![]() “The real thing about a dubplate that a lot of people don’t know, is that it actually is an acetate that the producers used to test the master before they pressed the real record.” These days, the terms are used interchangeably, but as the experts in The Gleaner’s Entertainment Forum pointed out, there actually is a difference between a dubplate and a special.ĭelano pointed out that a dubplate is a physical disc, usually 10 inches in diameter. Well, as they say, all’s fair in love and war, and there is no field more combative than a sound clash. Harper recalled that some years ago, an artiste called him to say that he had just voiced a special for a sound ‘Jaro was going up against and asked if he wanted the counteraction. But, this is the dancehall, and the forum acknowledged that this has been done. Harper noted that loyalty is key to the success of any special, because if a sound paid an artiste to do a special for a particular clash, it is an unwritten agreement that the artiste shouldn’t go back and counteract himself by going to the competing sound and voicing a special to kill his own special. ![]() He related the story of a guy in Germany at a recent sound clash who programmed Siri to sound like the captain of the ship and “mash up the dance”. I can download it right away and I can remix something at that same clash and play it same time,” Delano Thomas of Renaissance Disco said. If that sound play a song on a dubplate or special or acetate, or whatever, you coulda say, ‘if you play da song yah now, mi pack up and leave’. “Basically, now, you can just download a song and play it, but before, you couldn’t. ![]() Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters. The advent of technology has also had its impact on the dynamics of the dubplate culture. I changed the chorus and say: ‘Dem ketch Matterhorn a dutty whine inna di ocean …’, little things like that, and the crowd love it,” McGregor said. “I customise Big Ship one time and Mighty Crown used it and kill Matterhorn on the Jamrock Cruise. One such example is the clash aboard the hugely popular Jamrock Cruise. The experts at the forum pointed out that specials show creativity and that the staging of any big sound clash heightens the demand for “extra special specials”, as sounds jostle to show their supremacy. He wrote over the Big Ship song specifically for that event, and because it is customised, you going to get a bigger effect, a bigger forward.” It was customised just for Black Cat in a clash in Canada. A dub in particular that we used a few years ago to kill Black Cat (sound system) was a song actually by Freddie McGregor. “They were more important in the combative arena, but later on, they were used to differentiate yourself from other sounds and show off different styles. David Harper of Killamanjaro stated at a recent Gleaner Entertainment Forum that dubplates found fame in the energetic clash arena. Dubplates and specials are integral to the sound system culture, and in a space where there is an overwhelming number of sounds, specials are used to distinguish the various players in the business.
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