![]() ![]() “I didn’t want to give up, but there was no need for me to cut anymore,” says Youngsta. The convenience is undeniable, not only within the context of dubplate culture and getting music from the studio to the dancefloor as quickly as possible but also the nuts and bolts of the equipment used to play out in clubs. The debate over preference often revolves around factors of sound quality and convenience, with the latter arguably being the more influential when it comes to opting for the digital side of life. And then the future comes, and it’s like ‘wow, fuck.’”Īnd then the future comes, and it’s like ‘wow, fuck.’ĬDs, Serato, USB keys: these are the mainstay DJ formats in 2016. “At the time when you think something really is the one for you,” he explains, “you would never assume or imagine that there’s another, better format. “Things evolve,” says Youngsta, a pioneer of the dubstep sound whose switch away from vinyl and acetate dubplates came as a surprise and caused some consternation among fans. And the extent to which that romantic affiliation can cure a bad back or a hefty airport luggage fee induced by a stuffed record back is easily brought into question. It gives a sense of finality and closure that a digital bounce never can – and just before you release that track into the public domain, for a few precious moments you know that music is yours, and yours alone.”īut as time and technology have progressed, dubplate culture has moved into the digital age too: from the physical to the intangible – from the actual to the conceptual, if you will. It cannot be changed or edited, or reused. There’s a sense of romance associated with the format too, and the physicality of it – which in turn can enhance its sense of exclusivity.īainbridge explains: “You can hold a dub up in the air, knowing that the sole purpose of this unique object is to contain your music in its grooves. (Bainbridge even goes as far as to argue that dubplate culture is at least partly responsible for the existence of dance music as a whole, his argument being that “the fact that dubs have two sides means that instrumental cuts of tracks became popular, arguably enabling the creation of dub, MCing and, later, dance music.) “For many decades it was the only way to get material fresher than the commercially-released fodder out from the studio and into the air in a timely manner.” “From a purely physical perspective, it’s hard to see how sound system culture could have ever arisen without the ability to cut dubs,” says Bainbridge. Like so many innovations, dubplate culture and the excitement and fascination that surrounds it was largely born out of necessity. “One of the best things I find in a dance is when you hear something you know isn’t released and only the people in the room will be experiencing. “There’s a bit of mystery to it all, which I think is appealing to people,” says Kahn, a Bristol-based DJ and producer whose music – spanning dancehall, dub reggae, grime and dubstep – is firmly rooted in soundsystem culture. “Many soundsystems pride themselves on the number of exclusive cuts they have,” says Bainbridge, “and they use them to compete with other soundsystems, either informally through their dances or more formally in competitions known as sound clashes.” With the outcome of sound clashes typically based on crowd reaction, being able to elicit a wild response from the participating audience is key.Ī pretty simple way to achieve this is to enrol the element of surprise by playing a special version of a recognisable track – “re-workings of existing tracks for specific soundsystems to use,” according to Bainbridge – or something entirely new that is bound to move the room. The fact that a typical acetate dubplate will only survive around fifty plays furthers this sense of exclusivity. In the same way that bands will typically road test new material to live audiences when on tour, DJs using dubplates were able to bring a sense of exclusivity and individuality to each performance at a dance. Many soundsystems pride themselves on the number of exclusive cuts they have… “Dubplate culture originated from reggae soundsystems in the ‘70s,” explains Goz, “kudos was given to soundsystems who had special versions of new and previously unreleased songs, sometimes with the system’s name sung by the original artist as an intro to the ‘version.’” This sense of exclusivity forms the real basis of dubplate culture. “As a concept, a dub is just an exclusive track (regardless of the format), that’s not yet in general circulation,” says Bainbridge. That’s not to say that they can’t be used for playback though, and in fact it’s arguably the culture that has grown up around their use by DJs that has most contributed to the fascination around the practice of cutting dubplates. ![]()
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