Speed Garage
Bass · 1996 · 130 to 140 BPM · also known as Speed UKG
Speed garage is 1997 London: New York house doped up on jungle basslines, warbling sub lines, garage organ stabs and ragga vocal samples. Double 99's RIP Groove is its founding act, and the summer of 1997 its commercial peak. Brief but foundational, it was the airlock between house music and everything the UK would go on to make from bass, periodically resurrected ever since.
16 reference tracks
- Tina Moore: Never Gonna Let You Go (1997)
- CJ Bolland: Sugar Is Sweeter (1996)
- Da Hool: Meet Her at the Love Parade (1997)
- 187 Lockdown: Gunman (1997)
- Serious Danger: Deeper (1997)
- Double 99: RIP Groove (1997)
- Soul Mass Transit System: Give It 2 U (2021)
- Soul Mass Transit System: My Name Is Down (I Am On The List) (2021)
- Silva Bumpa: BWU (2023)
- Justė*, Jaxstyle, Jon*: Turn The Lights Off (2025)
- Ferry Corsten & Superstrings: Have Me (If You Want Me Too) (2025)
- PinkPantheress: Girl Like Me
- PinkPantheress: Tonight
- PinkPantheress: Tonight + JADE
- Burial: Temple Sleeper
- Sammy Virji: I Guess We're Not The Same
At a glance
- Tempo: 130 to 140 BPM
- First appeared: around 1996
- Machines: Korg M1, Orgue, Roland TR-909
- The sound: Basse warp jungle, Orgue M1, Voix ragga, Roland TR-909 shuffleée
- Labels: 500 Rekords, Kiwi Rekords, Ice Cream, Confetti, Four40, Timeisnow
- Key artists: Double 99, 187 Lockdown, RIP Productions, Serious Danger, Gant
Producing Speed Garage
Speed garage runs between 130 and 135 BPM with a squarer four-on-the-floor kick than the UK garage that follows it, the energy coming from the bass rather than the swing, though a moderate 909 shuffle still sits on the hats. A full TR-909 kick holds every beat, snare or clap cracks on 2 and 4, and each 8-bar phrase closes with a snare roll or a timbale build. The real DNA is the warp bass inherited from jungle: a Reese built from two detuned sawtooths in opposite directions, mono with glide, through a lowpass filter with slowly modulated cutoff, sliding a semitone or a fourth under a sine sub an octave below. On top, Korg M1 organ stabs, sampled ragga and dancehall vocal phrases, sirens and vinyl spin-backs, kept direct and simple.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Speed Garage?
Speed garage is 1997 London: New York house doped up on jungle basslines, warbling sub lines, garage organ stabs and ragga vocal samples. Double 99's RIP Groove is its founding act, and the summer of 1997 its commercial peak. Brief but foundational, it was the airlock between house music and…
What tempo is Speed Garage played at?
Between 130 and 140 BPM.
Who are the key Speed Garage artists?
Double 99, 187 Lockdown, RIP Productions, Serious Danger, Gant.
In the same family
- UK Garage
- Bassline
- 2-Step
- Dubstep
- Brostep
- Riddim
- Future Garage
- UK Bass
- Wonky
- Future Bass
- Trap
- Deconstructed Club
Listen to Speed Garage in the atlas · Cette page en français
