I was going to try to mae that point about "ghost notes" and the gaps between the beats being used to inject funkiness, but wasn't able to articulate it as well as you've done below.
Here's another thought, although a much more abstract one - an unfunky electronic rhythm goes "up and down" (ie, the dancer is tempted to just pogo to the track), while a funky electronic rhythm goes "round and round" (the dancer is tempted to get busy)? And another, more P-Funky, thought - you don't qualify as being "on the one" just because you have a crash cymbal every four bars! Brendan | -----Original Message----- | From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | Sent: 11 December 2002 11:02 | To: Brendan Nelson | Cc: fabrice Lig; 313@hyperreal.org | Subject: RE: (313) Los hermanos/trancey/Detroit techno... | | | | | It's all about the 'ghost notes' in drum patterns that fill | in the gaps | for funk. Also, the way the Bassline works with the beats is key. I've | studied dance beats for around 12 years and always wondered | how a certain | track was swinging so much. To begin with I thought the Hats | must be off | the beat but after many years gradually realised that you can | make a track | funky by adding just a simple little shaker or closed hat to | a kick and | bass line. It's amazing how such small details in a mix can | produce grooves | whereas if you were to take them out a track could sound very | bland indeed. | | As for Trance, one of the main reasons it doesn't often swing | so much is to | do with Tempo in my opinion. Trance in the main comes in at | around 135-140 | bpm. The slower the track, the more space there is to play | with in the mix | so the ear naturally has time to pick up on the ghost notes etc. | | Production is also key, getting those levels and compression | right also | affects the groove. Trance is generally very bright and at times over | produced which detracts from the underlying grove. | | Bergz. | | | | | "Brendan Nelson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 11/12/2002 10:34:27 | | To: "fabrice Lig" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, <313@hyperreal.org> | cc: | | Subject: RE: (313) Los hermanos/trancey/Detroit techno... | | | | -----Original Message----- | | From: fabrice Lig [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Sent: 10 December 2002 22:31 | | | | I know what is trance music...It was huge here. | | Could we try to find a list of differences... | | On the paper, finaly there is common points... | | Melodies, chords, ... | | But in the reality... | | I give you the first difference ;-) | | 1)Detroit music is funky. | | That's definitely true - I can't remember if it was Eddie Fowlkes or | Kevin Saunderson who said "the hardness in techno comes from | funk", but | I've always seen funk as the main differentiator between | Detroit techno | and the trance sound. | | What makes trance unfunky? I think that a large amount of it | comes down | to the drum programming. Trance producers, I can imagine, | must glue over | the "shuffle" button on their drum machines so that it can never be | turned on. Also, you can imagine that if a trance producer | does anything | with the hi-hats other than "open hi-hat between each kick | drum, closed | hi-hat on the beat", he/she would get arrested by the Trance | Police for | heresy! | | But even when Detroit records use those most basic of drum patterns, | there is still a funk there that you don't find in trance. Why? | | Brendan | | | | |
