Contents - Beth Lesser

Peter Chemist, as the youth came to be known, became a leading engineer,
working often with Sugar Minott on his Black Roots and Youth Promotion
productions. Although he never worked on a sound system directly, he spent
a lot of time making specials and dubplates, sitting down with the artist and
helping him work out the presentation, as he did with Trevor Junior’s classic
‘Hip Hip Hurray’.
The rest of the engineers all had a direct relationship with the dancehall,
and it showed in their production techniques. Like King Tubby, they were
looking for a sound that would carry outside in the open air, that had crisp
separation and outlandishly heavy bass. Out of this group of engineers, Anthony
‘Soljie’ Hamilton had been the selector for top ‘80s sound, Echo Vibration
and, like Bunny Tom Tom, selected for the Channel One sound as
well. Drummer and engineer Barnabas deejayed as ‘Ranking Barnabas’ with
the set. Maxie * had put together some of the electronic components of the
sound. Bunny Tom Tom, aka Crucial Bunny (Anthony Graham), started out
working for the Hookims in their shop around the corner as a motorcycle
mechanic. Then, according to Peter Chemist, “He found out he could make
more money working on the sound system.” So, he began working as the main
selector and, from there, as an engineer in the studio.
This combined experience added up to a lot of dancehall exposure for a
core group of engineers. In the early ‘80s rhythms, the instrumentation was
minimal – predominantly drum and bass, and the mix dripping with echo,
giving a feeling of vast empty space. The effect was powerfully bleak and almost
intimidating. The beat was slower than the ‘70s, much slower than Rock
Steady or Ska, and many of the songs were in a minor key. ** It wasn’t until
1982-‘83 that the more upbeat rhythms began to dominate.
Jojo Hookim had high standards for the engineers he allowed at the ‘controls’.
Engineering was supposed to be a physically demanding job, at least the
way it needed to be done for dancehall. “Earnest started it [engineering] first,”
Jojo recalls. “But I tell him, if him going to do it, he has to be all over the control,
like he’s running a keyboard. He can’t be there just pushing a little slide
up and ease back. He has to be constantly moving something, throughout the
whole complete rhythm. I usually say if they are mixing a dancehall rhythm
and they can’t look like they are playing a keyboard, it doesn’t make sense.”
One of the reasons was the massive use of echo 1 . Jojo continues, “The high
hats delayed, the snare delayed, the rhythm section delayed, the voice delayed
– so you have to be click-click-clicking – that was for four track! It was worse
when it come 16 track.”
Dwight Pinkney, who worked with each of the engineers while he was with
the Roots Radics, was aware of the importance of this link between the studio
* Lancelot Mackenzie. He later left for the U.S. to attend electrician school
** Some examples would be the Michael Palmer songs ‘One Away Soldier’, ‘Ghetto Dance’ and
‘Long Run Short Ketch’
58 | RUB A DUB STYLE – The Roots of Modern Dancehall