Sound system

Sound system may refer to:

Technology

Culture

Other

See also

Sound system (Jamaican)

In the context of Jamaican popular culture, a sound system is a group of disc jockeys, engineers and MCs playing ska, rocksteady or reggae music. The sound system is an important part of Jamaican culture and history.

History

The sound system concept first became popular in the 1950s, in the ghettos of Kingston. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers and set up street parties. In the beginning, the DJs played American rhythm and blues music, but as time progressed and more local music was created, the sound migrated to a local flavor. The sound systems were big business, and represented one of the few sure ways to make money in the unstable economy of the area. The promoter or DJ made his profit by charging admission and selling food and alcohol; often thousands of people were in attendance. By the mid 1950s, sound systems were more popular at parties than live musicians, and by the second half of the decade, custom-built systems began to appear from the workshops of specialists such as Hedley Jones, who constructed wardrobe-sized speaker cabinets known as "House[s] of Joy". It was also around this time that Jamaica's first superstar DJ and MC, Count Machuki, rose to prominence. As time progressed, sound systems became louder—capable of playing bass frequencies at 30,000 watts or more, with similar wattage attainable at the mid-range and high frequencies—and far more complex than their predecessors. Competition between these sound systems was fierce, and eventually two DJs emerged as the stars of the scene: Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, and Duke Reid. Besides the DJ, who rapped over the music, there was also a selector, who selected the music/rhythm tracks.

Sound system (DJ)

A sound system is a group of DJs and engineers contributing and working together as one, playing and producing music.

Origin

The sound system concept originated in the 1950s in Kingston, Jamaica. DJs would load up a truck with a generator, turntables, and huge speakers to set up street parties. The sound system scene is generally regarded as an important part of Jamaican cultural history and as being responsible for the rise of modern Jamaican musical styles such as ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub. When Jamaicans emigrated to the United Kingdom, the sound system culture followed and became firmly rooted there in the 1970s. It is still strongly linked with those Jamaican-originated music genres, and some bands or producers still call themselves sound systems, such as Dub Narcotic Sound System and the On-U Sound System. When Asian Dub Foundation are advertised as Asian Dub Foundation, the whole band performs, but when they announce themselves as Asian Dub Foundation Sound System, members of the band mix and play music (by other artists, as well as their own) while one or two MCs rap over the songs like DJ Pro. The term also has become connected with sound reinforcement systems by DJs such as the Valve Sound System.

Anima Sound System

Anima Sound System is a Hungarian electronic band founded in 1993 in Szombathely. Anima is one of the first and most important Hungarian electronic acts, a unique fusion of Eastern-European folk music and modern electronic styles. The band is current under Mole Listening Pearls. The band soon developed strong ties with the underground Tilos Rádió station in Budapest. Their first international performance, in 1996, took place in Vienna at "Soundsfair Festival", (as the only Eastern-European act) along with bands like Red Snapper, Goldie and Nightmares on Wax.

Their remix of the Hungarian national anthem, Himnusz, was released on their Bujdosó EP and aired live from Tilos Radio's New Year party in 2000, then went on to cause controversy in Hungarian media.

Their sound developed from their early acid jazz-influenced albums to a more organic world music tone. Anima Sound System has undergone various changes in lineup since its formation, as well as numerous featured guest artists. Szabolcs Prieger and Zsolt Szabolcs remain from the original lineup, which had also featured Szilvia Bognár on vocals and dj Cadik on decks and turntables.