Contents - Beth Lesser

Dubplates and Specials
sound system had three things it could use to attract an audience – the
A quality of the sound the equipment could produce, the entertainers, and
the music itself. As far as sound quality is concerned, people wanted to hear
a set that had a ‘crisp’, clear top end, and a heavy bottom with the kind of
boost that could push air. Jamaicans generally liked their treble to be sharp and
clearly defined, and the bass to be thick and solid. As for entertainers, the top
sounds vied for the deejays and singers who had hits on the charts. But, the surest
way for a sound to attract a loyal following was to have music that nobody
else could play – music that couldn’t be heard on the radio or bought in a store.
These recordings were one of a kind and could only be played by one man, the
selector for the sound that owned the vinyl.
duBplaTeS
In the very early days, sound system owners used mail-order services, had
friends or relatives ship records back home, and even took trips abroad to
search U.S. cities to find unique R&B records that no one else had. Those
were ‘exclusive’ records – but only until the next sound owner managed to
discover the title and obtain a copy.
However, once an indigenous recording industry sprung up in Jamaica,
sound men found another way of getting ahead of the competition, a way to
have something no one else could ever get – a one of a kind record that could
not be reproduced, a unique disc, individually tailored to the sound man’s
specifications This was the dubplate.
For a record that was going to be reproduced many times over, a mold was
made. But, for a dubplate, the music was cut directly from the master tape
into a thick, ten inch platter of acetate, usually two songs per side. As the tape
was running, and the needle was etching the grooves into the pliable surface,
the engineer would be calibrating the sound, bring in more treble or dropping
out the bass and drums. Once the grooves were in place, nothing could be
changed. But neither could the process be faithfully reproduced. Although a
new dubplate could be cut from the same master tape many times over, each
mix would be different because it mixed done live, as the plate was being cut.
Rosa, the owner for the sound, Soul to Soul, remembers, “Studio One had a
four track machine. So, the mixes weren’t that different, like [they were] from
Channel One where they had a 16 track… Sometimes, what they would do
with the mix, they would take out the rhythm and you would just hear the
vocal, then they bring in back the rhythm – [sings acapela:] “When the sun
200 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall