dubplate

plural dubplates · alternative dub-plate · alternative dub plate

1. entertainmentAn acetate or vinyl record pressed in very limited numbers, especially one issued to disc jockeys in advance of an official release; specifically (and originally), one containing a piece of dub music (a style of reggae music, often instrumental, involving the mixing of different audio tracks).

   You heard that new Danny Weed dubplate?

   5 more examples

   Their dub-plate (unreleased tracks on private pressings) battles are usually limited to JA [Jamaica] and the UK, but they have begun to invade the States with this unique form of entertainment.

   1986 April, Roger Steffens, “World Beat”, in Bob Guccione, Jr., editor, Spin, volume 2, number 1, New York, N.Y.: Camouflage Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 19, column 1

   The sound systems – the mobile reggae discos with their own d.j.s, their "specials" and "dub plates" (specially recorded rhythms owned by the system), their own local followings – are networks of live wires and speakers, sounds and affects.

   1988, Dick Hebdige, “Post-script 1: Vital Strategies”, in Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things (A Comedia Book), London; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 1990, →ISBN, section 4 (Postmodernism and “The Other Side”), page 215

   Various Artists, Soundclash Dubplate Style (Taurus Jamaica)

   [1989 June, “Groove Me: 20 Recommended Current Albums and Reissues”, in Bob Guccione, Jr., editor, Spin, volume 5, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Camouflage Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 66

   [Courtney] Cole, who finds his artists through talent shows held at his Ocho Rice Roof Club, says he tries out new tunes on a live audience "first on dubplate [special one-off mixes for sound systems and radio jocks], so we can test again before pressing it."

   1993 July 10, Maureen Sheridan, “Secrets of the Dancehall Laboratory: Top Groovemasters Drop Science about Reggae’s Tuffest Trend yet”, in Timothy White, editor, Billboard: The International Newsweekly of Music, Video and Home Entertainment, volume 105, number 28, New York, N.Y.: BPI Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page R-20, column 4

   The dubplate is a Jamaican idea: seventies sound systems pressed up their own tracks in order to outdo their rivals. Similarly, jungle's top DJs, desperate for exclusive tracks, spend more than two hundred pounds a week on dubplates—either their own productions or tracks by kindred-spirit producers. Dubplates are also a way of testing out a new track on a club sound system, of seeing how the crowd responds and what scope is for improving the record.

   1998, Simon Reynolds, “Roots ’n’ Future: Jungle Takes Over London, 1993–94”, in Generation Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 264