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Open Your Ears To A Different Kind of Dubstep
Thursday 19th September 2013 | Ewan
Something that has been bothering me for a while is commercial Dubstep. I say "commercial" because the kind of dubstep that plays a lot on radio and at clubs is this same old, typical grinding, growly bass with the wubs and was and... You know what I'm getting at. It's not that I have anything really against it. Whatever floats your boat, floats your boat. What irritates me is the thought that some people might classify Dubstep as progressively moving tempo with lots of sub-bass, growls, grinds, wubs, wa's.
This may indeed be a "type" of dubstep, but the genre goes so much deeper than this surface level stuff. Some producers create very minimal dubstep, other's more progressive and melodic. However a lot of dubstep features no grinding growls or wub-wubs at all. These sounds are not what defines the genre. You may be surprised to know that this is not all the genre has to offer. In order to explain my point more clearly I did a bit of research on what the bare minimum requirements are for a song to be labelled dubstep.
1. Dubstep songs typically range in tempo or bpm from 135 - 150 but typically reside in the 140 range.
2. Drum pattern is also a deciding factor and Dubstep tracks always have half-time drums, which means there's a kick on every first beat and a snare on every third.
3. The third characteristic is a prominent sub-bass. This is basically a bass line that is more "felt" than heard. Usually a very low frequency, typically below a hundred hurtz.
So, what does all this mean? I've set-up a tune by dubstep producer Ital Tek below. See what you think. If you like the song below, here are a few more artists that might interest you. Martyn, Barry Lynn, Vex'd.
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