Definitions of terms used in the Edexcel Music

Definitions of terms used in Dance Music 1985 to the present Day
Jamaican Dub
A style of music from the 1960s, usually instrumental Reggae tracks with
sound effects and other musical clips overdubbed (hence “Dub”) to produce a cheap
album filler or single “B” side.
King Tubby – One of the pioneers of Jamaican Dub
Funk
A style of music from the 1960s that contained all the elements of rock
music, but with more intricate and precise accompaniments and soulful vocal lines,
typified by the music of James Brown.
Disco
A style of music that started in the gay clubs of America and went on to
become a global phenomenon during the mid-1970s. The film “Saturday Night
Fever” was instrumental in its popularity. Major Disco artists include the Bee Gees
and Donna Summer.
Saturday Night Fever
Donna Summer
European Synth Pop
A style of all electronic pop music that was pioneered by the German group
Kraftwerk, it then produced a number of artists including Gary Numan, The Pet
Shop Boys & Depeche Mode in the UK, A-HA from Norway and Jean-Michel Jarre in
France.
German Synth Pop Pioneers Kraftwerk
Jean-Michel Jarre at the Theremin
Hip Hop
A genre of dance music that is dominated by rap artists, it is usually slower
than most dance forms and the emphasis is on the skills of the individual rappers
rather than the musical content.
House
House is one of the first forms of dance music in this area of study, named
after the “Warehouse” club in Chicago where it was first played by DJs such as
Frankie Knuckles and Farley “Jackmaster” Funk. It is made up of Disco music which
has been re-mixed with elements of Euro Synth pop and funk and then had a
strong rhythmic “4 to the floor” beat added with a drum machine.
Techno
Originally a term used by the German band Kraftwerk to describe how they
mixed electronic instruments together to create pop music. In dance music it is a
style, not dissimilar to House, which evolved in the early 1990s and has a
minimalist, mechanical quality. With the evolution of technology it has become
more complex, with more and more rhythms laid on top of one another, so that the
entire recording studio becomes like a single instrument with which to experiment.
Trance
Trance is a hard genre to define as it is more of a feel than a specific musical
style. It appears in so many different forms and few can actually agree what makes
the music “Trance”. The purpose of Trance music is to put the clubbers into a
hypnotic state, which is nothing new as tribal shamans had been doing the same
thing for centuries using a combination of natural hallucinogenic herbs and rhythms
pounded out on log drums. The only difference with modern Trance is that the
pharmaceuticals are man made and the instruments electronic. Trance music can
by extremely euphoric too and many of the tracks have an anthemic feel.
A shaman induced trance
Trance clubbers in 2002
Jungle / Drum ‘n’ Bass
Jungle is quite chaotic and has a tempo of 160BPM with the bass drum on
each minim to give a half time feel. If you’re not used to it, it’s hard to predict
where there is a beat and/or bass. Jungle’s origins are from England and it is
named after the big concrete, metallic “Jungle” City club. It is also known as Drum
‘n’ Bass, which is a further developed and accepted variant of Jungle. It has an
open and naked sound which focuses on drums and bass. The rhythms are like
Jungle, but with samples taken from Jazz and Soul rather than the Caribbean
flavours of Jungle.
Garage
A more melodic form of House music that originated in New York in a club
called the “Paradise Garage” and took it’s influences from Soul and R & B rather
than the Disco of House.
DJ
DJs are the centre of dance music. They devise and define the styles, and
decide what will be the “anthem” of the summer. A DJ is employed on the basis of
how many clubbers he can attract to a club, and clubs gain their reputation based
on the prowess of the DJ. Each DJ may specialize in garage, jungle, drum ‘n’ bass,
or hardcore in addition to the standard anthems of the summer.
Mixing
Mixing is the art of playing two or more records simultaneously and matching
their BPM exactly, using the pitch control on the record decks. The DJ will then Mix
In and Mix Out of the two records to produce something new and entertaining for
the clubbers.
Scratching
Scratching is an effect created by applying the fingers to a record and moving
it backwards and forwards.
Samplers
A device for the playback and (in the case of hardware samplers) recording of
sections of digital audio. For example, you can record the sounds of individual piano
keys being played on a Steinway Model D, load them into a sampler, map them to
the corresponding keys on a MIDI keyboard and play away, with the keyboard now
sounding like the Steinway! With modern computer storage and memory
possibilities, today’s sampled instruments are nearly impossible to tell from the real
thing when used skilfully.
The Akai MPC 4000 Hardware Sampler
Cakewalk Dimension Pro Software Sampler
Vocoder
A Vocoder is a machine or piece of software that uses an audio signal
(typically speech or singing to modulate a synthesised sound. The resulting effects
range from talking guitar and robotic vocals to cool synthesized sounds and even
percussive sounds. Earliest uses of a Vocoder include the train in the Disney film
“Dumbo” and “Sparky’s Magic Piano”, it was also used extensively in the soundtrack
to the film “A Clockwork Orange” in which a Vocoder sang the lead part in the
version of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. Extensively used by bands such as Kraftwerk
and the Alan Parsons Project. More recently the voices of the Transformers were
created with a Vocoder. A Vocoder was used in places to provide emphasis on Phil
Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”.
4 To The Floor
The result of sequencing or performing four crotchet beats on a kick or bass
drum in each bar. A device that generally continues throughout a dance track,
ensuring that the bpm is at the front of the arrangement throughout.
EQ
EQ is short for Equalisation and is a device that either boosts or cuts specific
frequencies, be they bass, treble or mid-range in much the same way as the tone
controls on an old stereo system. If you have a mixing desk, each channel will have
a selection of High, Mid and Low knobs or with a software “plug-in” (that software
packages such as SONAR, Cubase and Logic have within them) you can divide a
sound into multiple frequencies in order to achieve the desired sound.
A 10 Channel EQ Software Plug-in
A Mixing desk showing the EQ section
Reverb
Short for reverberation, which itself refers to the reflection of sound off every
surface it touches. If you stand in a church and sing a note, the sound of your voice
that you hear after you have stopped singing the note is reverb or reverberation.
This can be artificially created with an effects unit or a software plug-in.
Chorus
A thickening effect created by layering two identical sounds, either with a
very small delay between them or by de-tuning one of them very slightly. It is used
to give the impression of two or more instruments playing together. For Example
you could record four singers singing the Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass parts of a
choral piece and then by adding three instances of chorus you would have the
sound of a choir with eight singers on each part.
Distortion
Distortion is the effect you get if you overload a speaker or microphone of
any kind. If you have an old cassette recorder with a built in microphone, record
yourself shouting into the microphone at close range. The result on hearing it back
will be distortion. Distortion sounds great on a rock lead guitar but lousy on a
recording of a string quartet!
Quantisation
This computer calculation is the time correction of MIDI notes or audio
according to a selectable grid, whereby each note or sound is moved to the nearest
time division (crotchet, quaver or semi-quaver).
Four sloppily played crotchets before quantisation…..
and after.
Breakbeats
Breakbeat(s) is a term used to describe a collection of sub-genres of
electronic music, usually characterized by the use of a non-quantized 4/4 drum
pattern (as opposed to the steady beat of house or trance). These rhythms may be
characterized by their use of syncopation and polyrhythms, which are prominent in
music of African origin.
Delay
Also known as echo. It has the effect of replaying a sound or phrase in a
similar way to chorus but with multiple instances of the original sound each one
with a delayed start (hence delay) and a gradual weakening of the original sound.
A Delay Plug-In showing the six instances of delay over six seconds, each pair
quieter than the last, so delay 1&2 would be 3 decibels quieter than the original sound,
delays 3&4 would be 6 decibels quieter and delays 5&6 9db quieter.
Flanger
A flanger doubles a sound in the same way as Chorus, but then it plays both
instances back with a changing pitch and strength. This gives a “whooshing” effect
and a phasing quality. Early Drum ‘n’ bass producers used it to death!
Pan
An abbreviation of panoramic refers to a control on all mixers which enables
you to move the position of a sound to the left or right of the stereo image. This
enables you to accurately plot the various instruments of an orchestra or band as
you would expect to hear them if you were sat in an audience. So roughly speaking
if you were recording a string quartet that was sat, left to right, Violin 1, Violin 2,
Viola, Cello you might adjust the pan settings so that violin 1 was 30% to the left,
violin 2 10% to the left, viola 10% to the right and cello 30% to the right of centre.
Dance music producers use it in this way too, but will also sometimes use it for
dramatic effect by having a particular part rushing too and fro across the stereo
image from 100% left to 100% right and back again in only a second or two.
Velocities
Sound Modules
These are the devices used to create and store the various sounds used in
dance music. Originally they were like a top of the range synthesiser, but without
the keyboard and would come complete with about a thousand preset sounds in
banks of 128 each. There would also be space for sounds created by the user to be
stored. These days most producers use software based instruments and a fairly
modest laptop computer can store tens of thousands of different patches or sounds.
Roland JV-2080 Sound module
Spectrasonics Atmosphere Virtual Sound Module
ENVELOPES (Not mentioned in the Edexcel glossary bur important to
understanding Attack and Release)
On every programmable synthesiser is an envelope generator, which allows
the user to alter the properties of a preset sound. There are four varieties of
adjustment within the envelope; attack, decay sustain and release or ADSR for
short. To understand attack and decay, envelopes, sustain and release also need to
be studied.
Attack
The part of a sound that occurs immediately after it is sounded. The degree of
attack is a measure in the synthesis of sounds. A snare drum, piano or harpsichord
sound would have a very fast attack, whereas a string sound would have a slow
attack. New sounds are often created by adjusting the attack and decay (see
below) of a preset sound to make a completely new one.
Decay
The decay of a sound is the length of time it takes to drop to the sustain
level, if the player holds the key down on a synthesiser. For example, a snare drum
or harpsichord sound would have a short decay, whereas a dreamy string sound
would have a long decay.
Sustain (Not mentioned in the Edexcel glossary)
The sustain property is the level at which the sound stays after the attack and
decay. This will continue until the key is released.
Release (Not mentioned in the Edexcel glossary)
Release is the third part of the envelope generator and this dictates the
amount of time that a note takes to become inaudible after the key is released by
the player.
Pitch shift / Pitch Bend
This refers to the wheel or joystick on the far left of many keyboards which
enables the player to alter the pitch of the note that they are holding + or – a tone
by default, or up to an octave if the wheel has been programmed to do so. This can
be used when playing a guitar or saxophone sound to imitate the pitch bending that
a guitarist or saxophonist might perform. In dance music it is often used to achieve
a portamento effect of an octave (or two if you start with the wheel in its lowest
position). The pitch wheel can also be programmed to control other MIDI
parameters.
Pitch control is also used by DJs to match the BPM of records. Most DJ record
decks have a pitch control function and a pitch bend up/down buttons to avoid
excessive contact with the vinyl. Prior to these developments pitch bending was
done by running the finger on the record to slow it down or giving the central
spindle a tweak to speed it up.
Gating
This aptly named device selectively allows audio signals to pass or not. It is a
bit like the night club bouncer of the music technology world! It can be set to allow
only signals above a certain volume or frequency to pass, and other parameters
determine how quickly the gate opens and closes. It has many uses including the
removal of unwanted hiss or hum on a recording. In dance music it is used to
produce really choppy and aggressive sounds.
Filtering
Filtering is gating with a little more finesse. It usually consists of a Low-pass
filter, which allows only frequencies below a definable cut-off point to pass, and a
high-pass filter, which allows only frequencies above a different cut-off point. Each
of the two filters can be used independently or together to create what is called a
band-pass (frequencies in a certain band may only pass through it).The resulting
sound is whatever fits between the two filters. This can also be used in reverse to
create what is called a notch which removes in the created band. It can be used for
taming unruly bass and drum sounds to great effect, but is mostly used for warping
and mangling sounds to make other sounds, a very versatile but complex piece of
equipment.
The Antares Filter, showing four different filters applied to a sound (yellow, blue, red,
green)
Hook
The hook is the thing that every producer of dance music is searching for (in
fact any composer of any music). The hook is the motif or sound that gets into the
head of the listener and refuses to leave! The hook makes any piece of music
memorable, for ever; think of the opening four notes of Beethoven’s 5th. That is a
hook the size of an oil tanker’s anchor!
Lick
A term given to a small repeated motif, possibly on a guitar or other melodic
instrument, also known as a riff in rock music. It can also be used to describe an
instrumental fill, particularly in jazz.
Groove
A groove is a term used to describe the whole feel over a track. A groove
might be described as the result of the combined elements of drums, bass and
guitar or keyboard playing together. A groove would be the backing for a vocal,
instrumental or rap motif to sit upon.
Horn Section
A group of brass and woodwind players usually made up of trumpet,
trombone and saxophone in any combination or number. In dance music these can
often be used from a pre-recorded CD of samples such as the “first call horns” @
£165.00 which allows you to use the content in any way you see fit in your dance
track, without any fear of accusations of plagiarism.
Intro
The opening of a song or track, used by DJs for Mix In & Mix Out (See below).
Stab
A loud short sound (similar to a marcato articulation) can be the typical
orchestra hit sound or a Horn Section chord.
Break
A section in a dance track where the “4 to the floor” is interrupted either by a
different figure, break beat or a period of silence.
Middle Eight
The middle section of a song or arrangement, normally used as a transition
from chorus back to a verse or second chorus. Middle because it is in the middle of
a song and eight because it typically contains eight bars.
Mix In
The DJ term for bringing in a new record across an already playing record.
The records can either be identical or different creating a new arrangement of a
track or a whole new track by alternating sections from the two records.
Main
?
Breakdown
The DJ term for a simplifying of the arrangement, either in the middle of a
track so that tension can be created and the themes re-developed, or towards the
end as a convenient point to Mix In the next track.
Reprise
Mix Out
The opposite of Mix In.