Drum & Bass - Dub

Within the pages of Michael Veal’s book Dub, he remarks on the concept of the drum and bass as an emphasis for the tracks. Rather than being all about the horns, lyrics, other instruments, etc, mixes with a “drum and bass” focus would be primarily stripped of the rest of the traditional dub pieces: “A typical drum & bass mix would focus on the propulsive motion of those to instruments throughout, with the chordal instruments only occasionally filtering through” (Veal 57). An example of this would be King Tubby’s “Silver Bullet – The Observer All Stars,” which is primarily a bass-driven track, with rhythm from other instruments coming through, but the bass is what is coming through the most, even though horns come in occasionally. This was not always a trend in Dub, even King Tubby’s work reveals that. For example, his song “The Aggrovators” is not focused on the bass or drum rhythm at all. In fact, the vocals and the other instruments, like the horns, outweigh the bass in the mix.