Roots Archives Forum

The new reggae sounds the same using the same equipment.

peace

What was so good about reggae 1987-1990 style was the drum machine rhythms, mostly a Roland TR-808 was used that gave the whole sound and feel of that time.

Perhaps the roots scene should start using the 808 again the hardware box not the software, the software is not the same at all. There was an art in using the 808, unlike a computer sofeware version. The tunes fron 87` 90` are in big demand selling for big money on ebay. Sunset label, Ruddys label, etc.

The 808 is now a collectors item and very rare like the tunes it once made. We would just run the beat and put keyboard tracks over the beat in real time. That whole style of making music has gone, but very much in demand.

peace

From my point of view, and its only an opinion. The digital era dispensed with all the things that I liked about reggae.

I loved the textures of sounds, i.e. the guitar or organ fills, the pumping organ etc. The sort of improvisation you only get when musicians jam togther When I listen to digital stuff I dont hear that, because its just one bloke and a computer. There's no playing off each other, or someone saying 'that sounds good play it again'.

As I said its only an opinion.

too make a long story short:

i didn't read the whole discussion but i personally don't care too much about "conscious" lyrics (i as a whitey can't deal with this rasta back to africa nonsense anyway), i care for the riddim and the musicians and maybe a good lead singer.

I simply can't stand that digital shit (latest trend robotic voices, what a BS) because it's poor and not deep on the mixing side. also i don't need the 999th digital remake of "Real rock" or other classics which were done at studio one many moons ago and already have been recycled in the 70s via aggrovators/revolutionaries and mixed by real masters like king tubby.


So why should i today listen to something like morgan heritage ? their pseudo lightweight "roots" bores me to the max. dispensable like earlier pseudo roots groups like "Chalice". and then all this nerving ragga shit. only loud shouting by the mc's and some hectic beats per minute. no thanks.

There are still some bands / producers recording using analogue equipment / real musicians / heavyweight mixes. mostly, outside Jamaica.

( could put a link, but I'm not sure if it'll be removed..... )

**The sort of improvisation you only get when musicians jam togther When I listen to digital stuff I dont hear that, because its just one bloke and a computer. There's no playing off each other, or someone saying 'that sounds good play it again'.**

This may be true now (one bloke) but in the early days of "digital" reggae, you usually had teams like Steely and Cleavie or Mafia and Fluxie who played together to creative a synchopative element. Only the fills were usully programmed, the beats were played on the drum machine "manually". You still had to have a sense of timing, and musical invention. It also allowed for imperfections in the beat count, as almost all drummers change tempo within the track (usually they speed up throughout, although some slow down...this is apparant on 12" mixes when the dub starts, and the tracks all of a sudden seems "slower"). It's little mistakes and idiosynchracies that make songs memorable.

Personally, I hated it when Fatis (Exterminator) always used Studio One drum lick intros to his songs. The opening lick traditionally was always a moment of high drama in recognizing a tune. Then all of a sudden you would hear the "Stars" drum intro appended to an entirely different riddim. Useless IMO, but perhaps I am getting old and fussy!

@ Inyaki: like this?

www.myspace.com/loneark


I think Roberto Sanchez is doing a great work!

yep, and some more:

http://www.myspace.com/bdfbasquedubfoundation

Some may be confusing digital and analog versus live and programmed. Some ( a lot, but not all) of the new JA roots I'm hearing these days and for the past few years is using live musicians. Real drums at least. But the recording itself is digital, not tape. That's my guess.
A lot of new stuff by like Cocoa Tea or Luciano and most of the bobo chanters are voicing over real drums a lot of the time, at least. If what I'm thinking is real drums is not real drums then drum programming has gotten incredibly sophisticated. (Which may be true).

In Jamaica they've lost their old sound. The classic studios are closed: Randys, Channel One, Joe Gibbs, Harry J, Dynamics, Treasure Isle, etc....either don't exist or they have being rebuilt and relocated to different premises with modern digital recording equipment.

You have productions using real instruments ( drums, bass, guitars, etc....)like Morgan Heritage, Beres Hammond and all that so-called 'New Roots' stuff. But they’ve gone digital, they record on Pro Tools or Logic or whatever software, and if you record that way it's not going to sound like classic Harry J or Channel One.

Technology has changed, they record direct into the computer and they don't record onto tape anymore, analogue tape produce a nice organic compression that is lacking on digital recordings. Even some mixing desks are digital with digital effects as well. They don't tune the drums like they used to do , the tune them in a "modern" style, not with that heavyweight compressed old school style. They look for harmonics....and they sound soft IMO.
They use modern instruments, terrible synths instead of proper pianos or hammonds, 5-string bass with roundwood strings (instead of the 60s-70s flat...a heavier sound)
I still use flats on my bass to get that heavy vintage sound.

A lot of the equipment used in the 70's and 80's, when the records were punchier, has disappeared. Every studio in the 70's had its own sound: Randy’s, Dynamic, Channel One, Black Ark. I've been recording the last few years drums in Jamaica and couldn't believe the sound quality....sounded like Pop music.

Personally I like the old stuff. Analogue sounds different, there's no question about that. The way the Revolutionaries or Roots Radics used to record, everything was up so high it went into the red. When that happens on tape it gives a kind of "natural" compression. It makes it sound really fat. With digital, once you go to a certain point it creates noise. Digital is too "perfect"...I don't like "perfect", I like raw, dirty... You don't get that 'nearly distortion' that is on the old Reggae records. It was very unique to classic Reggae. In the 70's and 80's the music produced in JA and UK was raw but very 'musical', recorded in analogue with a human touch. Nowadays JA productions are musical but not raw enough. Of course, occasionally I hear stuff that I like, but not that often.

Nearly everything they're doing in Jamaica now sounds like a Pop record. They tune the drums like Elton John or Beyoncé ( that 'clean' sound with lots of harmonics) there's no difference. It's lighter than it used to be. The new musicians in Jamaica are younger and they started to play music after the digital era. So they have a completely different take on music, especially in production. Technically the musicians in Jamaica nowadays are very good, much better than in the 70s, but they don't have the same feel. They listen to US pop, R&B and Hip Hop for inspiration.....They definitively know what they are doing, but it doesn’t appeal to me. I'm an "old" grumpy man!

By the way, I've been into Reggae since 78 and love the 80s....I lived through the 80s. The Digital change took many years. First the syndrums in 78, then the electronic bass in 82, then the drum machine (since the 70s), Midi came much later....late 80s
Early "digital" was played live,,,then with Midi and software came the programming , sequencing and....quantizing!

I like a lot of music after 85, I produce and programme digitally myself...but when it comes to "real" instruments...I like the vintage sound.

Like I said, many people like it too and produce music in that style but mostly outside jamaica.