Dub-Stuy featured in Boiler Room sound system special

Online streaming platform Boiler Room put together a feature on the visual aesthetics of sound systems, the way they look and feel in a physical space, that includes details and input from a variety of worldwide system operators.

The feature, written by Joe Muggs and Laurent Fintoni, offers a unique perspective on an aspect of sound system that, while not essential, can often be crucial for first time attendants.

Alongside Dub-Stuy’s Q-Mastah the feature also includes words from Funktion One’s Tony Andrews, Kintaro Owada who operates Broad Axe in Japan, London’s VIVEK, Andrew Morphous from Tsunami Bass, and Pure Filth’s Sam XL.

Read it in full on the Boiler Room website.

And in underground music the importance of the speaker stacks is as great as it has ever been: from that omnipresent Funktion-One iconography through nostalgia for Plastic People, to the pilgrimages people make to Berghain’s literal wall of sound; the rigs are every bit as woven into our culture as are the venues, drugs and music itself.

This is not lost on those who create the soundsystems. If asked about their rigs, the usual first response is “it’s all about the sound”, but push them and you’ll generally find there is a deeply thought-out, refined and individualist sense of the appearance and placing of the boxes, speaker cones and electronics. Quoc, the proprietor of Dub Stuy soundsystem in New York, says: “The system stands nearly 10ft tall and about 8ft wide so it’s a pretty imposing object when you stand in front of it. Most people are in awe when they see it for the first time, given its size and striking look. It’s usually the first thing you notice when coming into one of our events. I’d like to think of my system as being the star of the show, and I want it to be the central part of the performance.”