DUBROM.

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Ever since I had -I think it was called- a 386 Computer back in the late 1980's, and
even in my MSX days during that same period, I have been looking into possibilities to
make music, DUB music, with the computer. Computers have come a long way, and so
did I. What hasn't changed for me is that I am still using the computer as my main
musical creation tool.
When I started releasing my musical productions online, I already had a background of
almost a decade getting myself familiar with the methodology and thinking processes
behind the software producers and the simple, basic digital foundation that all
computers are built on: something is true, or it is false. It's 1, or 0. Computers are very
exact, painfully exact and so they are the ultimate way for an autodidact like me.
Computers have also opened up the way for us, the masses, to do what only could be
done before in very expensive buildings with even more expensive contents.
With computers being exact and accessible machines, they are perfect for simulating
situations in a digital environment. Just think about flight simulators, and how these
computers have taken over many, many hours of what used to be real flight hours in
pilot's educations. Why? Because they're just as good. And not "just" for flight
simulation. The possibilities are endless.
Producing music, for example.
In a flight simulator, the computer "pretends to be" an airplane. It has all the relative
elements for the pilot to learn the actual flying. It's even so far that nowadays
computers "pretend to be" the pilot to the airplane. It's called "automatic pilot" and it's
usually set to "on", even during landings.
Translate this to DUB and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that what can be
done with airplanes can be done for the devices needed to create (DUB) Reggae
Music. Here they are:

Multi-Track Recorder
Stereo Recorder (for Master Tape)
Mixing Board
Instruments
Effects
Yes, the computer can "pretend to be" or simulate one or more of these devices.
When I started back in the 1980's, it was clear that quality is only a matter of
processing power and speed. With just a few megabytes of RAM, you couldn't
do very much but with the multitude of gigabytes in current (2014) computers,
one machine outdoes a complete 1980's studio.
It doesn't stop there, though.

The computer can go further than the device(s) it simulates. Translated to the
studio situation, this simply means that I can mix a DUB as if I have 20 hands.
Where in a 1980's analog studio every copy or track-bounce implicated loss of
audio, a digital copy is an exact duplicate. The music you download from me are
exact duplicates of the original Master Recordings.
I make heavy use of this extra possibility in all my musical works, but I do limit
myself and the main reason for that is that I create music for people and people
are no simulators. People want to listen to music because they want to feel
things, not because they want a tutorial on making DUB. People also do not
want to be "impressed" by multi-orchestral dual compositions layered on top of
each other or something like that. Yes, it would be music but it would be
completely "unreal" music. Perhaps this can be done in particular styles and
genres, but for (DUB) Reggae this is a no-go.
When you want to make (DUB) Reggae, always realize that this is a music for
the people and from the people and therefore the connect must be there. (DUB)
Reggae is a form of communicating much more than many other musical
directions, and therefore you can absolutely go beyond let's say the physical
boundaries in your digital environment, but you should never go so far that it is
only you who understands.
Of course, it's not just the computer alone. It's the software that tells the
computer it now has to "pretend to be" a Dub studio. When I started on my
digital journey, all I had was a computer with MS-DOS (pre-Windows) and a little
sequencer program called "Voyetra". I now work with several DAW's and VST
audio effects but in essence nothing really has changed. I've just traded more
and more of my hardware devices in because the software equivalents outrange
anything these devices would let me do with them.
Looking back at the little flight simulator analogy, you could say that I started my
education as a pilot with a flight simulator and now I am flying in an airplane
flown by the automatic pilot. Technically spoken, that is. Not creatively, of
course.
There is powerful software for powerful computers that can easily replace a
hardware DUB studio. But remember: it replaces the studio, it places you in a
studio and now it depends on you and your creativity.
For this tutorial, it does not really matter which piece of software or DAW you
use. I try to keep things general even though I am an avid user and supporter of
Propellerhead's excellent Reason software. When you have that software you
will find extra niceness throughout the chapters that follow.

So, the computer is the studio. The DUB studio. It gives us instruments, effects, plus
mixing and recording devices. In the old days, you would need at least several
computers because these ancient machines could not do everything at once. Today,
that's no longer an issue. I've mentioned Propellerhead's Reason and Ableton's Live as
main examples of software that turns your computer into a full blown studio with more
possibilities then the average 1980's analogue counterpart.

Just having a studio doesn't bring you the Dub on a silver platter, obviously. The studio
is the kitchen where you turn ingredients into a meal, the factory where ground
products are turned into usable items. Yes, you need a studio but you need ingredients,
too.
Time to take a look into what Dub is, and what it's not.
The shortest definition I can come up with, is this:
"DUB is a specific art and technique of remixing Reggae tracks."
That's right. You'll need to have a Reggae track before you can make (a) Dub. An
instrumental Reggae track, or a Reggae track with singers. You'll need to have that
track in multi-track format, too. When you're mixing a Dub with your mixing board, the
input channels must have different instruments on different tracks and what you do is
(un)mute these channels. Bottom line: When you don't have anything to (un)mute, you
can't make a Dub.
Now, many people know that Dub is a very specific studio-related kind of music. Not so
many people know, that the same goes for Reggae Music as a whole. Today, you have
Reggae bands all over the world doing live performances but the music came into
existence in Jamaica where that was just too expensive. In the 1960's, early 1970's
Reggae would be played in studios like Studio One and Channel One by the studio's
"house bands". Producers would hire the studio band, vocalists, Dub engineers and
what have you. The recordings would be used as vinyl releases and played on Sound
Systems, where an MC would do live performances. Special Dub mixes would be made
for Sound Systems, too. They're called Dub Plates.
This explains why you will hear different vocalists singing over the very same
instrumental recordings, it explains why you will have different versions like Discomixes
and Dub mixes on the very same track. Very, very rarely would a Reggae act make
their own "songs" and compositions in the way western bands like the Rolling Stones or
U2 would do. That's why I am reluctant to speak about "Reggae Songs". I associate the
word "song" with a composition, with music being composed to go with a specific lyric
and vocalist and band. I would rather speak about a "Reggae Riddim" and not
completely coincidentally this is the exact Jamaican term for a Reggae track as well.
A riddim is defined by it's bass line and it's theme. They're given names, and some
riddims have reached classic status. A lot of riddims were originally created in Studio
One in the 1960's, but they are still being used today by producers world-wide. There's
a website called the "Jamaican Riddim Directory" where you can research and listen to
the countless of riddims as they are used throughout the decades.
Bands play a riddim into the multi-track recorder of the studio, vocalists and Dub
engineers will further work on that material before it's released to the public. When you

want to make Dub with computers, you will have to not just simulate the Studio, you will
have to simulate this whole process. You will have to make a riddim, add vocals (or
don't), then remix this on your mixing board into a real and authentic Dub.
Riddims can be played by a band, they can be programmed, or they can be constructed
using (purchased or downloaded) audio loops. A combination of two or three is not just
possible, but often applicated as well. Whatever the case, though, a riddim must be
made and a good riddim has certain obligatory elements or ingredients. Here they are:

Bass Line
Drum Line
Riddim or Skanks
Theme
Accompanying Instruments
Arguably, you can forget the last two, but a drum and bass line with the right
chords played by a riddim section is the very, very least.
Traditionally, the bass and drums are played by a bass guitarist and a drummer.
The skanks or riddim section will usually be played by a combination of a piano,
guitar and organ. The theme, usually a horn section and there's extra
instruments like a clavinet and muted ("pucking") guitar. There are digital genres
in DUB, especially UK Dub and Eurodub where the skanks are played by a
more synthesized sound, there are obvious Drum computers and Bass
synthesizers, themes can be played by a synth too, but the ingredients remain
to be necessary for the construction of that Reggae track you need to have
before you can Dub it.
Throughout the next chapters of this tutorial, we'll dive in-depth into the different
patterns and ways to build a Reggae track. You will discover an easy formula
you can apply to create literally thousands of different tracks. That is, before
we'll make a track from scratch and turn it into a Dub mix in a chapter far away
from this one.

chapter 4: BPM
Reggae Music can be produced using musicians playing real instruments or it can be
programmed into a sequencer. A combination is the most common, but we're not quite
there yet. At this moment, we've just been introduced to the Riddim concept. In order to
make a Dub, you'll need to have an instrumental Reggae track in multi-track format
(midi and/or audio). To make an instrumental Reggae track is to build a riddim.
Before we'll actually make a riddim, there are things to know about Reggae Music.
Essential things, like the Riddim concept itself is essential knowledge.
The reason why a Reggae track is called a Riddim, has everything to do with the fact
that Reggae Music itself is not so much a style or genre but a rhythm itself as well. You
can play any style or genre in that rhythm. That's how you get Reggae-Soul, Reggae-

Rock, and so on. Throughout the history of Reggae, musical genres of the day are
absorbed by the Reggae rhythm which gives Reggae an ever-contemporary sound.
In short: when you know how to fill in the drums and instruments in the rhythm that is
called Reggae, you know how to build a riddim and do you thing with it.
It starts with deciding the tempo or Beats Per Minute (BPM), which happens to be yet
another point you need to know a few things about when it comes to the Reggae
rhythm.
Reggae can be very fast, very slow, and everything in between. You can decide if a
track is fast or not by listening to the skanks or chords. The time between the chord hits
gives you the tempo indication. Usually, the tempo of a Reggae track is roughly
between 110 to 190 BPM.
Wait.
110 to 190 BPM? Isn't it supposed to be under 100 all the way down to like 55 or so?
Nope.
This has everything to do with the way a bar is filled in Reggae. Let's take a look and
listen to a popular way to fill in a 4/4 Drum Measure in a sequencer:

Now take a look and listen how a Reggae drum would fill in that same bar in that same
tempo (140 BPM):

A popular way of drumming is to put the snare drum on the 2nd and 4th count of a bar.
In Reggae, the snare just hits the 3rd. The only thing the two drum patterns have in
common is the Hi Hat pattern. The bassdrum and snare drum are "halved".
Can't you just double the Hi Hat pattern and slow the tempo down to 70 BPM? Wouldn't
that have the very same sound? Well, yes. When you like to overcrowd your
sequencer's piano roll and lose all oversight, go ahead. When you prefer a better
oversight, keep it between 110-190 BPM. You won't be sorry you did.
CHAPTER 5: FOUR BASIC REGGAE RHYTHMS
In music there are no iron rules, just golden ones. One of such rules or guidelines is the
fact that the snare drum hits the third count in a bar, where the BPM settings are
somewhere between 110-190. Another one is formed by four basic Reggae drum
rhythms. With a couple of exceptions wherein a deliberate breaking of that golden rule
takes place, every Reggae drum rhythm or pattern is a derivate from one of these four
rhythms.
To show these four rhythms in their distinctiveness, all the snare drum and hi hat hits in
the four rhythms are kept exactly the same. That's because the difference between
rhythms in the the quartet has everything to do with the bass drum (kick drum) or
"drop". Yes, indeed: the "One Drop" is one of the four we're going to take a look at.
With a BPM set to 130, here are the four foundational Reggae drum rhythms:
STEPPERS
A lot of Electronic Dance Music (EDM) comes with a "Four On The Floor" or "Four
Drop" drum beat. The bass drum hits every four counts in the 4/4 bar. In Reggae, this
rhythm has the name "Steppers". It's said to have been invented by Sly Dunbar as part
of the Studio Bands of Channel One Studio's in Jamaica, and is often used in UK Roots
and DUB as well as contemporary Eurodub and other (online) releases.
It's a powerful, militant rhythm that keeps flowing while in the same time almost
instantly catches the attention of people in the dance. This is it:

ONE DROP
The second rhythm is the oldest. It's called the "One Drop" because, yes, it only has
one drop and that drop happens to be just like the snare, on the third count. I'm by far
not an expert on Bob Marley and the Wailers' catalogue but I would bet that the One
Drop is the most utilized rhythm in especially the 1970's works of that well known
Reggae act. Wailers' drummer Carlton Barret has perfectionized his playing of the
rhythm to such an extend that I would consider him to be "Mr. One Drop" where Sly
Dunbar is "Mr. Steppers".
Because most popular Drum rhythms all start with at least a bas drum hit ("drop") on
the first count of a bar, the One Drop has that special feel. Many people do not exactly
know how to respond in their dance to the One Drop. Check it out:

TWO DROP

In the early 1980's, a new style called "dancehall" came to exist, with as one of it's
center the CHANNEL ONE studio's, with their -then contemporary- house band the
"Roots Radics". Some of my favorite Dub albums are from that period: the legendary
Greensleeves Series by Scientist. A rhythm very commonly used in this early style of
dance hall, is the Two Drop. It has a bass drum hit on the 1st and the 3rd count of
every measure. The feel of the two drop is that of an "easy does it", while it definitely
goes well together with a pumping bass line. Here is the Two drop in sight and sound:

HALF DROP

The two drop can also be played without putting a bassdrum on the 3rd count: the feel
instantly changes, and the beat becomes a bit more "easy listening". There is not a real
name for this type of beat, but in Jah Roots everytime we talk about the rhythm, we
speak about the "half drop". Therefore I would like to use that term for the rhythm in
these chapters. Here is the "Half Drop":

As said earlier, there are variations. One of them is a steppers with a Timbale on the
2nd-2 1/2 and 4rth-4 1/2 count of the bar. Another is a two drop with the first bar having
a rim shot doing what the Timbale does in the previous example, where the second bar
is a normal two drop. Yet a third one is a steppers with a snare or rim at the half counts
after the 2nd and 4th count. You'll get the point: these are variations with obvious
knowledge of the four patterns decribed in this chapter.
Another "golden rule" I won't keep for myself here is this: use just one of the four
patterns in your tracks. Where a well known live version of Bob Marley and the Wailers'
"No Woman No Cry" starts with a One Drop only to go over into a Steppers at a later
stage can be done, it is very exceptional. I hear 50 examples of bad usage with every 1
good application of changing patterns. Especially with bands that have some need to
expose their musical technicalities to an audience that is not waiting for such things but
rather want to have a good time with music that keeps flowing.
Things get even worse when you decide to continually ignore these four basic patterns.
Ignorance shows, deliberate ignorance is lethal. In other words, do not expect to know
how to make Reggae Music by thinking you're Bob Marley or Sly Dunbar and you can
come up with your own rhythms just like that. Reggae is a rhythm more than anything
else, and rhythms are simply played according to certain patterns.
CHAPTER 6: TWO TYPES OF RHYTHM
Now that I've provided you with a set of four basic loops, you should be able to find
some nice drum rhythms from there. But there is another additional piece of
information, that I should give you before you're on you're way creating your own. I'd
like to present to you two ways of playing a measure. A combination of these two can
also be used, and as I repeatly say, no rule in music is golden, but it is good to learn
some rules before you can break them. So there are basically two ways of filling in the
measure.

In reggae, a measure is 4/4. This means, there are four beats or counts in a measure.
In the steppers beat, a bass drum hit is played on every count. So we divide a measure
in 4 equal parts, named after their count: one, two, three, four. But if you would be
playing only on the whole counts of a measure, then your rhythm wouldn't really be that
interesting. Therefore, like the measures are divided in four counts, also the counts are
divided into smaller sections. It's the way of dividing the counts, that can make a whole
difference to your rhythm. They are both equally used within reggae, and I would like to
present them both to you in this chapter. I'm using a 130 BPM One Drop rhythm in this
chapter.
In the previous chapter I asked you to take a special notice to the bass drum. For the
examples I will use in this chapter, I would like to ask you, to take some notion to the Hi
Hat. The two different kinds are called Straight or Swing. Here they are:
STRAIGHT
In a straight measure, you dived a count by four notes. So you'll have 16 notes in one
measure. To keep it a bit simple, in the next example I divide the measure into 8
different notes. As you can see, there is a Hi Hat hit precisely between every two
counts.

The rhythm is straight on. It is one straight line. You can also divide the measure into
16, or even 32 different notes but I will elaborate on these things later on. Let's take a
look at the second rhythm:
SWING
In swing, the measures are not divided into 16 parts, but into 12 part. The time between
counts are not four, but three. In a way, you could say it's a 3/4 measure within a 4/4/
measure. A One Drop in traditional swing is programmed like in the next example:

s you can see, you can't really speak of a straight line here. The Hi Hat hits between
the counts are driven towards the right. Like I didn't fill in the 2nd and the 4th count in
the straight rhythm, I didn't fill in the second one in the swing rhythm.
Many artists have a preference for either swing or straight. Many also use both, but
unmistakably there is a big difference in the two types. Because the straight rhythm is
so straight and solid, it's very powerful. And because the swing is not straight, it gives a
more danceable feeling to the rhythm.

CHAPTER 7: THE NYABINGHI RHYTHM

In this chapter I would like to elaborate a little on a special rhythm, much used in
reggae, especially Rastafarian Reggae: The Nyabingi Rhythm. The name for the
rhythm comes from African Congolese language and in the Rastafarian tradition it
means: "Death to Black and White Downpressors". The rhythm serves as music for
many Rastafarian chants. Although the rhythm is used in reggae, it is not a reggae
rhythm in the strict sense of the word: there are even some Rastafarians, shunning
almost every technology and so on, who claim that Rasta's can't make reggae and
should stick to Nyabinghi.
There's a lot to say about Nyabinghi, and on this page you can find a link to a site that
makes special Nyabinghi drums and give some back ground information about it. In this
section I will stick to the musical aspect of it, and I would like to explain some of the
basic aspects of it.
But First, I would like to ask you to listen to the following audioclip from an original
Nyabinghi session.
As you can hear, the Nyabinghi rhythm is not a drum rhythm, played by a drum-set.
Although it is used in Nyabinghi tracks, basically it's a rhythm played by three different
drums, a Bass Drum, a Repeater or Kete Drum, and the Funde Drums. The foundation
for the Nya rhythm is the bass drum. It plays a straight heart-beat rhythm, which, when
you would have to program it in a sequencer, could look like this:

While this bass drum plays the heart beat, the other drums play over it. The accents of
the rhythm are on the 1st and 3rd count. But it is also possible to "halve" this, by putting
the accent on the first two counts of a measure. So on the one and the two. That will
make the rhythm much slower as you will see in the next chapter.. Below is an audioclip
of a Nyabinghi inspired rhythm I have played on a handmade conga. It served as
introduction for a track called Jah Glory (SPEED: 150.16 bpm).
It's very difficult, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, to program the Nyabinghy Rhythm. It is based
on the playing of the three drums. It's better to record play with a conga then to
program it. But I will, in the next chapter, show you an example of a general midi
programmed Nyabinghi style rhythm.
CHAPTER 8: PROGRAMMING THE NYABINGHI RHYTHM

Programming the Nyabinghi rhythm is very difficult, if not impossible. Traditionally, it is

played by many drummers, who interact to each other and to the hymns and chants
they are singing on top of it. I would therefore suggest that you drop the idea of being
able to program a traditional Nyabinghi session in midi (for programming a rhythm is
always done in midi first, otherwise it should be a recording of sound, but more on that
in the next chapters) and create a rhythm founded on the rhythm.
In the midisection of the Dubroom you can find a midifile which I have created, inspired
on the Nyabinghi rhythm. I will use that midifile in this example, to show you a little
about creating. In this example you'll see how I programmed a Nyabinghi style rhythm
in a normal general midi drum setup. Take a look at the following screenshot, which is
rather big so you'll have to click on the picture below, to see the complete screen in
another window:

As you can see, the rhythm is rather complicated. I've used almost every single drum
available in the General Midi setup. And while most of them are only playing on the
accents, a few play some extra rhythms on top of it.
The foundation (the heart beat, remember?) is the most important thing, and I've used
different drums to accent it, not only a bass drum. This is, because if you have only the
sound of one drum, it is not as full. I've played the accents on different drums, and also
very loose. Because of the many different drums sounds, playing it loose will make the
track much fuller then when everything would be too tight. It's like many drummers play
in one time.
The accent in this rhythm that I used, is on every first count of the measure. I've also
included a drum set in this example (look at the big picture). The drum accent of my
choice is a bassdrum (kick drum) and an open hi-hat. This is how sometimes a
Nyabinghi style is played in reggae concerts, when there are no traditional Nyabinghi
drums around.
Every second measure there is also an accent to the last beat. The other beats are
inspired and played according to the feel on the bassline and the drum accents on ever
first count of the measure.
For further studying of the Nyabinghi rhythm I would suggest that you buy some music
from RAS MIKAEL AND THE SONS OF NEGUS
We will now close the chapters with background information the different reggae
rhythms.
CHAPTER 9: MIDI OR AUDIO?
Basically, your computer has two different ways of processing music, MIDI (Musical
Instrument Digital Interface) and AUDIO (sound). I'll give you a short explanation of

both ways in this chapter, of which the title of this chapter is a bit misleading, I'll start
right of with that. It is close to impossible, to use the computer for the creation of Dub,
and not use midi.
I couldn't have been giving you most of the examples in this series, if I hadn't used
MIDI. In the same time, I can not restrict myself to use only midi when it comes to
creating a dub track that I want to release. So it's rather: midi AND audio. MIDI Midi is
a protocol, originally designed in the 1980's to make synthesizers work together. You
could play on one keyboard and use the sound of another. Cool, huh? That's what I
thought when I first heard if it (not). I thought, what's the use of being able to play note
on one keyboard and use sounds of the other. Now, ofcourse, there is not so much use
for that, but since the 1990's, it is possible to use midi in a far more sophisticated
manner. The keyword in this is called "SEQUENCER".
As you might have guessed, MIDI is a protocol, that sends notes and other information
from one (musical) device to another. It doesn't send the actual sounds, but the notes.
Midi information is like: Play A3 for 1 second and three milliseconds. Then wait 300
milliseconds and play G3 for 500 milliseconds. With a sequencer, you can record and
playback midi data on several devices. You can record a bass, a drum, and other
instruments on different tracks, and play it back. And, very important, you can change
the information stored in a sequencer multitrack recording (in short: a midifile).
In the next chapters I'll write much more about MIDI, but I' would like to leave it here,
reminding you that midi records notes and other information, not the sounds. Midi lets
the computer record the notes and play it back, optionally after processing the notes in
various ways. AUDIO Audio is a lot less difficult to explain, as it's another word for
sound.
When you do audio recording, you are not, like in MIDI, recording the notes, but you are
recording the actual sound. Where a midifile can play on every soundcard, it will sound
different on every soundcard because of the sounds in the synthesizer. But an audio
file will sound more or less the same on every different soundcard. Most known
examples of audio files are the WAV and the MP3 files. When you want to make Dub,
the audio part is very important, for the art of Dub is, to alter sounds. To make a guitar
sound different, not because you play a midi part of a guitar on a piano, but because
you can manipulate the AUDIO, the SOUND, of the guitar.
CONCLUSION: MIDI OR AUDIO? To make Dub on your computer, you need to use the
possibilities of both audio and midi. Roughly spoken, you use MIDI to create a riddim,
and then you use AUDIO to make a Dub of the riddim. In the next chapters I will
elaborate on MIDI, when it comes to creating a riddim.
CHAPTER 10: MIDI (1) - INTRODUCTION
In the previous Chapter I left the Midi subject with the reminder, that midi records notes
and other information, not the sounds. Midi lets the computer record the notes and play
it back, optionally after processing the notes in various ways. I also came up with the
word "Sequencer". In the next chapters you can read much more about the subject. To
start, this chapter contains a short history of my early years with computerized dub, a

time before I came online and started the Dubroom in 1997, as well as a more detailed
description of the Sequencer and other basic MIDI knowledge.
For a long time, midi was the only way I could use my computer. I had two soundcards,
Soundblasters 1.0, that both had one output. The funny things of these soundcards
was, that they had a little synthesizer chip, a very cheap synthesizer onboard, which
could be played by midi. Now what did that mean, especially having two? I used the
FM-Chip on one SoundBlaster to play a drum and bass part, and the other card played
some chords. The sounds were terrible, those of you who remember the early 1990's
surely know about it. It's the sound you get in very cheap children's keyboards.
I had a line with bass and drum, and another with the chords, which I connected to my
mixing table. The only effect I had was a tape recorder, which I used for echo creations.
I used midi to create the riddims. Now what exactly did I use for that?
SEQUENCER
As you probably know, in a studio you have multi-track recording devices. Instruments
are all recorded on a different track, and the complete song is mixed over a mixing
board and recorded to a two track (stereo, left and right) master tape. Although this is
all audio (sound recording), midi uses a similar kind of technology. The multi track
device is a Sequencer. Sequencer software (there is also hardware, but I will not
discuss that here) has different tracks. You can assign this track to a certain instrument,
and then you can start recording or programming notes, which can later be played back
together with other tracks and instruments.
CHANNELS
As you might remember, I wrote earlier I used one SoundBlaster 1.0 for drum and bass,
and the other one for chords, the skanks. One SoundBlaster can play different
instruments at the same time. In the sequencer you can record the different
instruments apart from each other, and mix them to the stereo line-out of the
Soundcard. Every SoundBlaster had 16 different channels, so in principal I could use
16 different instruments out of a bank of 127 and an equal amount of percussion
instruments. I had a lot of limitations back then, but almost every MIDI device has
different channels, in order to "be" different instruments. But I used two channels on the
first Soundcard, and three on the other one. Then how did the computer know which
notes he had to send to which soundcard?
PORTS
A sequencer doesn't only assign instruments to a certain MIDI Channel, it also possible
to assign PORT numbers. You can connect different MIDI devices to your computer,
and your sequencer can play a song (a midifile) using all connected devices. The
drums would be played by a drum computer on one port, while there are also different
synthesizers and sound modules (keyboards without keyboard, only the sounds) play
on different ports. Every port can have 16 MIDI channels. Most of the time, your
computer will let you connect only one MIDI device for input (usually a keyboard to play
notes on), and one for output, and therefore you only use 2 ports most of the time. So
you would have only two instruments available for playback: the midi
synthesizer/sampler on your soundcard, and an external device, such as a sound
module. There are devices that will enable you to control more different ports over one

computer, but to keep it simple I will stick to the most common configuration. It is still
possible to connect more external devices through just the one midi out that your
soundcard will give you, you'll have to assign them all with different channels and
chain-connect them. But that's also getting to deep for now, so I will leave it like this.
BASIC CONFIGURATION
For the next Chapters, I will use the next basic configuration: A computer, an external
midi keyboard and one SoundBlaster Live! 1024. It has a midi sampler on it, and a midi
out, as well as a midi in for recording notes. In principal, this is all you need to create a
reasonable Dub, especially when you're just starting. I am grateful to know that I have
created Dub only with a SoundBlaster (then still the AWE, but that is comparable to the
Live), so it is possible. I use the SoundBlaster Live, because it has a sampler (look left
for deeper explanation), but you can use almost any contemporary soundcard with an
onboard synth.
CHAPTER 11: MIDI (2) - WHY MAKE A RIDDIM?
It's kind of hot outside. Inside, the temperature is even hotter. Ventilators work overtime
in order to maintain a certain coolness. Some work has to be done today!
The above could be a small description of a day in a Reggae Studio. The musicians
enter the building, where the sound engineer has allready set up the microphones and
thing, so that everything can be recorded into the multitrack recorder.
It can also be a description of your computer. As said before, the computer merely
simulates real situations, and even expands on these situations. You could see the
sequencer and midi technology in this context as well.
It's time to create a riddim, and midi is the way to do it!
We allready spoke about the different ways of Reggae Drumming, several ways to look
on the rhythm et cetera. All of this information will now be neccesary as we will
construct a basic track.
Our purpose is to create DUB. But DUB is basically a way of remixing (Reggae) Music.
DUB can also be seen as "the art of removing", so we have to make something before
we can re-mix or remove it.
In reggae, a basic track is an absolute must. These tracks are called "riddims". It's what
the Jamaican Studio Musicians do for a living: they enter the studio and start playing
riddims.
After the riddim is recorded, singers and Dub engineers take these recordings and do
their thing with it.
In order to make DUB, it is kind of important that this particular situation is more or less
simulated in the computer. Just like the Studio Band doesn't "play Dub", your original
riddim shouldn't be a Dub either. It should be an instrumental Reggae tune.
So let's make a riddim, now we know why.
CHAPTER 12: MIDI (3) - RECORDING A RIDDIM
Of course, you can make an instrumental track as simple or complex as you feel. You
can use a maximum amount of instruments, or you can choose a more minimalistic
approach.

Now that we will create our first riddim, we won't make it too complex.
It's the best, to imagine that your Midi Sequence is in fact a recording of a studio band.
This means, you have to discern different sections just as you would do with a real
band.
Let's take a look at the several main sections of a Reggae band.
DRUMS
When a basic track is called "Riddim" or Rhythm, it's obvious that the drums take a
dominant position. More often then not, several percussion instruments accompany the
drums.
BASS
A Reggae track is identified by it's bassline. When in most other forms of music, the
bassline only functions as a foundation, in Reggae it's the decisive factor. For those
-like us- who want to make DUB, it's even more important as we shall see later.
RIDDIM SECTION
This can get a little bit confusing: for a basic track is called a riddim, But in the band
there is also a riddim section. This section makes that sound which many feel is so
characteristic for Reggae Music: I call it "the skanks". A Riddim section has a guitar, a
piano and an organ (or any other combination in that idea).
THEMES
Usually, a riddim is recognized by it's bassline. But there is also another section of the
band that places it's mark on a riddim and that is the "theme section". In the 1970's, the
horns took a predominant place in Reggae Music. Partly, they could be seen as a factor
in the Riddim Section. But horns can also play themes: short harmonic melodies.
Themes can also be played by keyboards or other instruments.
ACCOMPANYING ELEMENTS
A guitar that plays a muted version of the bassline, a clavinet which emphasizes certain
parts of the bassline, these elements can be heard on many Roots Reggae recordings.
In some way, you could see it as the "percussion" for the bassline.
Now, in our example we will make use of all these sections in order to make a basic
track with midi. We will have a chapter on each section. But before we can do that, we
have to set up our sequencer for it.
CHAPTER 13: MIDI (4) - SETTING UP THE SEQUENCER
Before a band can record music, the studio has to be set up. Microphones have to be
placed over the drum kit, the bassguitar has to plugged into the amp and the amp has
to be plugged into the mixing table.
In our situation, we have to set up our sequencer software for what we want as well.
You can -more or less- use any kind of sequencer. The description in this tutorial can
be applied to most serious sequencers, as we will make use of normal MIDI functions.
We've seen how the MIDI protocol makes use of midi channels which enables one
instrument to play several different instruments in the same time, and ports which
enable a sequencer to control several devices.
We first have to assign midi channels to different instruments. As a sequencer can have
a lot of different tracks, all these tracks have to be assigned to a port and a channel.

But since we will only use a sound card in this tutorial, the ports won't be used. And we
will have enough available midi channels for our tutorial.
Are you ready?
Then start your sequencer and create a new empty file. Then assign 10 tracks to 10
different MIDI channels.
In the previous chapter, we've made a few sections: DRUMS, BASS, RIDDIM,
THEMES, and ACCOMPANYING ELEMENTS. This is the standard set-up for a
Reggae band. Of course you can use your own ideas, "break the rules", but for this
tutorial we'll keep it principally.
For most soundcards, MIDI Channel 10 is pre-assigned to the drums. So we'll start with
channel 1.
Take a look at the following list, and please set up your sequencer accordingly:
CHN

INSTRUMENT
DRUMS

10

Drums
BASS SECTION

Bass
ACCOMPANYING ELEMENTS

Muted Guitar

Clavinet
RIDDIM SECTION

Piano

Guitar

(Hammond) Organ
THEME SECTION

Trumpet

Sax

Trombone

11

---

12

---

13

---

14

---

15

---

16

---

Done?
Then we can now start our first riddim. Time to make some music!

CHAPTER 14: MIDI (5) - PREPARING THE RIDDIM CREATION

In the first parts of this tutorial, we have been playing in the sequencer allready. We've
been dealing with the different rhythms of the drums et cetera. So it can be assumed,
that you have some basic knowledge allready about your sequencer.
Your sequencer can most likely play loops. You select a start and an end point, and the
sequencer will play the midi data in these measures. Let's make our sequencer play a
two measure loop.
The sequencer will be able to record the notes that you play through an external
keyboard, and it will have a "Piano Roll" from where you can easily program midi data
as well. Most people will find, that a combination of programming and playing is the
best.
There are also those who think that programming is not "political correct". This is
nonsens. A lot of music is programmed. Programming a good riddim is just as much a
form of art as playing it.
In this tutorial, we will not make much differentiation between programming and playing.
As we go through the next chapters, you will find that the tips can be applied either way.
It's time to start creating the riddim.
The first thing we have to do, is filling the two measures which we have assigned our
sequencer to loop. We must create a basic drum rhythm, a bassline and the chords in
the riddim section.
CHAPTER 15: MIDI (6) - PROGRAMMING A BASIC DRUM RHYTHM
We have our sequencer running in a two-bar loop, and connected the instruments we
need. For this tutorial, we'll use Propellerhead Reason as our sequencer of choice. The
program is much more than just a sequencer, but that doesn't matter for now.
Reggae Music has a foundation of drum and bass. You could say, that when the drum
and bass play the right lines, you could basically put anything on top of it. So it is
obvious, that the drum and bass need our first attention.
Make sure you have the "Piano Roll" or "Pianola Roll" window active. Your sequencer
has one.
First, we decide a BPM and whether we want our riddim to be in straight or in triplets or
"swing".
Let's make a riddim in the Rub a Dub style. We put our sequencer on 140 BPM and will
use a straight rhythm.
Put any quantize function to 16/16, not 8T or triplets. You will see that you will have 16
different points in a bar, where you can put some thing.
Ready?
Let's start with the Hi Hat. Put one closed Hi Hat note on the very first count, and one
on the half-count next to it. You should hear two closed Hi Hat hits now...
Now make sure that you reduce the velocity of the second Hi Hat hit. Velocity is the
"volume" of the midi note.

Select the two hi hat hits and copy them to the second count. Do this until the two
measures are completely filled. Now change the very last Hi Hat hit from closed to
open. Change the velocity if you like.
Now put a snare drum hit on the third count of both measures. And put a
kickdrum/bassdrum on every first count. Also put a bassdrum hit on the half count
before the second measure, and on the 4th count.
Take a look at the following scheme:
PIANO(LA) ROLL
BARS:

HIHAT

X x X x X x X x X x X x X x X x

SNARE
KICK

1 -

2 -

X
X

3 -

4 -

X
x X

You should hear something like the following audio example:

CHAPTER 16: MIDI (7) - PROGRAMMING A BASSLINE ON TWO PIANO CHORDS
Now that we have a basic Drum rhythm, it's time for the bass line. But before we do
that, let's put in two basic chords for the riddim or "skank" section so we can taker a
closer look at some things to consider when constructing a bass line.
Select a Piano and put a chord hit on the second and fourth count of every bar. In this
instance, we'll use an A and an E Chord. The A chord contains the A-C-E tones and
the other chord the E-G-B tones. Take a look (and listen) at the screenshot and mp3
below:

You'll probably recognize the chords as they are used in many riddims. Let's -for nowjust stick with these two chords. You'll be able to figure out much more after discovering
a few basic principals which will help you making an original riddim.
Time for the bass line. Or, to be more precize: time to discover some principals to help
you make a bass line yourself.
Of course: you'll need a decent bass sampleor synth bass. No need for a special hi-def
bass guitar sample of that specific brand, what you need is a decent bass guitar or
synth sound which you can find all over the web and usually even in factory presets.
For this example we will use a standard bass guitar from Reason 3.0
In a lot of musical genres, the bass guitar basically follows the chords of the guitar and
keyboards. The bass is more or less an extension of the keyboards and other chord
instruments but in Reggae Music this is the other way around. The chords are there to
support the bass line. The bass is the lead instrument and because of this position, you
have a lot of freedom as you do not have to follow any other instrument.
In fact, there are just two things you have to consider: the tempo and the chords. That
is, when you are not creating your bassline out of nothing. In this case, we already have
a drum rhythm at 140 BPM and two chords so we'll take it from there.
There are many ways to make a bass line,and you could call them all "styles". Some
basslines are melodies where others use perhaps only two or three different tones.

These are all things that have to do with preference of the day, feelings and emotions
rather than actual "rules".
One very safe guide is this: on the 2nd and 4th count of every bar, use a tone which is
also present at the chord played in the bar. In our example, use either an A, a C or an E
tone on the second and fourth count of the first bar and either an E, a G or a B in the
second and fourth count of the second bar. You will always play a tone that is also
played by the chords instruments (riddim section) and this simple fact will connect
every bass line you construct with the two chords. In other words: when you consider
this fact, you can create a million bass lines over just two chords and they will all sound
good, or at least in tune.
Now, since we have a basic two drop drums and two chords often used in Rub a Dub
style, let's go a create a simple but effective line. Connect your bass sampler to your
mixing board and create the following bass line:

As you can see, there's an A and an E in the first bar on the 2nd and 4th count, where
the second bar has an E on the 2nd count and a B on the 4th. So what you do is, you
play an E sound in both bars, as the E chord ads well as the A chord both have that
tone contained.
Now we have two bars of our basic riddim. Let's copy and paste this three times so we'll
have 8 bars. We'll make little variations afterwards in order to enlarge the foundation.
CHAPTER 17: MIDI (8) - CREATING THE FOUNDATION
We now have eight bars of drum, bass and piano. We're gonna change them all so that
we will have eight bars to go from in our riddim.
Open the sequencer roll for your bass line and make the following adjustements (click
image to enlarge):

We're gonna change the drums, too. Open your drum roll and make the following
adjustments and do not forget to lookat the velocity as well (click image to enlarge):

Third we'll take a look at the piano. Let's recall first how the two chords look:

Take the C and E tones of the first bar and the B tone of the second and transose them
an octave below so the chords look like below (click to enlarge):

Make the following adjustments to the eight bars of your piano chords (click image to
enlarge):

Now copy the complete eight bars of all three instruments in your sequencer and paste
them 15 times. Then take everything and move it eight bars to the right so that your
basic tune will start at the 9th bar and ends at the 137th. See below for the principal
(click image to enlarge):

CHAPTER 18: MIDI (9) - DRUM PATTERNS AND BREAKS

We are now at the point where we have a full instrumental track. But we're not quite
there yet. We have to take our 128 measures of music and change things. The created
full riddim is rather boring without any drum breaks and other variations and that's what
we're gonna work on a little bit in the following chapters.
Right now, let's focus on the drums as this is the reason why we want to start our raw
instrumental Reggae riddim at the ninth bar. About 95% of all Reggae tracks start of
with a drum roll. You could say that this is the "Reggae way" of counting off before a
track. Where others tick the drum sticks or simply say "one, two three four", in Reggae
this is done by means of a drum roll. There are many non-musical reasons to think of
why this is done but let's not go there in this tutorial. Let's just take it as a musical fact
to consider.

Go to the eight bar of your drum track, make it so that you will be able to create 16th
notes and make the following introduction roll:

Another thing in Reggae Music is that the first eight bars often function as an intro part.
This is where horns play their theme or singers introduce the track with one or more
vocal hooks. Very often, the first eight bars end with a drum roll that starts the sixth or
seventh bar. As we will keep it a bit simple, we'll just make a short break at the eight
bar. In the sequencer,this is the 16th bar as we start of with 7 bars of silence and a
one-bar intro roll.
Go to the 16th bar and create this break (click image to enlarge):

Actually, you will recognize the Reggae standard of the intro roll and the break in the
eight bar of the actual musical track. We've now reached a point wherein freedom can
be enjoyed to the fullness when it comes to the drums. At least, freedom in
responsibility.
Most tracks will have two or three breaks after the introduction part, or even more.
Breaks can last sometimes up to four bars but you will have to know exactly what you
do when you go there. More short and simple breaks will do for now, as you don't need
this tutorial at this stage when you know how to make a four bar break.
Sure, when you know exactly what you want, or perhaps you have lyrics for which you
need a riddim. In these cases it is quite important to place your breaks strategically.
You do not want a break in the middle of a verse unless you deliberately want such a
thing, for example.
There's more you don't really want unless you really do.
Take the beginner's mistake of putting too many breaks in the rhythm. A break should
signify an important part like the end of a chorus or verse, or it should just do what the
word says: give the riddim a break. When you hear a break every let's say 16 bars, the
break becomes part of the rhythm and you'll end up creating a new style, call it
breakbeat and become famous... But wait.... that has been done a long time ago
already so just don't do it. Limit yourself to two or three breaks next to the introduction
parts. So let's say no more than 5 in total during the whole instrumental track.
You do not want your Hi Hat pattern to continue during a break, either. A real drummer
would never be able to do this and so you should avoid such unnatural things like the
plague. Only do such things when you know what rules you are breaking and why you
are breaking them. The human brain simply does not accept such things, even when

it's just on a subconscious level. You can alter your hi hat pattern like in the example of
this chapter, though. End it with an open HiHat hit that sounds during the break, fine.
But always keep in mind a drummer usually has two arms and hands, not three or four.
Now, the best way in a situation like the one we created now is to go with your feeling.
One way of determining the place of the breaks, especially when your intention is to
make Dub primarily, is to simply let the drum and the bass play without the piano. Press
play and listen intensly. You hear the introduction roll and the first eight bars that end
with a break. Now listen, feel the drum and bass line and there will be a point wherein
you will want to do something with the drums.
Let's do something with the drums. Let's put the shortest breaks of all somewhere: a
simple crash on the thirn with nothing else during the rest of the bar. You will recognize
this thing, especially in live concerts. It shows the power of taking things away, which
-after all- is the strength of Dub as well. Go to bar 40 in your sequencer and do this with
the drums:

Yes, you simply change the HiHat his on the third count into a crash cymbal hit and
delete everything afterward in the bar. By doing so, you effectively created a 24-bar part
in which you can do a thing and end it at bar 40 in your sequencer. This can also be a
thing you will in your Dub mixing at a later stage.
Now, let's continue our drum alteration session. Instead of putting a break or crash
cymbal,you can also slightly change the drum pattern intself. We're going to do that in

the 64th bar in the sequencer. Simply move the snare to the fourth count and remove
the hihats after the open hit at the rird count. See below:

Now, let's get a bit more serious now as we will put our first break in the actual riddim.
The first break after the introduction parts. We'll do it in the 78th bar where we simply
change the Hi Hat hit on the third count into a crash cymbal hit and we'll put an open
HiHat hit at the first count of bar 79, after which there will be no more HiHat in bars 79
and 80.
Create the following break in bars 79 and 80:

As you can see, we are over half of the actual track and we have just put the first break
in there. But before we'll put another one somewhere, let's take the variation we made
in the 64th bar of the sequencer and paste it into bar 96 as well.
A simple crash hit at the third count of a bar can mark the end of a part. A crash hit at
the very first count of a bar can signify the sart of a part and we will do that as well
before will put our final break in the riddim. We'll do it in bar 113 of the sequencer..

Since most parts of the riddim we're making has 24 bars, this crash hit signifies the
start of the last 24 bars of the riddim. Our last break will be to end the riddim itself. Go
to bar 137 and make the following break:

CHAPTER 19: MIDI (10) - THE RIDDIM OR "SKANK" SECTION

Now that we've created the full drums for our first Midi riddim, it's time to put a little
more attention to the riddim section.
Before we dive into the topic though, a little disclaimer.
Yours truly has many weak points and this is absolutely one of them. You will definitely
benefit from studying a little musicology when it comes to chords and chord
progressions, and it will not take you too long before you are smiling about this little
chapter.
Anyway, let me bend down low and tell you what I know, to paraphrase a little lyrical
expression by a certain brother.
The riddim or "skank" follows or emphasizes the bass line by hitting a chord on every
2nd and 4th count of a bar/measure. There are extra chord hits, like in the Piano we
programmed a couple of chapters ago. However, just putting a Chord hit on the 2nd
and 4th count in itself will already provide you with a most basic riddim or "skank".

A standard Reggae riddim section contains a Piano, a Guitar and an Organ. Mind you,
this is a standard set-up and there are more variations possible than we can think of
together. Creativity and vibal preferences should be the main drive! For this midi riddim
we will use this standard set-up, though. This track is about principals and so on, not
about creativity.
We already have the Piano in our instrumental track. We've made an 8-bar loop and it's
fine like that. After all, we are creating this riddim to make a Dub and most of the times
the skanks will not be there in the mix.
Let's hit the Organ next. For this example I will simply use a standard Organ out of
Reason 3.0. As we're going to make a classic Reggae Organ "bubble", picking a
Hammond or Hammond style organ will do it. So go to your sequencer, open a Midi
channel and assign it to an organ or sampler. Go to the 9th bar and simply put in the
following chords on the 2nd and 4th counts (click to enlarge):

It's important that you put in the chords with the "A" below in the first bar and the "E" in
the second. Now you have a standard skank but to make the classic "bubble" you need
to put in extra hits. You can simply copy the hits and paste them 1/8th before the 2nd
and fourth count. See below (click to enlarge):

Now, transpose the chord hits you just pasted one octave below as you can see in the
next graphic (click to enlarge):

To complete the "bubble", copy and paste the hits also 1/8th count behind the hits on
the 2 and 4 (click to enlarge):

The chords we've just copied and pasted can be considered as the left hand of the
organ player, where the right hand plays the chords on the 2nd and 4th counts. If you
want, you can lower the velocity of the left hand but when you hear the organ and the
piano together you will hear an emphasis on these counts already.
Now, in principal we can just copy and paste the two bars of organ but a little variation
here and there can be nice. In a way, you can do the same with any instrument in the
riddim section as what we did with the drums: a "break" or little variation here and
there.

Copy the two bars of argan and paste it three times so we will have an eight bar loop.
Go to the eight bar, make it possible to change 16th notes and change the organ into
what you see (and hear) below (click to enlarge):

Copy the eight bars and paste it 15 times (click to enlarge):

There is our Organ bubble. It should be self-evident that this is just a classic Organ line,
adding hooks and little melodies can be added but you'll need some musicological
dimensions which I do not consider myself to be able to present.
My shortcomings in creating more or less interesting skanks come to the surface even
more as we approach the final part of this chapter, which deals with the guitar. For me,
the guitar is where I do no longer use musical Midi notes.
Personally I use recordings of a real guitar playing the chord of choice and I pretty
much do not do much more than adding a hit on the 2nd/4th counts.
Getting a good guitar sound to make a midi guitar skank is something which I have not
achieved, partly because I kind of never bothered to find that sound. The obvious thing
is, to "simply" do what I never did and find that guitar sound, put the right midi chords in
the right place and copy-paste it.

But since I never bothered to do, let me make it up to you and share the sounds that I
use, since they are excellent.
So let's just make a short excursion. It should not be too difficult to use a drum
computer or sampler and insert a few samples. When you click HERE, you will be
directed to a page from where you can download the guitar skanks I use.
Put an "A-minor" chord on the first bar (2nd/4th counts obviously), and an "E-minor"
chord in the second, like in the example below (click to enlarge):

Copy and paste so that the whole tune the guitar will play the right chords in the right
place. Eight bars of your riddim section.
Needles to say, this concludes a very primitive explanation of creating a riddim part in
your instrumental Reggae track. Needles to say, you need to find out things about
chords and which one(s) can be used for what purpose but all of that goes beyond my
level of expertise.
Still, it's an introduction and the samples provided in this chapter hopefully make up a
little bit as well. Please do not link to the samples, especially not the guitar samples for
the simple reason that you have discovered them by wanting to learn things rather than
looking for cheap ways to "click-your-own-dub".
CHAPTER 20: MIDI (11) - THEMES (BRASS SECTION)
Now that we've constructed the basic pattern for a full instrumental Reggae track, it's
time to add some more flavor. In principal, though, musically spoken our riddim is fit to
serve as a backing track for a (good) singer or MC at a Sound System set. However,
lots more has to be done in the audio field but that's for a later stage in this tutorial. At
this moment, we need to go a little bit deeper in creating an instrumental Reggae track
and it's time to pay some attention to the theme.
Next to the Drum and the Bass, many people are outspoken when it comes to the
theme. A lot of people want themes to be played by real horns and nothing else is good
enough. Themes, however, can be played by many more instruments, including
synthesizers and other keyboards. So before we continue, let's first recall what exactly
a "theme" means, in the context of this tutorial. In chapter twelve, we've proposed the
following definition:
Usually, a riddim is recognized by it's bassline. But there is also another section of the
band that places it's mark on a riddim and that is the "theme section". In the 1970's, the
horns took a predominant place in Reggae Music. Partly, they could be seen as a factor
in the Riddim Section. But horns can also play themes: short harmonic melodies.
Themes can also be played by keyboards or other instruments. (source)
When the previous chapter needed a disclaimer because of chordical shortcomings,
this applies even more to the contents of this chapter. That means, that you will get a
basic idea and principal but it will not take you very long to go much further than this
chapter can lead you. When you have a basic knowledge of chords and chord
progressions, you can make more complex themes than I can dream of.

That said, let me take as the standard for this part of the tutorial the music I've created
during a good part of this century until recently when I stepped into the realm of real
horns and with that, audio. The electronic horns I used before that sounded way more
cheapo keyboard than if I would have used a de facto cheapo keyboard but for many
reasons I sticked to using a sampled brass section. That virtual brass section contained
three samplers: one carrying a trombone, one having a saxophone while the third had
trumpet sounds loaded. The melodies I did with MIDI and all I can do is sharing the
principals I kind of discovered for myself. I am, again, aware that I know very very little
about chords and thing, but on the other hand I'm sure I can help out at least a few
people.
Let's first take a look again at the two chords of our riddim:

These two chords form the guideline to safely constructing a theme without having too
much musicological knowledge. The reason for that is quite simple: together, the three
brass instruments will play a chord, just like the piano and the organ. Although these
chords do not and will not be the same while the theme is played, it's -just like when
you construct a bassline- safe to let them play the exact same chords on the 2nd and
4th count as the skanks.
Since there are three instruments, there will be one that follows the chord progression.
In a way, again, just like when you construct a bassline with two chords as a guide. The
other two instruments will play the same melody but a couple of tones higher (or lower).
This is a process for which you will need your ears as much as your eyes, especially
when you are -like yours truly- completely unaware and ignorant of tone scales. So it
has to sound right, and to find the right tone can be quite a quest.
Now, let's hook up three more samplers to our configuration and load them with a
trombone, a saxophone and a trumpet instrument. For this tutorial I use standard
sounds from Reason 3.0's Factory Sound Bank (sax) and the Orkester Sound Bank
(trombone and trumpet), by the way.
Go to the 9th bar in your sequencer, and open the Piano Roll for your trombone. Make
a 4-bar loop from the 9th to the 12th bar so that it continually plays. That's where we're
going to create a simple theme to establish some principals you can use in your
creative explosions. Make the following theme for your Trombone, using 8th's and
16th's (Click to enlarge):

As you see, the theme is created on the same basis as the bass line. Using tones that
are present in the chord on the 2nd and the 4th count. However, we have to create a
harmonic structure so that the sax and the trumpet can play along as well without
playing the same thing the trombone does. The three instruments will continually
produce a chord, in fact there will be several chords in the whole theme.
First things first, though. Over to the saxophone. Copy the midi notes from the
trombone to the piano roll of the sax. They should now be playing the same notes.
What we're going to do is this: we're going to transpose the notes of the saxophone 3 to
4 tones, while the idea of the theme is followed. Make the following transition in your
saxophone roll (Click to enlarge):

Now copy the saxophone part to the trumpet and, yes, you guessed it, transpose once
more. First, for this tutorial transpose the trumpet a full octave and then transpose
according to the next graphic (click to enlarge):

Now copy and paste the full four bars of the three instruments like the example below
(click to enlarge):

Let's keep it simple and just past the theme in every place where a drum roll is, so that
the theme will end with a drum roll. Check this (click to enlarge):

Sure, this is not a theme that will touch the hearts and souls with majestic vibes et
cetera. For this tutorial, though, it's a good one as it establishes a few guidelines.
You will probably have noticed that there's a D-chord and a B-chord played by the horn
section, the trumpet keeps playing the E-tone in both bars as the section plays the
dominant chord, these are things that have to do with musicology and a little bit of
study will reveal a lot.
In the silent parts, you can make the horns play along with the riddim, add little hooks
here and there, the possibilities are endless but they do depend on your ear and
creativity. That's not a thing any software will do for you.
CHAPTER 21: MIDI (12) - ACCOMPANYING ELEMENTS: PERCUSSION, CLAVINET
AND PUCKING GUITAR
We've come all the way to our last addition to our very basic Reggae instrumental,
where we're adding the final touch. First, we're going to add percussion and that's
before we'll take a look and listen to the clavinet and something I have come to call
"pucking guitar".
PERCUSSION
Roughly, you can divide the percussion in Reggae in two categories: the (hand) drums
and, yes, well, let's call them "effects" for lack of a better term. Both categories have
their distinct approach of the rhythm, both categories add their own distinct vibe to the
rhythm as well. Sometimes, you want to emphasize one category, while at other times

you might want to make a combination. All these variations do actually give a totally
different sound and feel to the rhythm and this is something one should be aware of, in
my humble perception. After all, you really don't play a Nyabinghy rhythm over a love
song unless you're ignorant or arrogant and you don't want to be that.
Reggae started in Jamaica, and the music has a lot of Caribbean elements. You'll find
a lot of Latin percussion instruments like shakers, the guiro and what have you. Still,
you can not approach Reggae Music as a Caribbean music only. This is because of
Rastafari, and Rastafari focuses on Africa. Musically, this is clear in the percussion and
especially in the hand drums category.
hand drums
The three main hand drums used in Reggae percussion must be the Conga's, Bongo's
and the Kete. Especially the Kete drum is important, after all it's part of the drums used
in that very particular Rhythm of Rastafari called Nyabinghy,covered earlier in this
tutorial.
Before anything else: what's really, really important to know about Reggae hand drum
percussion is that it is first and foremost about the sound of the drum. Just imagine in
yourself a bass and drum line. Just the bass and the drums. Then, you just hear one
flam shot on a Kete. It's like the Rastaman enters the music with the sound of Africa.
You don't have to be a Rasta to feel this, but Rasta is very much connected with
Reggae Music and therefore it's not unwise to consider this rather essential musical
piece of knowledge, even on a basic music-technological level.
Another thing that is kind of important is the rhythm that the hand drums play. Why?
Well, check this first: Reggae is very much a music where togetherness or unity/Inity is
perfectly illustrated in the music itself. Where the three brass players create a sound
together, the riddim section does the same. By not doing too much, leaving room for the
other instrument, the togetherness becomes a new sound. The hand drums add to the
drum (the drum kit/drummer), playing around the rhythm that the drums play. Subtle,
but present.
In a way, you can say that the rhythm of a Reggae hand drum percussion instrument
presents the sound of the drumsmore than a specific rhythm. The sound of the hand
drums, it's presence if you will, is more important than the rhythm itself. Yes, you can
extract a few typical rhythms often used, but these rhythms only emphasize all the
principal talk. The function of the hand drum in Reggae is to add the African
Connection, the sound of Africa to a music that originated in Jamaica.
Knowing and applying this knowledge leads to a genuine, authentic hand drum part in
your Reggae track. Ignoring it can disable you from reaching the point where you can
create your own Reggae hand drum percussion. Unless you know what you do and you
want to create a Samba Band experience, ignoring all these principals I just mentioned
can lead to just that, your Reggae sounding more like Samba. Bring on the tequila, or
the sinsemillia?
Having been through that, let's continue to actually add a hand drum rhythm to the
track we're working in.
Ouch.

There's something else. When I started to write this tutorial, I used the General Midi
Format and a SoundBlaster soundcard. I truly do not remember the exact times in
which I wrote chapters like this one, but currently (September 2014) things like ports
and channels are irrelevant with software titles like Reason and Ableton. That's why I
am going to assume, that you know how to add percussion samples to your sequencer.
If not, you can still use the conga samples from your standard General Midi Drum roll.
For this chapter in the tutorial, I'm going to use some samples created by online artist
Blaminack. He builds his own Kete Drums and sells it to the well known Dub Act
Twilight Circus, so you're talking about the real deal. When you want to go along with
this tutorial Click HERE to download a zip with the Wave files or HERE for a Reason
Refill containing the samples.
Create the following pattern in your sequencer (note the sample names and the
velocity!) (click to enlarge):

Be sure to check the audio file as well. First you will hear the Kete rhythm, then silence,
then the drums and the Kete together. Consider that there's use of 16th notes. Mind the
particular filenames as well!
Got it? Now simply copy and paste the 2 bars of hand drum percussion rhythm until the
end of the tune (click to enlarge).

That's it?
Well, yes and no.
Many percussion players I've seen in action trying to play along with a Reggae band
have a tendency to go wild. To make variations all the time, resulting in a continual
drum roll throughout the whole tune. That's not what we want. Remember, the goal is to
add a sound, a vibe. When you over-do things, the percussion will no longer show it's
"sound-strength", it will take over everything and that's not what you want.
You can of course make variations, but know what you do. Listen again and again to
especially Roots Reggae from the later 1970's. Do not try and get your ideas from
Nyabinghy bands like Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus because these do not
represent the standard way of Reggae. It's like taking Bob Marley's music as the
standard of your average Reggae tune: you will never be able to dig the simplicity that
really is the strength of Reggae more than anything else. And no, this is not dissing Ras
Michael or Bob Marley: it is respecting the special position both have in the spectrum of
Reggae Music.
Freestyling can be done, too. You just need to know what you're doing. Take the
principals I've just shared as some sort of guideline, it won't hurt you. Check out the
You Tube Video below for a true freestyle champion: Burning Spear.
percussion effects
Next to the hand drums category, there's that other category which I call "percussion
effects". I have no idea what else to call it, but it covers the whole range and spectrum
of other percussion instruments. Especially South-American and African percussion
instruments are used, but it's definitely not limited to that. Most common are shakers,
scrapers, cowbells and woodblocks. Most should even be on your General Midi Drum
piano roll.
Again, the message is: do not over-do things. It's even stronger for this category.
Consider the following thoughts and tips, before we will actually construct some thing.
Sometimes, you need to dig through complexity in order to discover the simplicity.
Sometimes, you need to come up with a rather complicated sounding definition to
discover a principal thing. That's exactly what we're going to do right now and it's this: a
definition of rhythm.
A rhythm is a repetition of one shots on an instrument during the course of several
bars.
So, what am I saying here? I'll give a few examples. Imagine, one hit on a Cowbell
between the second and third count on every second bar. Or a Cowbell shot on the first
count of the first bar, then on the fifth, ninth, et cetera. Just this is already a rhythm. In
fact, this is the kind of very basic interpretation of rhythm that will provide you with
authentic Reggae percussion effects.
Basically, what you do is making a loop of eight bars, put one shot of any percussion on
any one of the eight points (when you divide the measure into eight) in the second bar,
and repeat that one shot in the fourth, sixth and eighth bar. When you do this, you will
have factually created a percussion element that is, let's say, fully functional.
Is that all?

Well, no. But it's a start and building further on that start will not lead you to
nonsensicalities.
Now, load a shaker, woodblock and cowbell and make the following rhythm (4 bars),
then copy-paste it throughout the entire track (click to enlarge):

As you can hear in the audio example, when the percussion instruments and the drums
come together, you will hear much more of a typical Reggae drum than if you would
have left the drums like that.
To conclude this part about the Percussion Effect category, I'd like to leave you with
some more general tips concerning specific percussion instruments.
The tambourine is often used to enhance the Hi Hat pattern. There are even
drummers that have a tambourine attached on their Hi Hat stand.
Use one shot instruments like the jingle bells and Vibraslap just once or twice,
or mix them really soft in the audio mix (oh, wait, we're still in the midi phase).
Try putting a woodblock at two places in a bar, and repeat the same thing every
two bars. You will have de facto constructed a rhythm.
Remember, percussion is an important element in Reggae Music. Do not over-do it!
CLAVINET

click to enlarge (Source: Wikipedia)

I'm going to contradict myself. In a previous paragraph I told you to not take Bob
Marley's music as the standard for your average Reggae tune, and now I'm going to
propose an instrument that was typical for the sound that Bob Marley created.
Remember, he used the Reggae rhythm and added all kinds of western flavors on top
of it like sliding guitars and blues organs and what have you. There's a very interesting
documentary about it called "Catch a Fire".
One of the instruments often used in Bob Marley's music is the clavinet (see picture).
You could call it an instrumental percussion instrument, the way it is used in Reggae
Music. Mind you, I know a lot more about drums and bass then I know about
keyboards, chords and scales and the like, so this is all I know and I know that I know
very, very little. But, again, let me bow down low and tell you what I know, to use a
humble variation on a theme. Let me just tell you how I usually implement the clavinet
and let me point out to midi.dubroom.org where you can find and use midi files by Sure
Dread, who knows so much more about these things. Studying the midi files is like a
course in itself.
I see the clavinet keyboard divided in a left side (for the left hand) and a right side. The
left hand plays a percussive, simplified variation of the bass line. The right hand plays
two or three tones from the chords of the riddim section. It goes like this (click to
enlarge):

The audio fragment opens with drum, bass and percussion. After a while the clavinet
(taken from Reason's Factory Sound Bank) drops in for eight bars and then you'll have
4 bars of drum bass and percussion again. When you did not yet know about the
clavinet, I am sure you will recognize the sound nevertheless. No, not just in Bob
Marley's music. And you know, echo's on a clavinet sound just crucial. More later.
PUCKING GUITAR
Where the clavinet can be seen as a percussive element for the bass and the chords,
the "pucking guitar" as I call it focuses stricktly on the bass. Roughly spoken: the
guitarist plays the bass line along with the bass guitar, but with muted tones and with a
plectrum. Sometimes, the "pucking" is changed with a hook or a lick, only to go back
and accompany the bass.
It's very hard to make a nice pucking guitar line with midi, but for this tutorial we'll do it.
What you'll need is a muted guitar sound, copy the bass line in the piano roll for the
guitar, and transpose it to an audible range. Transpose as in octaves, not tones. But
you figured that one out. You can then add 16th or extra 8th notes in the line, so that
the guitar is playing with the rhythm of the bass line. Like this (click to enlarge):

Here, the audio fragment opens with the bass for 8 bars, followed by the bass and the
pucking guitar for 8 bars. As you hear, 16th tones are added on ever 3rd count in every
second bar. Seel below for a comparance between the bass line and the guitar line
(click to enlarge):

And of course, like with the clavinet, the eight bars we made is copied and pasted. Yes,
you can -and should- make variations here and there but that's something your own
creativity will have to lead you. We're just constructing a riddim, not the next Reggae
hit.
Congratulations! We've made a full instrumental Reggae track with midi!

CHAPTER 22: MIDI (13) - 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.
CHAPTER 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 irrelevantquestion 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".
Here's a check-list:
A master mixing board with at least 16 (audio enabled) channels and four auxoutputs, preferable more. Returns are irrelevant as you will discover later on.
Ability for ASIO Drivers.
Ability to make sub-mixes (i.e. mixing trombone, sax and trumpet into one
channel input at the master mixing board)
Ability to read midi notes and play them through a (software) drum computer,
(soft) sampler and (soft) synth and/or: ability to trigger/play loops, while the
audio is processed in real time through the mixing boards and effect devices.
Ability to connect instruments and effects in user-defined ways rather than just
factory settings (i.e. routing effects back to returns)
Ability to fully set, control and change any effect setting at any time.
At least the availability of the following (standard) effects: Reverb, Delay,
Flanger, Phaser, Filter, EQ (Equalization).
Since I'll be using Reason 3.04, users of the Swedish software title will have a benefit
with the use of this tutorial. Unintended, but unavoidable. The major disadvantage is
the fact that I will -in the following chapters at least- make use of the standard effects
that came with Reason. Using VST effects instead of Reason's standard effects will
give you a major advantage, but for now we stick with some principals for making Dub
rather than to look for the right plug-in.
A very important thing, already mentioned, is the fact that you need to have ASIO
Drivers installed on your computer. Drivers are little pieces of software that tells your
computer's sound device how to sound after you change a button in your DAW. You
want to hear instantly what you're doing, just like you would when you would be working
with physical hardware. Literally instant is impossible with computers, at least in this
September 2014, so you will always have a little delay. This is called "latency".
When you use DX drivers or MME, the latency is not just noticeable: it's simply
unworkable. Unless you want to program each and every move, you will need to have
ASIO drivers. This is -like VST- a standard in audio software created by the German
based company Steinberg. Most professional audio sound cards will ship with ASIO
drivers, but that leaves those people in the cold that just have their computer's sound
card. When that is you, you will need to go to ASIO4ALL and download drivers that will

work with any sound device. Mind you, ASIO4ALL completely overtakes the sound card
and you will not be able to play sounds other than the ones in your DAW. But then, you
don't want that either when you're busy creating your mix.
Windows, Apple or Linux? 2 Gigabyte RAM, or 4, or 1? Two processors, or one? Well,
one general rule: the more, the better. At least, 4 gigabytes for your 32 Bit software title
or at least 8 gigabytes RAM for you 64 bit computer. Since most software (still) runs
perfectly on 23 bit for the purpose of making Dub, 4 Gigabytes of RAM works the best. I
know nothing about Linux and Apple, but when you use these operating systems
chances are big you know how to "translate" my windows based writing to your
computer's operating system.
And again, please let me know which software you use and especially: when you're
NOT using Reason and I get too "Reason-specific" I would like to know that as well so
that I can re-phrase things. All I want to do is share with you how to make Dub with
computers and I am not paid by anyone to do so.
CHAPTER 24: CREATING A SET UP (2): SUB MIXES
Now that we've had a look at the minimum requirements, let's continue to prepare our
instrumental track for a Dub session. For that, we have to process the raw musical data
into something more audible. We've got to make a little better mix and in order to do
that, we need to create a few "sub mixes". Where we used three channel inputs for
each horn instrument and two for the skanks, we need to mix the horns into one sound
before it will enter our master mixing board. We need to do the same with the piano and
the organ, with the guitar and the clavinet, and lastly we need to combine the drums
and percussion.
This gives us five different audio tracks:
1. Drums
2. Bass
3. Horns
4. Skanks
5. Guitar/Clavinet
Take a look at the following screenshot. It's taken from Reason but it has the exact
same lay-out as any self respecting software simulation of a real studio mixing board
situation (click to enlarge):

Schematically, the set up would look like the table below (notice the only instrument
-bass- that goes straight to the Master mixing board):
INSTRUMENT

SUB MIX

Drums

Sub Mix 1

Kete

Sub Mix 1

CHANNEL IN

Percussion FX Sub Mix 1

Channel 1

Bass

Channel 2

Piano

Sub Mix 2

Organ

Sub Mix 2

Trumpet

Sub Mix 3

Saxophone

Sub Mix 3

Trombone

Sub Mix 3

Channel 3

Channel 4

Pucking Guitar Sub Mix 4

Clavinet

Sub Mix 4

Channel 5

Now, why is there such a need to create these sub mixes? Is it not possible to adjust
the right volumes and everything straight on the master mixing board? Doesn't this
make things more complicated? The key word here is anticipation.

At the moment we will add the effects, at the moment we will actually be dubbing the
music, we want to have an overview on just these things that are relevant. Take the
horns. At the moment you're in your Dub mixing, you decide you want to draw in the
horn section. You'll have to use three sliders or mute buttons. Better is to use one. On
top of that, you will want to add some specific effects to specific section, like a phaser
on the horns. Instead of taking an aux-out at the master mixing board, you can do this
in the sub mix. Besides, when we're adding the final effects we're already doing a
rather complicated thing.
In order to provide a little bit assistance, I've prepared a number of files basically
containing everything we did thus far. It could help you out as we will turn this basic
instrumental into a Dub.
For Reason 3.04 and up, I have a Zip file containing the original set up as displayed in
this chapter (that's including the sub-mixes) in a RNS File, along with the Refills needed
for the percussion. The RNS includes the wave samples used for the drum but just in
case, they're provided as wave files as well in the pack. It's about 14 mb. CLICK FOR
DOWNLOAD PAGE (IN NEW WINDOW)
For all other users, I have a zip file containing the raw multitracks in Wave format. The
five channels (Drums and Percussion, Bass, Skanks, Horns and Guitar/Clavinet) come
in five different wave files. When all inserted on a different audio channel in your audio
sequencer at 140 BPM right at the start, they should play in sync. When you want
loops, well, Control-C and Control-V in your favorite audio editor. Well over 90
Mb. CLICK FOR DOWNLOAD PAGE (IN NEW WINDOW)
There's also a MIDI FILE containing the raw musical data. RIGHT-CLICK HERE TO
DOWNLOAD
CHAPTER 25: CREATING A SET UP (3): A SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE DUB DELAY
AND REVERB
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:
CREATING A DUB DELAY AND REVERB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_qZjgbFIbc
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.
Here's the whole thing in a little table. And, oh yes: use post-aux, not pre.
AUX OUT

DEVICE(S)

Delay
(Feedback 0,
Wet)

CHANNEL IN

EQ

Channel 11

Reverb

Channel 12

Now we'll have to continue to set up effects. We'll take a look at the different forms of
effects and finally get our instrumental track to sound a bit reasonable. After that, we
can make our first Dub and get into the real niceness of it all! Needless to say, I try to
keep all of this available for non-Reason users as well, so you might have to change a
few things here and there. I use Reason as simulation of a real studio, so if you'll treat
your DAW more or less the same everything should more or less be fine.
CHAPTER 26: CREATING A SET UP (4): FINALIZING THE FX SET UP
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.
FINALIZING THE FX SET UP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qs5jv6qqVE
Take a look at the following screenshots (click to enlarge):

Our complete set up looks like this in a table:

INSTRUMENT

SUB SUB
CHANNEL AUX
MIX MIX FX IN
OUT

Drums

Sub
Mix
1

Kete

Sub
Mix
1

Percussion
FX

Sub
Mix

Channel 1

DEVICE

1
Bass

Channel 2

Piano

Sub
Phaser
Mix
Skanks
2

Organ

Sub
Phaser
Mix
Channel 3
Skanks
2

Trumpet

Sub
Phaser
Mix
Horns
3

Saxophone

Sub
Phaser
Mix
Horns
3

Trombone

Sub
Phaser
Mix
Channel 4
Horns
3

Pucking
Guitar

Sub
Mix
4

Clavinet

Sub
Mix
4

Channel 5

Delay

Channel
11

Reverb 1

Channel
12

Space Echo

Channel
13

Reverb 2

Channel
14
1
Delay
(post)
2
Reverb
(post) 1
3
Space
(post) Echo
4
Reverb
(pre) 2

There's just one more step to take before we can finally do what the title of this tutorial
claims: make DUB with a computer.

CHAPTER 27: CREATING A SET UP (5): FINALIZING THE SET UP WITH A

SOUNDCHECK
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.
This is the sound check, live and direct.
SOUND CHECKING FOR THE FIRST DUB SESSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qs5jv6qqVE
Now, you can -and should- do much more getting the right sound. Use compressors
and more EQ for the drums and the bass, for example. For the purpose of this tutorial
at this place, though, let's just leave it at that. After all, we're almost at the point where
we will take our first steps in Dub mixing.
Before we do that, though, let me shortly summarize and conclude this part of the
tutorial, where we've made the music and the right set up in our (virtual) studio and in
principal are ready for Dub.
We've created an instrumental Reggae track with MIDI, but you could also skip
the whole "How to create Reggae" part and simply use loops. There are even
Reggae construction kits available for free and commercially. What you do in
that case is, you don't use drum computers and samplers but loop players. Still
you will be able to use the set up proposed in this chapter. Use separate
channels for Drums, Bass, Skanks, Themes and Accompanying elements.
In a scale from 0 (silence) to 100 (loudest), a general guideline to balance
instruments in Reggae would be this:
99 bassdrum
90 bass
85 drums

80 skanks
70-90 themes
40 accompanying elements
Whatever you do, make your your master output does not clip. It should never
go in the red. Use normalize in the mastering process.
Use your ear when you do the soundcheck. It's better to do it in more than the 5
or so minutes of the video in this chapter. The more you pay ear to the detail,
the better it will sound.
Soundcheck Done!
CHAPTER 28: VERSION EXCURSION (1): (UN)MUTING CHANNELS AND USING
ECHO
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 1114). 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:
(UN)MUTING CHANNELS AND USING ECHO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_6lHYQuU4g
At a certain moment, I increase the volume of the Aux 1 (Echo) out at the horns
channel. This increases the gain of the echo, which gives a totally different vibe.
However, the basic thing to watch in the video is the (un)muting of the channels. I
configured Reason to (un)mute channel 1 when I press "1" on my keyboard, same with
channels 2,3,4,5. I just pressed these buttons and used the mouse to do the other
movements you can see.
Everything on the video was done in one take. For the purpose of demonstrating some
basic (un)muting, that's perfectly okay. But for mixing a Dub, you actually need to put
certain things in a loop and do much more moving of sliders and things. When you just
use a mouse, in a real studio situation this would mean you're only using one finger and
that's not really leading you anywhere when you're just having one take. That's why you
need to overdub your automation in several takes.
You can put the whole track in a loop and start from the top to the very last drop several
times, you can select let's say the first 32 measures of the tune and loop them, only to
continue with the next 32 bars when you're done. There are many ways to do so, and
your personal preference will crystallize the more you work and the more complex
everything becomes.
For now, lets stick a little bit with the (un)muting of the channels. In my own production
method, I usually make my set up so that when the volume sliders of the channels are
at max volume, they're at the preferred level. The reason for that is that even though I
use the mute button a lot, there are also parts where I prefer the slider. Pressing the
mute button at a skank just after you hear the actual chord gives a special effect, it's
done in the video as well. Using the volume sliders can give other special effects. Since
I do not want to bother about maintaining the right level all the time, I simply slide them
from max to zero or from zero to max.

When to (un)mute channels is more than anything else a matter of feeling. Playing with
the progressions of tones in for example the horns give special effects. For example,
when the horns three 16th notes and you cut the horns just before the third tone is
played, a long echo of the unfinished start gives that special effect.
Listen to a lot of Dub. Listen close where the instruments are cut off and you will
discover all kinds of strategic (un)muting like the ones I just described. It is really a
matter of feeling where and when you (un)mute, but it is the most important thing for a
Dub engineer to master. Most Dub effects are in fact some form of emphasis of an
(un)mute, so when you master that, you can continue to use the effects to de facto
emphasize what you are doing. Just play a little bit with the riddim like I did in the video,
it will increase your skills like a football player increases his skills by training.
Yes, to master (un)muting is a must for dubbing.
CHAPTER 29: VERSION EXCURSION (2): DUB ECHOES AND REVERB
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.
The 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.
DUB ECHOES AND REVERB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytbOo0llCtE
Let's list the effects used in this mix:
Delay -> EQ: The delay receives a signal and sends it 1/3 of a bar later straight
to an EQ device. Slightly changing the volume of certain frequencies instead of

just changing the volume of the echo makes the echo more interesting.
Changing the frequencies gives yet another interesting possibility.
Reverb 1: This is a long reverb with a post aux. It's used predominantly on the
skanks and the snaredrum, even though it's used on the bass and other
instruments as well.
Reverb 2: This is a short reverb with a pre aux, intended to enhance the sound
of the instrument. But it's used as Dub device as well, in the beginning of the
track on the drums and during the dub on the guitar and clavinet. In both cases,
the volume slider is all the way down while the aux out button is used to feed
the reverb device. All you hear is the wet reverb, while the dry instrument is not
present.
Just three? Yes. It sounds much more because of the heavy use of EQ and layering of
effects, namely adding reverb to the echoes.
EQ is very, very important. You can hear that the mix made for this chapter sounds
much more like a more or less reasonable Dub and that's not just because of the use of
Reverb. It's predominantly because of the EQ-ing of the echoes. In a way, changing EQ
during a mix is like adding a phaser sound without actually using a phaser.
CHAPTER 30: VERSION EXCURSION (3): USING EQ WITH SPACE ECHO AND
REVERB

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:
USING EQ WITH SPACE ECHO AND REVERB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtRODQPx4Ok
Yes, we call it EQ use. Others would call it outright EQ abuse, because EQ stands for
equalization and that's exactly what we do not want to establish. We want to change
the emphasized frequency range, sometime gradually to give a phaser-like effect and
sometimes fast, for example just after the snaredrum hits he reverb. Exactly the same
idea is done with the EQ of the Space Echo.
Just leaving the Reverb and/or Space Echo buttons open with the skanks, horns and
accompanying instruments while (un) muting them and changing the EQ of the Reverb
and/or Space Echo continually makes these instruments melt into each other.
Especially when you mix the sound of the Reverb just a little louder then the
instruments.
I also showed in the video just what layering of effects can do. Let's call it the chapter
bonus.
At a certain moment in the mix, all instruments are muted, except for the guitar and
clavinet. They give a signal to the other Reverb device while it's channel slider is at
zero. So you just hear the Reverb at channel 14. That Reverb then gives it signal to the
other Reverb device (Aux 2, Channel 12), the Space Echo (Aux 3, Channel 13) and the
Dub Echo (Aux 1, Channel 11). You'll hear an Echo of a Reverb and one skank hit
drops in. The reverb of the clavinet and the guitar are now functioning as the Reverb of
the skanks. It's a simple example of layering effects.
Towards the end, I give a few tips as all instruments run through the Space Echo. I
concluded these tips with the simple establishment that at that moment in the video,
creativity meets technology. I hope that at that moment, you will also have gotten some
ideas for yourself.
CHAPTER 31: VERSION EXCURSION (4): FIVE WAYS TO START A DUB AND A
FINAL VERSION
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.
Here are the Five Ways To Start A Dub Mix:
FIVE WAYS TO START A DUB MIX
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIK_ipy-_-I
Before going much deeper into the realms of DUB, let's formally conclude this
little Version Excursion with a DUB mix carrying the same title. This Dub mix is created
using "just" the knowledge and insight provided in the tutorial thus far. In other words:
the previous thirty chapters laid down a solid foundation, and not just for this Dub
mix. En passant you've been given the "formula" if you will how to make a Reggae track
and how to set up your (virtual) studio for some heavy Dub sessions.
In theory, you're ready to go and make your own production on a level that people who
love Dub will want to listen to your track.
The rest of this tutorial, in a way, are details.
MESSIAN DREAD'S VERSION EXCURSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ_SpKYDgMc
CHAPTER 32: A DEVIL DETAIL
To know how to build a standard instrumental Reggae track using Midi, to know how to
set up your studio for a Dub session and to then know how to make a Dub: is there
anything else you should know?
Of course there is.

There is so much to know, but without the foundation that has been laid in the
preceding chapters of this tutorial that knowledge can lead you into the wrong direction
and you'll end up being just another Techno producer. Nothing wrong with that, just
naming things the way they are. This tutorial is named "Making DUB With Computers",
so that's what we want to achieve.
Throughout this tutorial you can read how I touch on that essential aspect of Reggae
Music, being a means of communicating from one soul to another. In spite of all the
prejudice from every thinkable side, it is quite possible to make that music that touches
the hearts just using a computer and software. Remember, both analogue and digital
techniques are just that, techniques. Techniques don't do a thing until they are utilized
deliberately out of a motivation that is not technical, but rather artistic. You can teach
"everybody" to paint, but only those that have that urge and desire and potential ability
(aka talent) will actually be able to utilize the technology in order to create that artistic
product.
You can learn how to use which kind of technology on what kind of place and time in a
mix, you can learn how to make incredible compositions with complex chordical
structures and what have you, it's nothing without that drive. I assume you have that
drive, if only because we've entered the 32nd chapter and we're about to dive quite a
bit deeper into the production and mixing techniques. I assume you sometimes hear
that Dub in your head, that Dub you want to create but just don't know how to.
With all the possibilities in the field of audio (loops, for example) and incredible
innovations DAW's like Propellerhead's Reason and Ableton's Live have introduced to
the studio's, several new genres and techniques have come into existence. Just think
about Dubstep. I mentioned before how this is considered to be a genre that is actually
mostly created by producers using only a computer. It's important to realize the fact that
the mere existence of the computer is a decisive factor for new styles and genres,
where the music we deal with in this tutorial was there long before computers like we
have today.
With these new styles come new techniques, and that's why they are relevant for us. It
is very interesting and a learning experience to dive into Dubstep websites, Sample
Boutiques and magazines dealing with Computer Music. They give tips, tricks, sounds:
a lot can be integrated in the DUB production process. However, it should not be the
other way around. As soon as you adjust your sound and production processes to the
way "every" music producer using DAW's goes, you've compromised and this will
eventually turn up unapologetically in your tunes. This is what happened to many
Reggae producers when they wanted to adjust their Roots style to the Branch that had
come into existence (Hip Hop) and subsequently created "Dancehall". Dancehall, today,
is a form of American R&B and has nothing to do with Reggae. This is what happens to
DUB producers when they turn their Reggae-driven DUB into loop-driven Music. Their
music will become another form of Techno.
Music like Techno, House, Dubstep: all loop-driven.
Reggae makes use of what an uneducated person would call loops. Remember how
we created our first Reggae instrumental? First two bars, then copy and paste and
make changes like breaks and thing. Yes, you could mistake that for making loops. This

is why some approach the music as a loop based music. However, there are
differences.
In Techno, they will use a loop and change the sound of that loop, or the rhythm using
midi pattern changes, or both. In Reggae (and therefore in DUB), there is a lot of
repetiveness in drums, bass and skanks which could easily be mistaken for loops,
especially because in the creation of a riddim, loop technology can be utilized.
The devil is in the details, they say, well this difference is one such detail. One such
detail why I stress the importance of the fact that DUB pre-dates the computer.
What we do is use the computer to re-create that Dub situation of old times and make
thoughtful use of the possibilities the digital machine gives us without cutting ourselves
from the Roots, not the other way around. Just like we first create a Reggae track,
before we can remix it into a Dub. You can't (un)mute when there is nothing to
(un)mute!
You can record a complete Reggae track with a band using a multi-track audio DAW
(that would be any DAW basically), you can make your own track using MIDI
technology like we did in previous chapters, or you can use loops.
Whatever (combination of) modern techniques you use, use it to create an instrumental
Reggae track (or add vocals) first.
CHAPTER 33: AUDIO (1) - ONE-SHOTS, LOOPS AND STEMS
Throughout this tutorial I touch on certain, you could say, philosophical points. When it
comes to the technical approach of the Dub production process, I cannot point out
enough that we're talking about creating an "undubbed" Reggae track as a first phase.
After all, Dub is a Reggae remix process. That's exactly the reason why it took thirty
chapters of basic Reggae Musicology and Studio Set Up before even one Dub could be
made.
Don't think everything is said and done about Dub mixing. It's just, how should I put it,
an introduction. Basic Reggae Musicology and setting up your studio for a Dub mix is
an introduction. Until this point, namely, we've only used MIDI technology for the
creation of music and for that, you need to have a little bit of insight and also a little bit
of musical feel. In fact, for the creation of the musical track I used zero knowledge
about Dub and every knowledge I have gained as, well, musician.
I know a little bit about chords, bass lines and drums and a little bit about themes and
clavinets and thing. I've worked with musicians and I always listen to music with an
analytical approach. Still, being a producer or a Dub engineer is not the same as being
a musician. There's a huge difference as everybody with even a grain of insight into the
Music Making culture can tell you. Nuff said.
An engineer in a studio, especially in pre-computer days, dealt with recordings. Actual
recordings from actual musicians, not synthesizers, samplers and drum computers
following a programmed sequencer pattern. An engineer deals with the vibe of the
music, too, not so much with the actual musicological side. To an engineer it doesn't
matter which chords, bass lines or whatever is used. The engineer "just" turns the
musical play into something audible. In our case, that audible something is Dub.

Next to programming/playing MIDI stuff into a sequencer, you can choose to use the
sequencer for pre-recorded material too. Next to, or instead of. There are basically
three different forms of audio that you can use to construct your basic (instrumental)
Reggae track: loops, stems and one-shots. All these three forms deserve their own
chapter, but what they have in common with each other is the same as what they have
in common with what we have been doing in this tutorial thus far: creating a track from
where we can make a Dub of.
Here's a short description of the three audio forms I'd like to cover:
ONE SHOTS
The most common use of one shots are drum samples in a drum computer or sampler.
Load the one-shots, program a rhythm and off you go. They can also be used to spice
up things musically or as a plain sound effect while you mix your Dub.
LOOPS
Loops are shorter or longer recordings of drums, bass, horns, the riddim section. They
can be one bar, two, four, eight, up to thirty-two and even beyond. Using Loop Player
and Editor features, you can change the rhythm and pitch of the loops to make a
workable multi-track of a Reggae track.
STEMS
Stems are like loops, but they can be complete multi-track recordings from start to stop,
including vocals and others as well. Stems can actually be seen as what used to be the
multi-track recordings in studios like Channel one.
The big difference between creating your own musical track and using pre-recorded
material lies in the contents of the audio, obviously. Personally I use loops that were
recorded in Mad Professor's studio, for example. Drums, horns, riddim section... I
combine it with my own musical ideas but it is a great joy, help and improvement for my
sound that I'm able to use material recorded with not just crucial soundware but also
with the experience of Mad Professor and the musicians themselves. I use much more
than Ariwa material, but I'm sure you get the point.
When I started writing this tutorial back in the days, even using one-shots was quite a
thing. Processing loops was like: give a command to your computer, take a trip around
town and see if it was anything when you came back. Fortunately, processing audio
can be done in real-time so even without any musicological background but with just an
ear for the right thing, "everybody" can now make Dub. Even when they didn't make
(all) of the music themselves.