The shift from dubplate to CD for trying out tracks in clubs traded sonic quality for speed, changing the development culture

Oris Jay identifies the CD as a cultural disruption: ‘A CD costs you, what, 60p? If I bring a dub to the club, I have to get that tune properly finished because it’ll cost me 40 quid.’ The dub’s cost was a finishing pressure — tracks had to be truly done before they warranted acetate. A CD enabled half-finished, unmastered, experimental tracks to be played on full soundsystems. Loefah was ‘livid’ when Scuba played one of his tracks unmastered off a CD at a party: ‘You played my track un-mastered, on a soundsystem! It’s not fucking balanced.’ The CD lowered the bar for what counted as ready to play, which expanded experimentation but also opened the dubstep scene to outside participants who didn’t need to earn their spot through the dubplate economy.

Examples

‘If I bring a dub to the club, I have to get that tune properly finished because it’ll cost me 40 quid. A CD costs you, what, 60p? It was more instant, but then you get half-finished tunes played in the club.‘

Assessment

Describe the specific effects the shift from dubplate to CD had on the dubstep development culture and explain why Loefah was angry about the unmastered CD play.