The lack of singers is not the only thing that has changed at Music House. He wasn’t vulgar or violent.” And that’s the end of the ‘everything was better before’ digression.

The sound was pretty terrible, so we stopped.” Of all the vocalists who passed through the door on Holloway Road, if Chris only had to keep one, “It would be Ninjaman without a doubt. “We used to record vocals in mono, straight onto the dubplate. Voicing now happens elsewhere, in studios built solely for that purpose.Īccording to Chris Hanson, Black Slate’s guitarist and band leader, this change was inevitable. The days when Mike Brooks would hang around all day are truly gone. Not many people come down to Music House anymore for these, however. The lifeblood of the sound system scene, it is within these spaces that special recordings are crafted to be tested in the dance (dubplates), or where existing songs are reworked with new lyrics according to which sound will be clashing on the night (specials). In 2006 there is still Jah Tubby’s, Liquid, and Heathmens. Life as usual at Music House, the most famous London dubplate studio, in operation since 1985, but not the only one. Another story among many others: Barry Brown, over in the UK with the King Original group, singing in rags and without any shoes Jah Shaka requesting that the doors of the studio be locked when he worked on his dubplates. And you Jah Warrior, keep on with the dubs, you’re going to kill lots of sound with those!” If Sugar says so… end of the argument. Rescue comes in the shape of Sugar Minott, who just turned up with the Youth Promotion crew. It’s understandable to be confused by such local touches. It’s hard to explain to some like this singer that in the UK dub still exists stronger than ever, and that roots sound systems will happily record four or five different cuts on the same riddim. The recipient of his frustration is none other than Steve Mosco, owner of the sound system – and future label – Jah Warrior. Fresh off the boat, he has to record with a band and has yet to learn about the subtleties of English dubplate culture. A young Jamaican singer is getting annoyed. “Cho man, this is useless, all your tunes sound the same!” The scene is happening in 1995 in the dubplate studio Music House, based at the time on Holloway Road in London right next to The Rocket club. Seb Carayol took a look at a regular day at Music House back in 2006. From Jah Shaka to Ninjaman, it is a place rich with tales. Inside one of London’s main dubplate studios there are no singers rushing to record ‘specials,’ but instead music genres yet unknown in Jamaica.

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