Industrial Techno
Techno · 1996 · 130 to 150 BPM
Industrial techno is techno that fully owns its industrial heritage: wasteland textures, hangar-sized reverbs, and kicks that land like hydraulic presses. Birmingham sketched the style in the 1990s through the Downwards label, and Berlin hardened it in the 2010s around Berghain and labels such as Perc Trax. It is a music of raw matter and negative space, where noise itself is treated as a noble material rather than a flaw to be cleaned up.
8 reference tracks
- Surgeon: Badger Bite (1997)
- British Murder Boys: Splinter (2003)
- Ancient Methods: The Seventh Seal (2007)
- Ancient Methods: The Jericho Recordings (2008)
- Regis: Blood Witness (1996)
- Perc: Take Your Body Off (2014)
- Paula Temple: Joshua and Goliath (2019)
- Blawan: Woke Up Right Handed (2021)
At a glance
- Tempo: 130 to 150 BPM
- First appeared: around 1996
- Machines: Synthétiseur modulaire, Roland TR-909, Elektron Machinedrum, Ableton Live
- The sound: Distorsion et saturation de bus, Réverbérations immenses, Modulaire et feedback, Field recordings industriels
- Labels: Downwards, Perc Trax, Tresor, Sandwell District, Northern Electronics, Instruments of Discipline
- Key artists: Surgeon, Regis, Perc, Ancient Methods, Paula Temple, SNTS
Producing Industrial Techno
Sit between 128 and 140 BPM, Birmingham leaning toward 135 to 140, Berlin closer to 130 to 135, with no swing, the groove coming instead from reverb tails spilling into the next beat. Build the kick as a hydraulic press: route it to a reverb at full wet, a nine-second decay and a 70Hz highpass, then sidechain-compress the tail against the dry kick so the wash breathes between hits. Build percussion from found objects, struck canvas, a metal plate, a coil picking up electromagnetic interference. The bass is a rumble rather than a line: a dark reverb fed by the kick and lowpassed at 150Hz, or a modular drone on the tonic, mono below 120Hz without exception, free to vanish for sixteen bars. Treat noise as a noble material, running field recordings through heavy distortion and hangar reverb.
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 Industrial Techno?
Industrial techno is techno that fully owns its industrial heritage: wasteland textures, hangar-sized reverbs, and kicks that land like hydraulic presses. Birmingham sketched the style in the 1990s through the Downwards label, and Berlin hardened it in the 2010s around Berghain and labels such as…
What tempo is Industrial Techno played at?
Between 130 and 150 BPM.
Who are the key Industrial Techno artists?
Surgeon, Regis, Perc, Ancient Methods, Paula Temple, SNTS.
In the same family
- Detroit Techno
- Bleep Techno
- Broken Techno
- Acid Techno
- Euro Techno
- Hard Techno
- Schranz
- Banging Techno
- Birmingham Techno
- Peak Time Techno
- Belgian Techno
- Dub Techno
Listen to Industrial Techno in the atlas · Cette page en français
