ELECTRONIC STYLE

Dubstep drum patterns.

A snare on beat three at 140 BPM leaves room for the sub-bass; it grew out of UK garage and grime in south London.

89 grooves
1974–2021
5 landmarks

The Dubstep timeline

19 of 19 grooves

1974
King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown Open King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown in a new tab
Augustus Pablo & King Tubby
Root: King Tubby's dub of Jacob Miller's Baby I Love You So, drums and bass pulled apart with echo; the dub space dubstep inherited
1998
Stone Cold Open Stone Cold in a new tab
Groove Chronicles
Root: El-B's dark, skippy 2-step with heavy sub; the deeper garage strand that early dubstep producers grew out of
2001
Landmark
Fist of Fury Open Fist of Fury in a new tab
Horsepower Productions
Tempa 12" of stripped, dubbed-out garage: sparse broken drums over deep sub; Horsepower are credited with dubstep's birth
2004
Landmark
Horror Show Open Horror Show in a new tab
Loefah
DMZ's second release: a kick and a heavy snare on beat three with wide space around them; the minimal half-step template
2005
Landmark
Midnight Request Line Open Midnight Request Line in a new tab
Skream
Skippy, syncopated drums under a looping melodic riff; credited as dubstep's most recognisable crossover hit
2006
Distant Lights Open Distant Lights in a new tab
Burial
Crackling 2-step-derived drums placed by hand without a sequencer; gave dubstep a loose, off-grid rhythmic feel
2006
Landmark
Anti War Dub Open Anti War Dub in a new tab
Mala (Digital Mystikz)
Half-time roller: sparse kick, snare on the three and tribal-style drum samples; a cornerstone of the DMZ sound
2006
9 Samurai Open 9 Samurai in a new tab
Kode9 & The Spaceape
Sparse, martial half-time percussion and sub-bass under Spaceape's spoken voice; from the Hyperdub founder's debut album
2006
Qawwali Open Qawwali in a new tab
Pinch
Hand-drum percussion circling a half-time snare under qawwali-style vocal; an early landmark of the Bristol scene
2007
Archangel Open Archangel in a new tab
Burial
Shuffled 2-step clicks and vinyl hiss under pitched vocal fragments; key track of the Mercury-nominated Untrue
2007
Spongebob Open Spongebob in a new tab
Coki
Half-time beat driven by a mid-range wobble bass; the DMZ sound that brostep later pushed louder
2007
Night Open Night in a new tab
Benga & Coki
Half-time kick and snare locked to a rolling percussion loop and bass riff; Gilles Peterson's record of 2007
2008
Where's My Money (Caspa Remix)Open Where's My Money (Caspa Remix) in a new tab
TC
Caspa rebuilt TC's drum and bass tune as half-time wobble dubstep; a big-room crossover of 2008
2009
Cockney Thug Open Cockney Thug in a new tab
Rusko
Bouncy half-time beat and cartoonish wobble bass from a producer credited as a brostep pioneer
2009
Digidesign Open Digidesign in a new tab
Joker
Bristol 'purple' sound: swung, hip-hop-leaning half-time drums under bright synth leads
2010
I Can't Stop Open I Can't Stop in a new tab
Flux Pavilion
Big-room half-time drop with a hard snare on three; later sampled by Kanye West and Jay-Z on Who Gon Stop Me
2010
Landmark
Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites Open Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites in a new tab
Skrillex
Half-time drops with abrasive mid-range bass and rapid edits; Dazed credited the EP with launching brostep
2016
Throwin' Elbows Open Throwin' Elbows in a new tab
Excision & Space Laces
North American heavy dubstep: a blunt half-time kick-snare frame built around metal-style riffs and bass hits
2021
Skanka Open Skanka in a new tab
Hamdi
New-gen UK 140: a skanking half-time groove with dancehall bounce, widely remixed (VIP, Kayzo, P Money vocal)

Press play to loop each record's busiest two bars straight from its video.

Quick answers

What do Dubstep drums sound like?

A snare on three. Let the space around it do the work.

Which genre family is Dubstep in?

On BeatTab Dubstep sits in the Electronic family, next to Electronic, House and UK garage.

Which records shaped Dubstep drums?

The timeline on this page runs from King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown by Augustus Pablo & King Tubby (1974) to Skanka by Hamdi (2021), 19 records in all.