Grime
Grime is a genre of music that came in the early 2000s from London’s East End. It has origins tied with UK stations such as Rinse FM. At this point, the style was known by a number of names, including 8-bar (meaning eight-bar verse patterns), nu shape (which encouraged more complex 16-bar and 32-bar verse patterns), sublow (a reference to the very low bassline frequencies, often around 40 Hz). Kane Robinson often known as Kano, is a Grime spearhead, alongside people like Skepta, Giggs, Wiley, JME and the group BBK.
Structure
Grime is strophic, that means that the same sections of the song are repeated. Grime is typified by complex 2-step, 4×4 breakbeats, generally around 140 beats per minute, or sometimes structured around a double-time rhythm, and constructed from different synth, string and electronic sounds.The style is typified by rapid, syncopated breakbeats, generally around 130 or 140 bpm, and often features an aggressive or jagged electronic sound.The chords and ideas stay the same. The melodies and the rap sections may change but the chords and bass stay the same. In the song Septa Ace Hood Flow (which features in his blacklisted album), this is proven.
Here:
Melody
The melodies in grime music often repeat throughout the song. They are usually fast-paced and are usually in a minor key which give them a sinister sound. They often develop as the piece continues. The melodies within Grime music are ostinatos – this means that are repeated patterns. Here is an example of a repeated melody
Rhythm
Grime is typically made by using complex 2-step, beats, generally around 140 beats per minute, or sometimes structured around a double-time rhythm, and constructed from different synth, string and electronic sounds.
The drum beats are often very complex with really quick hi-hat rolls. The beats are generated with DAW software. FL studio 12 is a good example of a DAW that has the typical sounds needed to write a grime beat. Logic Pro X is also a very good platform to write grime drums and there are many different sound packs out on the internet that you can use to get that authentic sound. Here the older version of FL Studio is used:
Chords:
In Grime the chords are mainly minor. These chords give a sinister feel to the music. We are shown an example:
Instruments:
In most Grime songs, they use instruments such as, slow and fast strings, hi-hat, kick and clap, also chorus strings . Here an example:
Instrumentation
Typically in Grime they use synths, electric drums, computers and samplers, string sounds, choral sounds and brass too.
Music Technology Developments:
Synths were introduced to DAW softwares. The introduction of DAW software has been crucial for grime. All grime music is produced using computers. See the above video where he uses fl studio to make a grime beat.
Sources of information
wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grime_(music_genre)
youtube research: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am2sYBhg_hM
SBtv website- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SB.TV http://sbtv.co.uk/home/
My grime piece:
This is my finished piece as an MP3. I am quite pleased with it actually. I tried lots of ideas at first. It took me a while to get going.
I created this piece with first having a base line like this..
.
This is what i worked off of..
I added this to create tempo to my piece..
i used a synth for the beat..
I added strings for a true piece..
i thought adding a yamaha piano would add retro..
this is my melody with synth and strings..
i chose to use the synth again, to create a little ambient beat
This is a harmonic texture from the yamaha grand piano, it adds the soft piece of what is grime
This is how my piece ended up looking..
I am very happy with my piece because i feel like it is grime, it could be a bit better its a bit hip hop. The synths have a bit of edge and the strings add the retro grime.
My piece sounds like grime. I think stylistically it works. I have used instruments that are effective in it sounding like grime music and i am pleased with the piece. It now needs a rapper to rap over the instrumental and then the whole thing would be finished.
In terms of the brief i have lots of tracks. I also have made it sound like grime. The structure is like a grime track. The tempo is appropriate. I am pleased with the drum beats as they took me quite some time.