Scientist

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With over 60,000 recordings to his name, Scientist (born Hopeton Overton Brown) is one of the most influential figures in dub. From Studio One to King Tubby’s, Channel One to Tuff Gong, he worked at Kingston’s premier studios, pioneering recording techniques and elevating the dub mix into an art form in his own right.

Known as the ‘Dub Chemist’ for both his technical expertise and forward-thinking ideas, Scientist’s Night Dreamer session brings together musicians from across the London reggae scene, including The Instigators’ rhythm section Mafia (bass) and Fluxy (drums), Creation Rebel guitarist Tony Ruffcut, vocalist Donovan Kingjay, Jah Shaka keyboardist Greg Assing and saxophonist Finn Peters.

Joined by Amsterdam-based trombonist Salvoandrea Lucifora and backing vocalists Alyssa Harrigan and Peace Oluwatobi, Scientist went about taking the studio apart and reassembling to his exacting specifications. He spent hours on the kick drum alone, rewired the mixing desk’s high pass EQ, brought in two 18” subwoofers, piled everyone (bar Fluxy on drums) into the control room and had the whole place shaking under the power and clarity of the bass.

Having set up the studio just right, the group cut six tracks that were subsequently dubbed direct-to-lacquer by Scientist, allowing his creativity to come to the fore: “In dub mixing, the engineer now becomes the artist and it’s a performance that the engineer do,” Scientist explains, with almost five decades of experience to his name.

The centrepiece of the album is lead single ‘Missing You’, on which Scientist strips back the crisp groove to let Donovan Kingjay’s vocals soar. Dubbing in the horns, guitar and keys with an improvisatory flair, Scientist channels the energy towards the chorus, a masterclass in tension and release, filtered through Scientist’s signature sci-fi dub sound.

Surrounded by vintage analogue gear, and recording direct-to-disc in a manner familiar to his early days cutting dubs at King Tubby’s, Scientist described the experience as being “thrown back in time”.

Having made records for everyone from Sugar Minott to Barrington Levy and released a treasure trove of cult albums under his own name, a new chapter in the extraordinary story of Scientist is opening up. As this Night Dreamer session attests, dub would sound very different without the one and only Scientist.