Experience, talent, and accomplishment are commodities that are respected and cherished in every sector of business, and in Reggae music which is no different, Shane Brown holds all of these attributes. He is one of Jamaica’s most competent and accomplished music producers, wearing several titles and possessing various skills, all essential to the music business. He is an award winning recording s
tudio engineer, a live music engineer, a music producer, a song writer, an engineer instructor, and more recently, an artiste manager. In all these capacities, Shane has worked with some of the most prominent and acclaimed Reggae acts both in and outside of Jamaica, all giving credence to his reputation as a solid practitioner in the business. He grew up in Patrick City, attended the Shortwood All Age School, Wolmers’ Boys School, Excelsior Community College, and the University of The West Indies. His exposure to the music business was expected. His Grand Uncle, the infamous Duke Reid was a pioneering force in the Jamaican music landscape both as a sound system operator and record producer, with his legendary label, Treasure Isle. Reid’s nephew, Shane’s father, the renown Errol Brown, carried the musical mantle from his beginnings as an engineer at Treasure Isle, to his work with celebrated reggae superstar Bob Marley at the Tuff Gong studios. Naturally Shane was introduced to the business at a very young age. “My journey in music started on the sound system, I used to play on Santana International,” he explains. “Even before I used to love music from a child. I still have pictures of me with records in my hands and headphones over my ears from childhood.”
The early experiences formed his favourable impressions of music, and he slowly drifted towards engineering; he started his career as an apprentice engineer in the analogue world of studio production at Tuff Gong. Shane remembers having to put on reels of tape on to the machines, meticulously setting up microphones for acoustic drum sets, horns and even a 24 piece choir as instructed. While some would perceive these as mundane chores, to him these were cherished privileges that were the building blocks to a bright career. Those days, learning the business was more complicated and thorough, as the equipment was all analogue. Under this ‘Old School’ regime, Shane had to learn from the ground up. “We learnt everything analogue, and that is the best way,” he notes. “Later on I went digital, but you must know about both worlds in order to be versatile…even though they are totally different.”
Despite his interest, his father insisted that Shane receive a solid education before even contemplating a career in music. When he was eventually introduced to the studio, Shane had the opportunity to work with some of Jamaica’s most successful and historically revered performers and producers. He got to see and hear them at work in the peak of their careers. Among the names are The I Three, Dennis Brown, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, Steven Stanley, Jeffery Chung, Mikey Riley, Sly and Robbie, all with different styles, and all with a different lesson to teach. Through his close associations, it was not long before he was working full time on a major project in the capacity of Assistant Producer. He worked with Clive Hunt on several French Reggae projects, but his most successful one came with the artiste PierPoljak. The album Kingston Karma soared to double Platinum in France, setting a standard of achievement Shane was eager to sustain. Expectedly, he has maintained a successful track record, with dozens of chart topping hits and rhythms over the years that bore fruit both in Jamaica and overseas. He has produced the Klymaxx, Tap Dance, Confessions, and Statement rhythms, all of which have delivered hits from leading Jamaican artistes. He has also recently produced fresh rhythms that seem set to repeat the exploits of the former rhythms and further establish Shane as a leading “one drop” reggae producer. These are the Chaos and the Oscillator. Outside of these projects, he has also worked on countless albums and tracks for prominent artistes, both as producer and writer. He has also managed to be competent both in the Dancehall and Roots Rock settings. Notably, Shane produced nine tracks from Junior Kelly’s fast rising album Love So Nice. With the success of the controversial yet chart topping Gash Dem, Shane was tipped to produce Chuck Fender’s debut album Living Fire that was snatched by Greensleeves Records last year. Building on the success of Gash Dem, Shane successfully produced the number one single Brooklyn and Jamaica for Morgan Heritage to be featured on their forthcoming Mission In Progress album.
“My label has been established a way now that people trust my music. When they see the Juke Boxx Label, they are willing to play it...and not just here in Jamaica,” he says. “I don’t have to put out rhythm that often and even if the rhythm is not happening in Jamaica, it’s happening somewhere in Europe or Japan etc.”
In addition to these extensive works, Shane has been working full time as a live concert house engineer; he has toured with Grammy winning Shaggy, multi-platinum recording artistes The Fugees, South African reggae act Lucky Dube, Beres Hammond, Capelton and most recently, Morgan Heritage. He has travelled to all the continents, and the entire Caribbean, perfecting the craft that many shy away from because of its challenge. Shane sees it as testament to his competence.
“As a live engineer it’s on the spot, you have no time to go back and correct mistakes. It makes you sharper and on point because it is live.” Shane has not been keeping this vast knowledge and experience to himself. He has kept his links with the Tuff Gong studios in Kingston where he shares tips and techniques to new engineers. Several engineers who have become established producers have been given instruction from Shane. “You see many engineers know the practical but not the theory aspect of production. For me, I can write the theory, just like mathematics, so I do it and help them out,” he explains. Then, there is Shane Brown the studio mixing engineer. Shane has been called to mix on literally thousands of tracks by significant artistes, producers and records labels worldwide. His extensive list of mixing credits includes projects for Universal France, Barkley Records, Geffen and Sony. He has been contracted by successful producers such as Christopher Birch, Deseca and Donovan Germaine. He has lent his talents to tracks by Jamaican luminaries Jimmy Cliff, Marcia Griffiths, Dean Fraser, Chakka Demus and Pliers, fallen stars Dennis Brown and Garnet Silk, international talents Chakka Khan, Cleb Khaled and Alfa Blondie and current stars Luciano and Sizzla, just to name a few. Shane embarked on another venture in music in 2007; artist management. He was the manager of one of the fastest rising dancehall deejays…Busy Signal between 2007-2012. He now guides the careers of Tarrus Riley, Dean Fraser and the Blak Soil Band. “It’s just another aspect of the business I see myself going into. Shane is cautious about setting limits, but has a vision of himself and Juke Boxx. “I take it as it comes because I love to make music. When you set standards some of the time, you might be even limiting yourself, I just do music.”
