Halfstep

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:25 am

Is there too much about right now?

spaceboy · Post by **spaceboy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:28 am

yeah bring on quarterstep

shonky · Post by **shonky** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:53 am

It's the new dubstep uniform let's face it. Think there's plenty of other ways to carve up a bar, but this seems to be the one the crowds and labels are going for.

Also, I do feel that the notion that halfstep's 140 with a slower undertow's rather misleading - explain it how you like but my crew just think a lot of it's pretty slow and a tad boring - few double time hats doesn't really make it any more energetic to be honest.

Apart from Geiom, Burial and those Soul Jazz DMZ singles, can't really think of anything that's come out under the dubstep banner in the last couple of years that hasn't been halfstep to be honest. Been a few things up on production here that have been noticeably different, but seems most labels are pursuing a pretty narrow remit.

dynamixuk · Post by **dynamixuk** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 10:55 am

quater step for the future

fidz · Post by **fidz** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:00 am

Shonky wrote:Think there's plenty of other ways to carve up a bar

WERD

spaceboy · Post by **spaceboy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 11:26 am

LOL @ FIDS.

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:10 pm

Shonky wrote:there's plenty of other ways to carve up a bar, but this seems to be the one the crowds and labels are going for.

this is kind of what I'm getting at.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bringing any negativity to the table here, but this has been on my mind for quite a while now and this morning I felt like saying something. I've seen other people drop hints recently so I know I'm not the only one.

No doubt it's a product of the surge in popularity since the start of the year - a lot of people have heard this simple, effective format and thought "I can do that, no worries", which to be fair most people can.

But serious, I've been sorting out the TL for a studio mix I'm working on and the amount of halfstep in it was almost getting me down - where's the variation that first attracted me to dubstep? Where's the funk?

dub boy · Post by **dub boy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:14 pm

To be honest I'm finding a lot of the half step stuff at the moment deadly boring

Where's the 2step and the steppas? I's like to see a lot more of that being produced & released. That's the stuff that always gets me skanking the most

spaceboy · Post by **spaceboy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:17 pm

its frightfully boring...last major rave i went to...every set sounded the same...

it will morph tho...

dub boy · Post by **dub boy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:18 pm

Spaceboy wrote:its frightfully boring...last major rave i went to...every set sounded the same...

The musics still dead varied, alot of promoters don't promote the variety though

shonky · Post by **shonky** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:20 pm

Dub boy wrote:To be honest I'm finding a lot of the half step stuff at the moment deadly boring

Where's the 2step and the steppas? I's like to see a lot more of that being produced & released. That's the stuff that always gets me skanking the most

Yeah, my thoughts entirely. It's not all bad, but could do with some more variety. Could check out the production board and see if there's anything there that takes your fancy, some people have got a different take on things - if the support's there you might get a few more releases more to your tastes.

I've been mostly buying old garage numbers lately, bits of el-b, etc and been enjoying that a lot more to be honest

spaceboy · Post by **spaceboy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:22 pm

Dub boy wrote:
Spaceboy wrote:its frightfully boring...last major rave i went to...every set sounded the same...

The musics still dead varied, alot of promoters don't promote the variety though

it used to be alot more varied.

market forces at work...

shonky · Post by **shonky** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:23 pm

Dub boy wrote:
Spaceboy wrote:its frightfully boring...last major rave i went to...every set sounded the same...

The musics still dead varied, alot of promoters don't promote the variety though

Ultimately if the crowd wants loads of Skream/Loefah copies, promotors and labels will keep chucking them out. Mind you if the crowd here's nothing else they won't know about it, so it's a bit Catch 22

blackdown · Post by **blackdown** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:27 pm

there's WAY too much halfstep about. its all about rhythmic diversity.

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:30 pm

Spaceboy wrote:
Dub boy wrote:
Spaceboy wrote:its frightfully boring...last major rave i went to...every set sounded the same...

The musics still dead varied, alot of promoters don't promote the variety though
it used to be alot more varied.

market forces at work...

I dunno about market forces to be honest, I think it's possibly more to do with imitation/trends.

There's that thread "what can dubstep learn from DnB?" - my only comment was that taking too much reference from the scene itself can lead to stagnation somewhat, and I feel that's perhaps partly my issue here. Producers are seeing peeps like Loefah (who really CAN work the halfstep format) succeed, and trying to emulate that sound perhaps, with variable results. I guess the meteoric rise of Yunx has also pushed the halfstep sound quite hard

don't get me wrong here, like I say I hope I'm not sounding negative, just that I'd like to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.

dub boy · Post by **dub boy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:33 pm

Well you know my tastes Diccon, either I like it wierd and choppy or dread as dread can be. heh heh

I think my nights have always reflected this...

Don't mind some halfstep (eg Loefah) but most of the stuff I hear leaves me cold. It all sounds so 'plodding'. Bring back the funk!

obiwan · Post by **obiwan** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:37 pm

I like it, never into 2-step so I guess this is the my preferred alternative, works well with reggae vibes and others so I don't see what the problem is, as long as theres some kind of a switch to an uptempo bit its cool with me.

mizz · Post by **mizz** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 12:47 pm

Dub boy wrote:To be honest I'm finding a lot of the half step stuff at the moment deadly boring

I dont think halfstep is boring, but theres to much this kind of stuff in my opinion, i'm not able to listen 2h show with only halfstep, and 5-6 hours on the party made me really confused about dubstep...

rjv · Post by **rjv** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 2:02 pm

so where's breakstep?

spaceboy · Post by **spaceboy** » Sat Aug 19, 2006 2:12 pm

^thats a bad word round these parts mate, dont you know?

Halfstep

Halfstep

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