Mad Professor

Mad Professor
Mad Professor during a soundcheck at Reggie's Music Place in Chicago
Mad Professor during a soundcheck at Reggie's Music Place in Chicago
Background information
Born
Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser

(1955-03-27) 27 March 1955 (age 71)
Georgetown, Guyana
Genres
Occupations
Years active1979–present
LabelAriwa
Websitewww.ariwa.com

Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser (born 27 March 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) known by his stage-name Mad Professor, is a British dub music producer, engineer and remixer. He has collaborated with reggae artists Lee "Scratch" Perry, Sly and Robbie, Pato Banton, Jah Shaka and Horace Andy, as well as artists outside the realm of traditional reggae and dub, such as Sade, Massive Attack, the Orb, Gaudi, the Brazilian DJ Marcelinho da Lua, Grace Jones, and Perry Farrell.

Early life

Fraser became known as Mad Professor as a boy due to his fascination with electronics. He emigrated from Guyana to London at the age of 13 and later began his music career as a service technician.[citation needed] He gradually collected recording and mixing equipment, and in 1979 opened his own four-track recording studio, Ariwa Sounds, in the living room of his home in Thornton Heath.

Career

Fraser began recording lovers rock bands and vocalists for his own label (including the debut recording by Deborahe Glasgow) and recorded his first album after moving the studio to a new location in Peckham in 1982, equipped with an eight-track setup, later expanding to sixteen. Fraser's Dub Me Crazy series of albums won the support of John Peel, who regularly aired tracks from the albums. Although early releases were not big sellers among reggae buyers, the mid-1980s saw this change with releases from Sandra Cross (Country Life), Johnny Clarke, Peter Culture, Pato Banton, and Macka B (Sign of the Times). Fraser moved again, this time to South Norwood, where he set up what was the largest black-owned studio complex in the UK and recorded lovers rock tracks by Cross, John McLean, and Kofi, and attracted Jamaican artists including Bob Andy and Faybiene Miranda. He teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry for the first time in 1983 for the recording of the album Mystic Warrior (1989).

Recordings

Mad Professor mixing dub and cumbia during a workshop in Bogotá, Colombia

Mad Professor has created 12 instalments of the Dub Me Crazy series and 5 albums under the Black Liberation Dub banner. The following is a partial discography of his original releases including collaborations with other artists and remixes.

Original recordings

Dub Me Crazy series

Black Liberation series

Dub You Crazy With Love Series

Collaborations

With Lee "Scratch" Perry

  • 1990 – Mystic Warrior
  • 1995 – Black Ark Experryments
  • 1995 – Super Ape Inna Jungle
  • 1996 – Experryments at the Grass Roots of Dub
  • 1996 – Who Put The Voodoo Pon Reggae
  • 1996 – Dub Take the Voodoo Out of Reggae
  • 1998 – Live at Maritime Hall
  • 1998 – Fire in Dub
  • 2000 – Lee Perry Meets Mad Professor
  • 2001 – Techno Dub

With other artists

  • 1981 - Kunte Kinte (with Aquizim)
  • 1982 – Rhythm Collision Dub (with Ruts DC)
  • 1983 – Punky Reggae Party (Positive Style) – Anti Social Workers
  • 1984 – Jah Shaka Meets Mad Professor at Ariwa Sounds
  • 1985 – Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Recaptures Pato Banton
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Meets Puls Der Zeit
  • 1989 – Mad Professor Feat The Man Ezeke Remix an Dub for Sheila Giles
  • 1990 – A Feast of Yellow Dub (with Yellowman)
  • 1995 – No Protection (Massive Attack v Mad Professor)
  • 1996 – New Decade of Dub (with Jah Shaka)
  • 2000 – The Inspirational Sounds of Mad Professor
  • 2000 – Marseille London Experience (with Massilia Sound System)
  • 2003 – Psychobelly Dance Music (with Baba Zula)
  • 2004 – Dub Revolutionaries (with Sly and Robbie)
  • 2004 – From The Roots (with Horace Andy)
  • 2004 – In A Dubwise Style (with Marcelinho da Lua)
  • 2005 – Moroccan Sunrise (with Borrah)
  • 2005 – Dancehall Dubs (with Crazy Caribs)
  • 2006- Max Romeo Pocomania Songs (with Mad Professor)
  • 2009 – Revolution Feat. Pato Banton And Mr. Professor (With Tugg)
  • 2009 – Nairobi Meets Mad Professor – Wu Wei
  • 2010 – Izrael Meets Mad Professor and Joe Ariwa
  • 2010 – Frente Cumbiero Meets Mad Professor
  • 2010 – Rewired in Dub (with Pama International)
  • 2011 - Rewired in Dub (with Horace Andy)
  • 2012 – The Roots of Dubstep
  • 2013 – Cedric Congo Meets Mad Professor
  • 2014 - Method to the Madness (various Ariwa artists)
  • 2017 - In The Midst Of The Storm (Mad Professor Meets Jah9)
  • 2019 - Massive Attack vs Mad Professor Part II (Mezzanine Remix Tapes ’98)
  • 2019 – Mad Professor meets Gaudi
  • 2025 – Mad Professor Meets Youth
  • 2026 – EP#1 – Dub Versions (with Sensible Soccers)

Remixes

Since the 1990s he has remixed tracks by Sade, the Orb, The KLF, Beastie Boys, Jamiroquai, Rancid, Depeche Mode, Perry Farrell and Japanese pop singer Ayumi Hamasaki. In 1995 he produced No Protection, an electronic dub version of Massive Attack's second album, Protection. He has also created a version of I&I for New Zealand reggae band Katchafire, three versions for New Zealand electronic group Salmonella Dub and twelve remixes for Japanese musician Ayumi Hamasaki.

References

  1. ↑ Terrano, Andrea (August 2007). "Mad Professor: Mixing Dub". Sound on Sound. Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkin, Colin (1998). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae. Virgin Books. pp. 13–14. ISBN 9780753502426.
  3. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Mad Professor Biography". AllMusic. Macrovision Corporation.
  4. ↑ Mad Professor Meets Jah9 – In The Midst Of The Storm at Discogs
  5. ↑ "Mad Professor Meets Youth - In The Name Of Love - 7" Single". Retrieved 7 January 2026.
  6. ↑ Team, ReB (8 April 2026). "Sensible Soccers dividem o seu próximo EP com a lenda do dub Mad Professor / Sensible Soccers share their upcoming EP with dub legend Mad Professor". rimasebatidas.pt (in Portuguese). Rimas e Batidas (online magazine). Retrieved 14 April 2026.
  7. ↑ Soul Coughing – Sugar Free Jazz at Discogs