HouseMusic
ThoughtStorms Wiki
Context : ElectronicDanceMusic
Quora Answer : Electronic Music: In what sense is deep house "deep"?
It's about putting you in a mellow contemplative mood, conducive to thinking deep thoughts.
It's not full of distracting loud, colourful motifs and harsh frequencies that sound "exciting" or psyche you up for physical exertion.
Instead, the sound is designed to both calm you and re-energise you.
The rhythm is hypnotic, almost meditative.
Quora Answer : Why did the disco genre music in the 70s change to become hip-hop dance in the 80s?
Programmable drum-machines and sequencers got cheap.
In the 70s, if you wanted a groove, you needed a band to play it.
The disco genre is tight, dance-focused, DJ-friendly music.
But it was still composed and played by a band. Who had the mentality and outlook of a group of musicians. They made music for dancers. But also to please themselves as musicians. Constrained by what they could actually perform live.
And then it still needed a record label to decide they liked it. And to invest the money in recording it and making it into records.
Meanwhile, in the 70s, drum machines and sequencers did kind of exist. But they were very big, very expensive and very geeky.
Then by the early 80s, thanks to microprocessors, drum machines and synths and sequencers had become cheaper, and were now smaller, more convenient and easier to learn.
This had a dramatic effect. It meant that DJs could start making their own music.
(BTW : That music was not so much "hip-hop dance" - hip-hop has other aspects to it - as it was "house". That's really the essence of "house music". Music made not by musicians but by DJs. For their "house" (ie. the club they worked at) )
The thing is, the DJs knew exactly what worked on their dance-floors, with their crowds. They knew what the crowd liked. What would drive up the energy. What would hold the crowd's attention.
And now they had drum-machines and sequencers, they could make music that was fine-tuned and structured for those requirements.
They didn't need to wait for a group of musicians to think of that idea, and learn to play it. And for a record company to decide that it might make money, and agree to hire a studio, record the band, and manufacture a record. They could come up with an idea of their own in their studio or even spare-bedroom. Program it, tweak it a bit, and record it straight to tape or get a dub-plate pressed, and take it out to play that week.
This revolutionized dance music. This is why we have electronic dance music, and why it's such a big deal. Microprocessors allowed DJs to cut out all the middle-men in bands and record labels. And to make music directly for their public of dancers.
Quora Answer : House Music: I have noticed that in a dj setting, aspects that denote live performance are a kind of taboo or at least seem uninteresting to the crowd. Is this always the case?
Faze Action were famous for trying to do House as acoustically as possible :
Of course, when you start trying to do that live, House very clearly reveals its disco and funk roots.
Quora Answer : Electronic Music: In what sense is deep house "deep"?
It's about putting you in a mellow contemplative mood, conducive to thinking deep thoughts.
It's not full of distracting loud, colourful motifs and harsh frequencies that sound "exciting" or psyche you up for physical exertion.
Instead, the sound is designed to both calm you and re-energise you.
The rhythm is hypnotic, almost meditative.
Quora Answer : What is the most obvious way to identify music as "house music"?
House music has changed a lot over time, but some standard elements :
four on the floor, bass heavy kick drums (usually from the TR808)
generally around 120 bmp - up to 130
some swing / syncopation in the percussion
the popular forms of house, like deep-house, progressive house tend to have warmer, more organic sounds. Samples of real instruments or even real instruments playing on top. Often with female vocalist.
But it's all a very grey area. Subgenres like electro-house and tech-house can be harsher and more electronic than subgenres of techno.
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