Although major recordings and productions at Studio One slowed drastically towards the end of the 1970's, the riddims originating at Studio One would continue to have a profound influence on dancehall reggae, which has been on a steady rise in popularity since the late 70s. Riddims such as "Real Rock", "Mr Bassie", "Hot Milk", and Satta-A-Masagana, all originated in the house of Studio One. If these riddim names sound unfamiliar, maybe you've heard of "Murderer" by Barrington Levy, "Raggy Road" by Capleton, and nuff odda big chunes on Studio One riddims. Pick up this Studio One anthology, and you are sure to hear 5 or 6 riddims that you thought originated with Sizzla, Capleton, Buju, or Beres. Trust mi, the influence that Studio One has had on this music goes deep and as today's top dancehall producers continue to put their own spin on classic Studio One riddims, they keep the legacy of this legendary studio alive... [continued]

Here is Chuck Foster's excellent bio of Dodd from the Encyclopedia of Record Producers:

If only one reggae producer were included in this book it would have to be C.S. "Coxsone" Dodd. Though not the earliest Jamaican producer, his work is certainly the most pervasive.

Coming up through the ranks from sound system to record producer in the ska era, his rock steady and reggae productions are still the jumping off point for the most popular reggae rhythms of today, and he was the producer of note for the early work of most of reggae's better known acts - the Wailers, Toots and the Maytals, the Heptones, Dennis Brown and literally hundreds of others.

"Downbeat," as he was originally called (most Jamaican producers and artists go through a series of names if their careers last long enough) started out building speaker boxes for some of the earliest sound systems in Jamaica. He went on to run his own sound and became chief rival to the island's then-number one sound, Duke Reid the Trojan.

Playing American R&B in the early days and scouting records in the U.S. in heated competition, they began recording their own homegrown music as good records got harder to find. One of his earliest productions, Theophilus Beckford's "Easy Snapping," helped usher in the era of ska, which celebrated Jamaica's independence both musically as a nation.

Among his outstanding contributions to ska are "Guns Fever" by Baba Brooks, Don Drummond's "Man In the Streets," "Further East" and "Schooling the Duke," Clancy Eccles' [see entry] "River Jordan" and several albums worth of Roland Alphonso, and the Skatalites. Tracks like Alphonso's "Ball of Fire" or the Skatalites' "Phoenix City" are what ska was all about, unbridled energy channeled through horn sections determined to stamp a Jamaican imprint on jazz, R&B and the world.

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