140 beats per minute

[lennon]

i'm working on something now that just didn't sound right at 140, slowed it down to 137 and now the elements have space to breathe and it sounds miles better

[gwa]

Anything above 135 is pushing it hard for the big mixes. House and garage are seriously pushed if the dubstep is above 135-138

[saphyre]

hyph mngo at 33rpm

[gwa]

It's all about wet look goddamit!!

[Province]

It's all about wet look goddamit!!

[quidz]

Does 'dubstep' really need to have 140bpm?

I urge anyone who makes music (who normally uses 140) to try playing around with stuff at about the 125bpm mark - I've experimented; it's slower (obviously), and perhaps more meditative. Could you still call it 'dubstep' or is it some other genre (or are these just needless labels?) Can dubstep be defined by a bpm figure, or is it characterised more by the sentiment it conveys?

By the by, if anyone has the 'Frogs on Acid' and 'Weed Smokers' by Cluekid on vinyl, try playing these at 33rpm - it really illustrates my point about the merits of slowing stuff down. The bass might shake your house down though.

Plenty of stuff that sounds like dub at 125 has existed for ages. Even people like Massive attack, Groove armada, leftfield etc have done dubby songs at this tempo.

Check Harmonic 313 - dirtbox for a heavy glitched out bass thing at this tempo. Think he was going for more of a halfstep dancehall kinda beat but it definitely could be interpreted as some really slow dubstep if you like.

[rook]

This is like 125 or so and is hard as all fuck.

(Ajapi - Incoming)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVCCqTzOYk

I love dropping to something this tempo in dubstep sets as people are either trashing at 140 or womping at 70 and the 125 middleground is a rather fun switch up I feel.

[_boring]

i play with dnb acts mostly (always) and i tend to crank it to at least +2 which is like 143

I always seem to end up around the +5/+6 pitch mark if im being honest. I find a lot of stuff actually sounds so much better if your playing out, especially stuff like warp 9 or 3kout

it happens

[theartfulbadger]

Thanks for all the responses. Any more recommendations for slower tunes are much appreciated.

I'm no DJ but I assume tracks with wildly different bpms are impossible to mix.

[FSTZ]

Urgh this thread again.

[mercutio]

Urgh this thread again.

why this?
no one is having a go at 140bpm tracks,
just discusssing instances where lower bpms work
some stuff at 125 sounds absolutely amazing and so does some stuff at 140
138 is ideal for me

[WhoAmI - NXT Records]

138 is it really.

IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION THOUGH:

DUBSTEP, TO BE DEFINED AS A SPECIFIC GENRE, IS OPEN TO ANYYYYYYYYTHING, ANY SOUND, ANY STRUCTURE, ANNNNNYTHING GOES

EXCEPT FOR THE TWO RULES WHICH ARE::

1. The music must have a solid sub bass foundation.
+
2. The music must at least hover AROUND 140bpm.

It''s the way it is.
Dubstep has too few rules (two) for any to be taken away.

If you remove one of those rules then it is no longer dubstep.

Dubstep is a wide genre but is grounded on sub-bass and tempo. END.

[spiro]

I'm no DJ but I assume tracks with wildly different bpms are impossible to mix.

It looks this way these days, don't ask me why . . .

You can beatmix with a tightly picked selection and some hard work at the pitch
and there is a lot of other ways to mix too.

Back in both the 80's and the 90's lots of djs did this.
and now with all the software available it shouldn't be any problem at all

Anyone remember oldschool electro ? Lots of that is in 120-130 bpm
Is that too slow ?

EXCEPT FOR THE TWO RULES WHICH ARE::

Is there a book for these rules ? can i order it online ?

[sugarape]

it is wot it is

'cept it ain't what it used to be
thats news to me try to be free musically

[did]

its 140 because 140 on its side reads 'dubstep'

[deamonds]

If you remove one of those rules then it is no longer dubstep.

I take it it's got to be half step aswell yea? oh and it needs to have a sine wave of course....

sorry, this just doesnt get drawn for enough on this fucking shithole

[SKINDAD]

its 140 because 140 on its side reads 'dubstep'

I actually tilted my head for that

[did]

its 140 because 140 on its side reads 'dubstep'

I actually tilted my head for that

[timmyyabas]

138 is it really.

IN ANSWER TO YOUR QUESTION THOUGH:

DUBSTEP, TO BE DEFINED AS A SPECIFIC GENRE, IS OPEN TO ANYYYYYYYYTHING, ANY SOUND, ANY STRUCTURE, ANNNNNYTHING GOES

EXCEPT FOR THE TWO RULES WHICH ARE::

1. The music must have a solid sub bass foundation.
+
2. The music must at least hover AROUND 140bpm.

It''s the way it is.
Dubstep has too few rules (two) for any to be taken away.

If you remove one of those rules then it is no longer dubstep.

Dubstep is a wide genre but is grounded on sub-bass and tempo. END.

if it's not at 138, i won't listen to it (and it's not dubstep) :teeth: (and i don't know how to work that smiley)