Dancehall production traits...

B

Blackdown

nexKeysound
though i dont have a huge amount of it i really enjoy dancehall, but what i find enjoyable is often the vocalists.

what can be said about the production traits particular to dancehall? ie sounds, tempo, drum patterns etc

the Millitary Riddim, for example uses snare rolls, but i wouldnt say that was fresh to dancehall.

I quite like the kick-kick-kick snare pattern, but not all dancehall riddims use this.

grime is a sprawling mess of different production styles centred around a tempo. is is possible to generalise about dancehall production?
 
C

Clubberlang

Well-known member
Dave Kelly

I would say that a good majority of the last ten+ years of dancehall is based around the production (actually he may have been called an engineer back then, but whatever) template which Kelly pioneered with the initial Buju Banton singles and then continued with his post-Banton productions. Non-existent bass, minimal and infectious synth drum pattern and the periodic repetition of a simple catchy melody/riff (synth or sampled.) Even the most maximalist dancehall productions (and I am struggling to think of them right now--are there REALLY maximalist dancehall productions haha) just tweak the template slightly, by adding more riffs, non-musical samples or just weird noises. It's amazing how effective something so simple can be.
 
M

minikomi

pu1.pu2.wav.noi
theres a few strains which come to mind..

the 'foundation' style tracks and their remakes eg. the answer riddim, skylarking, the (cleverly named) foundation riddim.. tend to be more 'classic' style reggae. bleeds into 'lovers' style, pretty difficult for me (a white australian) to tell the difference, just that the chix diggit more ho ho ho... 75-90 bpm

the 'dancehall' 4/4 triplet style kick-kick-snare, which dominates at the moment.. 100s (1000s?) of examples of this.. punanny riddim, bellyass, .... some more interesting ones like mexican, bollywood, furnace. . . ceaser riddim is great for a good example of within-riddim production which varies depending on the mc. especially allozae's version (my name is.. i think its called). allo allo riddim is also quite amusing!

the 'african' style riddims eg coolie dance, kopa ... going to get more and more of these coming out. about 120-130 bpm, with a constant clap on each beat. great to dance to. nina sky's coolie dance version im sure youre aware of, but check out 'feel alright' by mr sean paul, or the sizzla version (mama africa)... kopa is going to be big methinks, if the right version comes along. (capletons who you callin nigga! might be a good contender....)

and then theres a few which dont really fit in anywhere... the hammer riddim comes to mind. . . one brutal, punishing kickdrum plods along at about 45bpm while other percussive sounds makes it one of the most exciting, tense riddims ive ever heard.. i want to know more dancehall like this.

all uneducated opinion of course.
 
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