Dynamic Sounds
Studio. Ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub
- Active
- 1964-present
Dynamic Sounds at 15 Bell Road had by 1973, Rolling Stone reported, "a growing reputation as the Caribbean equivalent of Muscle Shoals' studios." Byron Lee acquired the West Indies Records Limited plant from Edward Seaga in the 1960s and rebuilt it, adding a pressing plant on the same site.
Producers with no connection to Lee worked there, though some musicians preferred Studio One: Lee, "real uptown," did not want Rastafarians smoking in the studio. When Dynamic moved to more sophisticated equipment, Bunny Lee brokered the sale of its old four-track board to King Tubby, on which dub was developed.
International clients followed. The Rolling Stones cut most of Goats Head Soup at Dynamic in 1973, including "Angie." Paul Simon recorded "Mother and Child Reunion" there in 1971 with Jamaican musicians. Eric Clapton and others worked there through the decade.
Tom Taylor found it in 2022 "perfectly preserved in its own ramshackle way," still in use by local musicians.
Last updated November 5, 2026
Connections
- Byron Lee (founder)
- Adina Edwards (artist)
- Hux Brown (session work)
- Jimmy Cliff (recorded here)
- U-Roy (recorded here)
- Leslie Kong (recorded here)
- Sylvan Morris (recorded here)
- John Holt (recorded here)
- Beres Hammond (recorded here)
- Joseph "Jojo" Hoo Kim (recorded here)
- Joe Higgs (recorded here)
- Toots Hibbert (recorded here)
- Winston Wright (recorded here)
- Tommy Cowan (worked here)
- The Ethiopians (recorded here)
- The Melodians (recorded here)
- Freddy McKay (recorded here)
- Herman Chin Loy (recorded here)
- Aquarius (recorded here)
- Hopeton Lewis (recorded here)
- Graeme Goodall (worked here)
- Lynford Anderson (worked here)
- The Pioneers (recorded here)
Notes
- Rolling Stone reported in 1973 that Dynamic "had developed a growing reputation as the Caribbean equivalent of Muscle Shoals' studios in Alabama," and that Lee had just finished a new Studio B and bought equipment for the Stones worth "nearly $100,000." "The Rolling Stones Recording in Jamaica," Rolling Stone, January 18, 1973, https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/the-rolling-stones-recording-in-jamaica-184229/. Bunny Lee told Bradley that Byron Lee was "uprating" Dynamic and "throwing out his old four-track board," which King Tubby bought. Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 316.
- Bradley dates Lee's purchase of Seaga's W.I.R.L. studio "later in the decade" in one place, but in another implies it had already happened by 1964. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 108, 137. Wikipedia says Seaga sold it in 1964 after a fire had destroyed the pressing plant, which Lee rebuilt. "West Indies Records Limited," Wikipedia, accessed October 1, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Indies_Records_Limited. The Rough Guide dates W.I.R.L.'s founding to 1958. Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 19.
- Bradley says Lee, "who was real uptown," and was "seldom there," did not want Rastafarians smoking in the studio, which is one reason musicians preferred Studio One. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 223, 289. The Rough Guide notes that the Monty Alexander and Ernest Ranglin album Raas! (1974) was recorded there. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 49.
- Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 219; Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 316.
- Rolling Stone reported that the Stones spent four weeks in November and December 1972 cutting "more than a dozen basic tracks" at Dynamic with producer Jimmy Miller, with "Angie" among the working titles, and would add vocals and overdubs later. "Rolling Stones Recording in Jamaica."
- Rolling Stone names "Mother and Child Reunion" and "Me and Julio" as Simon's Dynamic recordings, along with Jimmy Cliff's "Wonderful World, Beautiful People." "Rolling Stones Recording in Jamaica."
- Wikipedia names Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, and the Rolling Stones among its international clients. "West Indies Records Limited," Wikipedia. Tom Taylor, "Exploring Jamaica in the Shadow That the Rolling Stones Left Behind," Far Out, January 30, 2022, https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/exploring-the-rolling-stones-jamaica/.
- Wikipedia describes the studio as defunct. "West Indies Records Limited," Wikipedia.
