Jump-Up
Breaks · 1993 · 172 to 180 BPM · also known as Jump Up
Jump up is Saturday night drum and bass: a trampoline bassline that does all the work, simple breaks, and DJ friendly hooks. It was born in the mid 1990s around the Ganja and True Playaz labels with DJ Hype and Zinc, then revived in an even more exaggerated form during the 2010s. Purists tend to look down on it, dancefloors keep demanding it, and the argument between the two camps is now thirty years old. Its formula stays deliberately narrow, built around one bouncing bass idea and one straightforward beat, favoring immediate impact over the intricacy that much of drum and bass prizes.
13 reference tracks
- DJ Hype: Shot in the Dark (1993)
- Shy FX: This Style (1995)
- DJ Zinc: Super Sharp Shooter (1996)
- Aphrodite: Style From The Dark Side (1997)
- Hazard: Machete (2007)
- DJ Hazard: Mr Happy (2008)
- Vibe Chemistry: Balling (2021)
- Bou & Trigga: Veteran (2019)
- Aphrodite: Put A Cut On It (Featuring Rah Digga)
- Macky Gee: Tour
- Aphrodite: Stalker
- Aphrodite: The Odyssey
- Shy FX: Roll The Dice (feat. Stamina MC & Lily Allen) - The Sauce Remix
At a glance
- Tempo: 172 to 180 BPM
- First appeared: around 1993
- Machines: Akai S3000, Clavia Nord Lead, Steinberg Cubase
- The sound: Basse jump-up monophonique, Breaks simples efficaces, Samples hip-hop, Drops calibrés DJ
- Labels: Ganja Records, Souped Up Records, True Playaz, Serial Killaz, Frontline, Low Down Deep
- Key artists: DJ Hype, DJ Zinc, Aphrodite, Hazard, Macky Gee
Producing Jump-Up
Jump up runs at 170 BPM for the classic Ganja and True Playaz era or 174 to 175 for the 2010s revival, with no swing and a bouncing feel built around the bass leaping from beat to beat. Keep the break simple: kick on beat one and the and of three, snare on two and four, hats in steady eighths or sixteenths, with a hip hop break sometimes playing underneath, and a snare roll before each drop. The bass, monophonic and doing almost all the work, is a Nord Lead square or filtered saw with a fast envelope, or an FM or wavetable bass with an LFO synced cutoff for a modern wobble, backed by a separate sub sine. Layer in hip hop vocal samples, sirens and crowd noise, and keep it lean: one bass idea, one beat.
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 Jump-Up?
Jump up is Saturday night drum and bass: a trampoline bassline that does all the work, simple breaks, and DJ friendly hooks. It was born in the mid 1990s around the Ganja and True Playaz labels with DJ Hype and Zinc, then revived in an even more exaggerated form during the 2010s. Purists tend to…
What tempo is Jump-Up played at?
Between 172 and 180 BPM.
Who are the key Jump-Up artists?
DJ Hype, DJ Zinc, Aphrodite, Hazard, Macky Gee.
