Feature: The Evolution of Dance Music

Electronic Music has, to put it bluntly, changed the world.

Imagine a world without pumping 4-on-the-floor beats, soaring euphoric synths and bathroom-break-inducing basslines. Sure we'd have sturdier bladders, but at what cost?

I'm Dave - the new recruit here at primeloops and I'll be blogging twice weekly about all things electronica. Since this is my first post, a history of dance music's progression seems a logical and fun choice!

I'll even make it a story for you. Once upon a time, there was a misunderstood little genre called...

Disco

Bear with me.

This genre dared to be different, by which I mean it dared to be the same - a 4 on the floor consistant drumbeat accompanied most tracks. Bringing funk, pop rock and the newly popularised electronic music equipment - synths and drum machines together, the genre enveloped the popular music scene in the late 70s.

But with popularity comes hatred - actual riots kicked off because people hated disco so much (hilariously enough, I'm not even joking). And so the genre fell back into obscurity, but as tends to happen in EDM (Electronic Dance Music), from the ashes rose another genre...

House

Funniest sub-genre name: "Handbag House" - a later derivative of the genre that was a more anthemic version of house played mostly in gay clubs, where patrons would dance around a group of their handbags.

From the discotheques that survived the downfall of the genre of their inception came the next wave of pounding bass drum electronic music.

The affordability of drum machines such as the genre-defining Roland TR-808 meant that it was no longer simply bands that could make music - this was the real dawn of the DJ, where they could produce and then spin their tracks live without having to worry about things like musicians or talent.

And so house took the reigns and DJs started producing their own songs, sampling older tracks to get their hooks and using the familiar "uhn-tss" beat to drive the tunes along and mix them into each other.

But with a genre this wide-spanning, it was only a matter of time before people decided they needed more specific defenitions for what they wanted...

Techno

Funniest sub-genre name: "Wonky Techno" - Techno that breaks from the traditional 4 on the floor beat structure and is more progressive and glitchy.

Detroit seemed to think that House music was lacking in Electronic-ness, so they decided to make their own genre. Techno took the pounding drums of house and plonked even more electronic lead synths over the top - making the songs sound as mechanical and synthesized as possible.

This resulted in a less human, more technological sound - the genre pushed synths to the limit, making the prices come down as they became more popular and electronic music opened up to even more people.

Incidentally, as happens with quite a lot of electronic music, techno is involved in a massive internet meme - "Techno Viking".

If only the Norse Gods had blessed the vikings with some 808 drum machines, eh? We might all be speaking a different language right now.

Anyway.

Techno takes us through into the early '90s, where we meet with it's emotional offspring...

Trance

Funniest sub genre name: "Spugedelic Trance" - freeform psychadelic trance from Finland.

Taking a step back from the less melodic sound of techno and pushing forward into a genre that combined gorgeous melodies with restful yet powerful, emotional synth sounds, Trance took hold of the world and didn't let go for years.

With the beginnings of computer music, Electronic music production was more accessible than ever, and thus trance music's popularity and production expanded exponentially.

It grew throughout the 90s and spawned superstar DJs such as "Tiesto" and and "Paul van Dyk" who led the DJ into a new age of simultaneous respect and envy.

The mediterranean island of Ibiza was the breeding ground for the massive Trance raves, where mashed clubgoers could lose themselves in the euphoric buildups and breakouts that had become a staple of the genre.

This genre rose to popularity around the similar time a UK genre was exploding out of the underground...

Drum & Bass

Funniest sub genre name: Clownstep - a swingy, funny sounding DnB derivative, often used as an insult.

Quietly evolving in the basements of british producers from as early as the 80s, Drum and Bass found its sound and burst out into raves all over the place in the late 90s.

Finding a new beat to put behind every song (though there is more diversity in the percussion of DnB than that of any of the preceeding genres!), Drum and Bass contained a pace that hadn't been found in clubs until the genre was dropped by the first pioneering D&B DJs.

The genre has only become massive and gained mainstream respect since acts like "Pendulum" have broken out of the underground scene and developed a more mainstream style of the genre.


And let us hope it doesn't end there. There are millions of genres and styles waiting to attack the clubs with some form of addictive synthetic style - things like Dubstep and Glitch Hop seem to be evolving into the next popular wave of EDM, but what of the more upbeat club music? Will DJs be forever spinning the same trance classics, or will some brave pioneer push out their own distinctive style into the world?

I can't wait to find out.


Any other genres you think were intrinsic in the evolution of Electronic Dance music? We can only wait and see to find out!

Using Loops in Garageband - Video Tutorial

We now have lots of new Video Tutorials on our Youtube Channel (link at the bottom) below is one of our newest tutorials for Garageband showing you how to use Apple loops in Garageband - Enjoy!




There are lots of new Music Production Video Tutorials on our Youtube Channel, most recent tutorials include Garageband Tutorials and new Ableton Live 8 Tutorials

They are completely free, so - enjoy!

What is Electro House?

Here's an article from our latest recruit, who will be filling you in on the latest production techniques, genres, and styles, also, looking at interesting aspects of the music industry...let's see what he has to say about this new (or old?) genre!

I have been dancing to this genre for years without realising it.

Only recently after starting to research it have I twigged - there are a lot of artists that use the same sexy sound on their club bangers. This genre can keep the people dancing without missing a beat, taking them from the funky to the robotic and everything in between.

Electro House is the sound of the 2000 decade. It's time to understand it. Let's ask some questions...


What's it all about?

Dancing. Derived, shockingly enough, from House music, it retains the four-on-the-floor (one bass drum on every beat) structure of 90% of club music - meaning it instantly has that irresistable pump to it.

What separates it from regular house music though, is the harshness of the synths, the depth of the basses and in general the quality of the production. Though there are some retro elements in there as well - a combination of the new and the old. Electro house is the natural evolution of house music now that producers aren't limited by their gear - only their imagination.

All cheesy quotes aside, it's Electronic Dance music with the focus on dancing rather than emotion (Trance) or the mechanical (Techno).



When did it start?

The House movement evolved steadily throughout early 2000, bringing together the retro sounds of synth pop along with new production techniques into the mix to create the beginnings of what would become Electro House.

However, you would not find people calling themselves Electro House artists until a bit later...



How did it get popular?

Two major breakthroughs took place in 2006. The Electro House anthem "Yeah Yeah" from Bodyrox featuring Luciana (freakin' AWESOME voice on that girl) became a smash hit, and on an advert for the Citroen C4 car where a car transformed and began ice skating, the music it was dancing to was an Electro House remix of "Walking Away" by David Guetta.

From then on it was seen as one of the most prominent genres of Electronic Dance Music, going from strength to strength and is still at the time of writing hitting the clubs hard.




Why is Electro House so brilliantly danceable?

The loops are generally funky, with a tendancy for that vibrato lead effect and excessive portamento that make it feel sexy. That was always the word I used to describe the sound before I knew what the genre was called. Sexy dance music. Because it really is; it sounds intense, cool and you cannot help but be physically moved by it.

Do you produce Electro House, check out these sample packs here

This Summer...We're in the Mix

Summertime is definitely the best time of year....at least we think so! DJ's and producers across the globe are dropping hit after hit - and we love it!

After moving to our new office in Canary Wharf, London, we now have the firepower to release new titles every week....and as it's summer...you can expect something special coming your way...

If you haven’t already, sign up to our mailing list...not only do you get links to free demo loops every week...but you also stay in the know about what’s hot from other producers.

Glitch Hop Drum Loops & Glitch Cuts - Video & Reviews

We have been sent another storming review from boyinaband.com, and he has put together the awesome glitchy, dubby video (below) which is made from our Glitch Hop Drum Loops, Glitch Cuts & Minimal Synthesis releases. Check out his in-depth review after watching the video takes an in-depth look at the in's and outs of these releases.




Introduction:

I think the best way to start this review is by saying that as a direct result of the Glitch Cuts sample pack, I was inspired enough to dedicate a week of boyinaband blogs to Glitch Hop. I find this genre is more powerful, interesting and cooler than anything I’ve heard in years. I even prefer it to Dubstep – and I frickin’ love my Dubstep.

After my review of the Dubstep Producer Sample Pack last week, I have learned a bit more about using samples in Reason. Layering in NN-XT has been a big part of making this track, with sometimes 3 separate samples making a sound (such as that painful yet awesome synth just before the chorus cuts in.)

This time, I decided to use a few synths as well to back it up, which I feel now is the best way to work. Though in this song, for every lead synth sound you’ll find the main texture of the sound has come from a sample in the Glitch Cuts sample pack, sometimes combined with a bit of Thor.

I’ve rewired Reason 4 into Sonar 8, which is what I used to record and process my vocals.





Glitch Hop Drum Loops Sample Pack:

This is a review for two sample packs – the first one I’ll discuss in depth is the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack – this contains 77 drum loops, all with a glitchy edge to them. But by no means are they repetitive.

I get the feeling I’ll be saying this about most of Primeloops’ sample packs; I adore the variety.

There are some seriously funky loops, some crazily heavy ones, some dark and evil ones, several which made me actually say “wooooah!” out loud at how ridiculously gangstuh they were, some that are glitched up to the max so they don’t even sound like drums any more, some with an old school hip hop vibe, some with an electro aura about them and one or two that actually sound like regular drum loops.

Listen out in the song I made at the start of the second verse – those two loops are chopped versions of some of the drum loops in the pack. How ridiculously cool are they? They sound so *professional*, it’s ace. I thought to myself “I want something different here” and opened up this sample pack and literally a few minutes later I had found inspiration for making that part of the song more interesting. It seriously helps your workflow having good loops to hand.



Glitch Cuts Sample Pack– Electronics:

Now onto the second sample pack, “Glitch Cuts” – Starting off on the “Electronics” folder. There are 34 of what they call complex loops, and 42 sequencer loops. There are some AWESOME sounds here, both percussive and melodic – they stand out to me as ideal fills for your glitch hop tracks, or sounds to cut up and turn into percussive elements if you were feeling creative. Though scrolling through the sequencer loops I can hear some amazing Glitch hop songs just crying out to be made from them.

Glitch Cuts – FX:

Christ on a bike there are a lot of samples here. I used loads of them in the song above. The categories encompass 8bit, clicks, distortions, guitar fx, hisses, klangs, lfo fx, lo fi fx, mechanical fx, mod fx, noise fx, other fx (Some weeeird sounds in the other fx one!), pitched fx, trigger fx and voice fx. There are HUNDREDS of samples in this pack.

I used one of the guitar fx to make most of the gritty lead synth in the song above. I used a sample from the Mechanical fx in the painful (I tend to use the word “painful” in a good context quite a lot with this pack) fill that kicks in half way through both verses. The noise and 8bit samples are dotted around there too. They are just so *useable*.

There are some really cool voice fx in there for people who want to make something a bit less vocal-heavy than the track I made, but still want a memorable phrase or two in there for people to latch on and remember the song. Some amazing old school robot voices saying cool robot-y things like “resistance”, “computer” and I’m pretty sure one said “Mahjong”. A lot of them are cool vocal-sounding glitches though, which are sweet, they could even be used as percussion.

Glitch Cuts – Glitch Kit:

My second favourite part of the pack. There are so many weird and wonderful sounds in here that I don’t even know where to start. So the beginning would be logical – 56 bass drums, 48 claps, 36 hats, 50 snares, and 43 percussion samples (these tend to be hits with a metallic edge or blips), but treat the labels with a grain of salt – I could imagine a bunch of the snares as bass drums, the bass drums as snares and the percussion as lead synths if used correctly!

The main beat in the song is composed with samples from here. Again, versatility is key, more so than usual in this pack – you could make drum beats for just about any genre of music from the samples available in here, as well as some which pertain more to glitch hop. This pack is absolutely FANTASTIC for layering samples, meaning you can always get that perfect percussive sound you’re looking for.

Glitch Cuts – Shots:

Now we get to my favourite part of the pack – these shots are awesome. By shots they mean one-shot samples, though I found the best use for a lot of them was actually in synths. They add a professional touch to otherwise generic synth sounds, so combining these with thor can make for some awesome sounds.

Examples in the song – Check out the arpeggiated melodic synth in the intro, that’s made from a synth shot combined with a bit of thor magic. The hollow-sounding pad in the first verse is derived from an awesome soundscape shot (they’ve really covered all bases here – soundscapes, synths, hits, buzzes, basses and more. Did i mention this pack is stupidly massive?).

These tend to be the more melodic hits, whereas the FX category is mostly percussive. The quality is so good and again, if you’re stuck in songwriting, a few clicks and you’ll be freshly inspired just because of the amount of interesting sounds in here.




Making a Song:

Here I started with the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack, picking a sweet loop to build a beat around with the Glitch Kit – this means the beat is more unique and also more powerful, since the Glitch Kit in the Glitch Cuts pack has some really good kicks and snares.

After making that, I made the guitar fx/thor combined lead synth riff, which I used to build the rest of the track around. I wanted to get the dark, powerful feeling going on, so I added some hollow sounding pads – one over the chorus with a simple thor synth and another over the verse with a soundscape shot (I LOVE this sound, I don’t know how they got it sounding so hollow, that’s the beauty of these samples – most of them I wouldn’t know how to go about replicating from scratch, but it’s so good being able to use them.)

Once the basic song structure was put together, I started adding more synths – the painful one that comes in every 4 bars of the chorus, which is comprised of 3 soundscapes from the “minimal synthesis” pack (just goes to show the big ambient sounds don’t need to be used in an ambient context!) and the arp synth to fill out the beat with a bit of dark melody.

At this point I added the vocals – as I said, this was done in Sonar 8, then I stuttered the hell out of them and added a stupid amount of effects. Cutting, timestretching, filtering, flanging and distortion were the orders of the day.

Once the vocals were down, I went back through, adding in drops to emphasise certain vocal lines, a couple more drum loops from the Glitch Hop Drum Loops pack and another redrum instance just for glitches. There are so many amazing percussive glitches that I had to add an extra instance of ReDrum for them all. I also learned a cool technique – linking the mod CV from a malstrom instance to the pitch of a redrum channel means you can make samples’ pitch dynamically follow an LFO, giving a cool, breathing kind of effect when combined with the right samples (which this pack has.)

Lastly I went through taking away a lot of the overlapping percussion (There used to be even more going on in the song, I had to take out some of the glitches since it’s so tempting to add in a million of them in one go that you tend to ignore the fact that it’s difficult to pick out individual parts!)


Overview:

Lets go for the Glitch Hop Drum Loops sample pack first.

An inspiring, varied and generally frickin’ cool collection of glitch hop loops. Going through these, there were at least 20 standout loops where I stopped and thought “I actually really want to make a song with this.” – I’d say that is a good indication that the loops are good. There are some *amazing* sounds in the loops that I really want to cut up for use as hits. Definitely worth it for any aspiring glitch hop or hip hop producer. I could also see Electro producers getting a kick out of this one.

Then there’s the Glitch Cuts sample pack.

I think the biggest thing about this pack that I haven’t already mentioned (Variety, quantity, quality) is the value. There are over 1000 samples in here. And it’s, at time of writing, £13. That’s 1.3p per sample. 1.3p for a sound that will make your songs feel so much more interesting and professional. I’d think this would still be good value even if it had half the amount of samples. Maybe it’s ’cause Glitch Hop is a relatively new and evolving genre?

I can’t imagine anyone buying this being disappointed with the samples in it, because there are simply so many; chances are you will find one that will fit what you want. I never once found myself lacking inspiration at all while making this song.

All in all this is my favourite sample pack at the moment. I can see myself coming back to it time and again, for glitch hop and hip hop tracks sure, but also for other genres – after I’ve written the body of a song I’d poke through to add in some of those amazing shots and FX to just add that perfect cherry on top.

Download both Glitch release here