Dubstep has been taking many shapes and forms over the past few decades. Now it has a butt load of sub-genres, it’s like they’re splitting cells! There are really weird names for Dubstep genres like Deathstep, Riddim, and Brostep. It’s really hard to identify the different sub-genres, but here are more common things that people change up. Most of them just get too generic. So let’s see how they appeared.
When Dubstep was first introduced in the late ’90s in the UK, artists like Jakes and Benga took the roots of reggae (Reggae is a genre that originated in Jamaica in the late ’60s) and applied it to their creative tech, making 2-step, then transforming that into dubstep. Throughout the 2000s dubstep started to become heavier into sound design, which made Dubstep split into different subgenres in the 2010s. Speaking of the 2010s, in 2011, an artist named Skrillex dropped a track called Bangerang, which started Brostep!
1. Brostep
Brostep is a very fun genre, it has a hype upbeat tempo over 150BPM, it has some hip hop vibes to it and these songs just want to make you get up and groove. The dynamic and tone are really good, and it’s also good when it comes to progression. One of the most noticeable songs from this genre to me is Bangerang By Skrillex. This is also what made Dubstep really popular back in 2011!
2. RIDDIM
In 2013 Dubstep started to head back to the underground and stepped away from the Mainstream media. Many producers started to change the way Dubstep sounded, instead of using the variated drum pattern in Brostep and Dubstep, they changed it to basic kick and snare (layered clap) at 140 beats per minute (BPM). Over the years this type of dubstep became a trend as some record labels like, Never Say Die (and NSD Black Label), Disciple Round Table, Interval Audio, and many others. This genre became popular and it’s currently trending!
- Here some great examples of Dubstep Riddim Artists:
- Subtronics
- SVDDEN DEATH
- Infekt
- Virtual Riot
- N3UR05 (Hey, this is me. Check out some of my tracks! Also, I have an EP that’s already out on my SoundCloud!)
3. Deathstep
Deathstep is the dark side of Dubstep, it has the roots of metal, split-core, and death metal. The sound design has a dark demonic feel to its presence. There are some good songs in that genre, yet again it gets really dark! OOO SPOOPY!
- Here are some good Deathstep artists
4. Drumstep
Drumstep is basically having DnB (Drum and Bass) fusing with Dubstep, it still carries out the beat with the normal Dnb beat at 160 BPM, but they switch it off when they get to the dubstep. You can find some of these songs on Monstercat! I like this cool combination when I found more about this back in 2015, it brings me back to the day I discovered Monstercat. I just love how these artists do their variations with these songs!
5. Metalstep
Metalstep has elements of heavy metal. It’s dubstep combining with metal, it’s just like two fan-favorite genres are coming together. I found some songs that are cool, they have a lot of electric guitars, and metal vocals whenever they scream. It just brings out the story to the song!
- Here’s a good artist that does this
6. Wobblestep
Wobblestep is another subgenre to Dubstep. Wobblestep takes the sound from the original dubstep, the wobble, and they use the vibrato in sound design for these songs. I find this alright, it’s not really my favorite in my opinion. It does bring back some old school dubstep vibe to the wobble in the song.
- Here’s an artist that does this
7. Robostep
Here we have in the corner with cool robotic sound design, ROBOSTEP! This metallic sound design makes random robotic sounds into dubstep! There’s not really an official date when this subgenre first established as I recently discovered it. I find this interesting because, it has a cool sound design, and it has robotic vocals that I enjoy.
8. Neurostep
Neurostep is a cool subgenre because it has a lot of hypergrowls in incorporated in its neurotic sound design. This subgenre really emphasizes this sound design a lot. While I was listening to this style of music, I can really vibe to it when I am listing to other songs from Dnb. It’s really cool in my opinion, the flow is just on point!
9. Chillstep
Chillstep is kinda like Chill-Hop. Instead of going for the heavy/aggressive sound design, Chillstep goes for relaxing tones. You can listen to it while you’re doing your work. It’ll bring you away from the noisy environment, to a much calmer world of Chillstep. To me, I find this nice and relaxing, I can just easily vibe to this genre.
10. Hardstep
Hardstep is another genre, this one makes people dance a lot. Hardstep basically makes Dubstep into a regular House song. The kicks and snares are strong, kinda like hardstyle. To me, it’s not really dubstep. It’s like hardstyle
- Here’s an artist
11. Substep
Substep emerged in the early 2000s. It has low frequencies under 40 Hz, which makes the sub-bass stand out. If you go in your car and play a song from substep, the bass will make your speakers go crazy! I like this because I love songs with huge basses!
- Check out this artist
12. Half-Step
Half-Step is one of those generic subgenres. It’s just a song in half time, nothing really special about this subgenre. I find this the subgenre the least creative subgenre of all. The only things they did are changing the beat and putting it half of its speed. That’s what dubstep is.
13. Glitchstep
Glitchstep has a really unique contrast to the songs with background effects. The sound design and drum patterns are different from the original dubstep. It still maintains the wubs and dubs which makes this entertaining to listen to. I like this a lot because these songs fill up the atmosphere.
14. Post-Dubstep
Post-Dubstep is another atmospheric subgenre of dubstep. It has cool melodies and nice vocals. It inherits some elements of ambient and R&b, at a slow tempo of 130BPM. It really fills up space when you are listening to this subgenre due to the reverb. I think this is cool, it is so relaxing. The contrast is okay it’s not the best.
15. Melodic Dubstep
Melodic Dubstep is another cool subgenre. Classic dubstep lacks melodies and some progressions like arpeggios, and sequences. Melodic dubstep just brings out the chords in major/minor keys. I like this a lot, this gives me the inspiration to create a new song that tells a story!
- Here are some artists that make Melodic Dubstep
There are various interesting subgenres out there, I’m sure that there are more coming! Today we covered 15 interesting genres, I’m pretty sure that other ones are deep in the underground. What’s your favorite subgenre on this list? Let me know by leaving a comment below! Until the next post, stay awesome!