ENTITY · PERSON
Mad Professor
Probable
Mad Professor (Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser, born 27 March 1955 in Georgetown, Guyana) is a British-based dub producer, engineer and remixer regarded as a leading figure of the second wave of dub. He founded the Ariwa Sounds studio and label in South London around 1979-1980, building it into one of the UK's most enduring reggae imprints, and collaborated with dub pioneer Lee "Scratch" Perry as well as Sly and Robbie, Horace Andy and Pato Banton. He is also widely known outside reggae for his dub reworking of Massive Attack's Protection, released as No Protection.
At a glance
- Type
- person
- Confidence
- Probable
- Era
- Open era →
Connections
Watch & listen
Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
debate
Home-built sound-system electronics: democratised craft or a lost art?
Two documented readings of the Jamaican and diaspora tradition of hand-built amplifiers and effects, stated neutrally: admirers frame scarcity-born DIY electronics as a democratising ingenuity that let anyone with skill build a world-class sound; others mourn a bespoke hand-craft, hand-wound transformers and valve amps, being displaced by imported and digital gear. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Michael Veal, Dub; Red Bull Music Academy; Tape Op.
Stance: scarcity-born DIY ingenuity that democratised the craft vs a bespoke hand-built art being lost to imported and digital gear