, to say the least, highly controversial. It works on the vocal and gives it a
different melody. The effect is called "Auto Tune" and much is said
about it. Some claim it can turn the worst voice into the best singer but that's
not the way it's used in this release. As with everything in Dub, effects are
there to be noticed and not to cover up anything. Love it or like it, but the
effect does give a special vibe to the overall mix and in itself justifies the
cover art.
No need for any further tech-know? Here's two
tracks for your musical pleasure.
TRACK DESCRIPTIONS
Murderation YY
The tempo is slow, drum and bass lay down a
heavy line: When You Hear This One It's Serious. From start to end, that
is. In a cool and dreadly pace that should not be underestimated. Horns, guitars
and other instruments drop in and out as they get totally transformed by the
multitude of effects and detailed mixing work. A Dub with a deeper meaning for
real.
Urban Poison
The city without pity. For a dread it can be
hard to dwell in it. Keeping your roots and culture where they should be is
often made impossible by a multitude of rules, regulations and repression.
That's what this track is all about. A steppers drum with a bassline that says a
thing or two, instruments and echo's get splattered into a million pieces like
breaking glass: another hard hitting Dub from the Dubroom studio and net label.
WILLI WILLIAMS: "SMUGG
RECORDS ARE PIRATES"
DUBROOM (DUB) REGGAE NEWS AND VIEWS
WWW, October 3 1014 - In a very informative,
but partly disturbing interview the Midnight Raver recently held with well known
Reggae Singer Willi Williams, the Ammagideon Man was quoted about a release
called "One Love". As the album was reviewed and promoted by the
Dubroom, it was shocking to hear what the brethren had to say about this
release. In short: it's pirated, don't buy!
Ask Bunny Wailer about the early Wailers Black
Ark recordings you can find almost everywhere. Ask Scientist about his
well-known Greensleeves Dub Series. Ask Willi Williams about "One Love. Not
the concept, but the album. Released by UK-based Smugg
Records. Who were so kind to send the Dubroom a promo copy years back when it
was released. Which was subsequently reviewed and promoted from this very
website.
This is what he has to say:
“The ONE LOVE record
is a pirated record. These guys been releasing my records for years and no
matter how you try to get to them to let them know that it is not legal they
insist on doing it. I send plenty letters from my lawyers and every ‘ting
but they are shady. Its a shadowy business but Smugg Records is one of the
pirates, they just using that name to sell the records. Especially this new
record was pirated by them at whoever is behind this Smugg Records. I even got
to one of the guys one time and he was very shadowy and could not tell me how
he got it because I have no agreement with them. You know I did some tracks
way back with an individual named Steven King out of the UK – him have a
label called Uptempo – I did a couple of tracks with him as producer and he
went and took my tracks from these sessions along with some others and I
suspect that is how they release these pirated records.”
The Book of life teaches us how "The Love
For Money Is The Root Of All Evil". That's not the One Love Willi Williams
sings about, that's not the definition of One Love over here in the Dubroom,
either. That's the love for pounds, euros, dollars. The kind of love that brings
people to make wars and kill millions.
Needless to say that from this place we offer
our apologizes -without any objection- to Willi Williams for having promoted
something that did not provide him with the daily bread that he works for so
hard.
Equally, we gladly extend this piece of
information from Willi Williams aka The Messenger Man to everyone who considers
buying or promoting the album.
One Love (yes!),
Messian Dread (editor, dubroom.org)
WWW, October 2014 - Hard hitting Steppers
riddims form the foundation of this EP featuring seven vocalists in three long
and intense Dubwise mixes. Extreme Dub work-outs on the bass, in fact there's a
lot of abuse of the effect devices overall in this release. While the vocalists
deliver enough lyrical content, sounds of creation and full blown instrument
sections add to the undeniable power of the drum and bass lines.
While the three tracks can be played as a
single track, for example in a play list or DJ set, listening to the full 16+
minutes will put them in a perspective. This EP is about the power of the bass,
which -as a scientific study recently documented-
is not just a slogan chanted in the Dance or otherwise, but a reality. The bass
as foundational sound? Here is where DUB undisputedly stands at number one.
That's reality too!
The second track is very deliberately put in
the center of the three-track release. It's about the sound of a much greater
power than any man-made bass instrument. It's about a power described in oh so
many Rastaman lyrics and that's the power of JAH, audible in the real thunder
and lightning. In the first track we'll hear everything about the bass line, in
the last track we're rising up the Red Gold and Green banner of Conscious Dub.
The power of the bass, of thunder and
lightning, blesseth are those that know themselves to be rooted in JAH.
Of course, with this trinity of Dub track about
(Jah) Power you're given a hint to search something about another Ikon of the
Power of Jah, Who Himself is a Trinity just like we little people are (body,
soul spirit).
With such a foundation, yes, step it up!
Stepping it up in three different Dubwise
mixes, wherein no instrument, voice, slider knob or button is left untouched.
Even though everything stays coherent, the hardware was put to enormous work as
sometimes no less than seven different effects are used in the same time.
Stepping it up in three hard-hitting steppers
riddims, all with real horns and real this-and-that and original Dubroom bass
lines. Visit studio.dubroom.org when you
are interested in the more technical or legal aspects of this release, which is
-as all Dubroom productions- fully legal and licensed.
TRACK BY TRACK DESCRIPTION:
Jah Rooti - Dub Up Di Bassline
It takes a while before you know what Jah Rooti
is talking about, but after about 30 seconds or so you'll get the point more
than clear. As the tune continues to develop after the initial start, effects
are layered to the extend that it is no longer clear just what effect comes from
which source. Not just nice for a little studio research but also for the
enjoyment of Dub music.
Then, everything drops except for the bass and
Jah Rooti chanting about the bass line. Filters and reverbs are not spared and
when the drums finally drops back in the Dub gets into a yet weirder phase, only
to come back with full instruments and singing and lead to the end in yet
another segment of full-effect style mixing.
Ras Khaleel - Pray Up In Dub (ft Aiva and
Penti)
Definitely the center-piece of this EP, it's
length being an indication of it's importance in the story of Step It Up In Dub.
True sounds of nature open up, including a massive thunder roll. During this
exposition of Jah Power, a melodica and Ras Khaleel lead us to the horns and
Penti telling us what to do when we wake up in the morning: chant a psalm. Ras
Khaleel enters asking for some positive thoughts while I and I pray as we pray
about serious things.
Why does Babylon take our life for granted,
killing our brothers and our sisters in a continual war against mankind and it's
Creator? It should be about love, no hate should come around as we live this
life that our Creator has given us. Once again, here is the message of One Love
in Dub.
Excellent backing vocals by Aiva, crucial Horns
by the Zion Train massive, intense Dub mixing from the Dubroom's in-house
engineer, over six minutes of deep Dub meditation.
ADX - Dub Up Di Banner (ft Soulja and Penti)
Penti opens up giving a short history lesson
before ADX continues to describe the current situation. Soulja takes over and
calls for more love, honor and respect which is what has to be done in these
current times of violence and hatred. Reggae, and especially DUB has spread from
Jamaica to the UK to the whole world and has stood at the roots of virtually all
electronic musical styles and techniques.
Where the music is so influential, so should
the Message that comes with this Music since ancient days.
That's why we rise up the Banner of Red Gold
and Green.
1. Jah Rooti - Dub Up Di Bassline (4:55) (320Kbps
MP3)
2. Ras Khaleel - Pray Up In Dub (ft Aiva and Penti) (6:08) (320Kbps
MP3)
3. ADX - Dub Up Di Banner (ft Soulja and Penti) (5:17) (320Kbps
MP3)
RAS KITCHEN AND ASANTE AMEN -
ONE PERFECT LOVE DUB/RASTAMAN CAMP FIRE DUB
DUBROOM NET LABEL RELEASE
WWW, September 2014 - The second "virtual
seven inch" featuring Ras Kitchen has a much deeper Roots and Culture vibe
than the first one. Two
heavy Roots Dub tracks, each having their very own distinctive vibe and
approach. What both track have in common is the superb vocal singing of Asante
Amen, Horns from Mad Professor's Ariwa studio and Messian Dread's Dubwise
mixing.
Together, the two different tracks show the
versatility and wideness of variety possible within Roots Reggae (Dub). In a
way, it's also a statement concerning the use of "real instruments"
versus programmed music. There is no "versus", there is just one
thing: the rhythm of Roots Reggae as a means of communication. Playing and
producing is one thing, knowing yourself and Reggae music is quite another.
One track has the (played) drums from Roots
Radics drummer Style Scott, the other has a programmed Drum rhythm from Mad
Professor's Ariwa studio. One track has a digital filter on the bass, the other
track has a virtual analog. One track has a piano and guitar playing just the
riddim where all the echo's and other effects do their thing, where the riddim
or skank section at the other track features a lot of play with guitar wah's and
an organ bubble.
Both tracks feature the vocals of Ras Kitchen
and the very, very talented and skilled singer Asante Amen. Both men
"happen" to be Rastaman, and a Rastaman comes with reasoning and with
a meditation or a message if you will. Food for thought.
In one track, you'll hear Assante Amen chanting
and praying for equal rights and justice which "happens" to be the
state of reign when Babylon is finally downstroyed and the Most High rules
visible for all mankind. Yes, this is when Righteousness will Cover the Earth as
the Book of Life tells us. This fire is blazing in the hearts of all true
Rastaman, and if you want to make the parallel between the Rasta Food that Ras
Kitchen is cooking and explaining in the track and the reasoning Asante Amen
gives as a Rasta Food for thought, you've made the same parallel as Messian
Dread when he made this Dub.
In the other track, there is much more a
dialogue between Ras Mokko and Asante Amen. Together, they chant down racism and
point out to the One Love, the One Perfect Love that enables people of all color
to come together. We do not want no division along racial lines and lies, so
that we are all equal and there is no one race superior and another inferior.
This is what the Rastaman works on on a global scale, this is the message to the
world and not just from the two vocalist but equally from the producer of this
free release.
MESSIAN DREAD IS NOT
ON FACEBOOK
MESSIAN DREAD COLUMN SEPTEMBER 20 2014
WWW, September 20 2014 - When you Google "Messian
Dread facebook", you'll see a link to a Facebook page which says:
"Messian Dread Is On Facebook". Well, Messian Dread is NOT On
Facebook, and I'm often asked why. Good idea to put that answer in a column.
Hopefully one of these days that column will be among the search results so that
the right information will come at the right place at Google.
Yes, there's some profile on Facebook with my
name, but it's not my photo. I don't know who that person is on the photo, all I
know it's not me. Maybe some funny guy put it there.
With that out of the way, let me share with you
why I am not on Facebook and in fact even would call for en exodus out of that
voluntary ghetto inna Cyberspace, as the website should be called in my not so
humble opinion. Facebook is everything that the Internet is, and because of that
it has become completely unnecessary because it is not everything that the
Internet is. Confused? You don't have to be.
I do not know how many times I'm asked why I
don't open a Facebook account, if only because "all" websites and
"all" contacts have one and even check their accounts daily. Or they
are like most people, they just stay logged in and let Facebook record their
each and every move on the Internet. Where I live, I see people glued to their
mobile Facebook devices as they bump into each other because they're not looking
where they walk. Or worse, drive.
In fact, that argument was the only valid one
for me.
I imagined myself opening a Facebook account.
What would my account status be? I couild only come up with one.
"What Are You Doing Here?" would truly be the only thing I could say
and the obvious answer would be "Well, What Are YOU Doing Here?".
Indeed. People join facebook because people joined facebook. Like Myspace.
People joined Myspace because people joined Myspace.
Facebook is a website on the world wide web, a
part of the Internet where there are websites. People can make an account on
that website and start to have contact with other people, share messages and all
other things publishers do. But wait. You can do that on the Internet anyway.
Facebook is just a website. There are millions and millions and millions of
websites. Sure, they all have their... Facebook page. Why? Because there are
many people on Facebook who are so cyber-illiterate that they do not even know
that Facebook is just a website and that there's a bigger Internet out there.
Facebook has gone to the Stock Exchange. It's a
company and it's sold to stock holders for billions of dollars. It's a company,
so it has a product. That product is (the privacy of) it's users. People who
join Facebook sell their privacy for the ability to communicate, where Facebook
made billions selling that very same privacy to the ones whose only drive is the
Roots Of All Evil: the love for money.
That's why Messian Dread is NOT on Facebook.
Whatever Facebook tells you.
MUSIC FOR THE ROOTS AND DUB MASSIVE
RADIO DUBROOM 2014 CHAPTER 8
WWW, September 2014 - One hour and twenty
minutes of not just pure niceness, because some of it can only be heard at this
podcast and yet other selections are not yet released or released only on vinyl.
This is a special selection that you just cannot afford to miss out.
The set starts with a track from the recently
released Heavyweight Dubwise Selection LP, followed by a fine track with
to-the-point lyrics from the Irie-On-Air Net Label. From the Original Dub
Gathering another fine track with ditto Dub, followed by a track that can/could
only be downloaded hundred times. This is a track about an upcoming duo-release
from the Dubophonic and Dub Key Net Labels.
The segment that follows contain two tracks
from STEPPAS.com's Dub Dynasty and two from Moa Anbessa, recently reviewed in
the Dubroom. All tracks with their Dub version, of course. Of course! There's
one excellent Dub from the Dub Reservoir Net Label in the segment, too.
The show closes with a Discomix by Horseman and
Dillinger, one by Seamus Ikonya which is on You Tube and a Discomix featuring
Kojak at the microphone stand. That track has -just like the previous one- a Dub
one the recently released Heavyweight Dubwise LP and is currently unreleased.
Hear it here!
PLAYLIST
01. Messian Dread - Loving Dubwise (Free
Download)
02. Echo & Reverb All-Stars - Tres Caravelas (Free
Download)
03. Echo & Reverb All-Stars - Christopher Colonus (Free
Download)
04. Fu Step- Holidays (Free
Download)
05. Fu Steps - Holidays Dubwise (Free
Download)
06. Red Star Martyrs - Roots Rock Rebel (Discomix) (More
Info)
07. Moa Anbessa and Prince David - Watch Dem (Vinyl
Release)
08. Dubwise (Vinyl Release)
09. Dub Dynasty and Prince David - Evil Fe Bun (Vinyl
Pre-Release)
10. Dubwise (Vinyl
Pre-Release)
11. Dub Dynasty and Ngoni - We Got Jah (Vinyl
Pre-Release)
12. Dubwise (Vinyl
Pre-Release)
13. Barbes D and Emanouel - King Of Dub (Free
Download)
14. Moa Anbessa and Jules I - Jah Calling (Vinyl
Release)
15. Dubwise (Vinyl Release)
16. Horseman and Dillinger - Dangerous and Famous (Discomix) (Free
Download)
17. Seamus Ikonya - Babylon System (Unreleased Discomix) (Video)
18. Kojak - Prevail (Unreleased Discomix)
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
31: FIVE WAYS TO START A DUB AND A FINAL VERSION
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 18 2014 - You're a selector
on a tight budget, whether financially or timely. In any case, you have to
browse quickly through the available catalogue of Dub tracks. Or perhaps you're
a Dub collector and you're looking for that next addition. Whatever the case,
I'm sure you'll agree that when you're looking for or listening to new music,
the first let's say 20 seconds are pretty decisive.
That's what we're going to address in this
final chapter of the Version Excursion into the basics of Dub mixing.
I've prepared five different ways to start a
Dub, using the riddim we've made for this tutorial. All four effect devices are
used, just like in the previous chapters. Here they are, with a small
explanation:
Variation A:
1. Drum Roll
2. Skanks
3. Bass drops in
4. Drums drop in
When you start with a Drum roll, then cut the
Drums to let only the Skanks play, cut the Skanks with echo and start the Bass
during the Echo with the Drums entering later, you create a tension. You tend to
get impatient to hear the drum and bass.
This is just one way of doing it. However, it
is a rather classic method that you most certainly will hear back in many
classic Dub tracks.
Variation B:
1. Drum Roll
2. Bass Drops In
3. Horns Drop In and Out
4. Pucking/Clavinet Drop in and out
5. Skanks Drop In and Out
Starting with a Drum Roll, then cutting the
Drums while only the Bass plays and the rest of the instruments are quickly
(un)muted at strategic points.
It creates yet another vibe of tension, as you want to hear the Drum and the
Bass.
Variation C:
1. Pucking/Clavinet only Wet through Pre-Aux 4
2. Bass Drum Drops In and Out
3. Bass Drops In
4. Drums Drop In
Running the pucking Guitar and the Clavinet
through the Aux 4 Pre out to the Reverb, with the bass drum hitting once or
twice before the bass line drops in, is a more spaced-out vibe.
It's not so much to create a tension, it's more a spaced out thing.
You know...
Variation D:
1. Drum Roll
2. Bass, Skanks, Horns Drop in With Space Echo
3. Skanks are muted directly
4. Horns (un)muted Strategically
Because of the many 16th notes played in the
Horn Them, just (un)muting the channel at (no so) random will give an instant
Dub vibe that will catch those that love their "Dubbing With Horns".
Know when to (un)mute and you can create special echo's. For more information
see the Tutorial at studio.dubroom.org
Variation E:
All channels open Aux 3 (Space Echo)
1. Drum Roll
2. Drum and Bass
3. Skanks (un)muted
4. Horns (un)muted
5. Pucking Guitar and Clavine (un)muted)
The Space Echo is so spacey, that in itself
feeding the device by merely (un)muting channels does give a Dub vibe. When you
have trained yourself in knowing where to find the strategic places to (un)mute,
you're pretty close to creating a reasonable Dub in one take.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
30: USING EQ WITH SPACE ECHO AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 16 2014 - It's often said how
in Dub, the mixing board turns into an instrument at the hand of the engineer.
Like a keyboard player touches the keys, the guitar player the strings. True,
true, true. Pressing the mute buttons, using the sliders, and not just on the
mixing board. The effect devices are not safe from the hands of the Dub
engineer.
During my live performances when I dub a band
live, it happens that I have to use the PA of the hall. As I count the drops of
sweat on the head of the engineer as I'm telling him how I am going to use his
mixing board, I hear him think: "there goes my setting". When I
continue to tell him how I want the delay and other effects routed back to the
mixing board via a channel input, I see him watch the aux-out buttons while in
his head he hears the feedback. Yes, the mixing board becomes an instrument.
Where an engineer usually fine-tunes his mix
and explodes whenever someone wants to change anything, a Dub engineer
continually changes these settings. No, just by (un)muting channels and not just
by knowing where to drop what kind of echo and how to transform the echo feed
with EQ like we did in the previous chapters. Here's another general guideline:
whatever you can change with EQ, change it!
In this next video, it's not just the simple
Dub delay with it's EQ and the reverb. Remember, we've added a Space Echo at Aux
3. That's what we're going to use now and we are going to use the EQ settings of
the reverb as well. Before you press play, though, just a little bit more info
about the "Space Echo".
There are many soft- and hardware devices
similar to the Space Echo. Even free VST effects that are perfect to use, but
that's for another place. In a way, you can look at the Space echo as a
combination of Delay, Reverb and EQ. Where I use a separate EQ with my Dub delay
and layer it with reverb from the mixing board, the Space echo does all that in
one device.
Watch as the "decay" (length) buttons
and the EQ on the blue devices change. The blue device at top is the Reverb at
aux 2, the blue device below the mixing board is the Space Echo. Read the extra
information as you watch just how EQ and other things are used:
DIGITAL DIGNITY: HALF A
GIGABYTE OF FREE LICENSED HI-Q (DUB) REGGAE SAMPLES AND LOOPS IN A NEW STUDIO
FEATURE STUDIO DUBROOM NEWS
WWW, September 2014 - Attention (DUB) Reggae
producers and other visitors/users of Studio Dubroom: a brand new feature in the
studio will provide you with over 560 Mb of free, legal, fully licensed high
quality (DUB) Reggae Samples and Loops. We're talking drums, bass, guitars,
horns, vocals, Dub effects and everything else you can think of in the field of
the production of (DUB) Reggae Music.
It's called "Digital Dignity" and for
a reason. There are too many online (DUB) Reggae artists that make use of
jingles, loops and samples from well known or lesser known albums. For
non-commercial productions that's quite a common practice but it will not lead
you as a producer to the ability to release your music commercially. It's a
common practice, but it doesn't really do anything else but make people think of
the original.
Yes, it is better to get some dignity in your
productions by getting some dignity for yourself: over half a gig of that
material is waiting for you in our brand new Loopmasters (DUB) Reggae portal.
So what did we do and what can you do?
First, we've gathered all thirty (DUB) Reggae
products that come with a demo file from the Sample Boutique and -second-
created a page for each release. From that page you can directly download the
Demo file attached to the product. You'll have to be registered and logged in to
the Loop Masters website, but since that is a free thing and can even provide
you with more goodies, registration at Loop Masters will not hurt you at all.
We are talking about samples and loops by Ariwa
studio, Jesse "Dubmatix" King, the heavyweight champions at Drum
Drops, and a lot more. A large part has authentic vocal loops and samples, but
you can find some nice horns and other material.
Read the introduction page and start
downloading. When you have a reasonable fast Internet connection, about 15
minutes of your time will deliver you a very valuable addition to your Sound
library.
This is not a collaboration between Loop
Masters and the Dubroom, this is the sole decision of the Dubroom and it is done
out of a genuine appreciation with the good quality, service and prices at the
Sample Boutique.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
29: DUB ECHOES AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 14 2014 - Basically, the main
thing a Dub engineer does is (un)muting channels and emphasizing these
(un)mutings with effects, the two obligatory ones being reverb and delay, or
echo. That's something we're going to look at as we continue our version
excursion. Just how and where reverb is placed, and different things you can do
with delay.
Very common in Dub mixing is adding reverb to
snare drum hits, like every 2nd or 4th. When the skanks play, hit one chord with
a Reverb attack. Or unmute the skanks and hit the very first chord with a reverb
attack. Or the last one, just before you mute. Use a pre-aux and put the volume
slider of the drums close to zero while feeding the reverb device with the
drums.
Echoes, or delay, can and should not be just a
repeat of itself like in the previous chapter. You can change the sound of the
echoes by adding reverb on them but also by applying (slight) EQ changes in the
echo feed. Or both. You can let the echo run along with the drums while changing
the EQ feed, or just make a long echo of let's say a horn hit and change that
feed.
Again (un)muting is essential. Let the skanks
play along with the drum and bass and mute them at an unexpected time. Or unmute
the skanks every 4th or 8th hit. Mute the horns before the theme is over, or
unmute the horn while the theme is already playing. Surprise. Shock. Do the
unexpected.
he following video
contains all the elements described in the previous paragraph. You will see the
Reverb device, the Echo and it's EQ plus the master mixing board. In fact,
that's everything that's used in this mix. On top of the screen you'll see a few
remarks about the mix. Press replay, pause, whatever.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
28: (UN)MUTING CHANNELS AND USING ECHO
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 13 2014 - Create multitrack
recording of instrumental Reggae track: check. Add effects and make a set up:
check. Finalize it with a sound check: check! In principle we're ready to make
our first Dub. At least, we're ready for an introduction into what this is all
about: making Dub with computers.
Dub is both a technique and a form of art. You
can learn the techniques but without the art-istic approach it won't be much. On
the other hand, creativity can so much be enhanced with just a little bit of
technical knowledge. So, before we'll start to look in some actual techniques we
really need to consider our actual artistic feelings and desires when it comes
to Dub.
There are many, many different ways to start a
Dub. We'll take a look at some of them later on in this tutorial. There's the
thing, are you making a Dub of a track that is also to be released as a vocal,
are you making a Dub for a single release or as part of a Dub album? All need a
different approach. What is it you're trying to communicate with your mix? What
are you trying to say with that one particular effect you're using? These
questions should be answered in your final Dub.
Where there are so many different forms, styles
and techniques in Dub, one thing that all good Dub has in common is the fact
that the Dubs are remixes of full musical tracks, with or without vocals. Dub is
the Art of taking away, and when there is nothing to take away, things become a
bit weird. Dub is the art of transforming a musical track by the use of effects
and changing of settings on mixing board and devices. You'll need a musical
track to transform, even when you're never intending to release the original
track you made the Dub from.
Before I make a Dub, I open the instrumental
track in my DAW and save it under a different name. I usually give my riddims a
number, like 201401master.rns which I then save as 201401mix01.rns just to help
myself keeping track of what I do.
The actual Dub is made in exactly the same way
as it would be done in a real studio, with a couple of extra features that were
unable in the times when Dub came into existence. It means, that while the track
is running you'll change sliders, knobs and everything else you can possibly
change and record these changes. This is called automation and every serious DAW
should have this possibility. Some programs require you to arm tracks for
automation, others will automatically record movements on the mixing boards and
devices.
The last thing I do before I start recording my
mix is to make an initial setting. Usually this means I mute every channel
except for the drum, bass and effects (channels 11-14). When I don't do a thing,
the drum and bass will just play. Only when I unmute another channel and/or mute
channels 1/2 (drums/bass), you'll hear something else.
I do this because one very important general
rule is that the drum and the bass should be dominant, there should be many
parts where it's just the drum and the bass (plus perhaps an echo), and there
should be let's say at least three little parts in your mix where drum, bass, or
both will drop out. You could call them "breaks", in a way. That was a
tip I got very early on, a tip I gladly pass on.
Now, let's take a little version excursion: a
first mix wherein some of the mentioned principles are being put into action.
Let's just play a little bit with the track by muting and unmuting channels
while channels 3-5 have a little Dub delay (aux 1).
Take a look at the following video and also
watch some basic use of the slider in channel 11, that basically functions as
the echo volume:
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
27: FINALIZING THE SET UP WITH A SOUNDCHECK
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 12 2014 - We have
our instruments set up in proper sub mixes, we've added the effects for dubbing
and for enhancement of the instrument's sounds, now it's time to actually
enhance these sound and make a reasonable mix. We're going to do that in this
chapter in word, sight and sound. Actually, this is pretty much the same as a
live soundcheck just before a live performance by a band.
Truth be told: I did a little bit of
preparation by using some specific settings on both reverbs. In short, I use a
longer, heavier reverb for the Dub mixing (the one at aux 2), and a short one
for the instrument enhancement (aux 4). I've also set the Space Echo as a Space
echo (aux 3) but we're not going to use that in the soundcheck itself.
We'll start that soundcheck with the drums. It
gets some extra EQ-ing, and a little bit of reverb. The bass is next, gets some
extra EQ-ing as well. Then the skanks and the horns. Both submixes have their
own phaser, and they are put in action. The balance between the instruments is
made in the submix, and then the skanks and the horns are balance with the bass
and drums. The last part is for the accompanying elements: the guitar and the
clavinet. While you could also add a phaser to that submix, for this tutorial
we'll leave it at that.
I've made three temporal midi tracks for the
horns, to make them play the theme all over again. After all, we have to make a
setting. After the soundcheck, I reinstated to original horns track.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
26: FINALIZING THE FX SET UP
STUDIO DUBROOM TUTORIAL
WWW, September 11 2014 - The previous chapter
gave us a little feeling about the Dub we're going to make later. We've set up a
simple but effective Dub delay and this chapter we will add more effects. Before
we will, though, let me separate between two kinds of effects and briefly
explain their function in a studio where the purpose is to make DUB.
Let me exaggerate a little bit, just to make a
point. Let's say that until DUB was first created (or perhaps even discovered by
accident), effects like delay and reverb had the function to enhance the sound
of instruments and singers. Still, in much form of musical recordings this is
the way effects are used. With the introduction of DUB, the effects became
instruments just as much as the engineer became a musician if you will.
I know, there's all kinds of "buts"
and thing when it comes to the actual historical unicity of DUB when it comes to
the transformation of effects from enhancements to instruments if you will, but
for this tutorial it's more than perfect and the reason for that is, that you
actually want effects that enhance the instruments while you want to keep
playing with other effects.
In our case, we will use a reverb which we'll
apply just a little bit on every channel where we'll use the reverb we already
created as a Dub reverb. We will also add just one more effect, preferably some
sort of simulation of the Roland Space Echo. An echo device that in itself lets
you do all kinds of weird things. When you do not use Reason 3.04 or up, you
could use some kind of VST effect or something like that. It doesn't really
matter, after all it is your inspiration and choice of effects that will make
your sound. This is merely a guideline.
We'll put the Space Echo on Aux 3 and the
Reverb we'll use you enhance the sound of the instruments at aux 4. Make sure
(if possible), you select aux 4 to Pre rather than Post. When you do so, opening
aux 4 will give signal to the Reverb device even when the channel's volume
slider is put all the way down. When you select "post", the volume of
the aux out will correspond with the volume on the channel volume slider.
We'll also add two phasers. Or three, if you
like. Since we made sub mixes, it should be possible to send an aux out from
that sub mix to an effect device and route it back to the submix. We'll add a
phaser to the horns and the skanks submixes. This will give us a phased skanks
and horns rather than dry ones. It's just a little bit nice. Of course, you
could add another effect like a filter or flanger, chorus, what have you.
Take a look at the following video, where you
can see everything in action. It sounds more complicated than it actually is,
once you discover the logicalities behind everything. Remember, what we're doing
is making it as easy as possible for ourselves so that when we're Dubbing we
don't have to worry about anything else.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER
25: A SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE DUB DELAY AND REVERB
STUDIO DUBROOM DOWNLOAD
WWW, September 10 2014 - With five input
channels at our master mixing board ready to be processed, it's time to add the
effects. Before we'll dive a little deeper in fine tuning and stuff, though,
we'll add a delay and a reverb which we'll use later in the Dub mixing. You will
see why the returns on the mixing board are of little to no use: after all,
they're just inputs without any other possibilities attached to them.
It's best to set up the effects according to
the following principle: Aux 1 goes to an effect, the output of the effect lands
in channel 11 at the mixing board. Aux 2 to channel 12, aux 3 to channel 13 and
aux 4 to channel 14. Take a good look at the following video, where you will see
(and hear) all of this explained in about four minutes:
By not using any feedback in the delay itself
but rather looping it back to a channel, you give yourself full control over the
echo's. Unless you really want to have that specific effect, a Dub echo is not
just a repeat of itself. The flow of an echo changes, for example by applying
certain EQ on the echo's channel input or -as was done in the video- by adding
reverb over the echo. And that's what you want: you want to add layers of
effects on top of each other.
Bypass the whole return options. Rather treat
the effect devices as instruments by giving them their own input channel. By
doing so, you have established a potential of countless different effects. You
can add EQ over a Reverb, Reverb over a delay, or make even a four layer effect
in an instant during your Dub mixing session. Makes it spontaneous instead of
pre-programmed.
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTERS
22 AND 23: CONCLUDING MIDI, TALKING SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS
STUDIO DUBROOM DOWNLOAD
WWW, September 8 2014 - A Couple of days
ago, I published chapter 21 of my Computer Dub Tutorial and today I offer you
two new chapters, one of which you can read in it's fullness on this page. We're
concluding the MIDI part, the phase wherein we make an instrumental Reggae track
because if you don't have that, well, you can't make (a) Dub. We're taking a
look at what kind of software you need, and a little bit at hardware too.
Since you are reading this, you're probably
visiting one of the Dubroom's blogs or the forum. That could mean you are
waiting for chapters to be added. I'm sure you don't mind me writing a few
personal notes before I paste chapter 22 and a part of 23 into this post. The
fact I receive a lot of positive feedback from producers all over the world
lately makes me humble once more, as I realize how much more I should add, and
-Jah Willing- shall add chapters. I do take this serious, even though I am aware
that the things I know in themselves are in it's turn a fraction of what people
like Mad Professor know.
One good thing about this tutorial, is the fact
that it is located on the Dubroom website. I only post fragments of chapters
because the tutorial really needs to be studied from the pages. As I'm working
on new chapters, I equally look at the older ones and I plan to add a lot of
extra information as time progresses. I also now have the possibility to record
video and audio from my computer screen and sound card, which I am sure will be
most helpful when we will finally arrive there, where it's all about: the DUB.
All that said, here's the latest additions to
the tutorial:
PART 22: MIDI (12) - THAT'S WHY MIDI
In the previous chapter we added the last
instruments to our instrumental Reggae track. A track, we created with the use
of the MIDI protocol. En passant we've been taking a close look just how
a Reggae rhythm is constructed, how you can find a good bass line with your
chords or vice versa, and a whole heap more. We're into the 22nd chapter, and
actually all we have been doing is laying a ground work for future Dub projects.
All we have been doing is creating an instrumental Reggae track with total
disregard of any sound balance, and so the track sounds awful. That's what we're
going to be working on in the next few chapters.
When I started to write this tutorial I was
dealing with like the first generation Audio cards that needed quite a specific
set-up. I remember that I had to physically open my computer and change things
so that two sound cards could work on one computer, even. In the same time, the
way I made my Dub was totally different in these times. It would take me over 5
minutes to create just one echo.
When I discovered Propellerhead Reason, my
working method completely changed. What did not change was the fact that I made
my instrumental Reggae tracks with midi (and a few audio loops). In spite of all
the developments, what has not changed in making Dub with (or without) a
computer is the fact that you'll need something to Dub and usually that would be
an instrumental Reggae track, or a multi track recording of a Reggae track with,
let's say, vocals on them.
So, in a way, it's very good that it took such
a long time before we're actually in this part of the tutorial. I don't have to
introduce you to a working method that requires more than patience, self control
and what have you.
We will still be using the MIDI protocol
throughout the entire tutorial. It can't be different, because what we have been
doing by creating the music is the very same thing what we will be doing when
we're actually in the Dub phase. After all, because of Midi we can give
instructions to not just a keyboard, but a mixing board, effect devices and all
the things we'll be using. Because of MIDI we can make Dub with computers in the
first place.
However, it is time to make some closing
remarks about this segment of the tutorial. We have been creating an
instrumental Reggae track, even though it's not the next Reggae world hit. You
now know why MIDI is a very important part in the creation of music, any music.
You know now how to make your own instrumental Reggae track.
We now have to use this track and turn it into
a Dub track, something we'll be doing in the next chapters.
PART 23: CREATING A SET UP (1): SOFTWARE
REQUIREMENTS
Now that we have our instrumental, you could say
that we have a multi-track recording. We have several different instruments all
playing their musical part over their own channel on the mixing board. By
putting one instrument louder than the other, you create a mix. By adding
effects like delay and reverb to the mixing board, you're ready to make a
Dub.
In short, that is.
To create the instrumental track we've
programmed in the last chapter, I have been using Reason 3.04. Now, in September
2014, this is a rather dated version of the superb software by Propellerhead.
Add to that, there is software called Ableton which I have started to look at in
this year as well but about which I know close to nothing. Add to that the
countless other titles in music software, and the -often totally irrelevant-
question which software to use, and you have a problem when you're writing how
to create Dub with computers.
The software.
Let me describe just what I'll be using Reason
3.04 for in the next chapters, in more general terms. This will not just enable
you to go along in this tutorial as you make a set up in your favorite software
title, it will enable you to obtain the right software in case you are wondering
just what to use. Since the version of Reason I use is not the latest, I suspect
that there are a lot of titles that will give you the features required for this
tutorial. Probably even free titles. When you know of a few, let
me know and I'll add them to this tutorial somewhere.
In short, what you need is a title that enables
you to simulate everything you would do when you would have a physical studio
with hardware. You want to have a mixing board with instruments and effects
devices attached, at least four aux-outputs, and you want to be able to change
any setting on any device at anytime. This is called "automation".
MAKING DUB WITH COMPUTERS CHAPTER 21: PERCUSSION, CLAVINET
AND PUCKING GUITAR
STUDIO DUBROOM DOWNLOAD
WWW, September 2014 - Slowly but steadily,
we're progressing with the unfinished tutorial on making Dub with computers. In
chapter 21, we'll take an in-depth look at Reggae percussion, and the clavinet
and the pucking guitar. This is the final chapter about midi instruments, by the
way.
Chapter 21 is huge. Huge, in the sense of long
and in-depth. It has several download links, a You tube video, screenshots and
audio examples as we dive in especially Reggae percussion. It's a chapter where
the function of the hand drum and other percussion instruments are explained
while principals are revealed as well. We're also adding a final touch to the
music by taking a look at the clavinet and the pucking guitar. This is a chapter
for the serious scholar, not for ones seeking to click their own supermix in a
quarter of an hour.
DUBROOM REGGAE PERCUSSION 2014 PART ONE
STUDIO DUBROOM DOWNLOAD
WWW, July 2014 - Presented in both WAV and
Dr. Rex Format, this Dubroom Reggae Percussion Pack comes with 16 loops from an
afuche, cowbell, tambourine and a woodblock. The tempo is 140 BPM (straight) and
you should be able to insert them right at the start of your drum loop.
Reggae percussion is hard to find.
Especially when you're looking for free and legal variants. This pack is a
humble contribution from the Dubroom to the online massive. You should be able
to spice up your Reggae track just a little bit with these dry loops. They are
released under Creative Commons which means, go ahead do what you want with them
and please give the Dubroom a little credit. That's all.
SITES FOR YOUR MUSICAL PRODUCTIONS PART TWO
MESSIAN DREAD REPORTS FOR STUDIO DUBROOM
WWW, September 2014 - In Part two, Messian
Dread continues to report on his experiences with uploading his music to a
number of Online Music Distributors (OMD's). This time he revisited MYSPACE.com,
LAST.fm, ICOMPOSITIONS.com and talks about creating an artist page at
AMAZON.com. And, oh yes, a small website called "You Tube".
The memory hole. It's an absolute hole and it
can give you quite a bit of surprises. This is what I got when I tried to upload
my music to the revamped My Space website. I know, I know, it's obsolete and for
many years I just did not pay any attention to my account. In the mean time, I
had forgotten to pay my bill for dubroom.com (about 40 dollars or so) which I
used for my email and the folks at NXS Amsterdam decided to sell it to another
company which is now trying to sell it for about 2400
dollars last time I checked. Good
to know Dubroom.org survived NXS. They shouldn't be in business anyway.
MYSPACE.com
It looks good, especially when you consider
that My Space has been bought by the good folks at Fox, known for their love for
humanity and truth in general. I thought it would be nice to just revamp my
account at that revamped My Space website but to my chagrin I discovered I could
not log in due to the fact that I no longer had access to my old email account.
Problems.
Apparently, I am not the only one with this
problem because My Space has this standard link that you can click when you lost
access to your old myspace account. I filled in the form, and wrote the proof
that I am who I am. That's pretty easy when you are Messian Dread at the
Dubroom. Still it was really complicated for the person at My Space who was
assigned to my case. He, she, it, did not understand what I meant so I wrote
back that I would love a human reply. I got it and I got access. It took several
days.
When you have a fast computer running Windows 8
or something like that, my Space is nice but it's not that nice. The reasons are
obvious. "Everyone" knows, My Space is a ghost town. There simply is
nobody. I have zero plays. Zero.
I had a page at LAST.fm but because of the
nature of my recent productions I wanted to change things a bit more. After all,
my new productions are definitely not just about me and I want to title my
productions the way I title them. That's not possible at LAST.fm without
creating a new artist, or in this case, label.
So I did.
I started to upload my new production and I got
a notice. I had uploaded my Dennis Alcapone tracks and the system had recognized
that name as being known. My account was blocked until it was reviewed by
LAST.fm staff. Perhaps you think I was annoyed, but that was not the case. I
thought this was a very, very good thing because it doesn't just give credit to
the LAST.fm website but also to the artists and producers who upload their
tunes.
Of course everything was easily cleared. This
was a very pleasant experience.
The website itself gives you the possibility to
upload your music and make it available for free download. Nice thing, right?
Even nicer is the fact that they let you deeplink to your uploaded MP3 files,
just like I do on the
music download page at my website. There's no limitation like with Sound
Cloud, so there is another reason why it is a mystery to me why Sound Cloud is
that popular.
When you're looking for plays and feedback, you
should definitely try out ICOMPOSITIONS.com. This website is clearly aimed at
musicians and can serve as intermediary vehicle for collaborations. You need to
really look, as it is assumed people know their way with computers a little bit
more than, let's say, My Space. And they do. I have zero plays at My Space, now
look at what I got at I Compositions (click to enlarge):
DENNIS ALCAPONE - GOT TO BE CONSCIOUS
(DISCOMIX)
DUBROOM NET LABEL VIDEO RELEASE
WWW, August 24 2014 - Another recent Dubroom
production hits the airwaves at YouTube via this video. Dennis Alcapone
chanting, Dubwise mixing, and just a little bit further when it comes to
handling the video editor in this 7th official Dubroom Video release.
Creative Commons and other free to use material
for non-commercial productions fortunately is readily available on the Internet.
Perfect to use as visual companion to the free audio releases. At least, that's
the way the Dubroom videos are produced. Watch the end-notes at the video for
more info.
This video is an official
Dubroom release. Feel free to embed on your site, blog or phasebook.
RUB A DUB, LET IT PLAY
RADIO DUBROOM EXTRA CHAPTER 4
WWW, August 2014 - Today, the music in this
non-stop show would be labeled "Roots Reggae". This has not always
been so: Jamaican music developed from the early to mid 1980's into a style
called "Rub a Dub". Early digital technology entered the studio's,
gradually replacing the old tape echo's and providing a fatter sound. Rub a Dub
style, let it play!
Actually, this was the time when your selector
became conscious and a lover of (DUB) Reggae Music and heard several tracks
featured in this show when they first came out. Starting with the first one: a
fat Dub of which a vocal track will come later in the mix ("Groove with
Me"). Another Dub follows in classic Rub a Dub sound, after which Sister
Carol opens with yet another fat Rub a Dub riddim that will definitely shake up
the place.
And that's just the introduction.
Charlie Chaplin is next, riding a riddim while
Don Carlos sings along until the Dub part. More Don Carlos, a full lyrical track
of which the Dub was played at the start of the show and a classic from that
era, in Discomix style. Johnny Osbourne and a Dub by Scientist, another favorite
of the selector. Papa Tullo in Discomix style, with a little bit of vinyl
trouble that's hardly noticeable.
Josey Wales' "Guiding Star", a
favorite of Iriginal Jah Roots band drummer Imro Fedor precedes two Yellowman
tracks of which the one with the long name was a hit back in the days, a success
for Yellowman as well as the Volcano label that was so strong in these days. The
same goes for the Frankie Paul track that's there too, War Is In The Dance or
Worries in the Dance.
Junior Murvin, Cultural Roots, John Holt,
Triston Palma: they all had new releases back in the time to join the Rub a Dub
sound. A sound that is often underestimated by folks who think that Reggae's His
Story stopped at 1979.
To conclude, so that we'll not forget it: a
classic duet by Fathead and Yellowman that gave the title to this show.
Let it Play!
PLAYLIST
01. Prince Jammy - Jah Is With You
02. Scientist - Scientist Rock
03. Sister Carol - Potential
04. Charlie Chaplin - Unity Is Strength (Discomix)
05. Don Carlos - Just Groove With Me
06. Don Carlos - Plantation (Discomix)
07. Johnny Osbourne - Love Is Universal
08. Scientist - Dubwise
09. Papa Tullo - Church And Slate (Discomix)
10. Papa Tullo - Righteous Rock (Discomix)
11. Josey Wales - Guiding Star
12. Yellowman - Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt
13. Yellowman - Zunguzunguzunguzeng (Discomix)
14. Frankie Paul - War Is In The Dance (Discomix)
15. Frankie Paul - South Africa (Discomix)
16. Junior Murvin - Badman Posse (Discomix)
17. Cultural Roots - Hell A Go Pop (Discomix)
18. Triston Palma - I Am Ready
19. Triston Palma - Dubwise
20. John Holt - Police In Helicopter
21. John Holt - Dubwise
22. Yellowman and Fathead - Rub A Dub Let It Play (Discomix)
Radio Dubroom Extra features music which cannot be played on the Radio
Dubroom podcast for legal copyright reasons. The shows cannot be downloaded. All
tracks in this show (C) by artists and labels. This show (C) by Dubroom. The
actual mix is hosted on www.mixcloud.com/dubroom
and should be completely legal. For copyright issues visit http://support.mixcloud.com/customer/portal/topics/70420-listening/articles
MESSIAN DREAD PRESENTS A HEAVYWEIGHT DUBWISE
SELECTION WITHOUT OBJECTION (CD EDITION)
DUBROOM CD ALBUM RELEASE
WWW, August 27 2014 - About a week after the
release of the Net
Album, here came the CD edition of Messian Dread Presents A Heavyweight
Dubwise Selection Without Objection. No less than 16 tracks, a special license
for all DJ's and full high quality cover art: it most certainly transcends it's
online version. On top of that, obtaining this physical product will show that
you are not just serious in your support for (DUB) Reggae Music, but about your
own record collection as well. After all, this is a selection of very special
tracks featuring legendary names like U Roy, Prince Jazzbo and Dillinger.
Of course, when you're just interested in the
music and satisfied with burning your own CD you can simply jump to the Net
Album download page and get the CD Quality wave files from there. No problem.
This is not a release to make money, this is not even a promotional tool for
Messian Dread and/or Dubroom Productions, while most of the vocalists featured
on the album absolutely need no promotion either. This is simply an opportunity
to get your hands on a physical presentation of the 2014 developments in the
Dubroom studio and the reasons to want that can vary.
The reasons for the creation and eventual
release of this album didn't vary. It's a selection without objection, after
all. A selection documenting the enormous improvement in sound and other quality
when compared to pre 2014 Dubroom productions. One reason. A selection that
deserves to be presented with the special designed cover art because it tells a
story. Another reason. A very special way of saying thank you to all those who
have been supportive in one way or another. More reason. A physical quality
product that more than justifies the price because it is a valuable
addition to any Reggae record collection. Nuff reason.
This is a high quality product like any audio
CD. The full color cover art (including on the disc itself) is printed in
superior quality and the tracks are exact duplicates of the CD Quality Master
Tapes (16 Bit, 44.100 Khz). The album itself was created in a special process at
AMAZON.com called Create Space. The musical works, the cover art, getting a UPC
number: it took several days of working, tweaking, and reviewing both at the
side of the Dubroom and at Amazon's. The process was concluded when the physical
review copy was sent to the Dubroom via very snail mail and subsequently
approved before it went live at Amazon. In fact, Amazon is the only place where
you can actually get the album.
The price is set at $12.50, which is quite
reasonable for 70 minutes of pure heavyweight Dubwise and since Amazon has all
these special shipping offers, it's even possible to have it shipped to your
doorstep for close to no costs. The CD and cover art are printed on demand
exactly like the copy that was physically reviewed and approved at the Dubroom,
so you'll have the sign of approval from the Dubroom. Since Amazon is
responsible for creating and shipping the exact high quality duplicate of the
approved copy, you will have all the Amazon guarantees when it comes to the
quality of the physical product itself. In short: The Dubroom approves the
album, Amazon certifies you'll get what we approved.
A labor of love for (DUB) Reggae and the many
vocalists present on the album. Purchasing it is an equal "labor" of
love for the very same.
Nuff said.
TRACKS:
01. Dennis Alcapone - Dub the Dub you Dubwise (4:15)
02. Dan Man - Blaze the Dubwise (3:41)
03. Dillinger - Dwell in Love and Dubwise (3:45)
04. Trinity - Light of this Dubwise (3:55)
05. Kojak - Prevailment of Dubwise (3:43)
06. Messian Dread - Loving Dubwise (3:46)
07. Prince Jazzbo - Rastafari Dubwise (3:29)
08. Seamus Ikonya - Babylon Dubwise (5:15)
09. U Roy - Mash Down Satan Dubwise (4:00)
10. Horseman and Dan Man - Robber Dubwise (3:39)
11. Messian Dread - Crazy but Dubwise (3:43)
12. Lone Ranger - Rock and Come in Dubwise (3:48)
BONUS TRACKS:
13. Messian Dread - His Imperial Dubwise (4:03)
14. Dennis Alcapone - Dub to be Conscious (3:54)
15. Horseman and Dillinger - Dangerous and Dubwise (4:16)
16. Dillinger - Dwell in Love and Dubwise (Extended Dub) (5:26)
MESSIAN DREAD - SOUNDS OF HIS IMPERIAL
DUBWISE
DUBROOM VIDEO RELEASE
WWW, August 24 2014 - The fifth Dubroom video of this year
has that other mix of the two-track release "His Imperial Dubwise".
This mix is completely different than the extended one also released at You Tube
and so is the video.
Making video's has a lot in common with making Dub. Well, "dub" is
also a movie term so yes the commonalities have been established before. Making
video's from a Dub track can be very challenging, especially when you want to go
a bit further than putting effects on screen.
Anyway, hopefully you like what you hear (and perhaps see).
SEAMUS - BABYLON SYSTEM (DISCOMIX)
DUBROOM VIDEO RELEASE
WWW, August 17-22 2014 - This is a special Dubroom video release of the yet unreleased extended track voiced by Seamus called "Babylon System". A Dub of the track can be downloaded for free at the following link: http://music.dubroom.org/netalbums-heavyweightdubwise.htm
The video deals with the recent murder of a young black man called Michael Brown by a white police man. Another bredda killed dead. Babylon system crushing down.
The video is livicated to all sufferers of racist brutality and murder
IN THE MEAN TIME...
MESSIAN DREAD UPDATE AUGUST 22 2014
WWW, August 22 2014 - Yesterday was the
conclusion of the official release of my album "Heavyweight
Dubwise". During the last twelve days, while one track was released per
day, I've been doing all kinds of things. Things, that not only justify this
update, but require them. Read about the midi files, about being accused of
stealing from a thief, about all my Creative Commons releases, and more.
the midi files
After kind of rising from my online slumber earlier this year, I discovered a
new feature at my web hosting provider. I can watch in real-time what happens on
the dubroom.org servers, and I do that a few times a week. This helped me
tremendously, because I learned that the Midi Files we've released during the
early years of this website back in 1997 were way more popular than I thought.
Truly, I thought it was more a thing people would go to for old times sake,
and an "occasional" producer/visitor of studio.dubroom.org.
How wrong I was.
I knew about "Skream", the Dub Step producer that has used our
material for his commercial releases without even crediting us. I knew about
some other people who used the midi files for non-commercial reasons, but I was
absolutely unaware of the enormous popularity. Yes, that page is visited 1000's
of times each week.
All these people who have been visiting that page, have been reading the
copyright notices. Notices which basically prevented honest people from
spreading the stuff. And so, thieves like Skream got away with it. If these
files would have been released in the Creative Commons domain, he would just
have been the next to use that particular file.
I discovered this year, that the Dubroom is visited every day by much (many?
dunno my inglish there) more producers than I previously thought. I really
thought that studio.dubroom.org got like a few visits a day but that is
absolutely not the case. From all over the world people are visiting the studio,
reading the tutorials. Even from places you don't expect.
Gradually, things dawned and I started to see connections.
And so I re-released all the midi files into the creative commons domain.
I pick my battles and ketching vampires like skream is much more of a worldly,
carnal thing than I care to deal with actually. I mean, this is a guy who works
in a scene very much comparable with Dancehall and Techno, meaning cokane and
dollars using immorality and pompous behavior. He's making his fortune doing
these things. To be honest I do not want to have one cent of that fortune. So
why am I putting so much energy in this whole dead-bury-dead culture, and why do
i not realize that of course vampires are there sucking from the source of life
by sucking from Jah people.
Yes, what's new? Hm.... It's not like stealing my Inspiration. It's showing lack
of contact with the Source of life.
I see that so many people visit the midi page. Skream is not the only one, I am
sure of that. None of them want anyone to know about the Midi file, obviously.
So this is the best way to counter these parasites without giving them one more
minute of the time that Jah gave me to do things.
you tube
While "everyone" was downloading and -hopefully- listening to my
new releases, myself I was diving deep back in the Dubroom's archives,
re-discovering some track I totally forgot about, recalling some precious
moments and just having a basic good time with these old tracks.
I wasn't playing the mp3's on my VLC player's play list, though. I was
uploading them all to You Tube, but not at the official Dubroom Channel.
You Tube has this nice feature called "Video Editor". Everyone can
make their own video using music that is published under Creative Commons on You
Tube, or use video material published at You Tube under Creative Commons. I used
the last possibility for the official Dubroom video releases I did in the last
time, and I thought it would be nice to give something back.
Throughout the years, people have uploaded some of my Creative Commons
releases to You Tube and this gave me the inspiration to open my own personal
You Tube channel (called "the Dubroom Dread") and start to upload all
music that the Dubroom released under Creative Commons. I've loaded each track
in Windows Movie Maker, added some information on the screen, and subsequently
uploaded the results to my You Tube Channel at www.youtube.com/dubroomdread.
In essence, I'm providing a complete catalogue of well over 300 tracks to the
You Tube community. Nicely sorted in play lists, each one with a download link
in the description. Music by Sure Dread, Heartical, Jah Roots, and myself,
everything nicely sorted with play lists. Yes, still under construction and
therefore not yet "officially anounced", but that will come later.
It's not even the reason why I write this update, even though it can be quite
an interesting piece of information for some. Everyone with a You Tube account
should be able to click on the "remix this video" button and start
using the music on their own account.
an incredible engagement
Then, when I was uploading my tunes, I saw that one of them was flagged with
a copyright notice.
I pressed play and, yes, that was my music. It was during a
rather dubbed out piece where I use a specific effect.
There was a button that enabled me to respond to this really
bizarre claim. And so I wrote them about the track and showed them the proof
that if in fact the recording was used by the claimer, that claimer had violated
mine.
I went on to search for this particular artist and the track he
released. I discovered it was all over the Internet, at Itunes, Amazon, all the
big names had the track for sale.
Time to actually listen to the track, I pressed play at
Amazon.com and to my utmost surprise I discover that this was my tune indeed. It
even had my voice, it was the Dub that I released and here and there a little
thing was added. Even Skream had done more work than this particular individual.
I wrote a review that basically said what the track was and my advice not to buy
it. The comment was approved by Amazon within an hour.
During that hour, I had discovered that this particular artist
was trying to make a name for himself in that industry which I have exposed in
two books and countless of other publications. Yes, the Christian Industry. His
particular track was released a few years back. I discovered a trail wherein
this person, year after year, pretended to have produced this track and received
one compliment after the other. He was all over the Internet receiving good
comments about "his" track, compliments which he responded to with
"Thank you".
A righteous anger awoke.
This was no longer a copyright issue caused by a notice of one
of my tracks at You Tube.
This was Jah showing me what these blasphemers had done, once
again. Stealing the real thing, "sanctifying" it by totally renaming
the track and not giving any indication whatsoever about any other source than
their own "inspiration", offering it for sale to an audience that is
trained into believing that the Most High orders them to only listen to
"sanctified" music. Yes indeed, I have seen that before.
Just like the money changers in the temple, just like the one
Peter described in the following scripture:
And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not. (source)
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight
thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a
ready mind; (source)
This guy made merchandise of not just me, but especially his
audience. An audience, that believes they should turn to self proclaimed
"Gospel Reggae" artists in order to get a blessing from Jesus. A paid
blessing. Feigned words, saying he produced this thing. Feeding the flock of
Jah, his audience, for filthy lucre.
What a shame.
What a blasphemy!
Blasphemy? Yes. I didn't mention how this particular artist's
name included the Name of the Almighty. Everything he does, he does in the Name
of the Most High. The stealing, the misleading, putting the thieved material up
for sale, everything.
Of course that is not why I had made the track. That is not why
I released it online for free, many years ago.
I didn't make it to get accused of being a thief, either.
After all, that was the factual situation. The thief, who stole
that track from me, had officially registered his stolen good as his own
intellectual property when he put it up for sale. When I then wanted to upload
"his" intellectual property to You Tube I got accused for stealing his
stolen good. A total reversal of the truth.
Even though everything was easily proven, the situation was far
more serious and so I contacted the guy. What followed was a truly bizarre
exchange of communication which I would like to share with you.
I confronted him with the spiritual truth that I just painted in
previous paragraphs. Frankly, I asked him how he could maintain such a thing for
years in a row and not be confronted with the law written in the hearts of all
those that are truly born again. How can you claim to be born again and not be
convicted in your heart? I advised him very strongly to consider the words in
John 3:16, that quote our Lord saying everyone that believeth in Yesus shall
have eternal life.
Initially, my worst fear seemed to materialize in front of my
eyes.
He totally ignored everything, and was only interested in a
practical work-out. Yes, he would write to all the sites and have them remove
the track. Could he still offer it for free, though?
After pointing out to these specific, very serious things that
the apostle Peter wrote about, after my plea for him to check out his position
in Christ (if any!), my strong advise to go to the Father with this thing, all
he wanted was to hold on to what he got. He could not let go of his stolen good.
It was truly, truly painful to witness.
However, not all hope was lost. It took a while before he told
me that he had prayed over it and it was his idea that the Lord indeed wanted
him to remove everything. I hope he will do what Jah says. That's so much more
important than anything else!
in the mean time
I updated the Net Label website and my Ifficial home as well.
There are a lot new artist pages and several of them now include You Tube
embed's. My Ifficial home now has the right copyright notice with every track,
the one page from where you can download all my music is heavily updated as
well. Things should absolutely be more clear.
Our NETLABEL releases music from the Dubroom Studio and that of others and our WEBSTORE has some interesting releases too. We also have tons of REVIEWS on MP3's, VIDEO's, ALBUMS, BOOKS, WEBSITES, and MORE. Especially for the (online) artists, there is an artists-only STUDIO. Additionally, we have several research and information websites on BABYLON, CHRISTIANITY, and RASTAFARI. Also check out our ARTICLES and get in touch with other visitors on our MESSAGE BOARD. Or stay up-to-date by subscribing to one or more of our MAILING LISTS.
Find all Dubroom features at our SITE
MAP. When something is unclear, you can always check our FAQ or use the search engine to find what you're looking for. And ofcourse, you can allways CONTACT us.
