Mad Professor

File:MadProfessorDubMeCrazyLPcover.jpg

An album cover of the first installment of the "Dub Me Crazy" series from 1982. Many of Mad Professor's album covers incorporate this sort of cartoon design

Mad Professor (born Neil Fraser 1955, Georgetown in Guyana) is a dub musician, trip-hop producer, and a musical engineer known for his own productions as well as remix work for Massive Attack, Sade, and Pato Banton.

Born in Guyana, Fraser earned the Mad Professor tag from his childhood fascination with electronics. At the age of nine or ten he built a radio from scratch. Moving to London at the age of thirteen, Mad Professor continued to experiment with electronics. He bought a semi-professional reel-to-reel tape-recorder in 1975, but was unable to record in sync. This prompted him to purchase more and more equipment. By the following year, he had begun experimenting with dubbing.

Ariwa Studio

Over the years, Mad Professor's studio, which he named "Ariwa", after the Yoruba word for communication, has continued to evolve. The Studio and Record Label of the same name was started in 1979. Both were originally based in the south London suburb of Thornton Heath. In 1980 Ariwa moved to a much larger space in Peckham. During the four years that the studio remained at this site, Mad Professor found that the seemingly unsafe location cost him much of his clientele. After a brief return to the original house, the studio relocated to its present site in Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood.

The Ariwa website states that the building from which Mad Professor now operates includes the "Ariwa Sound" and "Are We Mad?" studios, as well as "two rehearsal rooms, one Preprogramming suite, and a dancing room".

Recordings

Mad Professor has worked with a huge number of reggae artists both from the UK and Jamaica. These include Jah Shaka, Pato Banton, Johnny Clarke, Lee Perry and Horace Andy. His musical styles have included roots reggae, dub, and lovers rock. Mad Professor is perhaps best known for his dub albums, which include 12 installments of the Dub Me Crazy series and 5 albums under the Black Liberation Dub banner. The Ariwa website lists collaborations with The Orb, The KLF, UB40, Jamiroquai, The Beastie Boys and Rancid. He continues to release records and perform live all over the world.

Albums

• 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)
• 1985 - A Taste Of Caribbean Technology
• 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)
• 1989 - Mad Professor Meets Mafia And Fluxi
• 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)
• 1993 - The Lost Scrolls Of Moses
• 1994 - Black Liberation Dub (Chapter 1)
• 1995 - Anti-Racist Broadcast (Black Liberation Chapter 2)
• 1995 - The Ultimate Experience In Dub
• 1996 - The Evolution Of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 3)
• 1996 - Rupununi Safari
• 1997 - Under The Spell Of Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 4)
• 1997 - Dub You Crazy With Love
• 19?? - The Live Dub Show
• 19?? - Afrocentric Dub (Black Liberation Chapter 5)
• 2000 - Dub You Crazy With Love, Vol 2

Remixes

Mad Professor has remixed non-reggae artists such as Massive Attack (whose Protection he dubbed into No Protection) and punk band The Ruts.

Other remixes include:

• "The Long Voyages" by French producer Hector Zazou featuring Suzanne Vega and John Cale
• "Love is Stronger Than Pride" by Sade

External links

• Mad Professor discography at Discogs
• Ariwa Website
• Album Review
• Album Review
• "Dub Echoes", a documentary about dub's influence on the birth of electronic music and hip hop