The "drop" is what makes each fundamentally
dubstep song so exhilarating. It is the climax of the
song, sometimes occurring more than once throughout the course
of the song. When breaking down this pivotal "drop", one
can see that there are only a few contributors to its
success. These include: the wobble (as discussed in The Wobble), the intensifying of
the rhythmic percussion (as discussed in Rhythm)
and, most importantly, the drop of the bass.
The drop gets its name from a quote by one
of dubstep's finest, Skrillex. He famously says, "Drop the
bass!" It's heard in his hit remix of Cinema. The official
video is below.
This song provides a wonderful example of
the elements of the drop, each working together to create the
final result. The element not yet discussed on previous
pages is the drop itself. It is, in fact, an actual drop
of the bass tone by up to an octave or more than the bass track
used in the intro or outro portions of the song.
Dubstep incorporates sub-bass tracks.
This simply means that the frequencies are in or below what is
called the contra octave. Human vocalists that can sing in
the contra octave are very rare. There aren't even more
than a few instruments that have the ability to reach such low
frequencies. The frequencies of the contra octave range
from about 60 down to about 20 Hz. The chart below
provides some context as to how low dubstep bass goes.
Some dubstep subs do actually go as low as,
or around the same frequencies as, the human ear can perceive,
around 20 Hz. Most genres do not even come close to
reaching as low as dubstep manages to reach. This is yet
another factor that sets dubstep apart from the rest.
Home Page
Rhythm
Tonality
The Wobble
Bibliography