King Tubby (real name Osbourne Ruddock , English; Osbourne Ruddock ; January 28, 1941 - February 6, 1989) is a Jamaican electric and sound engineer, best known for having a significant influence on the development of dub music in the 60s and 70s years of the XX century.
| King tubby | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Osbourne ruddock |
| Date of Birth | January 28, 1941 |
| Place of Birth | Kingston |
| Date of death | February 6, 1989 (aged 48) |
| Place of death | |
| A country | Jamaica |
| Professions | sound engineer |
| Genres | dub reggae |
| Labels | |
Tabby's innovative studio work affirmed the role of producer, previously owned only by composers and musicians, as well as a music creator, and had a very noticeable impact on many popular music genres.
He is often recognized as the inventor of the concept of remix , and therefore can be considered as the progenitor of dance and electronic music.
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Early years
King Tabby began his musical career in the 1950s, working with sound systems that played dance music on the streets of Kingston . As a talented radio engineer, King Tabby was soon in great demand in most of Kingston's large sound systems, as the weather of the tropical Caribbean islands (often combined with sabotage of warring sound systems) caused many equipment problems. King Tabby ultimately deduced the form of his own sound, “Tubby's Hometown Hi-Fi,” which the audience loved because of its high sound quality, exclusive releases, and Tabby's own sound effects - echo and reverb .
Remix
Tabby began working on the production of records for producer Duke Reid in 1968. Raid, a major figure in early Jamaican music, founded Treasure Isle, one of the first Jamaican independent music production centers in the style of Ska , Rocksteady and, ultimately, Reggae . At the request of MC or sound system toasters, Tabby produced instrumental versions of songs, initially removing vocals by moving the sliders on the mixer, but soon found that different instrumental tracks could be given a different accent, reworked, and given a different mood by setting up the mixer and primitive early effectors. Over time, Tabby and others began to create completely new music by shifting the emphasis in instrumental versions of songs, adding some sounds and eliminating others, using various special effects, such as echo, reverb and phase effects . Partly due to the incredible popularity of these early remixes, in 1971 Tabby's sound system consolidated its position as one of the most popular in Kingston, and so he decided to open his own studio.
Dub
The production activities of King Tabby in the 1970s made him one of the most famous celebrities in Jamaica and will generate the interest of musicians around the world in his production technologies. Tabby's craftsmanship is based on his considerable knowledge of repairing, adapting, and developing his own studio equipment, using a combination of old devices and new technologies to create the special atmospheric sound that has become King Tabby's trademark. Using a large variety of effects connected to the mixing console, Tabby was able to make him “play” as an instrument, replacing the vocal parts with the instrumental ones (literally “dubbing”) to create a completely new musical genre: Dub . Using pre-existing master cassettes, or his own highly qualified session musicians, Tabby mixed in the instrumental parts of the composition in unexpected configurations especially heavy bass and drums, interspersed with vocals, winds and keyboards. These methods mirrored the actions of the select men of sound systems that used the equalizer to emphasize certain aspects of the recordings that are of particular importance. But Tabby was able in his own studio to apply this method in unexpected areas, often changing the song so much that it was completely unlike the original.
King Tabby was a recording engineer and remixed for many Jamaican producers, such as Lee Perry , Bunny Lee, Augustus Pablo and Vivian Jackson, in collaboration with artists such as Johnny Clarke, Cornell Campbell, Linval Thompson, Horace Andy, Big Joe, Delroy Wilson , Jah Stitch, Scientist and many others. In 1973, he began recording vocals separately from instrumental music. It seems unlikely that King Tabby’s complete discography of production can be based on the number of labels, artists, and producers he worked with, because subsequent releases of these releases sometimes contain conflicting information. His name is indicated on hundreds of records, but even more on his name is not indicated, due to the similarity with his more famous works. In the late 1970s, King Tabby basically moved away from music, still recording remixes from time to time and teaching a new generation of artists.
In the 1980s, he managed his own labels, Firehouse, Waterhouse, and Taurus.
Death
King Tabby was killed on February 6, 1989 by a group of unidentified men upon returning from work from his Waterhouse studio. It is believed that the murder was probably an attempted robbery.