UK Bass
Bass · 2008 · 128 to 145 BPM · also known as Bass Music, Post-Dubstep
The umbrella label for the post-dubstep years, from 2009 onward: everything London produced between house, garage, techno, and grime without fitting neatly into any of them. Hessle Audio, Night Slugs, and Hemlock were its home labels, with bass as the only true common denominator. Less a genre than a moment of formal freedom, its inaugural anthem was signed by Joy Orbison with Hyph Mngo.
8 reference tracks
- Untold: Kingdom (2008)
- Ramadanman: Blimey (2008)
- Pinch: 136 Trek (2008)
- Joy Orbison: Hyph Mngo (2009)
- James Blake: CMYK (2010)
- Mosca: Bax (2011)
- Two Shell: home (2022)
- Joy Orbison: Flight FM (2024)
At a glance
- Tempo: 128 to 145 BPM
- First appeared: around 2008
- Machines: Ableton Live, Native Instruments Massive, Akai MPC
- The sound: Basses sub UK, Swing garage sur grilles house, Sound design de club expérimental, Percussions sèches
- Labels: Hessle Audio, Livity Sound, Night Slugs, Wisdom Teeth, Timedance, Hemlock
- Key artists: Joy Orbison, Pearson Sound, Blawan, Untold, Pangaea, Batu
Producing UK Bass
UK bass does not have one tempo so much as a range, 125 to 135 BPM with 130 most common, often a 128 house grid carrying garage swing at 56 to 60 percent, or a halfstep feel at 130 with the snare on beat 3. The feel is dry, precise, and syncopated, with silences that matter as much as the hits, tighter than the dubstep it grew from. Build dry, short percussion with no reverb, rimshots, woodblocks, muted claps, pitched 808 toms, and a syncopated house or saturated 909 kick, placed on beat 1, the off-beat of 2, and beat 3 with a gap, plus a snare on 2 and 4 or alone on 3. Keep hats rare, replaced by syncopated sixteenth percussion with widely varied velocities and occasional polyrhythms.
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 UK Bass?
The umbrella label for the post-dubstep years, from 2009 onward: everything London produced between house, garage, techno, and grime without fitting neatly into any of them. Hessle Audio, Night Slugs, and Hemlock were its home labels, with bass as the only true common denominator. Less a genre…
What tempo is UK Bass played at?
Between 128 and 145 BPM.
Who are the key UK Bass artists?
Joy Orbison, Pearson Sound, Blawan, Untold, Pangaea, Batu.
