DUBSTEP 1.0

by Da Jestr

Sup bors, its Jestr again.  I have a huge obsession with the type of electronica music known as Dubstep.  My top five Dubstep producers:

1) Excision

2) Datsik

3) Vexare

4) Downlink

5) The Widdler

To me to me Dubstep is literature. Just like books give you feelings, this music gives you different feelings, and can be analyzed and close read just like books.

First off lets go on a little background history of Dubstep… It originated in London, England.  Dubstep is based on some different genres of music: Reggae, Rave, grime, 2-step, drum and bass, and breakstep.

The first major record companies were also based in England: Big Apple, Tempa, and Ammunition.  Dubstep was created in the late 1980’s and the early 1990’s. 

Right now there are thousands of deejays out there in the world, but we’re going to focus on one in particular: Vexare.

Listen to "Still Remaining" below:

           

What makes Vexare so unique is the fact that he plays with the MIDI Keyboard a lot in his songs.  MIDI Keyboards screwed up music back in the day but people are content with where the MIDI is now.  It’s with all Electro types of music.

Here’s a MIDI Keyboard:

Anyways, Vexare always messes with our minds with the soothing tones of his MIDI-started songs.  Still Remaining for instance, is one of his most intense bass drops.  Still Remaining in the beginning is a very soothing until 28 minutes in the song when the synthesizer samples start playing.  The samples are obviously bitcrushed with about 7bits maybe 8. 

Bitcrushers damage bits in songs so that it makes the bits sound kind of staticy. 

When the bass drum beat ‘builds’ up to the bass drop that’s when we assume that the ‘drop’ is going to be intense. 

Finally, when the bass drops Vexare used his really professional dee jaying skills to make wobble bass and subby bass as he’s stepping (dubstepping.) 

I’ll show you a pictures of wobble bass on the Fruity Loops Dubstep Software.

Also, what’s unique about Vexare’s songs is the different pitches and beats that he uses.  For instance in the Clockmaker, he keeps on switching to one pitch to another, very quickly.

Back to Still Remaining, Vexare has unique sounds he makes; I can’t really explain them but if you want you can listen. 

The real reason I like Still Remaining is because it has a lot of subby and wobble bass.  It also is very, very intense because: it has intense beats and a fast pace.

The different kinds of drum samples in this song are obviously unique to Vexare.  If you want to make Dubstep by yourself you need to not have a drumkit. You use drumkit samples. J

Anyways, about the beat in Still Remaining…

When I listen to it I hear: snare, hihat, cymbals, and bass drum.  The bass drum, I hear, is mostly in the build up to the drop. 

When the bass drops, mostly snare and cymbal samples are audible. 

About the dubstep parts, Vexare also uses the turntables to make the sound more, um, wobbly? J

Anyways, in the Dubstep parts Vexare switches the dials to switch pitches a lot to make more ‘intense’ sounds. 

After the first bass drop, Vexare uses synth samples and MIDI to go back to that awkward soothing/relaxing piano part. 

After 30 more seconds: the bitcrushed synth comes back a second time.  This time it sounds like there is two of the same synths (but at different pitches) at the same time. 

When it gets to the bass drop again, the synth and the Dubstep are going at the same time.  Its common in many, um lets say, Skrillex songs to have two different drops, but they have different delay, attack, and decay in them. 

Delay, attack, and decay all make the dubsteppy stuff sound good. 

            

So when you have the chance, listen to Still Remaining by Vexare.

So bors, next time let’s dubstep it up another level, next time: Swagga by Excision and Datsik.  

           

Key terms: Bitcrushers, wobble bass (wobbs,) subsonic bass (subby,) MIDI, synthesizers, hi hat, snare, kick, bassline, bass, bass drops, cymbal, delay, reverb, decay, and attack.