5.
Various Artists – BBC Sound Effects Library
Prince Buster’s ‘Al Capone’ starts with a car crash sample. That was typical of a lot of the reggae singles at the time, which had these very gimmicky intros and sound effects, lightning, doors knocking and that sort of thing. So when I started DJing at the age of 13, I bought albums from the BBC Sound Effects Library, which me and my friend used for bits to segue the tunes we were playing. That was quite innovative at the time. I used hyenas blended with snare drums and the sound of ground to air missiles for foot drums. I’ve a massive collection of these effects, collected from around the world – 100 LPs, 150 CDs – I use them as little ear-ticklers, which I put in a lot of my On-U Sound productions, and that’s inspired by both the BBC and those early reggae records – ‘Hijacked’, by Joe Gibbs, that’s another one.
