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dubstep

dubstep

7 6.3
A type of electronic dance music with heavy bass and fast beats at about 140 beats a minute
  • noun
  • /ˈdʌbˌstɛp/
translation icon : dubstep
  • The dubstep genre often features deep, wobbly basslines that create a distinctive sound.
  • dubstep bass

You can get really good hip hop and dubstep out of these two, but the mid range still exists.

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Examples

  • Dubstep is actually 140 BPMs cut to half-speed, it ends up being about 70 BPMs.

  • Believe me, I had no idea before watching this that a dubstep mashup like this was even possible.

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  • I thought I wanted to see how people dance to dubstep; I had never seen it before.

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  • Yes, it's a dubstep track, and no, it's not a new style.

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  • I guess dubstep never dies.

  • For the past few years, any fan of Dubstep is, by association, automatically a fan of UKF.

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  • I love dubstep!

  • So now your latest song, Big Man Ting with Jam and MC is another dubstep kind of song.

  • I pretty much credit Britney with the dubstep explosion we're currently witnessing.

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  • To overextend your metaphor, dubstep is electronic music with a breakbeat and a certain BPM.

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How Intense

dubstep
7 6.3
techno
41 4.4

Surface Forms

dubstep singular
dubsteps plural

Morphology

dubstep = dub + step (semi-transparent) = dub + step

Formally a clear compound of 'dub' + 'step', but the meaning relies on music-specific jargon ('dub' and the genre sense of 'step'), which many learners may not know.

Etymology

The word dubstep comes from two music ideas: dub ('a Jamaican style with very deep bass and remixed tracks') and step (from '2-step', a British dance beat). So, dubstep mixes deep 'dub' bass with a 'step' dance rhythm, which explains its heavy low sound and choppy, off-beat rhythms.