2000's Grime
My Composition
My Research
grime track
For this week's assignment, we were asked to create a composition in the style of a 2000's grime track. First, I started by getting inspiration from 2000's grime artists such as; Kano, Wiley and Lethal Bizzle. The first thing I added to my composition was my instruments and drums. For the drums I went on to the website looperman and searched for "grime" and made sure that the BPM would match my project of 130 BPM. I kept the time signature in 4/4 as this is the standard for grime tracks. The sample I found was called "Hard-drums-prod-turbo" and I felt that the style and pattern would fit my idea well. Once I had added the drums to my project, I wanted to work on the melody side of my composition, so I searched on Logic for a suitable sound to fit the track. The instrument I settled for was called "faded keys" which I felt fit very well. The instrument was similar in tone to a plucked string instrument, like a guitar, which I liked a lot. Once I was happy with the melody I went on to the chords; for these, I decided to use the instrument called "Eastern synth guitar" as it was like my melody instrument but had a longer decay, I then matched the melody and chords using the root notes to make sure they were in tune. Next, I wanted to add a bassline to my composition, the bass sound I decided on was the "80s plucked bass", originally, I was searching for an 808-style bass as this fits the grime genre well, but I ended up picking the plucked bass because it is very similar to 808s as it is a clean bass sound. Again, I matched the root notes so that they were in tune with the melody and chords, so as not to clash. The last thing I added to my composition was a vocal sample I found in Logics sample library, called "Angelic Vocal FX 01". I think the vocal sample fits very well with the rest of my composition and the genre, as the pitched-up vocals give a good contrast with the low ends of the bass and drums. For The Eastern Synth Guitar instrument, I used for the chords, I decided to add some effects. I went with a guitar amp in order to boost the sound a bit more. I also added some effects to the plucked bass instrument; I added a bit crusher, but I only used this for the drive to boost the volume to give it more presence in the composition. I then added an EQ to take out the high end of the sound, to make room for the rest of the composition without getting muddy.
For this week's genre, I decided to research 2000's Grime, which is a type of electronic music that originated in London in the early 2000's. Grime took inspiration from various different genres such as UK Garage, dancehall, jungle, and hip hop. The genre is usually around 140BPM but can be higher/lower, grime tracks will often use aggressive or "hard" electronic sounds and have a vocalist or "MC" rapping over the track usually about gritty urban life. Originally the genre was a very underground genre and would appear on pirate radio stations before it became the mainstream music it is known as today. Artists such Wiley, Dizzee Rascal, Kano and Lethal Bizzle all helped to drive the genre to the next level and gave it the popularity it knows today. Dizzee Rascal's 2003 album "Boy In Da Corner" was a huge moment for the genre with songs like "Jus' a rascal", "I LUV U" and "Stop dat" which became anthems of grime. Other notable albums were "Home Sweet Home" by Kano and "Treddin' On Thin Ice" by Wiley. In grime music, the instrumentation was usually dominated by electronic instruments and synthesizers. Drum machines and sounds such as the 808 were popular choices In grime music. Using samples was also a very large part of the genre, often using samples from popular culture or media, as well as older forms of media like old kung-fu movies. Grime has influenced popular culture to a massive degree, where grime songs became well known across pop culture with the likes of N-Dubz, JME, Skepta etc. Without Grime we would not have other genres such as Trap or Drill music, which both took inspiration and developed from grime. Within the genre of grime there developed many different sub-genres. In the early days of Grime music, the word "Grime" was a dirty word that gave a negative influence on the genre, so other names were given to the genre such as "8-bar", "Sublow" and "Eskibeat", but as the genre grew Grime became the overarching name for the genre with "Eskibeat" and other names becoming the name of the niches of Grime and sub-genres.
screenshot of instruments used in the composition.
Screenshot of song arrangement.
Screenshot of effects used in the composition.
The key signature of this composition is in C Minor.
Bpm and time signature.
