BY MATT LIBANOFF
As Greta Svabo Bech continues to sing about a defunct relationship, the beat slowly begins to rise on Deadmau5’s “Raise Your Weapon.” She tells everyone to “raise their weapon” one more time, or “it’s over”. Now at the cusp, the primary beat of the song “drops”. No longer does this songstress speak of fighting with a lover over a lonely beat; now she sings across a field of heavy bass, synths, and an infectious inclusion of drum beats. This song, off of Deadmau5’s newest album, 4*4=12, is one of the artist’s first attempts at tackling the extremely popular subgenre of Dubstep music.
Dubstep’s origins trace back to the United Kingdom in 1998. At first, Dubstep was the fusion between “garage band” sound and funk music, creating darker and more instrumental songs. After this initial collaboration, artists began to remix songs: adding the garage and funk sounds to a song to create a fresh, never-before-heard track.
Throughout the early 2000’s, Dubstep’s popularity rose exponentially. This is mainly due to British disc jockeys who played Dubstep in the clubs as well as to artists who adopted the sound into their own writing and producing.
In 2009, Dubstep entered the mainstream in America when British pop duo, La Roux, brought their sound across the Atlantic. Using their songs as the base, American DJs such as Skream, Nero, and Zinc created the Dubstep remixes of the songs and took the American music industry by storm. Many DJs haven taken Dubstep’s original concept and expanded it, defining it into what it is known as today.
“It’s a new form of electronic dance music (EDM),” senior and Dubstep follower Alex Benner said.
Dubstep songs are comprised of several different and individual elements that come together to create the one-of-a-kind sound. Every Dubstep song begins with an “intro”. The intro is either an original or existing song; it can last any length of time and can be from any genre. Vocal segues, or monologues, have also been used as intros. After the intro comes the focal point of the song, the “drop”. The drop is the point in a track in which a switch of rhytm or bassline occurs, such as from the love-song music and lyrics of “Raise Your Weapon” to the more electronic part of the song. After the drop, most Dubstep songs include another section using the music from the intro. Depending on the composition of the song, the pair of sections can then repeat or they can lead to the end of the song, also known as the “outro”.
“It’s a heavier electronic sound,” Benner said. “It’s a lot more intense than other dance or house songs.”
Recently, Dubstep has become increasingly popular among Cooper City High School students since local DJs have begun playing original Dubstep songs, as well as Dubstep remixes of existing songs, on radio stations and at performance venues. As the genre gained attention from CCHS students, Dubstep quickly caught on as the “hot, new thing”, and demand for new Dubstep music surged.
“It’s a different style and every Dubstep song is unique,” Benner said.
CCHS senior and local DJ Nick Propri heard his first Dubstep song nearly two years ago, before the genre’s mainstream introduction, and has been a fan ever since.
“It’s out there but it still sounds good,” Propri said.
In an effort to create the best possible sounds, Propri had to learn a lot about music theory. This included learning about all different types of music, including classical, pop, and electronic. However, Dubstep has continually piqued the interest of this blossoming artist.
“It’s more technical than regular electronic music and it doesn’t have a continuous beat,” Propri said.
As the genre’s popularity increases, the amount of Dubstep that Propri listens to and uses in his DJing has increased as well. But creating these songs is no easy matter for Propri, let alone anyone who makes Dubstep songs.
“People think you can just get a keyboard and do it, but it’s more than that,” Propri said.
For Propri, the process for creating a Dubstep song is a long, arduous one. He starts off with a basic drumbeat, or as Propri describes it, the “backbone” of the song. He then adds synthesizer effects “for ambience”. For the last part, he adds the “wobble” sounds and other filler beats.
“You have to be creative with it or else no one will like it,” Propri said.
As one of the newest trends in music, one of the biggest questions currently posed is, “what’s next?” In the past year, pop and hip-hop artists such as Rihanna, Snoop Dogg, and most recently Britney Spears, have begun to incorporate Dubstep sounds into their songs and albums. This inclusion of Dubstep has sky-rocketed these artists’ songs to the top of the Billboard charts. As more and more artists and producers use and promote Dubstep in their work, the fan base of Dubstep will continually grow.
“There’s something for everyone,” Propri said.
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