I want to put together a list of things that encompass what summarizes drum and bass including its sub-genres jungle, tech-step, clown-step, etcetera-step.
-Tempo sticks from 165 for older styles to around 175+ for more recent.
-Snares commonly on 2 and 4
-a description of the typical drum beat as well as “rollers” and skankin beats or reverse drums
-Common sounds found in drum and bass
-Common samples used
-Common synths or vsts used
-Common grooves
-Programs used
-Famous Drum and bass artists old and new
-Record labels
-use in the media (movies, commercials, radio transitions)
-Drum and bass classic tracks/ recent tracks
-techniques
-etc
-etc
Mostly just for fun. I just finished a semester of music school. Now I just wanna focus on writing the music that I like for the summer.
I’m actually just trying to relive some of my past dnb/90’s rave memories. I miss those days sometimes. Total Science, Metalheads, Dillinja before he stopped making good music. All of the stuff from then till now is kind of fun to look back on and see where dnb came from as well as what other people might remember from it. Or in other words what I might have missed.
The whole thing that prompted this was that I was looking for a Total Science track that has this really squelchy synthesizer. It’s really hard to describe, but here’s an example in this youtube video at 3:00
I was looking for that synth or something similar.
Although he does use “Jungle” to refer to the main genre, with Drum & Bass being listed as a subgenre under that. That debate is getting pretty old though… Especially since Drum&Bass seems to be the predominant term most everywhere these days. Also if you’ve never seen this guide before, just ignore for the most part his descriptions as they’re very opinionated.
Still, it’s a noble project, albeit getting a little dated now that it hasn’t been updated in a few years. I used to always want to do something similar in high school. In fact in college I did a powerpoint presentation about different subgenres of electronic music.
If you are serious about this project, you could always create a similar type of site focusing exclusively on drum&bass. Of course you could try to be more objective and mature with your descriptions too
P.S… This describes most of western music. It’s the stuff “around” the snare that gives different beats their distinct feel, mostly the placement of the kick. It’s kind of amazing that just moving the kick just a tad creates such huge differences in feel.
And also sad that other time signatures are not more explored… I think there is HUGE potential in 5/4, 7/8 and even the more common 6/8 that could be developed.
This could be cool/neat-o/generally informative for people wanting to make D&B, or for people who want to trace the roots of the genre. I think a “musicology of jungle” is a great idea.
I dunno how one would organize it though - maybe use a kind of shortest-path tree diagram concept?
My sub-genre is liquid.
So…a diagram may look like…artists organized by their major record label maybe…
Jungle/D&B -->
[indent]__Step/Sub-genres -->[/indent]
[indent][indent]Neurofunk, Jump-Up, Techstep, Drumfunk, etc…[/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent]Liquid Funk -->[/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent]Genre Characteristics and Production Strategies…[/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent]History of the Sub-Genre (Liquid)…[/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent]Record Lables -->[/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent]Hospital Records -->[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Danny Byrd[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Logistics[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]High Contrast -->[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Tough Guys Don’t Dance, True Colors…etc [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]High Society --> [/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]The Basement Track -->[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Link to media content, a review or discussion of song and/or techniques used etc…[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Samples Used -->[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
[indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]VOCALS: Indo - “Are You Sleeping?” - garage tune from 1996[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent]
…umm - I guess this is one option for organization
In any case I feel like this kind of thing could help people get to know D&B, answer their questions about “which break was that” etc…
I am a fan of DnB so I will add some artist you should look up. I have a bunch of artist I like but I will add only a few.
I really can’t categorize any of these artist though, but some just leans towards certain style. Theres a lot of good artist out there.
just dnb-Raiden, Audio, Spor(feed me), phace & misanthop, dom n roland, Nosia, sabre and optiv. Most of the artist are kinda ol school.
btk, spectrum,B-Complex, Receptor
Tech step- Allied, Konflict, the sect
Soul/Liquid/jazzy- Makoto, Ltj Bukem, tyler stuab
atmospheric- klute, lm1
Raiden is becoming one of my favorites now because his uses more drums in his latest production now. I think he is on Renegade hardware label.
Audio is old artist but I loved his tracks like “can’t stop”
One good classic track would be by Konflict- Messiah
Jaguar Skills presents…the History of Drum n Bass. (part 1 of 5)
Tracklist
The Winstons - Amen Brother
A Guy Called Gerald - 28 Gun Bad Boy
Rufige Kru - Terminator
Omni Trio - Renegade Snares
Deep Blue - The Helicopter Tune
Unknown Origin - Valley Of The Shadows
LTJ Bukem - Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem - Atlantis
Shy Fx - Original Nuttah
Serial Killaz - Code Red (Original Mix)
DJ Hype - Tiger Style
Renegade - Terrorist
Leviticus - Burial
M Beat - Style
Dead Dred - Dred Bass
DJ Krust - Jazz Note
Goldie - Inner City Life
Prizna Ft Demolition Man - Fire
Firefox and 4 Tree - Warning (Powder Mix)
2 Bad Mice - Bombscare
M Beat feat. General Levi - Incredible
Soundman and Don Lloydie - Greater Love
DJ Krust - Set Speed
Adam F - Circles
Source Direct - Exit 9
DJ SS - The Lighter
Ganja Kru - Super Sharp Shooter
Aphrodite - King Of The Beats
Shimon & Andy C - Night Flight
Bad Company - Bad Ass
LTJ Bukem - Horizon
Nasty Habits - Shadow Boxing
Adam F - Metropolis
Alex Reese - Pulp Fiction
Photek - Ni Ten Ichi Ryu
Jonny L - Piper
Roni Size - Brown Paper Bag
Ray Keith - Chopper (Shy FX Remix)
Roni Size - Heros
Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce - Cutslo (Lokuste Mix)
Ram Trilogy - Warhead
Adam F - Brand New Funk
Bad Company - The Nine
Trace - Sonar
Dillinja - Fluid
DJ Die - Clear Skyz
Shy FX - Bambaataa
Ed Rush, Optical & Fierce - Alien Girl
Dom & Roland - Can’t Punish Me
Adam F - Dirty Harry
E-Z Rollers - Walk This Land
Ed Rush & Optical - Bacteria
Ed Rush & Optical - Sicknote
Ed Rush & Optical - Watermelon
Bad Company - The Pulse
Krust V Roni Size - Kloaking Device
Ram Trilogy - Titan
Moving Fusion - Turbulence
Digital - Deadline
Dillinja - Nasty Ways
Roni Size & Reprazent - Dirty Beats (Roni Size Remix)
E-Z Rollers - RS2000
Badmarsh & Shri - Signs
Bad Company - Planet Dust
DJ ZInc - Casino Royal
Shy FX & T Power - Shake Ur Body
Fernanda Porto - Sambassim (DJ Patife Remix)
Shimon & Andy C - Body Rock
DJ Marky & Xrs - LK
High Contrast - Return Of Forever
Dillinja - Twist Em Out
Shy FX & T-Power & Skibadee - Don’t Wanna Know
Concord Dawn - Morning Light
Klute - Part Of Me
Dillinja - Grimey
Uncut - Midnight
Raiden - Fallin’
M.I.S.T. - Jam Hot
Hive - Neo
London Elektricity - The Great Drum & Bass Swindle
Bad Company - Nitrous
D Kay & Epsilon - Barcelona
Jahiem - Put That Woman First (DJ Calibre Remix)
M.I.S.T. - Outaspace
Shy FX & T-Power - Feelin U
Friction and Nu Balance - Robocop
Logistics - Together
Calyx & Teebee - Follow The Leader
High Contrast - Racing Green
Calibre - Drop It Down
D Bridge - True Romance
Calibre & High Contrast - Mr Majestic
Artificial Intelligence - Through The Gate
High Contrast - Twilight’s Last Gleaming
Concord Dawn - Don’t Tell Me
Pendulum - Another Planet
Pendulum - Tarantula
Jenna G - In Love
Shy Fx & T Power - Feelings
Nu:Tone - Strange Encounter
Alix Perez & Specific - Love Bug
Konflict - Messiah
Noisia - The Tide
Fresh - Floodlight
Potential Bad Boy - Submission
Chase And Status - Duppy Man
Logistics - The Trip
Photek - Thunder (DJ Die and Clipse Remix)
Sub Focus - X Ray
Pendulum - Slam
Tommy Boy - Love And Happiness
Die & Clipz - Number One
Total Science - Soul Patrol
Noisia - Facade
Total Contrast - What We Do
Pendulum - The Vault
Sub Focus - Airplane
TC Featuring Jakes - Deep
Ben Westbeech & Die - Get Closer
Chase & Status - Love’s Theme
Michael Jackson - Human Nature (Makoto & Specialist Remix)
Alix Perez & Specific - Just Memories
Benny Page - Turn Down The Lights
Potential Badboy - Hot Girls
Commix - Be True
TC - Where’s My Money
Zinc feat. Makoto & Stamina MC - Thinking Back
Roni Size & DJ Die - It’s A Jazz Thing (Utah Jazz Remix)
Alix Perez ft. MC Fats - Down The Line
Matrix & Futurebound - American Beauty
Nu: Tone - System
Chase & Status - Dumpling Riddim
Pendulum - Blood Sugar
Chase & Status - Hurt You
High Contrast - If We Ever
Breakage - Clarendon
High Contrast - In A Gadda Da Vida Loca
Potential Badboy - 4 D Girls Dem
J Majik & Wikaman - Crazy World
DJ Fresh featuring Mc Darrison - All That Jazz
Artificial Intelligence - Bloodlines
High Contrast - Pink Flamingos
Future Prophecies - Dreadlock
Potential Badboy - Girlz
High Contrast - Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
London Elektricity - All Hell Is Breaking Loose
Sub Focus - Timewarp
DJ Hazard - Machete
Jonny L - Oh Yeah
Blame - Stay Forever
Brookes Brothers - Tear You Down
High Contrast - Hometown Glory
Danny Bird - Shock Out
Spor - Aztec
DJ Fresh - Hypercaine
P Money - Everything (Blame Remix)
DJ Fresh Heavyweight
Noisia - Stigma
Foreign Beggars - Contact (Noisia)
Logistics - Jungle Music
Sigma - Paint It Black
Blame - Because Of You
Sub Focus - Rock It
Danny Bird - Sweet Harmony (Jungle Remix)
Jaguar Skills feat. MC Skibadee - Outro
I have to look at that DnB history movie. (edit: ok, it was a mix rather than a movie… guess it may be worth listening to anyway).
My idea of Drum and Bass is probably heavily distorted. I got into “breakbeats” (which was the only name we had for them) in 92-93. But living outside of UK, in pre internet days, what we got were the odd compilation or 12 inch appearing in a record store now and then, plus mix tapes circulating that some friend of a friend of a friend had recorded from some radio station in London. Stuff like that. Very very few had discovered this music here and I think we also felt quite special listening to it.
I remember the first time I read anything about this kind of music was in an article in Melodymaker in 1993 about “Jungle”. It was the first time I heard that name. The article also described the various sub-genres of jungle, including DnB. I don’t think I had heard any DnB at the time. In 1994 already I started to lose interest because of the boring mainstream ragga jungle stuff and (less mainstream) dnb I never quite liked. The artists that had made tracks or mixes I really liked around 1993 all seemed to move on to either of those two subgenres as well.
I think I happened to catch breakbeats in a weird transition period between the hardcore/rave going out of style around 1991 and the rise of jungle and drum and bass in 1994-95 or so. Many of the artists I find on my tapes and cds are better known for their later drum and bass tracks (that I find so boring).
To go slightly back on-topic, I’m still interested in DnB production using Renoise, since there still are parts of DnB (at least the older tunes) that are similar to things I could enjoy trying to make in Renoise sometime.
If you like all kinds of D&B from liquid to heavy, I can suggest the compilations below.
More than 50 tracks on each compilation (+ mixes included since 2016) cheap price.
