| What |
the
fuck is this?! |
| )EIB( |
Bad Company |
| 2
step beat |
See
Breakbeat |
| Acetate |
See
Dubplate |
| Ambient |
See
Intelligent drum 'n bass |
| Amen
break |
The
most well known breakbeat used in drum 'n bass ever. Originally
ripped from the track 'Amen, brother' by The Winstons. |
| Anthem |
A
well known and praised track in a scene. |
| Apache
break |
Another
well known dnb break, also used in hiphop a lot. Comes from
Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band, who did a cover from 'Apache' by the Shadows. |
| Artcore |
See
Intelligent drum 'n bass |
| As
we enter (speech) |
As
we enter the music session |
| Babylon |
Jamaican
term, referring to oppressors of the people, like police
and authorities. Also means things like bad vibes or the
source of evil. |
| Back
2 back |
Also
known as Tag Team. A DJ set done by two or more DJ's, taking
turns with mixing after one or two tracks. |
| Bad
bwoy |
Big
nasty bloke who's mostly involved in crime, and is always
dominating and pushing people over at parties and the street,
but it can also be used in a positive style (Mr Grits is
a bad bwoy ;) ). |
| Bass flex |
A system in cables and audio equipment that makes the bass more audible. It reduces the amount of voltage when the bass signal goes through the cables. |
| Beatboxing |
Imitating beats and other sounds by using the mouth for the sound, and the hands against the mouth for a certain resonance. |
| Big
things a gwaan (speech) |
Big
things are going on |
| Big
up (speech) |
A
shout out. Used in greeting and showing respect to someone. |
| Bizness |
The
business |
| Blud
claat (speech) |
I
don't give a fuck... (refers to bloodclot, see also Bumboclaat) |
| Bogle |
A
Jamaican reggae dance, popularized by the likes of Buju
Banton. Other famous dances are 'Butterfly', 'Bruk Wine'
and 'World Dance'. |
| Boh
(speech) |
Imitating
the sound of a gunshot |
| Booka
(speech) |
See
Boh |
| Boombastic |
Something
extra large |
| Boomshot
(speech) |
See
Boh |
| Booya
(speech) |
See
Boh |
| Booyakasha
(speech) |
See
Boh |
| Breakbeat |
A breakbeat is either 1) a beat from a break in a track (like the amen or apache break, hence the name!) or 2) another name for hardcore back in the days (see Hardcore for more details, but there is a chance this name for it was mostly used outside the UK, since 'hardcore' is quite a universal term also concerning hardrock and rap variables) or 3) what they call the music style 'Breakz' these days. |
| Breakcore |
This form of drum 'n bass has been formed by the likes of Technical Itch and Dylan, and basically stands for a very hard and dark sound, where the amen breaks play a big role. Breakcore is breaks on it's loudest; raw basswork, dark ambiance, and breaks pounding in all possible ways over the top. |
| Breakdown |
A breakdown is a 'chilled' bit from a tune, which might be followed by a drop (depends on the tune's structure). You can have a drop without a breakdown or a breakdown without a drop ;). |
| Brock
out |
Really
going out of your mind when a certain wicked track hits
the dancefloor, and dance to it with all your love. |
| Bumboclaat |
Also
known as Claat. It means clot (as in bloodclot), but Claat is often preceded
by words like Batty, Blood, Raas and Pussy, which form curse
words. So watch out when you use these words, especially
if you're going as a white cunt on a trip to Kingston Town
in Jamaica, and you start thinking loud up of possible Claatword
combinations. There can be a chance you'll return in a coffin
with a cross on top. |
| Bust
out |
Break
out, like 'Bad Company just bust out on da scene!' |
| Choon |
See
Chune |
| Chune |
A
tune or song |
| Claat |
See
Bumboclaat |
| Clownstep |
This is not really a drum 'n bass style. Originally, Keaton said about the track Bodyrock by Andy C & Shimon that it reminded him of dancing clowns. Who thought of the term 'clownstep' is a mystery, but it should refer to typical cheesy, happy jumpup tunes. Clownstep is often a naughty word to the true junglist, mainly because it's a term used by people who can't appreciate some of the new flows in dnb, although that's what dnb has always been about. |
| Crew |
See
Massive |
| Criss |
Something
new or good |
| Danger (speech) |
Watch out! (usually said before a tune drops by the MC) |
| Dapa-Don |
See
Don |
| Dark
(speech) |
See
Wicked |
| Darkstep |
Hardstep
can have a happy, funky, jazzy sound now and then but darkstep
is the opposite. Very dark and doomy, but it doesn't have
to be as rough as techstep. Just as the name says, it's
hardstep with a dark sound. |
| Deal
wid the matter (speech) |
Dealing
right with the business, standard slogan from MC Skibadee |
| Deck |
See Turntable |
| Distortion |
If
a sound goes beyond it's threshold, it's distorted. It's
mostly recognized as an hard, unnatural, overloaded and
screwed sound, but not necessarily bad. Fuck no, especially
not in rough dnb. |
| DJ |
Short for 'Disc Jockey'. This person makes sure you actually hear music at a party. |
| DJ set |
See Set |
| Don |
Stemming
from mafia language, the Don is the guy that runs all things
proper and smooth, with style and finesse, and is in the
drum 'n bass scene the 'god' or ultimate musician of wicked
sounds and intense style. Grooverider is called Don a lot
for example. |
| Double drop |
A DJ trick where two records are being timed to go silent and drop simultaneously at the same moment. This can have very interesting audible results with much impact. |
| Drill
'n bass |
A very experimental drum 'n bass form, which mostly doesn't sound like usual dnb at all. A lot of artists who produce drill 'n bass don't even call it a drum 'n bass form, like some productions of the likes of Aphex Twin & Squarepusher. Drill 'n bass is, just like clownstep for example, a term where people argue over a lot. Simply put you can call it drum 'n bass without any rules. |
| Drop |
The
part after the intro of a track that demonstrates the tune's
full potential. You can mostly hear the drop coming at the
end of the intro, and you can be sure when most intro sounds
are gone, the tune is quite a bit louder, and people around
you on the dancefloor start to freak out, expecting the
same from you. |
| Drum
'n bass |
Dance music consisting out of fast breakbeats and deep basses over it. Drum 'n bass or dnb took the place of jungle for a more open minded and peaceful atmosphere with more space for different musical influences. In time drum 'n bass also created many substyles, but the corename has always stayed the same for now. |
| Dubplate |
If a producer finishes a tune, it is important that he can test it at a rave. Only after that he can give it to the big DJ names, eventually in an altered form. That's why producers press their tunes on dubplate first. Dubplates are metal plates with a thin layer of acetate, they're mostly about 30 quid to press on special dubplate cutters, made by the likes of Numark, but they don't last very
long since acetate is softer than vinyl. Dubplates stem from the Jamaican reggae roots where MC's
were challenged to rhyme for a sound system, crew or DJ.
During a reggae soundclash they are the most important assets
for a DJ. First press dubplates keeps the DJ elite of the
scene elite. For the next stage see Test press. |
| Ear
plugs |
Ear
protection which filters out high tones which fuck up your
ears and can result in Tinnitus. Good to have with you when
a DJ is on acid or crack and he doesn't know what the fuck
he's doing with the volume sliders anymore. |
| Firefight
break |
See
Tramen break |
| Firefly
break |
See
Tramen break |
| Flex |
Doing
something, spin the decks, going for the job. Like 'flex
the turntables' or 'flex the mic'. |
| Flyer |
A pamflet which promotes a rave. Any selfrespecting flyer at least states the DJ line-up, the pocket damage, the location, time and possible refusal if you plan to wear your lederhosen. |
| Frequency |
The
type of sound. Low frequencies represent bass (low tones),
high frequencies treble (high tones). |
| Gwaan
(speech) |
Go
on |
| Gwidaan
(speech) |
Going
down |
| Hardcore |
In the early days people still used to call jungle and drum 'n bass hardcore, referring to the UK hardcore style which has been around from '89 until '94. This style contained also low basses with much slower breaks, happy melodies, and early techno and acid house influences. Although the term is still confused with jungle and drum 'n bass sometimes, it has no relevance to the two anymore. The later UK hardcore tunes indeed looked a lot like jungle/drum 'n bass tunes (see Jungle Techno), but when one part of the UK hardcore turned into happy hardcore and the other into jungle, the term hardcore lost it's relevance to dnb for good. |
| Hardstep |
A
rougher form of drum 'n bass. It sounds more aggressive
and the drums and the basses are louder. |
| Hear
dis (speech) |
Listen
to this |
| Headphones |
Piece of audio equipment which is used by the DJ while mixing his records for monitoring the whole mix. |
| Hoover |
In
many old techno tracks you can hear the Hoover sound, also known as Reese. This sound was created by Kevin 'Reese' Saunderson, and apparently
made with one of the Roland Alpha Juno synths. The Mentasm sound was a high pitched Hoover and was exploited around '93 a
lot by the likes of Metalheadz and Rufige Kru, and pushed forward by the likes of Joey Beltram (used the 'What the...' factory preset from one of the Alpha Juno synths) and the Prodigy (Charly). Also, 'Bodyrock' from Andy C & Shimon
for example contains a Mentasm sound. |
| Intelligent
drum 'n bass |
Also
known as mellow or artcore. Very light drum 'n bass, but
it can be very spacey. Mostly the best form of dnb to chill
out on. Contains mostly ambient elements. |
| Intro |
Begin
part of a song until the first drop, to get you in the mood
of a track, and it's the time for the DJ to mix the records
correctly before the drop comes. |
| Irie
(speech) |
All
cool, under control |
| Jazz
jungle |
See
Jazzstep |
| Jazz
'n bass |
See
Jazzstep |
| Jazzstep |
Also
known as jazz jungle and jazz 'n bass. Simply drum 'n bass
with jazz elements over it, and was originated around '95.
These days a lot of jazzjungle is played out live, which
is wicked to see. Big jazzstep names are Peshay, Omni Trio
and Fabio. |
| Jump
up |
A
rude, but not necessarily dark form of dnb. Originated around
'95, jump up is the style of dnb that still keeps the most
roots of oldskool dnb. It has uplifting vibes, with a bassline
that makes you move and fast smashing breaks. A lot of the
times the bassline sounds groovy and a lot of hiphop is
used in it. Good examples are Joker records, Roni Size,
Urban takeover & DJ Hype. |
| Jungle |
Dance music consisting out of fast breakbeats and deep basses over it. Jungle is the predecessor of drum 'n bass, and is a bit slower with more complicated breaks. The style found it's roots from the hardcore/jungle techno scenes (see Hardcore and/or Jungle techno) and the reggae/ragga scenes, and originated in the UK city projects around '94. The style faded away around '96 and turned into drum 'n bass because of it's violent atmosphere around it's raves, but artists like Congo Natty still push the style. |
| Jungle techno |
A style which formed the bridge between UK hardcore and jungle, and was around in '93 to '94. It's a considerable fact that the origins of dark drum 'n bass lie here, just listen to tunes from Rufige Kru (Goldie), Grooverider and Bizzy B from those days. |
| Junglette |
A
girl who is into drum 'n bass. See Junglist for term roots. |
| Junglist |
A
bloke who is into drum 'n bass. The term stems from 'The
Gardens' aka Jungle in Kingston Town, Jamaica, where MC's
in dancehalls during reggae party's referred to people from
the Jungle as junglists. The Jungle is an impoverished part
of Kingston Town, notorious for gangsters, politics, guns
and outlaws. Some people say the original Jamaican junglist
used to fire blanks when he really liked a tune or wanted
a rewind. |
| Liquid funk |
In the new age producers like Carlito, Addiction and Calibre put intelligent jungle into a sort of mix between deep beats, light flowing basslines and a very funky sound, with elements of jazz fusion and acid jazz. It's lighter than jazzstep and heavier than intelligent, and was named after the name of the album Carlito released in 2000. So not too heavy and not too light flowing dnb, and soft funky jazz sounds. |
| Massive |
group
of (united) junglists, part of the drum 'n bass scene. |
| Maximum
boost |
Maximum
shout out props |
| MC |
MC
means Master of Ceremony or Mic Chatter, and was invented
when hiphop lay in the cradle, because the DJ's needed someone
to support the audience to dance. MC's in hiphop are more
important than the DJ mostly and the big act, but not in
dnb. There they are still the dancefloor innovators who
accompany the main man, the DJ. Funny is that MC's in Jamaica
are called DJ's, and the DJ's selectors. |
| Mellow |
See
Intelligent drum 'n bass |
| Mentasm |
See
Hoover |
| Mixer |
Piece of audio equipment which is used by the DJ to mix his records spinning on the turntables. Also used for adding effects to the DJ set and controlling the overall sound. |
| Mompi |
Oversized
Don |
| Neurofunk |
This style of dnb is easily confused with technoid. You could say it's more melodic and less minimal as technoid, and not as hard. Good examples are Ed Rush & Optical, Matrix, Grooverider & Bad Company. |
| Newskool
dnb |
Drum
and bass from say '99 until now. Rise of the 2-step style. |
| Nuff
respect (speech) |
Enough
respect |
| Off beat mixing |
A way of mixing done by the DJ where a record is mixed a single or more measures sooner or later than the other so it creates a so called 'cannon' effect. |
| Oh
gosh danger (speech) |
Usually
said by MC's who announce a big breakdown or drop in a session. |
| Ol
eep (speech) |
See
Whole heap |
| Oldskool hardcore |
See Hardcore |
| Original |
The
one and only |
| Outro |
The
ending of a track, building off to silence, time for the
DJ to mix the next record if he hadn't done already or his
set is ending. |
| Pocket damage |
The amount of money you pay to enter a rave. |
| Promo |
See
White label |
| Proper
(speech) |
The
real deal |
| Pull
up |
A
moment in a set when the DJ just lifts the needle of the
record when the crowd is going bezerk. A less popular variation
of a rewind. |
| Rave |
A
dancehall party. As a music style one of the daddy's of
dnb, see Hardcore. Also simply another word for a dnb party. |
| Record |
A big round flat thing made of vinyl where music comes out when you put a needle on it and you spin it around at a certain speed. Welcome to our planet btw! |
| Reese |
See
Hoover |
| Refrain |
A
part of a track repeated some times, mostly unchanged. |
| Rewind |
The
effect of reversing a record after the drop of a track just
came, stopping it, and playing it again. Sometimes new records get a rewind even before the drop. Happens mostly
to well known and praised tunes supported by the crowd and/or
MC. Also very handy for mixing fuckups, but to keep a set
tight it shouldn't be done too often. See also the variation
Pull up. |
| Ride |
The
needle playing or riding over the record, the music session. |
| Rinse
out |
A
metaphor for a really good set done by a DJ. Stems originally
from Jamaica, where it refers to pulling the trigger of a gun
and let the bullets fly (rinse someone out). In this example, a DJ can rinse
the crowd out by the fast repeating snarehits heard a tune.
So a rinsing tune is ammunition for a good rinse out. |
| Roller |
A
tune with not too light and not too heavy breaks, iow just
rolling nicely. |
| Rude
bwoy |
Stems
from Jamaican slang, adopted in the ska era. A rebellish
music lover, in Jamaica known for their stylish clothing
and switchblades. |
| Runninz
(speech) |
The
way things run or go down |
| Sample |
Piece
of sound |
| Scene |
A
group of people representing a typical culture. See also
Massive. |
| Scratching |
Many say this originated at the start of the 80's with Herbie Hancock's 'Rockit'. The DJ manually moves the record back and forth over the needle, which with the help of the crossfader is measured with the other record playing. Scratching these days grew out into a whole culture on it's own, called Turntablism. Artists performing this are for example DJ Craze, Q Bert and DJ Shadow. |
| Selector |
A
person who chooses the tunes for the DJ to play, but mostly
it refers to the DJ him or herself. In Jamaica a metaphor
for DJ anyway. |
| Set |
A complete DJ performance. |
| Sound
bwoy |
Opposite
of a bad bwoy. A passive dnb bloke. |
| Stab |
A
sharp, short, and loud noise or tone in a tune which is
very noticeable. Like the sound 'stabs' you in the ears by
it's directness. |
| Subwoofer |
Part
of a loudspeaker, responsible for the bass sound. Make sure you never roll
a dnb choon with this part missing. |
| Tag
Team |
See
Back 2 back |
| Tear
out |
See
Rinse out |
| Technoid |
Not to be confused with the techstep or neurofunk styles, technoid is generally seen as dnb with typical influences from techno and trance, that can be heard in the bouncy beats and tight bleepy melodylines. So it's not the cheesy jumpup style nor the dark mashing techstep, but more in between. Good examples are Stakka & Skynet, Black Sun Empire, Noisia, Kemal & Cause 4 Concern. |
| Techstep |
One of the roughest forms of dnb. This style can be compared with hardcore,
techno, even metal, but then with rough distortion synths
and screaming basses and bezerk drums. Most popular form
these days, invented around '96 by the likes of Trace and
Ed Rush. |
| Test
press |
The
stage coming after the dubplate press. If a dubplate is
a success, the tune is pressed on vinyl in the smallest amount
allowed by the factory. It's spread to more people than
with the dubplate press. For the process after this see
White label. |
| Think
break |
Another
popular dnb break from Lyn Collin's 'Think (about it)'.
There are more general used breaks in this song btw. |
| Tighten
up break |
A
much sampled breakbeat from the most sampled artist ever,
James Brown. |
| Tinnitus |
If
you listen too much to your walkman on max volume or you
go see techstep raves everynight, something shitty like
this can occur after a while. It's a form of hearing loss,
if your hairs in your ears pick up too much noise they can
get overcooked and keep sending impulses to your brain,
which results in a constant high pitched tone hearable in
your ear, which muffles to noise from the original sound
heard. For a solution see Ear plugs. |
| Tramen
break |
Also
known as Firefly or Firefight break. This is basically a
fucked up Amen break, the name Tramen comes from DJ Trace
who fucked an amen beat up and gave it this name, and it
became well known. For example Nitrous by Bad Company contains
this break (plus tons more). |
| Trance 'n bass |
See Trancestep |
| Trancestep |
This is basically trance with drum 'n bass under it instead of a housebeat. Many say this style of dnb was invented by John B, and that he has been the only guy so far who's been making it. Although this is not true, most junglists don't even care. Because trancestep is made to appeal more to the masses, pure dnb heads who want to keep the music underground are mostly disgusted by it. |
| Trainwreck |
A mixing fuckup by a DJ. Can be resolved by a Pull up or Rewind. |
| Tribe |
A
scene of peepz |
| Trust
me (speech) |
Believe me |
| Turntable |
Piece of audio equipment where DJ's spin their records on. For the true Martians under us; it takes two of them to tango... |
| Turntablism |
See Scratching |
| Underground |
Basically every form of culture which isn't used to make money with for the masses. Cultural styles which are non-commercialized refer to underground, which is mostly seen as the place where new flows originate and cultural flows are protected from influences which are seen as abusive and bad for them. Since drum 'n bass has never really been commercially exploited, many people still see it as an underground style. |
| UK hardcore |
See Hardcore |
| Valve Soundsystem |
According to the Guiness Book of World Records, this soundsystem created by Dillinja is the loudest soundsystem on the planet. It was specially designed for bass sounds, in terms of hearing the fullest bass sound possible. When hearing it, its is more the physical sensation that counts since the bass itself is unaudible. Earplugs are freely distributed where the soundsystem can be heard (except for that one time I saw it in Brum, my health insurance covered fuck all) |
| Vinyl |
Records
are made of vinyl, you know those big black rounds flat
things where music comes out. If you hear someone who has
to do with records talking about vinyl, he or she means
records. |
| VJ |
Short for 'Video Jockey'. This person gets video visuals at parties done for people who are too tripped and/or tired to dance for a while, and to set a special mood for a rave. |
| Watch
dis (speech) |
Listen
to this |
| Watch
the ride (speech) |
A
metaphor for watching the needle 'ride' on your decks,
iow listening carefully to the tunes you spin, keeping an
eye on your needle playing and watch where you take your
set. |
| Whaap
(speech) |
What's
up |
| White
label |
The
phase coming after test press. A lot of white labels (records
with a white label which mostly say no more then the trackname,
artist and label) of a vinyl are made to get them to selected
radio stations and music stores. In this way DJ's can get
their hands on the copy of a tune way before it's officially
released, but not all labels work with White label releases. |
| Who
pon the mic (speech) |
Who's
on the mic |
| Whole
heap (speech) |
Lot's
of... (MC Skibadee style) |
| Wicked
(speech) |
cool,
phat (positively meant) |
| X-amount |
An
uncertain or large amount (of bass for example) |
