Progressive House

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Progressive House

Development phase: 1990s
Instruments typical of the genre
Drum computer , percussion , sampler , sequencer , synthesizer

Progressive House is a genre of music from Great Britain , which is composed of elements of deep house , trance , tribal house and tech house . It will be a 4/4-stroke and driving bass drums used. Characteristic is the low-dramaturgy layer structure of the tracks, which often reach a length of up to ten minutes.

features

elements

There are many surfaces in the sound, melody elements and also randomly interspersed sound effects (extra claps, knocking noises, snares, vocals as SFX , etc.). Reverb is used excessively.

Depending on the variant, vocals can be heard that either find their way into quotations or make up entire parts of the song.

Synthesizer and Effects

One of the essential features of progressive house is the lead synthesizer used in many tracks, the sound characteristics of which are reminiscent of a plucked instrument. In terms of sound synthesis , this sound is usually composed of several oscillators . Two of these oscillators are usually provided with a sawtooth or square wave, which are slightly detuned from one another in order to create more space. The third oscillator acts as a bass foundation with a sine wave.

Furthermore, the trend towards the use of distortion effects is becoming more and more apparent in modern productions. A conscious effort is made to overdrive the sound in order to generate more overtones. The envelope used for the sound is characterized by a very fast rise time ( attack ) and a fast decay time ( release ). The decay phase takes about 150 to 300 milliseconds. The sustain phase varies depending on the type of piece. If the lead synthesizer is to play the dominant role in the piece, the holding phase is usually chosen a little longer, as the tone from the third oscillator with the sine wave is more present and the plucked sound fills a broader frequency spectrum ; the sound is fuller .

Performers often rely on the targeted use of filtered noise to deliver higher frequencies and create more atmosphere.

stylistics

The tempo of the tracks is mostly in the range 120–130 bpm , with older productions also up to around 135 bpm.

There is no relationship to progressive rock , but partly to progressive trance .

arrangement

The difference between progressive house and other house styles is structure. Traditionally, progressive house tracks have a characteristic drum loop that is repeated over the entire track. The track then builds up around this loop without finding a clear musical climax. The usual structure "Intro - filler - breakdown - main riff / refrain - filler - second breakdown - main riff / chorus, outro" is replaced in Progressive House by a constantly developing and changing sound that builds up around the original drum loop. Since these changes often only take place in small steps, this can be perceived as monotonous by the inattentive listener.

This structure gives rise to the expression "progressive", which is supposed to describe that the song is constantly developing, instead of letting mood highs and lows arise. The listener can feel unsatisfied, because usually one expects a clear “peak” in every song, which is not the case with Progressive House.

Notable early productions

  • Leftfield - Not Forgotten (Outer Rhythm)
  • Slam - IBO / Eterna (Soma Quality Recordings)
  • React 2 Rhythm - Whatever You Dream (Guerilla)
  • Soundclash Republic - Cool Lemon EP (Junk Rock Records)
  • DOP - Musicians of the Mind EP (Guerilla)
  • Gat Decor - Passion (Effective Records)
  • The Sandals - A Profound Gas (Acid Jazz)
  • Herbal Infusion - The Hunter (Zoom Records)
  • Smells Like Heaven - Londres Strut (Deconstruction)
  • Spooky - Don't Panic (Guerilla)
  • Andronicus - Make You Whole (Hooj Choons)
  • Sublime - Sublime (Breakdown) (Limbo Records)

variants

A variant with broken beats is called "Progressive Breaks" or Nu-Breaks .

In the course of the popularity of Electro House and Big-Room in recent years, tracks from these genres are increasingly being marketed as "Progressive House", but have nothing in common musically.

Important performers

Related genres

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Reynolds : Energy Flash: A Journey Through Rave Music and Dance Culture . Soft Skull Press, 2012, ISBN 1593764774 (Retrieved April 21, 2013).
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Phillips, Dom, Trance-Mission ( Memento from April 17, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), Mixmag, June 1992.