New Beat
Industrial · 1982 · 90 to 115 BPM · also known as Death Disco, Slo-beat, Chug, Slow Techno
New beat was a Belgian accident from 1987: a DJ played an EBM record at 33 RPM instead of 45, and the resulting slowness became a style in its own right. New beat drags along at 105 to 115 beats per minute, with rubbery basslines, deep voices and a laboratory kind of eroticism. Two years of national madness and dozens of opportunistic studios followed, before the wave dissolved into the emerging techno and hardcore scenes, leaving them the distinctly Belgian taste for a heavy kick.
16 reference tracks
- A Split Second: Flesh (1986)
- Arbeid Adelt!: Death Disco (1987)
- Shock Taktix: This Is Not (1987)
- Indicate: Cojeme (1987)
- Tragic Error: Tanzen (1988)
- Confetti's: The Sound Of C (1988)
- Zsa Zsa La Boum: Something Scary (1987)
- Erotic Dissidents: Move Your Ass And Feel The Beat (1987)
- Lords Of Acid: I Sit On Acid (1988)
- Amnesia: Ibiza (1988)
- Snowy Red: Euroshima (Wardance) (1982)
- A Split Second: Rigor Mortis
- Neon: Voices
- Lords of Acid: Let's Get High
- A Split Second: On Command
- Amnesia: Hysteria
At a glance
- Tempo: 90 to 115 BPM
- First appeared: around 1982
- Machines: Roland TR-909, E-mu Emax
- The sound: Roland TR-909 ralentie, Basses EBM détendues, Samples érotiques et slogans, Emax et Akai
- Labels: Antler Records, R & S Records, Subway, Kaos Dance Records
- Key artists: A Split-Second (à 33 tours), Confetti's, Lords of Acid, The Neon Judgement (frange)
Producing New Beat
New beat drags along at 105 to 115 BPM, sometimes 100, roughly 20 percent slower than the EBM it comes from, heavy and almost lazy but perfectly straight. A TR-909 dominates, slowed and pitched down, kick on every beat with a long decay, snare on two and four through a big reverb, and an open hat on the offbeats giving the sway. The bass is a relaxed EBM bass, a square or sawtooth note in eighths through a closed lowpass filter with marked resonance and a long release so it bounces, a slight glide between notes, lines often descending through the minor scale. New beat lives on samples, moans, erotic phrases, slogans, sirens, a deep voice pitched down and spoken slowly, with the era's rule that anything too bright gets pulled down three semitones and filtered.
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 New Beat?
New beat was a Belgian accident from 1987: a DJ played an EBM record at 33 RPM instead of 45, and the resulting slowness became a style in its own right. New beat drags along at 105 to 115 beats per minute, with rubbery basslines, deep voices and a laboratory kind of eroticism. Two years of…
What tempo is New Beat played at?
Between 90 and 115 BPM.
Who are the key New Beat artists?
A Split-Second (à 33 tours), Confetti's, Lords of Acid, The Neon Judgement (frange).
