Melodic dubstep

History and character

Melodic dubstep emerged in the United States in the early 2010s as an emotional counter-movement to post-brostep aggression: it keeps the weight of dubstep (half time, sub, growl) but steers it toward euphoria and melancholy rather than terror. From trance and progressive house it takes the emotional "lift", from future bass the chords and the vocal writing, and it combines in the same drop "beautiful" elements (supersaw, pads, piano, vocals) and "brutal" ones (mid-range growl).

The recognized pioneer is Seven Lions (Jeff Montalvo, Santa Barbara): the EP "Polarize" (April 2012, on Viper Recordings) and "Days to Come" (October 2012, on OWSLA, with vocals by Fiora) fuse trance and dubstep; in 2018 he founded Ophelia Records, today the center of "melodic bass". Illenium followed ("Fractures" feat. Nevve, 2017; "Gold (Stupid Love)" with Excision and Shallows, 2018), Slander ("Love Is Gone" feat. Dylan Matthew, 2018), Said The Sky, Dabin, Gem & Tauri, Seeking Blue, Trivecta, Crystal Skies, MitiS, Last Heroes, and Kill the Noise on some works. Labels: Ophelia, Monstercat, Seeking Blue, Gud Vibrations (Slander and NGHTMRE). Wikipedia also cites 501, Subscape and Gemini as melodic artists in the early phase.

Melodic dubstep heavily overlaps with future bass: the main difference is the drums (half-time dubstep instead of 808s and trap hats) and the presence of growl. It is a genre closely tied to the voice (EDM ballads with emotional female or male vocals) and to big shows with cinematic visuals.

Scales and keys

Emotional minor with a strong taste for "trance" progressions. Examples on D minor and F major (its relative). Roman numerals are relative to the natural minor (in minor) and the major (in major).

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. T S T T S T T.
• On D: D E F G A Bb C.
• Chords: i Dm, ii° E°, III F, iv Gm, v Am, VI Bb, VII C. Sevenths: Dm7, Em7b5, Fmaj7, Gm7, Am7, Bbmaj7, C7.
• Use: it is the main mode: VI–VII–i, VI–III–VII–i, i–VI–III–VII with supersaws; melodies with a 5–b6–5 descent and a b7–1 rise.
• Listening example: the "epic melancholic" color of Seven Lions and Illenium.
• Common mistakes: losing the contrast: if the drop is all harmony too, the "brutal" side is missing.

Major (Ionian) and the relative

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. On F: F G A Bb C D E. Chords: I F, ii Gm, iii Am, IV Bb, V C, vi Dm, vii° E°.
• Use: the same notes as D minor seen from the major side: IV–V–vi (Bb–C–Dm) and IV–I–V–vi.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. On D: D E F G A B C. Characteristic note: major 6 (B).
• Chords: i Dm, ii Em, III F, IV G, v Am, #vi° B°, VII C.
• Use: major IV (G) as a bright borrowed chord in the chorus.

Harmonic minor

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7. On D: D E F G A Bb C#. Chords: i Dm, ii° E°, III+ F+, iv Gm, V A, VI Bb, vii° C#°.
• Use: major V (A) at the end of the build; trance arpeggios.

Phrygian (for the growl)

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. On D: D Eb F G A Bb C.
• Use: growl answers with a semitone, for the "brutal" side of the drop.

How to choose

• Chorus and melodic drop: Aeolian/relative major.
• Moment of light: Dorian IV or a move to the relative major.
• Build: V of the harmonic minor.
• Growl: Phrygian and tritone, but only in the mid bass.

Harmony

• Trance progressions: 4 chords, one bar each (or two in the drop), often VI–VII–i–i or VI–III–VII–i.
• Voicing: supersaws spread over 3 octaves, piano with open chords, strings with moving inner lines (voice leading by scale degree).
• Pedals: in the drop the sub follows the roots; in breakdowns a tonic pedal under changing chords.
• Borrowed chords: Dorian major IV, harmonic major V, Phrygian bII in the growl.
• Modulations: a whole-step key change up in the last drop; a move to the relative major.
• Density: very high in drops (supersaw + pad + piano + vocals + growl), managed with EQ and sidechain.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Half-time dubstep at 140–150 (snare on beat 3), with a more "rolling" and less aggressive feel than brostep.
• Breakdown at a slow tempo (rubato piano or pad), build with a trance snare roll (1/4 → 1/16 → 1/32).
• Some tracks use double-time or drum and bass sections (Seven Lions also has roots in DnB, Viper Recordings).
• Swing: 0; triplets only in fills.

Drums

Convention: 16 sixteenth notes; quarter notes on 1, 5, 9, 13.

Kick

• Sixteenths 1 and 11 (or 1, 8, 11); a full, soft kick, body 50–60 Hz, moderate click.

Snare and clap

• Sixteenth 9; big snare with wide reverb (1.2–2 s) and a clap layer; in melodic drops the reverb is part of the "epic sound".

Hi-hats and percussion

• Eighth-note hats, ride in melodic drops, tribal toms in builds, crash every 8 bars; trance snare rolls.

Dynamics and groove

• Alternating velocities on the hats; increasing rolls; "big" drums but not hyper-compressed.

Interaction with bass and vocals

• The sub follows the chords; the growl plays in the gaps between kick and snare (answers); in verses the drums are minimal for the vocals.

How it changes by section

• Intro and verse: piano/pad and vocals, drums absent or light; build: snare roll, riser, toms; drop: full half time + supersaw + growl; breakdown: piano and vocals.

Fills and transitions

• Snare and tom rolls, reverse crash, silence with the vocal alone before the drop ("vocal drop").

Sound choice

• "Cinematic", reverbed snares, deep toms, long crashes.

Typical mistakes

• Snare reverb that muddies the chords; drums too aggressive for the melodic part; a kick that covers the sub.

Bass

• Sine sub that follows the roots of the progression.
• Growl and mid bass: FM/wavetable growls used as an "answer" to the melody, often tuned to the key; melodic reeses.
• Notes: roots (Bb–C–D) and Phrygian answers in the growl.
• Sidechain: strong from the kick and snare.
• Register: sub 40–90 Hz; growl 150 Hz–4 kHz.

Harmonic instruments

• Supersaw (lead and chords), cinematic pads, piano (ballads and breakdowns), orchestral strings, acoustic or clean electric guitars (Illenium), trance plucks and arpeggios.
• Wide register: piano from C2 to C6 in breakdowns; in the drop the chords sit above 200 Hz.

Melody and vocals

• Vocals: central; ethereal female or emotional male voices, mid-high register, choruses with leaps of a sixth and an octave.
• Instrumental hook: a supersaw lead that picks up the vocal melody in the drop.
• Backing vocals: harmonies in thirds and sixths, wide doubles, vocal pads.
• Effects: long hall reverb (3–5 s) in breakdowns, dotted-quarter delay, shimmer.

Instruments

• Cinematic half-time drums, sub, growl, supersaw, pads, piano, strings, guitars, vocals, backing vocals, cinematic FX.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• OP-Xa V — Supersaw lead and chords: Unison and detune; open filter; layer with an octave above.
• Jup-8 V — Cinematic pads: Two saws with PWM, half-closed filter, slow attack, chorus.
• Piano V — Piano: Grand piano with long reverb for intros and breakdowns.
• Augmented Strings — Strings: Orchestral and hybrid strings for climaxes.
• Augmented Voices — Choirs: Vocal pads for epic breakdowns.
• DX7 V — FM growl: 1:2 modulators with feedback; fast envelope; to be distorted and tuned.
• Mini V — Sub: Sine that follows the roots.

Song structure

• Length 3:30–5:00; many tracks work as songs (verse, chorus) with the drop as a post-chorus.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Huge, deep, emotional: wide supersaws, clear vocals, controlled growl, soft sub; a great sense of space.
• References: Seven Lions, Illenium, Said The Sky.

Kick

• EQ: high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 55 Hz, −3 dB at 300 Hz, +1–2 dB at 3 kHz; mono.

Snare and clap

• EQ: high-pass 150 Hz, +2 dB at 200 Hz, +3 dB at 3 kHz, +2 dB shelf at 10 kHz; 3:1 compression; 1.5–2 s hall reverb with 20 ms pre-delay, high-pass 400 Hz on the return.

Hi-hats and percussion

• High-pass 500 Hz; toms with long reverb; moderate panning.

Bass and growl

• Mono sub, low-pass 100 Hz; growl high-pass 150 Hz, distortion, dynamic EQ, sidechain 6–8 dB; mono below 300 Hz.

Supersaws, pads, piano, strings

• Supersaw: high-pass 200 Hz, −2 dB at 2–3 kHz (room for the vocals), de-esser, width 140%, sidechain 6–10 dB.
• Pads and strings: high-pass 250 Hz, long reverb.
• Piano: high-pass 60–80 Hz in breakdowns, 2.5 s hall reverb.

Lead vocal

• EQ: high-pass 100 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, +2 dB at 3–5 kHz, air +2 dB at 12 kHz; serial FET + opto compression (5–7 dB total); de-esser; 2 s plate + 4 s hall reverb; dotted-quarter delay; inverse sidechain on the supersaws (−2 dB when the vocal sings).

Backing vocals

• −6/−9 dB, wide panning, longer reverb.

FX

• Cinematic risers, impacts, orchestral swells.

Buses and groups

• Music bus with global sidechain and glue; vocal bus; drum bus.

Sidechain

• Kick → the whole music bus and the sub; snare → growl.

Master

• Chain: EQ → glue → light clipper → limiter.
• Indicative targets: −6/−5 LUFS integrated; −8 for streaming; true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Muddy drops (too many layers in the same 300 Hz–2 kHz band); covered vocals; a growl that is too loud and breaks the emotion.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Seven Lions feat. Fiora — Days to Come (2012); Illenium feat. Nevve — Fractures (2017); Slander feat. Dylan Matthew — Love Is Gone (2018).

Reference listening

• Seven Lions — Polarize (EP, 2012)
• Seven Lions feat. Fiora — Days to Come (2012)
• Illenium feat. Nevve — Fractures (2017)
• Excision & Illenium feat. Shallows — Gold (Stupid Love) (2018)
• Slander feat. Dylan Matthew — Love Is Gone (2018)