WWW,
July 2014 - Three extended Dub mixes,
coming from a collection of fourteen
different riddims created for an upcoming
album featuring the sounds of Mad
Professor's Ariwa Studio and even his voice.
Along with many others, that is. This is the
first fruit of my purchase of Mad
Professor's Reel To Reggae Part
One and Part
Two, and apart from the effects and
vocals everything you hear is taken from
this two-part Sample treasure. Deliberately,
to show the musical power of Ariwa's sound
and to give weight to the title of the EP
itself.
It's very
difficult to say where Mad Professor's work
ends and my work start in these three mixes
without getting technical. All three tracks
are obviously Ariwa sounds but in the same
time my own styles and techniques can easily
be recognized as well. I took drums, bass,
keyboards and horns and made them fit.
Sometimes this would work
"instantly", other times I sliced
loops and completely re-arranged them.
Sometimes, I changed pitch of a loop to make
it match the chords and the bassline. But
never did I add an instrument or even
soundscape from my own library. I did with
vocals, though...
Actually,
this is part of a larger project that I
found myself drawn into after I purchased
Mad Professor's Reel To Reel Reggae Volume
Two and wrote the first review
on it, only a day after it was released. I
found the material so inspiring, that I
started to construct some riddims and before
I knew it I had fourteen different riddims
plus a lot of ideas in my head. Let me just
say: album.
At the
moment this is written (July 15th, 2014) the
riddims are still under construction. There
will obviously extra elements like
instruments and soundscapes, but since I am
so enthusiastic about Reel to Reel Reggae I
thought it would be a good idea to release
three extended Dub tracks carrying only the
musical/instrumental sounds from the two
volumes. I promote Reel To Reel Reggae
without apology and the best way I can do
that is to do release this music. This is
the kind of music that can be constructed
from the sample packs with a little bit of
effort and work.
Since I'm
currently still working on the riddims, I
can -and will- only give some personal
impressions and feelings about working with
Ariwa material. I remember as a teenager in
the early 1980's I bought Mad Professor's
Dub and phoned the number that was on the
sleeve of the albums. I have spoken with Mad
Professor just as a teenager who wanted
express my happiness with his music and he
did take the time for me even though I
wasn't a business man or manager, just a
teenager with love for the music. This
remains is a precious memory for me, and now
when my body approaches it's 50th year I
know how decisive that half hour or so was
for my later years as online (DUB) Reggae
producer.
Of course I
thought about this moment a couple of times
while I was working on the material that now
gave birth to this EP and -JAH Willing-
later to an album (or more). It gave a
special vibe as I was getting the different
instruments to match each other, creating my
own personal touch. Putting my soul to the
music, if you will. Using elements of tracks
that I love or well-known riddims like
"Africa Must Be Free By 1983",
which you can hear back in "Dub Weh
Senseless Killahs", and make my own
patterns of them.
A deep
sense of respect rises, when you have a
little ear for the richness of the sounds. Working
with this material is like a DIY seminar
from Mad
Professor. Where for example I pay great
attention to my bass lines musically, I am
working now with bass lines that musically I
would never even consider. But simply
because of the sound of the bass, these
lines become crucial in themselves. This is
a lesson that all Dub producers have to
learn, especially when they have a little
musical background and want to put a lot of
effort in the music. In the end it is about
the sound and a boring bassline can become a
bomb, where a musically interesting bassline
can become like a toy-sound when stuff is
not done correctly.
There, I
said it before: I had to get into the
tech-know a little bit.
Now, back
to the music.
Three
extended Dub mixes, especially created for
this EP. Three different riddims that -JAH
Willing- will also be used for an upcoming
Dub album that will have extra
content other than "just" the
vocals and also eleven other riddims as
well. I sincerely hope you like Reel to Real
Dubwise! CLICK
HERE for the official release notes
at the Dubroom's Net Label pages.
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