Psydub
Psy · 1993 · 80 to 110 BPM · also known as Ambient Psy, Ambient Goa, Psy Chill, Psy Dub, Psychedelic Chillout, Downtempo Psy, Psy Breaks, Deep Trance
Psychedelic music laid over dub bass: mid tempo, endless echoes, oriental and organic textures, the legacy of Shpongle and the psytrance festival chill scenes. It is the music of the rest areas turned into its own genre, complete with dedicated producers and labels, somewhere between a journey and a waking nap, played as the sun rises over a festival field once the main stage falls silent.
7 reference tracks
- Lumukanda: Sunday St Kilda Setdown (1993)
- Young American Primitive: Sunrise (1993)
- Tranquility Bass: Mya Yadana (1993)
- Shpongle: Divine Moments of Truth (1998)
- Ott: Rogue Bagel (2003)
- Shpongle: Tickling the Amygdala (2023)
- Globular: Entangled Everything (2021)
At a glance
- Tempo: 80 to 110 BPM
- First appeared: around 1993
- Machines: Ableton Live, Roland RE-201 Space Echo, Native Instruments Absynth
- The sound: Basses dub profondes, Delays à bande, Instruments ethniques samplés ou joués, Nappes granulaires
- Labels: Twisted Records, Interchill, Merkaba Music, Desert Trax, Shanti Planti, Dakini
- Key artists: Shpongle, Ott, Kalya Scintilla, Desert Dwellers, Globular
Producing Psydub
Psydub sits between 70 and 100 BPM, with many tracks around 85 to 95. The feel is half time, the snare landing on beat three rather than two and four, which reads as deep slowness even when the hats run in sixteenths. Swing is welcome on the percussion, and played instruments add their own natural micro delays. Dotted delays build long cycles over the slow tempo, and a track can run seven to twelve minutes without rushing. The kick is deep and long, tuned low with a 300 millisecond body, often a dub sample doubled with an 808. Hats are thin and swung, often replaced by shakers and ethnic percussion, tabla, udu, dumbek, through a tape delay. The bass is a sine or triangle with a soft attack, a long decay and a low pass filter, following dub tradition.
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 Psydub?
Psychedelic music laid over dub bass: mid tempo, endless echoes, oriental and organic textures, the legacy of Shpongle and the psytrance festival chill scenes. It is the music of the rest areas turned into its own genre, complete with dedicated producers and labels, somewhere between a journey and…
What tempo is Psydub played at?
Between 80 and 110 BPM.
Who are the key Psydub artists?
Shpongle, Ott, Kalya Scintilla, Desert Dwellers, Globular.
