Dark Psy
Psy · 1998 · 145 to 160 BPM
Dark psy is the nocturnal, high speed side of psytrance, formalized in the mid 2000s across Russia, Germany and Brazil at 148 to 160 beats per minute and beyond. It is built from grating textures, horror movie voice samples, black humor and an abrasive kind of trance. It is the music of a festival's deepest hours, when the dancefloor has thinned to the people who still know why they are there.
5 reference tracks
- Xenomorph: Hallucinatory Spheres (1998)
- Tristan: Mind Over Matter (1999)
- Crystal Distortion: Y2k Bug (1999)
- Absolum: Inside the Sphere (2002)
- Kindzadza: Born to Grit (2023)
At a glance
- Tempo: 145 to 160 BPM
- First appeared: around 1998
- Machines: Native Instruments Absynth, Access Virus, Native Instruments FM8, Steinberg Cubase
- The sound: Kicks secs rapides, Basses tordues en triolets, FX granulaires anxiogènes, Samples de films d'horreur
- Labels: Osom Music, Sonic Loom, Insomnia, Noize Conspiracy, Kamino
- Key artists: Kindzadza, Cosmo, Penta, Baphomet Engine
Producing Dark Psy
Dark psy starts at a minimum of 148 BPM, most tracks between 150 and 158, some past 160; at that speed a rolling bass turns to vibration, so the genre leans on triplet figures. The kick is dry and short with no tail, tuned high around 65 to 70 Hz so the low end stays clean, paired with a thin, sharp snare or metallic hit, irregular sixteenth hats, and micro percussion. The bass follows the same triplet logic, kick on the first triplet of each beat and bass on the other two. FM8 and Absynth supply metallic, talking textures and anxious granular pads, short horror film samples run through filtered delays and pitch shifts, and leads stay rare, resonant blips bouncing in a ping pong delay.
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 Dark Psy?
Dark psy is the nocturnal, high speed side of psytrance, formalized in the mid 2000s across Russia, Germany and Brazil at 148 to 160 beats per minute and beyond. It is built from grating textures, horror movie voice samples, black humor and an abrasive kind of trance. It is the music of a…
What tempo is Dark Psy played at?
Between 145 and 160 BPM.
Who are the key Dark Psy artists?
Kindzadza, Cosmo, Penta, Baphomet Engine.
