Dub Influences in EDM

Through the creative miss-use of studio equipment and effects dub producers have cut themselves a niche as a new class of artist where the producer was the main focus rather than the band. This is where the lasting influence of dub can be seen over all electronic music. As stated earlier dubs main focus is on the bass and drums or “riddim.” This characteristic of boosting the rhythm section of a track can be seen in most genres of modern electronic music such as hip-hop, house, techno, jungle/drum n bass, breaks, dub step and electronica. New technology such as digital reverbs and delays enable today’s electronic artists to create impossible spaces through the use of algorithms such as convolution reverbs. The majority of modern electronic music employs the use of impossible acoustic spaces for the effect of trying to create something new and unheard before. This can be traced directly back to the original dub artists even if the modern artist would not cite dub as an influence on their music.

Some areas of house and techno (and indeed other forms of EDM) discount any influence from dub and instead only look to their origins in Chicago, Detroit and the late 1980's to early 1990's acid house coming from the UK. While it is the prerogative of any producer to state his or her own influences, a wider perspective view of music as a whole shows that some of the areas of innovation that were started by dub eventually made their way through the ears and culture of many countries and certain things happening around the world can come together into a wider cultural pot of knowledge. Taking this into account the production practices of every EDM producer cannot be directly traced back to dub but the production techniques discussed in this paper can be seen throughout many genres of music proving dub has had a wide and long lasting influence.

Butler (2006 pg.46) discusses how jungle/drum & bass was a significant development of the 1990's  stating that it "combines accelerated drum patters ("breakbeats") sampled from percussion only sections ("breaks") of old funk records with half tempo bass lines influenced by reggae." A good example of dub influence in drum & bass is Marcus Intalex's Emergency Dub, along with the obvious offbeat dub skank chords on beats 2 and 4 and dub influenced bass line, arrhythmic delays float in and out of the mix again providing a counterpoint off beat rhythm in much the same pattern as King Tubby's. At around 2:57 during the break down the dub chords are panned slightly left while their short delay is panned hard right and processed with distortion. This gives the effect of the sound moving across the stereo field while still separating the delay effect from the dry sound.  

       

The explosion of the dubstep sound around the world in the last decade has in turn seen dub influences across the board in EDM. The minimalist sound of dub and focus on rhythm section of the track fits perfectly into the techno production ethic. Many techno dj's have started to incorporate dub, dubstep and dub influenced music into their dj sets, which has in turn influenced techno production. An example of this could be Ricardo Villalobos who was routinely including The Rope Tightens by Shackleton during his gigs and was soon asked to remix Blood On My Hands also by Shackleton, this promptly connected the two once separate genres by delivering a dark dub techno mix. This connection, although not new' sparked new interest in dub sounds through the techno scene. 

References and Bibliography

Butler. M. (2006) Unlocking The Groove. Rhythm, Meter, and Musical Design in EDM. Indiana University Press