Tune(s) of the Week: King Tubby

Osbourne Ruddock, aka King Tubby, was a true craftsman-as-artist. A TV and radio repairman turned audio engineer and studio owner, Tubby changed the course of music history by accident. While cutting a single for Duke Reid, Tubbs forgot to mute the vocal channel for the instrumental B, or “version”, side. Having the vocal cut in and out seemed like a pretty big mistake and Tubby was ready to recut the single but Reid said he’d take it as-is. When the record was played at the next big dance the B-side received a grand ovation. It is said to have been played several times in a row that night, garnering a “pull up”, “rewind” or “forward” after every play. A new kind of tune had been born and the genre of “Dub’ had subsequently been born. This subtractive mode of composition would go on to influence every mode of electronics-based music production in the future.

Here is a much later example of King Tubby’s dub work. Not only do the vocals of the original single come in and out, but wartime sound effects bombard the listener while everything in the mix has been heavily effected. This is heavy-duty dub, not some weakheart business!

Here is the original production, before the devastation:

And a bonus DJ cut by the man like Jah Stitch riding a much more stripped back version of the dub:

Salute to the KING!

Dread out!