Audio Production

Sensamotion – Over Dub Mountain (Live Dub Architect Mix)

New mix out today! Grab your copy of SensaMotion‘s new album Over The Mountain out today that features this mix!

➟ iTunes: http://smarturl.it/OTM-iTunes
➟ Amazon: http://smarturl.it/OTM-Amazon
➟ Amazon CD: http://smarturl.it/OTM-AmazonCD
➟ Google Play: http://smarturl.it/OTM-GP
➟ Spotify: http://smarturl.it/OTM-Spotify

➟ Watch more Dub Architect live mixing videos: http://smarturl.it/DA-Videos

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Roots of Creation ft Pato Banton – “A Time Will Come (Live Dub Architect Mix)” Premiere from Rootfire.net

Read my accompanying article via Rootfire.net

➥ iTunes: http://geni.us/LivinFreeiTunes
➥ Amazon: http://geni.us/LivinFreeAmazon
➥ Google Play: http://geni.us/LivinFreeGP
➥ CD / Vinyl / Merch: http://geni.us/LivinFreeCDVinylMerch
➥ Streaming: http://smarturl.it/LivinFree_Stream


Hybrid Analog / Digital Dub Lab Overview & Live Dub Mix of Bob Marley’s “Bend Down Low”


Dub Architect – Effect Loops Tutorial

In this tutorial I explain how to setup an effects loop to add effects like reverb and delay to instrument and vocal tracks. Ableton Live 9 is used but the same process can be applied to any DAW and the same theories apply to setting up effects loops using analog gear.


Dub Architect – Simmer Down WUTK 90.3FM (Knoxville, TN) Interview – 12/14/2014

Dub Architect talks with DJ Crowley about the DC dub reggae scene, how the Dub Architect project started, the upcoming California Winter Tour 2015, and what the future holds for dub!


Victor Rice – Live Dub Mix of Easy Star All-Stars’ Dub Side of the Moon at Dub Champions Festival DC 2014


Slightly Stoopid – Top of the World (Live Dub Architect Mix)


Interview with DJ Marko on Q103 – Maui, Hawaii

Check out my interview with DJ Marko on Q103!  I talk about my dub production style, my upcoming Cali Roots performance and tour, and my soon to be released remix of Third World ft. Capleton!


How DO you DUB?!

I’ve received some requests for doing a video going over my dub rig, how I remix songs live, and how I dub bands live. This is the first video in a series talking about dubbing, gear, techniques, answering questions, etc. Hope this is of interest and helps some of you aspiring dub producers out there!

Here’s a video about how you might go about dubbing a band live:

Setting up effects loops is an essential part of dubbing:

Time to get weird – let’s mix an analog mixer with digital playback / a DAW:


Dynamic Range

A tip that I think will really help out a lot of up and coming producers is to be aware of and try to keep a wide dynamic range in your music.  Dynamic range is the difference between TT Dyanmic Rangethe quietest and loudest part of a song at any one particular point.  There are lots of technical explanations out there for you if you’re interested – a great source of information is http://turnmeup.org/ A good basic gist of it is that when you slam a bunch of different tracks in a song to be as loud as possible using limiters or compressors you decrease the song’s dynamic range and in turn make it sound “crushed” and distorted.  Don’t believe me? Add a compressor to all the tracks a test song and set a gain boost of 20db and then add a hard limiter to each that won’t allow anything to get above 0db (clip).  Press play and listen.  Nothing’s technically clipping but it sure sounds distorted and awful!  That’s an extreme version of poor dynamic range but hopefully now you grasp the concept.  Obviously no one really mixes to this extreme (I hope!) but in the quest for loudness using gain, compression, and limitation we gradually shrink and degrade our dynamic range.

I used to fall victim to the loudness wars all the time until a remix I did got sent back from mastering with a polite “this sounds awful” attached.  I was perplexed as I hadn’t heard of dynamic range before.  After talking with the mastering engineer and listening to what he pointed out I could hear that parts of the song actually sounded distorted when I listened closely!  I downloaded the free TT Dynamic Range Meter to help me monitor my mixing (put it on your master track) and threw all my faders to -inf.  I then slowly brought up each track or group in order of importance while keeping an eye on the meter, softening compression, and avoiding limiters expect for those occasional peaks that you want to control.  I highly recommend this exercise as it teaches you to add what you want to hear instead of taking a jumble of X tracks and trying to listen to and level them all at the same time.  The goal should not be to have your master track as close to the 0db ceiling at all times but rather to dance the dance if you will.  Avoid clipping/limiting, have a nice dynamic range, and keep some loudness to your mix while leaving room for mastering.  To me, mastering (whether I’m doing it myself or outsourcing) is where a lot of gain and loudness is established.  We don’t want to go through recording and mixing everything dynamically only to have the mastering process squash the mix so it also falls into that dance.

Try adding a dynamic range meter to your master track, easy on the compression, and careful of those limiters.  You should hear more space, clarity, and dynamics in your mixes with practice!  I know that my mixing has improved 10 fold since this revelation and I hope this helps your mixing as well!


Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad – Change You (Dub Architect Mix) – Live Dub Remix Video

I did this dub/video in May of 2012 but just got around to adding it to my YouTube page.  Shows you a little of what it looks like to do a live dub remix.


Zac Laurent Interview

I was asked by Zac Laurent to answer some questions about dub reggae production for his blog.  Check out the interview below!

Zac Laurent Interview