Definitions of terms used in Dance Music 1985 to the present Day Jamaican Dub A style of music from the 1960s, usually instrumental Reggae tracks with sound effects and other musical clips overdubbed (hence “Dub”) to produce a cheap album filler or single “B” side. King Tubby – One of the pioneers of Jamaican Dub Funk A style of music from the 1960s that contained all the elements of rock music, but with more intricate and precise accompaniments and soulful vocal lines, typified by the music of James Brown. Disco A style of music that started in the gay clubs of America and went on to become a global phenomenon during the mid-1970s. The film “Saturday Night Fever” was instrumental in its popularity. Major Disco artists include the Bee Gees and Donna Summer. Saturday Night Fever Donna Summer European Synth Pop A style of all electronic pop music that was pioneered by the German group Kraftwerk, it then produced a number of artists including Gary Numan, The Pet Shop Boys & Depeche Mode in the UK, A-HA from Norway and Jean-Michel Jarre in France. German Synth Pop Pioneers Kraftwerk Jean-Michel Jarre at the Theremin Hip Hop A genre of dance music that is dominated by rap artists, it is usually slower than most dance forms and the emphasis is on the skills of the individual rappers rather than the musical content. House House is one of the first forms of dance music in this area of study, named after the “Warehouse” club in Chicago where it was first played by DJs such as Frankie Knuckles and Farley “Jackmaster” Funk. It is made up of Disco music which has been re-mixed with elements of Euro Synth pop and funk and then had a strong rhythmic “4 to the floor” beat added with a drum machine. Techno Originally a term used by the German band Kraftwerk to describe how they mixed electronic instruments together to create pop music. In dance music it is a style, not dissimilar to House, which evolved in the early 1990s and has a minimalist, mechanical quality. With the evolution of technology it has become more complex, with more and more rhythms laid on top of one another, so that the entire recording studio becomes like a single instrument with which to experiment. Trance Trance is a hard genre to define as it is more of a feel than a specific musical style. It appears in so many different forms and few can actually agree what makes the music “Trance”. The purpose of Trance music is to put the clubbers into a hypnotic state, which is nothing new as tribal shamans had been doing the same thing for centuries using a combination of natural hallucinogenic herbs and rhythms pounded out on log drums. The only difference with modern Trance is that the pharmaceuticals are man made and the instruments electronic. Trance music can by extremely euphoric too and many of the tracks have an anthemic feel. A shaman induced trance Trance clubbers in 2002 Jungle / Drum ‘n’ Bass Jungle is quite chaotic and has a tempo of 160BPM with the bass drum on each minim to give a half time feel. If you’re not used to it, it’s hard to predict where there is a beat and/or bass. Jungle’s origins are from England and it is named after the big concrete, metallic “Jungle” City club. It is also known as Drum ‘n’ Bass, which is a further developed and accepted variant of Jungle. It has an open and naked sound which focuses on drums and bass. The rhythms are like Jungle, but with samples taken from Jazz and Soul rather than the Caribbean flavours of Jungle. Garage A more melodic form of House music that originated in New York in a club called the “Paradise Garage” and took it’s influences from Soul and R & B rather than the Disco of House. DJ DJs are the centre of dance music. They devise and define the styles, and decide what will be the “anthem” of the summer. A DJ is employed on the basis of how many clubbers he can attract to a club, and clubs gain their reputation based on the prowess of the DJ. Each DJ may specialize in garage, jungle, drum ‘n’ bass, or hardcore in addition to the standard anthems of the summer. Mixing Mixing is the art of playing two or more records simultaneously and matching their BPM exactly, using the pitch control on the record decks. The DJ will then Mix In and Mix Out of the two records to produce something new and entertaining for the clubbers. Scratching Scratching is an effect created by applying the fingers to a record and moving it backwards and forwards. Samplers A device for the playback and (in the case of hardware samplers) recording of sections of digital audio. For example, you can record the sounds of individual piano keys being played on a Steinway Model D, load them into a sampler, map them to the corresponding keys on a MIDI keyboard and play away, with the keyboard now sounding like the Steinway! With modern computer storage and memory possibilities, today’s sampled instruments are nearly impossible to tell from the real thing when used skilfully. The Akai MPC 4000 Hardware Sampler Cakewalk Dimension Pro Software Sampler Vocoder A Vocoder is a machine or piece of software that uses an audio signal (typically speech or singing to modulate a synthesised sound. The resulting effects range from talking guitar and robotic vocals to cool synthesized sounds and even percussive sounds. Earliest uses of a Vocoder include the train in the Disney film “Dumbo” and “Sparky’s Magic Piano”, it was also used extensively in the soundtrack to the film “A Clockwork Orange” in which a Vocoder sang the lead part in the version of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Extensively used by bands such as Kraftwerk and the Alan Parsons Project. More recently the voices of the Transformers were created with a Vocoder. A Vocoder was used in places to provide emphasis on Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”. 4 To The Floor The result of sequencing or performing four crotchet beats on a kick or bass drum in each bar. A device that generally continues throughout a dance track, ensuring that the bpm is at the front of the arrangement throughout. EQ EQ is short for Equalisation and is a device that either boosts or cuts specific frequencies, be they bass, treble or mid-range in much the same way as the tone controls on an old stereo system. If you have a mixing desk, each channel will have a selection of High, Mid and Low knobs or with a software “plug-in” (that software packages such as SONAR, Cubase and Logic have within them) you can divide a sound into multiple frequencies in order to achieve the desired sound. A 10 Channel EQ Software Plug-in A Mixing desk showing the EQ section Reverb Short for reverberation, which itself refers to the reflection of sound off every surface it touches. If you stand in a church and sing a note, the sound of your voice that you hear after you have stopped singing the note is reverb or reverberation. This can be artificially created with an effects unit or a software plug-in. Chorus A thickening effect created by layering two identical sounds, either with a very small delay between them or by de-tuning one of them very slightly. It is used to give the impression of two or more instruments playing together. For Example you could record four singers singing the Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass parts of a choral piece and then by adding three instances of chorus you would have the sound of a choir with eight singers on each part. Distortion Distortion is the effect you get if you overload a speaker or microphone of any kind. If you have an old cassette recorder with a built in microphone, record yourself shouting into the microphone at close range. The result on hearing it back will be distortion. Distortion sounds great on a rock lead guitar but lousy on a recording of a string quartet! Quantisation This computer calculation is the time correction of MIDI notes or audio according to a selectable grid, whereby each note or sound is moved to the nearest time division (crotchet, quaver or semi-quaver). Four sloppily played crotchets before quantisation….. and after. Breakbeats Breakbeat(s) is a term used to describe a collection of sub-genres of electronic music, usually characterized by the use of a non-quantized 4/4 drum pattern (as opposed to the steady beat of house or trance). These rhythms may be characterized by their use of syncopation and polyrhythms, which are prominent in music of African origin. Delay Also known as echo. It has the effect of replaying a sound or phrase in a similar way to chorus but with multiple instances of the original sound each one with a delayed start (hence delay) and a gradual weakening of the original sound. A Delay Plug-In showing the six instances of delay over six seconds, each pair quieter than the last, so delay 1&2 would be 3 decibels quieter than the original sound, delays 3&4 would be 6 decibels quieter and delays 5&6 9db quieter. Flanger A flanger doubles a sound in the same way as Chorus, but then it plays both instances back with a changing pitch and strength. This gives a “whooshing” effect and a phasing quality.