Nu Skool Breaks

Breaks · 2000 · 125 to 135 BPM · also known as Nu Skool, Nuskool Breaks, Tech Funk

Nu skool breaks is breakbeat taken back in hand at the end of the 1990s: house tempo, tense electro basslines, precise production, with neither rave nostalgia nor big beat's heaviness. Adam Freeland and Rennie Pilgrem codified its sound, and the scene held English and Australian clubs until the mid 2000s. Its synthetic bass would go on to anticipate melodic dubstep and electro house, making it a quiet but direct ancestor of much of the bass music that followed, even as the scene itself faded from view once those descendants took over the clubs it had once defined.

9 reference tracks

  1. Stanton Warriors: Da Virus (2001)
  2. Plump DJs: The Funk Hits the Fan (2000)
  3. Adam Freeland: We Want Your Soul (2003)
  4. Evil Nine: Cakehole (2003)
  5. Hyper: Fireproof (2003)
  6. Krafty Kuts: Bass Phenomenon (2003)
  7. Meat Katie: The Tension (2009)
  8. General Midi: When I Rock (2004)
  9. Koma & Bones: Slalom (2001)

At a glance

Producing Nu Skool Breaks

Sit at house and progressive tempo, 125 to 135 BPM with 130 as the standard, and keep the feel clean and precise, closer to techno than to rave nostalgia or big beat weight, with swing at zero. Program the break: a 909 kick on beat one, the and of two and the sixteenth before four, snare on two and four, closed hats in alternating velocity sixteenths, plus an 808 cowbell on the offbeats. The bass, a saw or square on a Nord Lead or Analog, runs a resonant low pass filter modulated by a fast envelope and a slow LFO, playing syncopated eighths on the root and minor seventh with an octave glide at phrase ends and a light sidechain against the break kick. This restless bass points toward electro house and melodic dubstep.

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 Nu Skool Breaks?

Nu skool breaks is breakbeat taken back in hand at the end of the 1990s: house tempo, tense electro basslines, precise production, with neither rave nostalgia nor big beat's heaviness. Adam Freeland and Rennie Pilgrem codified its sound, and the scene held English and Australian clubs until the…

What tempo is Nu Skool Breaks played at?

Between 125 and 135 BPM.

Who are the key Nu Skool Breaks artists?

Adam Freeland, Rennie Pilgrem, Stanton Warriors, Plump DJs, Krafty Kuts.

In the same family

Listen to Nu Skool Breaks in the atlas · Cette page en français

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