Electronic Instrument Staples: The Guitar, Vocals, and Drums of Electronic Music
Submitted by darktremor on Mon, 04/02/2007 - 03:02
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- Rock has the guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals as its expression. Electronic music has the same thing, but it's instruments are less obvious, as they're more plentiful and more subtle about their use.
- Acid - the TB-303
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Phuture - Acid Tracks
- DJ Misjah and DJ Tim - Access
- Genres that especially use it:
- Trance (all types)
- Techno (all types)
- House (all types)
- Jungle (all types)
- Psy (all types)
- Breaks (generally acid breaks)
- Hardcore
- Rave
- Analog synths - aka the electro sound
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Rex the Dog - Frequency
- Fedde Le Grand - Put Your Hands Up For Detroit
- Genres that especially use it:
- Electro
- House
- Techno (especially minimal, but many other styles as well)
- Progressive house
- Trance created since 2003
- Electroclash
- Synthpop
- EBM and Gothic
- The amen break
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Black Sun Empire - Driving Insane
- Manix - Oblivion (Head in the Clouds
- Genres that especially use it:
- Jungle
- Breaks
- Trance (breaktrance)
- Rave
- The bass kick
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Every trance, house, and techno track ever produced. (boom boom boom boom - yep, that's the bass kick)
- Genres that especially use it:
- House (all types)
- Trance (all types)
- Techno (all types)
- Rave
- Dance pop
- Ambient dance
- Electro
- Psy (all types)
- EBM and Gothic
- Jungle
- Breaks
- Hip-hop
- The electric hi-hat
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Almost every trance, house, and techno track ever produced (boom tk boom tk boom tk - the little tk is the electric hi-hat)
- Genres that especially use it:
- Trance (all types)
- House (all types)
- Jungle (all types)
- Breaks (all types)
- IDM
- RnB
- Rave
- Dance pop
- Ambient dance
- Electro
- Psy (all types)
- EBM and Gothic (they tend to lengthen this, however, making a rushing-water like sound)
- The glitch click
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Hell - Follow You (Dominik Eulberg mix)
- Cobblestone Jazz - India in Me
- Genres that especially use it:
- Minimal techno
- Microhouse
- Electro-house
- Some hip-hop created in the last 3 years
- IDM
- Glitch
- Progressive house created in the last 3 years
- The hoover
- While not widely used today, it evolved into other sounds that are now widespread - notably the "dark synth" (that thing that runs under every progressive house track)
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although many have them):
- Joey Beltram - Mentasm
- Blame - Feel the Energy
- Genres that especially use it
- Rave
- Breakbeat hardcore
- Hardcore
- The scratch
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Blame - Music takes You (Chaotic Chemistry mix)
- Kid Koala - Bonus Materials on the Set of Fender Bender
- Genres that especially use it:
- Hip-hip
- Breaks
- Nu-jazz
- Big Beat
- Jungle
- The tribal drum
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Little Green Men - These are the Beats
- Ambush - Ambush 2
- Genres that especially use it:
- Tribal anything
- Progressive house
- Dub anything
- Chillout/Downtempo
- Worldbeat
- The metallic dub
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Vainqueur - Lyot A1 (Lyot mix)
- Thomas Fehlmann - Gratis
- Genres that especially use it:
- Dub anything
- Minimal techno
- Reggae
- Microhouse
- The large sample
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Phats and Small - Turn Around
- The Orb - A Huge Evergrowing Pulsating Brain the Rules From the Centre of the Ultraworld
- Genres that expecially use it:
- House of all kinds
- Hip-hop
- Jungle
- Chillout and ambient genres
- Nu-jazz
- The microsample - aka the sample so small it's unintelligible. Related to the click
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Akufen - Deck the House [made primarily out of microsamples]
- My My - Secret Life of Paints
- Genres that especially use it:
- Microhouse
- Glitch
- Minimal techno
- IDM
- Progressive house from the last 3 years
- The electronic string (which has evolved into the supersaw as well)
- Tracks that feature it obviously (although a large percentage have it):
- Rank 1 - Airwave
- Rhythm is Rhythm - Strings of Life
- Genres that use it especially:
- Trance
- Techno
- Ambient
- Ambient dance
- Arpeggiated "lasers"
- Note that all the "happy" styles use it: it makes things sound really energetic because it plays a rapid succession of notes. This sound really appeals to newbies. Although it is often a lot of fun.
- Tracks that feature it obviously:
- System F - Spaceman
- Airwave - Alone in the Dark
- Genres that use it especially:
- Trance (obviously)
- Eurodance
- Happy Hardcore
- Psy (all types)
- The fanfare horn
- Tracks that use it especially:
- Daft Punk - One More Time
- DJ Jean - The Launch
- Ayla - Ayla
- Genres that use it especially:
- Epic trance
- Stadium house
- French house
- Hard House
- The filtered voice
- Songs the feature it prominently:
- Daft Punk - Around the World
- Sleazy D - Lost Control
- Genres that use it especially:
- House
- "Minimal"
- Electro
- IDM
- Happy hardcore
- RnB (aka: the autotuner. This is why popular musicians don't sound as good in real life)
- Epic trance
- The electronic piano
- Songs that feature it especially:
- Manix - (Oblivion) Head in the Clouds
- Robert Miles - Children
- Genres that use it especially:
- Breakbeat Hardcore
- Rave
- Dream house/dream trance
- Ibiza trance
- The 808 and 909 beatboxes
- Songs the feature them prominently:
- Genres that use it especially:
- Trance
- House (excepting microhouse - although it contains some too)
- Ambient dance
- Eurodance
- Techno
- Gabber
- Happy hardcore
- "Hard dance"
- dance pop
- etc...this is a big staple of electronic music.
- The most "in" sounds to use right now in a track are the microsample, the glitch click, analog synths, and the metallic dub. Arpegiatted "lasers" are really uncool right now, as are fanfare horns, the electronic piano, and the amen break. The bass drum and acid are perrenially "in." The hoover is so far gone that using it now would make you awesome and retro (same with the scratch). The electric hi-hat is so innocuous that no one cares if you use it or not. The macrosample is either "in" or "out" depending on the sample type used. Disco samples are really uncool ATM, but sampling really odd and unheard of things is perenially "in" (hence the "science fiction movie quote" electronic music cliche).
Great list, still not clear as to what the Electric String is, guessing it's like a pad that Airwave/Ferry Corsten would use?
Anyway, great list, nothing like this has been done before and it explains with good solid examples.
Basically any droning texture in an electronic sound. Stars of the Lid compose with them almost exclusively. Yes, the supersaw is a famous example, albeit an annoying and over-exploited one: these kinds of drones really shouldn't be played on their own in any part of any dance music, because you just can't dance to them.
Thanks, I'm glad you like this list.
"One More Time" by Daft Punk doesn't really have any instruments on it, the music is sampled from some other French song. The only thing that's really new is the vocals.
I think fanfare horns in general are sampled though. I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it has that sound.
What about thee 808 or the 909? They have pretty staple sounds that most EDM listeners can recognise, and they feature in quite a lot of house and techno.
You're totally, totally right. I don't even know how I forgot those, they're such obvious choices. Thanks a lot.