Dubstep Half-Step drum pattern
A one-bar dubstep half-step at 140 BPM: the kick on 1, a heavy snare on 3 for the half-time feel, and lightly shuffled eighth hats with 16th pickups. Press Play to hear it with a sampled drum kit at 140 BPM, change the tempo or swing, and follow every hit on the grid.
How to count the Dubstep Half-Step
Count it as: 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a. The pattern is one bar of 4/4 (one-bar 16th-note half-time grid).
The Dubstep Half-Step pattern, hit by hit
Each character is one step of the grid and each group is one beat. X is an accented hit, x a normal hit, o a quiet or ghost note and - a rest.
| Voice | Pattern |
|---|---|
| Kick | X--- ---- ---- ---- |
| Snare | ---- ---- X--- ---- |
| Closed hat | x-o- x-oo x-o- x-oo |
Tempo and feel
Heavy and spacious. Count it at 140 but feel one big half-time bar; the space around the snare is the groove. The default tempo is 140 BPM. It plays with 57% swing by default; move the Swing control toward 50% to hear it straight. Slow it down until every hit is controlled, then raise the tempo a few BPM at a time.
How to practise the Dubstep Half-Step
Play only the kick on 1 and the snare on 3 until the half-time feel settles. Add the eighth hats. Add the hat pickups on the a of 2 and the a of 4, a touch late.
Variations to try next
Add a second kick on the and of 3, right after the snare. Thin the hats to quarter notes for a darker, emptier bar. Set the Swing control to 50 percent for a straight, harder half-step.
Where to hear this feel
Records in this family include Mid-2000s South London dubstep. A practice study of mid-2000s dubstep half-step programming at 140 BPM: the kick on 1 and a snare on beat 3, so the bar feels like one slow half-time bar at 70, over closed hats on the eighths with 16th pickups into the snare and into the next bar, lightly shuffled. The kit approximates the programmed voices: the snare stands in for the layered snare and clap and the sampled acoustic hats for the machine hats, and the sub bass, wobble and sidechain are left out. Every hit sits on the grid before the shuffle. The hat pickups and the 57 percent shuffle are informed choices, and the second kick many tracks add after the snare is left to the variations. It is authored for practice, not transcribed.