"Hardstyle? What on God's Green Earth is that?!" I asked at the computer screen loudly when I found myself reading through @inthenow's contest requirements for Round 3 of the Blockchain Music Contest. So I needed to do a bit of education around this genre as I had NO CLUE what was going on here. Thankfully inthenow always provides a link to a couple of tracks or sets to give us a pretty full idea of what the genre is about. So what is it? Let me try and explain!
Firstly, everywhere I looked, the tempo that was always mentioned was 150BPM. Nice. Easy. I can do that, I'm used to life in 174BPM, what's a few BPM less? Well, not as easy as I thought as there are many changing parts to this genre in just one track alone!
After a high energy build with plenty of claps and riser effects that welcomes you in to the start of the track, there's a "Hard House" element which brings in the heavy and dark sounds. Slightly different to your normal house as it's set at a faster tempo (usually house ranges from 120-128BPM, whereas we're now at 150BPM). Hey, I like this and from last week's psytrance genre, I could get in to it... and then the third section...
Well, what a transformation from the Hard House bit as the punch you get from the kick drum is well and truly removed from its original glory. Plenty of distortion, loads of effects and modifications to the EQ (frequency spectrum), some more distortion and EQ changes, and whilst you're at it, a little more distortion and hey, you have yourself a hardstyle kick! For some one who is so used to the kick drum being a prominent feature in my Drum & Bass tracks, it was a shock to hear it but this is not the only part of the transformation. Oh no.
The other part of the transformation involves putting in massive, and I'm talking MASSIVE, lead synths and cheesy melodies flying around the place like fireflies on acid. Why not chuck in some random vocals as well? The more aggressive the better, this is Hardstyle after all and hey presto, you have a 3 part track which makes no sense but it's in your face, loud and ready for any crazy fool who is armed with some glowsticks and and the happy pills (I don't advocate drug use btw).
So when I found out about all these factors that contribute to a Hardstyle track, I spent a few days watching YouTube tutorials on how to get that epic distortion on the kick drum and how to get the lead synth sounds. I searched online for some vocal packs and, thanks to MasktoKill for a generous offering of in your face vox, whacked them in as well.
I really tried my best this week to move so far out of my comfort zone and I apologise to any Hardstyle fans here that may be offended! I'm a Trance and DnB head so this is my best shot and I won't go anywhere near it again I promise haha!
For those of you wanting to hear DnB again, just wait until tomorrow, I'll be back to normal LOL!
For now, get your glowsticks, we're raving!
Nicky
Well, whilst I'm here, I might as well take the chance to tell you about a new contest that I've been a part of with the Power House Creatives called @phctop3. All you need to do is tell us what your top 3 favourites for a chance to win from a growing prize pool - more info here.
EMA is a growing electronic music community run by electronic musicians FOR electronic musicians. We have weekly playlists on a variety of platforms to cater for all streaming preferences - make sure you follow our blog for your weekly dose here. We're also launching a new community run label called Electronic Alliance Records which aims to spread the word even more for our artists - check the latest developments and what music is coming up here
