Mad Professor
Mad Professor during a soundcheck at Reggie's Music Place in Chicago
Mad Professor during a soundcheck at Reggie's Music Place in Chicago
Background information
Birth nameNeil Joseph Stephen Fraser
Born (1955-03-27) 27 March 1955
Georgetown, Guyana
GenresDub, reggae, jungle
Occupation(s)Record producer, engineer
Years active1979–present
LabelsAriwa
Websiteariwa.com

Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a Guyanese-born British dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work.[1] He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music's second generation and was instrumental in transitioning dub into the digital age. He has collaborated with reggae artists such as Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, Pato Banton, Jah Shaka and Horace Andy, as well as artists outside the realm of traditional reggae and dub, such as Sade, Massive Attack, The Orb, Gaudi, the Brazilian DJ Marcelinho da Lua, Grace Jones, and Perry Farrell.

Biography

Fraser became known as Mad Professor as a boy due to his fascination with electronics. He emigrated from Guyana to London at the age of 13 and later began his music career as a service technician. He gradually collected recording and mixing equipment and in 1979 opened his own four-track recording studio, Ariwa Sounds, in the living room of his home in Thornton Heath.[2] He began recording lovers rock bands and vocalists for his own label (including the debut recording by Deborahe Glasgow) and recorded his first album after moving the studio to a new location in Peckham in 1982, equipped with an eight-track setup, later expanding to sixteen.[2] Fraser's Dub Me Crazy series of albums won the support of John Peel, who regularly aired tracks from the albums.[2] Although early releases were not big sellers among reggae buyers, the mid-1980s saw this change with releases from Sandra Cross (Country Life), Johnny Clarke, Peter Culture, Pato Banton, and Macka B (Sign of the Times).[2] Fraser moved again, this time to South Norwood, where he set up what was the largest black-owned studio complex in the UK, where he recorded successful lovers rock tracks by Cross, John McLean, and Kofi, and attracted Jamaican artists including Bob Andy and Faybiene Miranda.[2] He teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time in 1983 for the recording of the album Mystic Warrior (1989).[3]

Fraser's son continues his father's musical tradition, producing dub under the alias, Joe Ariwa.

Recordings

Mad Professor mixing Dub and Cumbia during a workshop in Bogotá, Colombia

Mad Professor has released hundreds of original recordings and has worked with a number of reggae and non-reggae artists. He is perhaps best known for his 12 instalments of the Dub Me Crazy series and 5 albums under the Black Liberation Dub banner. The following is a partial discography of his original releases including collaborations with other artists and remixes.

Original recordings

  • 1983 – In A Rub A Dub Style
  • 1985 – A Caribbean Taste of Technology
  • 1992 – True Born African Dub
  • 1994 – The Lost Scrolls of Moses
  • 1995 – It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Professor
  • 1997 – RAS Portraits
  • 2001 – Dubbing You Crazy
  • 2001 – Trix in the Mix
  • 2005 – Method to the Madness
  • 2007 – Dub You Crazy
  • 2008 – The Dubs That Time Forgot
  • 2009 – Audio Illusions of Dub
  • 2012 – The Roots of Dubstep

Dub Me Crazy series

  • 1982 – Dub Me Crazy
  • 1982 – Beyond The Realms of Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.2)
  • 1983 – The African Connection (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.3)
  • 1983 – Escape to the Asylum of Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.4)
  • 1985 – Who Knows The Secret of the Master Tape (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.5)
  • 1986 – Schizophrenic Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.6)
  • 1987 – Adventures of a Dub Sampler (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.7)
  • 1988 – Experiments of the Aural Kind (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.8)
  • 1989 – Science and the Witchdoctor (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.9)
  • 1990 – Psychedelic Dub (Dub Me Crazy, Pt. 10)
  • 1992 – Hijacked To Jamaica (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.11)
  • 1993 – Dub Maniacs on the Rampage (Dub Me Crazy, Pt.12)

Black Liberation series

  • 1994 – Black Liberation Dub (Chapter 1)
  • 1995 – Anti-Racist Dub Broadcast (Black Liberation Chapter 2)
  • 1996 – The Evolution of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 3)
  • 1997 – Under The Spell of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 4)
  • 1999 – Afrocentric Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 5)

Dub You Crazy With Love Series

  • 1997 – Dub You Crazy With Love
  • 2000 – Dub You Crazy With Love (Part 2)
  • 2008 – Bitter Sweet Dub

Collaborations

With Lee "Scratch" Perry

  • 1990 – Mystic Warrior
  • 1995 – Black Ark Experryments
  • 1995 – Super Ape Inna Jungle
  • 1996 – Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub
  • 1996 – Who Put The Voodoo Pon Reggae
  • 1996 – Dub Take the Voodoo Out of Reggae
  • 1998 – Live at Maritime Hall
  • 1998 – Fire in Dub
  • 2000 – Lee Perry Meets Mad Professor
  • 2001 – Techno Dub

With other artists

  • 1981 - Kunte Kinte (with Aquizim)
  • 1982 – Rhythm Collision Dub (with Ruts DC)
  • 1983 – Punky Reggae Party (Positive Style) – Anti Social Workers
  • 1984 – Jah Shaka Meets Mad Professor at Ariwa Sounds
  • 1985 – Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Recaptures Pato Banton
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Meets Puls Der Zeit
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Feat The Man Ezeke Remix an Dub for Sheila Giles
  • 1990 – A Feast of Yellow Dub (with Yellowman)
  • 1995 – No Protection (Massive Attack v Mad Professor)
  • 1996 – New Decade of Dub (with Jah Shaka)
  • 2000 – The Inspirational Sounds of Mad Professor
  • 2000 – Marseille London Experience (with Massilia Sound System)
  • 2003 – Psychobelly Dance Music (with Baba Zula)
  • 2004 – Dub Revolutionaries (with Sly and Robbie)
  • 2004 – From The Roots (with Horace Andy)
  • 2004 – In A Dubwise Style (with Marcelinho da Lua)
  • 2005 – Moroccan Sunrise (with Borrah)
  • 2005 – Dancehall Dubs (with Crazy Caribs)
  • 2009 – Revolution Feat. Pato Banton And Mr. Professor (With Tugg)
  • 2009 – Nairobi Meets Mad Professor – Wu Wei
  • 2010 – Izrael Meets Mad Professor and Joe Ariwa
  • 2010 – Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor
  • 2010 – Rewired in Dub (with Pama International)
  • 2011 - Rewired in Dub (with Horace Andy)
  • 2012 – The Roots of Dubstep
  • 2013 – Cedric Congo Meets Mad Professor
  • 2014 - Method to the Madness (various Ariwa artists)
  • 2017 - In The Midst Of The Storm (Mad Professor Meets Jah9)[4]
  • 2019 - Massive Attack vs Mad Professor Part II (Mezzanine Remix Tapes ’98)
  • 2019 – Mad Professor meets Gaudi

Remixes

Since the 1990s he has remixed tracks by Sade, The Orb, The KLF, Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode, Perry Farrell and Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki. His best-known project, perhaps, is 1995's No Protection, an electronic dub version of Massive Attack's second album, Protection. He has also done a version of I&I for New Zealand reggae band Katchafire, three versions for New Zealand electronic group Salmonella Dub and twelve remixes for Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki.

A second remix album with Massive Attack is slated for release in 2018

References

  1. ↑ Mad Professor Interview – Sound On Sound magazine (UK) Issue: August 2007. Retrieved 22 April 2013
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.13-14
  3. ↑ Huey, Steve "Mad Professor Biography", AllMusic, Macrovision Corporation
  4. ↑ "Jah9 – Mad Professor Meets Jah9 - In The Midst Of The Storm". Discogs. 8 September 2017.
  5. ↑ "Soul Coughing - Sugar Free Jazz". Discogs. 13 December 1995.

Interviews

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