Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Philip Linton Jr. points to some of the equipment which keeps Arrows on the cutting edge.

'Yuh hear fi mi voice coming through di speaker, But it sound sweeter wid di echo chamber.' So said Papa Levi in Mi God Mi King. It is within the walls of a studio that the sweetest melodies are captured. In the midst of complementary instruments, inspiration sparks in the echo chambers and creates a musical fire. The Sunday Gleaner takes a trip through some of the most famous of them, looking for the source of that elusive spark.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

With all signs pointing to Arrows Recording Studio, artistes of all genres and calibre often ended or began their journey at the doorstep of 57C Windward Road, Kingston.

Arrows Studio quickly made its mark on the industry as a renowned dubplate studio, where artistes voiced dubs for the Arrows International sound system or others. Arrows Recording Company Ltd. began as a dream for founder and veteran sound system operator Philip Linton Sr. in 1990.

Originally working from his home in Newton Square, Kingston, as the operator of the Arrows International sound in the late '80s, Linton was quick to realise that his dream would soon sprout wings and become capable of so much more. After the sound system that was operated by Linton and his brother disintegrated in the late '80s, Philip Linton Sr. saw the potential of having his own business. In 1990 his dream materialised when he moved to Windward Road and registered the company.

Full-service audio facility

Since then it has grown to become one of Jamaica's absolute full-service audio facilities, providing the finest quality in Pro Tools and 24-track analogue recording. The facilities also include a digital video recording and editing suite.

When The Sunday Gleaner arrived at the studio it was relatively early in the morning, yet workers were busy renovating to ensure that the studio is up to international standards. Producer and company director Philip Linton Jr. gave The Sunday Gleaner a tour of Arrows' four studios.

Consisting of two dub studios, a 24-track studio and a digital studio, Arrows is equipped for all types of music production. Linton explained that "in the two dub studios, one of them we do mastering so it's called the 'mastering studio'- that's where we do post-production work. The other is used for voicing for specials for the sound systems or what people call dubplates we did more of that before CDs came in. We have a digital studio, which is new, where we can do pre and post-production work. Then there is the 24-track studio - that's where all our production work is done, that's where we have live instruments, live recordings - all our mixing for production is done there."

Arrows is still a hub for live recordings and the occasional special.

Reggaegreats at Arrows

Arrows is where many of the dancehall and reggae greats furthered their careers, including Shabba Ranks, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Terror Fabulous, Wyclef Jean, Cobra, Stitchie, Marcia Griffiths, Nadine Sutherland, John Holt, LUST, Sizzla and Capleton. Linton claimed, "I don't know what kinda artistes didn't come here. Spragga Benz had his first big hit here, Jack It Up, the 'Soap Box' riddim came from here, Wayne Wonder's Sunshine, Morgan Heritage's She's Still Loving Me and many more."

Now Arrows is managing their own artistes, such as I-Octane.

According to Linton, Arrows studio is known for quality and that is what sets them apart from all others. "Quality work is what puts us over other studios. When you come to Arrows you know you're getting the best, whether it be mastering or dubs - that separates us," he said.

Now the studio is prepared to keep up with changing technology, having gone into video editing and music video production. That aspect of the business began only two years ago but thus far has resulted in the Too Much Gun video for Busy Signal, Gun Rise by I-Octane and Teflon, the Faithful video for Morgan Heritage and others.

With all this, it is obvious that Arrow Recording Studio is setting a straight line forward to the future.