25 dub tips

Find out how you can become a dub star...

MusicRadar Team November 28, 2007, 10:31 UTC
1. Dub pioneers such as superhuman nutcase Lee Scratch Perry get their starling,
otherworldly sound by misusing and experimenting with regular bits of kit. For example,
King Tubby would use a mixing console test tone, swathed in delay and reverb to create
those characteristic lo-fi sci-fi effects. Give it a go!
2. Dub is much more than just a subgenre of reggae, it's a production style that can be used and
adapted how you wish. Disparate styles such as ambient (The Orb), rock (Public Image Limited)
and techno (Leftfield) use dub tricks and techniques, so don't be afraid to twist it to your own ends.
3. The key to getting that twisted dub sound is all in the details. Get to know what every control on
your delay and reverb plug-ins does - sometimes a seemingly incongruous function can have a
dramatic effect when part of a big effects chain. Delay effects where you can mess with the pitch of
the signal work particularly well for creating abstract sounds.
4. A big part of traditional dub is the mellifluous sound of the bass guitar. However, if recording real
instruments isn't an option, you could get away with using a monophonic bass synth with
reasonably long release time and careful use of your MIDI controller's pitchbend wheel for added
expression.
5. If you're able to record live playing for your tracks, using unusual instruments can add an
individual tinge to your music. Played in the correct style and with the right processing, any
instrument can have that dubbed-out flavour. Likewise, 'found sounds' put through some delay,
reverb and other effects will always add a unique touch.
6. The organ is a commonly used instrument in dub, and as its sound is fairly easy to reproduce
digitally, you can get away with using a plug-in version without it sounding too cheesy.
7. Vocals, instruments and effects that have a lot of delay on them can sound great when silenced
halfway through a word or musical phrase.
8. Much of dub's hard-hitting power comes from its combination of big bass and drum sounds. For
maximum impact, sequence your bassline to trigger on the same note as your kick drum. Switching
it to the offbeat will give a more laid-back, syncopated feel.
9. For some truly authentic dub-style processing, organise your track into groups of instruments,
and use aux effect chains tweaked live. This will give you less control than automating each part's
effects individually, but this method is truer to the techniques employed by the original dub
scientists.
10. Dynamically used effects are possibly the most important characteristic of the dub sound. For
instance, occasionally the snare will get a big hit of reverb for impact, but this would sound
ridiculous on every snare in the track. Automation can be used to apply effects only when needed,
though you may find manually 'riding the faders' gives the mix a more human quality.
11. When using effects chains, it's important to accurately control two parameters at once - for
example, a delay unit's feedback level and the cutoff level of a filter. Controlling two parameters at
once with your mouse is a nightmare, so if possible, use a MIDI controller instead to give you a
more hands-on approach.
Effects
12. Big drum sounds are important if you want your dub tracks to hit hard, so try using an overdrive
plug-in to warm up your percussion parts.
13. As for reverb effects, Ambience is hard to beat. For a crazy lo-fi effect, turn the Quality/CPU
control down until the sound starts to disintegrate. Set it to 0% then adjust the Size for an even
more twisted sound.
14. Classic Dub tends to involve a lot of saturation caused by overloading an analogue desk - hard
to recreate easily on your computer. However, some kind of saturation plug-in such as Chrissy can
add a little of that analogue warmth to your tracks, and as a bonus it'll also filter and alias your
sounds.
15. Another great free plug-in designed specifically for the creation of dub is the wacky Dub Siren, a
tone generator designed to imitate the simple siren and sci-fi sounds that were common in early
dub and still pop up now and again today. Stick it through some reverb and delay - keep fiddling
until you feel irie.
16. Before the arrival of modern digital effects units, many studios would use spring reverbs. This
kind of sound can be heard on countless dub records, and is easily recreated using any spring
reverb plug-in.
17. The order of the effects that you use will have a dramatic impact on the shape of the sound
produced. While it's traditional to use delay and reverb effects after any others, try switching the
order round to create something a bit more unusual. Processing a delayed signal with other effects
can give you that big abstract type of dub sound.
18. When creating dub rhythm tracks, a great deal of the sound comes from the reverb you use.
Experiment with your reverb unit's pre-delay, time and size values to see what different feels and
vibes can be created - but be careful not to drown out the original drum sound, as this still needs to
punch through the mix.
19. You can give movement to your track's rhythm section by adding effects to the higher pitched
sounds such as hats and cymbals. Phaser, filter or flanger effects work particularly well. Rather than
having the effect play constantly throughout the track, try changing the rate and mix controls for
more dynamic movement.
20. If your delay unit has a filter control, try using it to dynamically control the shape of the feedback
- the same goes for tone and damping controls.
Delay
21. When creating those mysterious dub soundscapes, reverb and delay are your best friends. Try
out a variety of these effects until you find some that you work well with. The utterly
bargainous DubStation ($39) is ideal, but if you're a little short, try Echomania, which is free.
22. Be careful when using high feedback delay values - they can cause the volume level of a track
to build up to potentially dangerous levels. In particular, watch out if you're using automated
feedback settings; if you stop the track in a section with a high feedback setting it'll keep feeding
back until you skip to a section with a lower feedback level. Try using a limiter plug-in after any
delay units with extreme settings.
23. Changing your delay unit's setting creates different rhythms, but you may find that attempting
this in real time causes your plug-in to emit annoying 'zipper' noises. If you hanker after dynamic
delay time changes, give mda DubDelay a go. Try rapidly razzing the delay time setting to create
wild pitch-changing effects.
24. Most software delay plug-ins enable you to sync the delays perfectly to the host's tempo. While
this creates a nice tidy echo effect, for that true old-school dub feel you should really turn the
synchronisation off and get an approximate delay time instead. While this might not sound as neat
and tidy as using host sync, it'll sound much more organic in a traditional dub stylee.
25. Though at times it can sound chaotic, proper orchestration is important to keep a dub track
flowing nicely - for instance, feedback sweeps can be made more striking by cutting out other tracks
for their duration. Bring the bass and drum parts back in at the same time for maximum impact.