Where drum and bass comes from
It grew from UK jungle in the early to mid 1990s, when producers built on the chopped "Amen break" and dub-influenced basslines. Liquid funk, neurofunk and jump-up later split it into distinct styles.
What makes a track sound like drum and bass
- Very fast breakbeats
- Half-time bass feel
- Strong contrast between drops and breakdowns
- Rolling energy
Typical structure
Intro, build, first drop, breakdown, second drop. Club tracks often have 32-bar intros for mixing.
Vocals in drum and bass
Liquid drum and bass suits smooth sung vocals floating over the fast breaks; jump-up and jungle suit MC-style shouts. Say which, for example "soulful female vocal" or "ragga-style MC hype".
Prompting tips
Choose "liquid drum and bass" for smooth and melodic or "neurofunk" for dark and technical. Mention "Amen-style breaks" for a jungle flavour.
Lower tempos lose the identity of the genre. Keep it at 170 BPM or above.
Prompts to start from
Liquid drum and bass at 174 BPM, soulful piano chords, rolling breaks, deep sub bass and a female vocal-style lead
Dark neurofunk with growling reese bass, tight snares and a heavy second drop
Jungle-flavoured drum and bass with chopped Amen-style breaks, dub bass and a ragga-style vocal shout, original