breakbeat
Looped funk percussion
Breakbeat is electronic dance music built around syncopated drum patterns—typically sampled from the "break" sections of funk and soul records where percussion takes the spotlight.
The chopped, looped rhythms give breakbeat its driving, irregular feel, distinguishing it from the steady four-on-the-floor pulse of house or techno.
The style spawned genres like drum and bass, jungle, and big beat.
Stressed unexpected beats
- polyrhythmOverlapping musical beat patterns
- cross-rhythmSimultaneous contrasting beat patterns
- tempoRate of musical performance
- meterDevice that measures usage
swing · shuffle · fill · bar · measure · staccato · triplet · interlocking
Dense tropical forest
Enthusiastic praise or nightlong dance
- DJMusic mixer performer
- b-boyMale street dancer
- hip-hopRhythmic spoken-word music
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
dancefloor · soundsystem · warehouse · MC · rewind · crew · scene · clubbing
Subset for study
- loopCurve closing on itself
- chopQuick forceful slice
- ApacheSouthwestern indigenous nation
- vinylSynthetic resin plastic
producer · splice · edit · layered · collage · soundbite · Madlib · RZA
Orders signals chronologically
- DAWAudio production software
- turntableRotating music player
- mixerCombines ingredients or people
- EQAudio frequency adjuster
compression · filter · reverb · delay · Roland · beatmatching · quantize · waveform
Controlling a vehicle
- propulsiveCausing forward movement
- freneticWildly agitated, fast
- choppyBroken into waves
- stutteringInvoluntary speech disfluency
rolling · bouncing · punchy · percussive · kinetic · relentless · hypnotic · explosive
syncopation
Stressed unexpected beats
- polyrhythmOverlapping musical beat patterns
- cross-rhythmSimultaneous contrasting beat patterns
- tempoRate of musical performance
meter · swing · shuffle · fill · bar · measure · staccato · triplet · interlocking · accent
jungle
Dense tropical forest
rave
Enthusiastic praise or nightlong dance
underground · dancefloor · soundsystem · warehouse · MC · rewind · crew · scene · clubbing · cypher
sample
Subset for study
vinyl · producer · splice · edit · layered · collage · soundbite · Madlib · RZA · trigger
sequencer
Orders signals chronologically
EQ · compression · filter · reverb · delay · Roland · beatmatching · quantize · waveform · transient
driving
Controlling a vehicle
- propulsiveCausing forward movement
- freneticWildly agitated, fast
- choppyBroken into waves
stuttering · rolling · bouncing · punchy · percussive · kinetic · relentless · hypnotic · explosive · uptempo