TECHNOLOGY INNA RUB-A-DUB STYLE: Technology and Dub in the Jamaican Sound System and Recording Studio Jean-Paul Lapp-Szymanski Department of Art History and Communications Studies McGill University, Montreal August 2005 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Jean-Paul Lapp-Szymanski 2005 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24885-0 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24885-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT RËSUMË ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii PREFACE 1 PARTI MEDIUM RIGIDITY, THE SOUND SYSTEM AND DUB CHAPTER ONE AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SOUND SYSTEM FORM 10 SECTION 1 THE EARL Y SOUND SYSTEM 1 0 Imported U.S. Rhythm and Blues Records 13 Sound Clash: Competition, Experimentation and the Deejay 1 4 SECTION Il MEDIUM "RIGIDITY" AND THE WORK OF HAROLD INNIS 1 6 Medium Struggle: Rigidity Meets Flexibility in the Sound System 1 9 Slavery in a Plantation Colony 22 SECTION III PRIVA TE PROPERTY: RADIO, RECORD PLAYERS AND RECORDS 25 Military Routes and Trade Networks 28 SECTION IV THE ROLE OF EXCLUSIVES 30 CHAPTER TWO TECHNOLOGY VERSION 35 SECTION 1 INSTRUMENTAL DUB PLA TES: THE FIRST DUB-VERSIONS 35 SECTION /1 TECHNOLOGY: WHA T'S IT TO YOU? 41 The Sound System: From Public Address System to the "Williamson Form" 49 Lloyd "The Matador" Daley 57 Modification and Custom-Built 60 Record Player Protocol: The ArrivaI of Twin-Turntables 65 SECTION /II MODERN TECHNICS: WARFARE, MINING AND THE LIMINAL REGIONS OF MACHINE ART 72 SECTION IV DANCING IN THE SOUND SYSTEM 89 PART Il JAMAICAN RECORDING STUDIOS AND DUB INTRODUCTION 95 CHAPTER THREE JAMAICAN RECORDING STUDIOS: FROM TURN-CRANK TO MUL TI-TRACK 97 SECTION 1 THE FIRST RECORDING STUDIOS 97 Stanley Motta 's Studio 97 Early Self-Produced Recordings 100 Ken Khouri 102 SECTION Il PRECURSORS TO MUL TI- TRACK RECORDING: SOUND-ON-SOUND ACETA TES, DUAL- TRACK MONAURAL AND HALF- TRACK STEREO TAPE RECORDERS 1 06 Sound-On-Sound: From Acetate to Magnetic Tape Recorder 107 SECTION III MUL TI-TRACK RECORDING HITS JAMAICA 1 1 8 CHAPTER FOUR DUB 133 SECTION 1 EARL Y VERSIONS OF DUS 133 SECTION Il LEE PERRY ANDLYNFORD ANDERSON 137 SECTION III SYL VAN MORRIS A T STUDIO ONE 149 SECTION IV KING TUBBY 154 SECTION V LEE PERRY'S BLACK ARK STUDIO 164 Vinyl Constraints and the Construction of the Black Ark 167 The Black Ark: Constricted Oversees Outlets, Mounting Pressure and Collapse 170 Inheritors of Lee Perry and the Black Ark 172 Dub Fragmentation: Lee Perry's Phoneme-Dropping and Walter Benjamin 's Baroque Fragment 174 CHAPTER FIVE CONCLUSION 181 APPENDIX 1 EXORCISING THE BLACK ARK: X-ING, DUCK PONDS, AND "A RETURN BLESSING THROUGH FIRE" 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY 192 ABSTRACT This thesis attempts to chart the development of a Jamaican musical form known as dub. This development is considered primarily in terms of the island's encounter with a series of new playback, amplification, recording, and sound treatment technologies. Section 1 focuses on the formation of the Jamaican sound system (a network of powerful mobile discos) and its pivotai role in the birth of a fertile domestic record industry. Section Il extends the investigation to the Jamaican recording studio and record industry. What distinguishes this work from others on Jamaican dub is its emphasis on technology, and theories of technology, within a geo-political framework. In Section l, this emphasis is most notably informed by the work of Harold Innis, Karl Marx and Lewis Mumford, with Marshall McLuhan and Walter Benjamin becoming more prominent in Section II. Key technologies in this analysis include mechanization (mechanical reproducibility), the Williamson amplification circuit, the House of Joyspeaker, the dub plate (acetate phonograph) and vinyl record, twin-turntables and the microphone, the magnetic tape recorder, and perhaps most importantly, the multi-track recorder and interface (the multi-track mixing-board). ii RËSUMË Le présent mémoire est une tentative pour établir le portrait de l'évolution d'une forme musicale jamaïcaine connue sous le nom de «dub». Cette évolution est principalement considérée à travers la rencontre de l'île et une série de nouvelles technologies comme celles de la présonorisation, de l'amplification, de l'enregistrement, et du traitement du son. La première partie du mémoire est concentré sur la formation du «sound system» jamaïcain (un réseau de discothèques puissantes et mobiles) et le rôle primordial qu'il a joué lors de la naissance d'une industrie locale du disque très fertile. La deuxième partie étend l'étude au studio d'enregistrement jamaïcain et l'industrie du disque. Ce qui distingue cette recherche d'autres sur le «dub» jamaïcain est l'accent mis - à l'intérieur d'un cadre géopolitique - dans la technologie et les théories sur les technologies. Cette insistance est alimentée, dans la première partie, par l'apport de Harold Innis, de Karl Marx et celui de Lewis Mumford. Toutefois, nous constatons que dans la deuxième partie du travail c'est plutôt l'apport de Marshall McLuhan et celui de Walter Benjamin qui deviennent plus importants. Les technologies clé de ce mémoire sont la mécanisation (reproduction mécanique), le circuit d'amplification de Williamson, le haut-parleur «House of Joy», le «dub plate» (phonographe), les disques en vinyle, des plaques tournantes doubles, le microphone, les enregistrements magnétiques, et probablement le plus important, l'enregistrement sur plusieurs pistes et interfaces (la console de mixage multipiste). iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor, Professor Will Straw, for his ongoing support and encouragement. Professor Straw's advice and suggestions have been fundamental in the planning, writing and editing of this thesis, and have no doubt resulted in a far more coherent final product. 1 must also thank my parents, Maria Brand and Ted Szymanski, for their help on so many levels. Professor David Crowley's suggestions have been an asse st as weil, particularly in the early development of this project's theoretical framework. In addition, 1 would like to express my appreciation to Natasa Bosnjak, for ail her patience. My thesis has also been informed by informai discussion. Numerous - - people have been helpful in this regard, too many to mention, however 1 feel 1should single out Jim Dooley and Chris Harper for their recommendations concerning the collection of material and data. The translation of the Abstract was carried out with the help of Jorge Frozzini. Finally, 1would like to pay tribute to those practitioners and participants who would turn recorded music and multi-track technology upside down. 1 PREFACE This thesis will attempt to explore the development of a musical form known as dub. This form is the result of a revolution in multi-track mixing technique. Rather than attempting to preserve the organic unity of a live performance, the multi-track studio becomes an instrument for tearing a composite recording into fragments. Fragments of the assembled performance erupt and vanish without warning; shuddering swells of degenerating echo often follow in the wake of their disappearance. By "playing" the multi-track mixing board interface, the thresholds of the individual tracks take on a deep form of expression, revealing the hidden worlçis of the dub-version. Dub-mixing 'techniques first began to emerge around 1967 in Jamaica, shortly after the introduction of multi-track capabilities to the island. By the end of the 19605, dub-versions (or simply "versions", as they were then called) were appearing on the B-sides of most Jamaican singles (Barrow and Dalton 2001: 227). These mixing techniques developed out of the close relationship between Jamaican recording studios and the sound system1• Due to the mounting pressures of sound system competition, multi-track recording technologies were pushed into practices essentially antithetical to their designed function (Le., flaunting the fragmented multi-track process of production rather than hiding it). The significance of the se mixing practices is of central concern to this work.