Wave

History and character

Wave is a microgenre that emerged in the early 2010s in online communities (SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Mixcloud, Tumblr) among small groups of producers, often teenagers. Its direct origins go back to at least 2013, when British producer Klimeks (Steven Adams) began labeling his tracks on SoundCloud as “wave” and later founded the collective Wavemob. Around the same time Plastician, a DJ from the first wave of dubstep and grime, promoted the scene on his Rinse FM shows and through his label Terrorhythm Recordings; his mix “The Wave Pool MMXV” (December 2015) spread the term in the music press.

In 2016 Kareful (Jude Leigh-Kaufman) released “Deluge”, considered the first full wave album, and Wavemob put out the compilation “wave 001” (with Skit, Spoze, Nvrmore and others); in 2017 Kareful and others founded the collective Liquid Ritual. Club nights grew mainly in London (Dalston, Survey London at Phonox in Brixton); parallel scenes appeared in the United States and Asia (Tears in the Club in Los Angeles; the Japanese actor and musician Dean Fujioka used wave in “Echo”, 2018). Other names: Glacci, Noah B, Sorsari, Wraith, Skeler, Ytho. In 2017 Skeler and Ytho (Perth) coined “hardwave”, an offshoot that adds trance and hardstyle elements for festivals.

The sound: atmospheric melodies and harmonies, heavy filtered reeses, trap-style drums with fast hats, snares and “pan hits” drenched in reverb, pitched vocal chops with reverb and delay, arpeggiators. The moods are melancholy, dreaminess, science fiction, otherworldliness; the visual imagery comes from CGI, animation and video games. The influences are broad: hip hop, cloud rap, dubstep, UK garage, drill, vaporwave, techno. In 2017 Vice called it a “constructed microgenre” built for streaming algorithms; Plastician has disputed that reading.

Scales and keys

Melancholy and dreaminess: natural minor, Dorian, extended and suspended chords. Examples in C# minor and E major (relative). Roman numerals relative to the natural minor and to the major.

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. W H W W H W W.
• On C#: C# D# E F# G# A B.
• Chords: i C#m, ii° D#°, III E, iv F#m, v G#m, VI A, VII B. Sevenths: C#m7, D#m7b5, Emaj7, F#m7, G#m7, Amaj7, B7.
• Use: pads and arpeggios over i–VI or VI–VII–i, reese on the tonic, pitched chops on 5 and b7.
• Listening example: the melancholic atmospheres of Kareful and Klimeks.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. On C#: C# D# E F# G# A# B. Characteristic note: major 6 (A#).
• Chords: i C#m, ii D#m, III E, IV F#, v G#m, #vi° A#°, VII B.
• Use: i9–IV (C#m9–F#), “cloud rap” and soul color.

Major and Lydian (dreamy colors)

• Major on E: E F# G# A B C# D#; Lydian on E: E F# G# A# B C# D# (#4 = A#).
• Use: maj7 and maj9 chords, Lydian Imaj7–II/I for “otherworldly” atmospheres.

Suspended chords and open intervals

• sus2 (1 2 5) and sus4 (1 4 5): neither major nor minor, ideal for “hovering” pads.
• Use: C#sus2–Asus2 as a pad, arpeggios built on fifths and ninths.

Minor pentatonic (chops and leads)

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7. On C#: C# E F# G# B.
• Use: “glacial” vocal chops and leads.

How to choose

• Melancholic: Aeolian with maj7 on VI and III.
• Dreamy: Lydian and sus chords.
• Hip hop/cloud: Dorian with ninths.
• Rule: the reese should stay on the tonic or slowly follow the roots; put the color in the pads.

Harmony

• Atmospheric harmony: 2–4 extended chords, slow (one every 2 bars), pads with very long reverb.
• Pedal: reese on the tonic for long stretches, pads changing above.
• Voicings: open, with ninths and elevenths; no roots in the pads.
• Borrowed chords: major IV from Dorian, minor iv in major, bVII.
• Cadences: rare; the form lives on dynamics (soft drops) more than on cadences.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• 120–140 BPM felt at half time; trap drums with fast hats (rolls in 1/16 and 1/32, triplets), snares on beat 3.
• Relaxed feel, “slow and fast” at the same time: frenetic hats over slow harmony.
• Garage and drill influences: sometimes 2-step patterns or drill-style syncopated snares.
• Light swing (10–20) on the hats.

Drums

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

Kick

• Sixteenths 1, 8, 11 or so (as in r-trap) or 1 and 11 (as in r-future-bass); soft and short, often with an 808 or reese underneath.

Snare and “pan hit”

• Sixteenth 9 (beat 3); snares and “pan hits” (metallic, percussive hits) drowned in reverb (hall/plate 2–4 s), which become part of the atmosphere.

Hi-hats and percussion

• Fast hats: eighth notes with rolls in 1/16, 1/32 and triplets; open hat on 7; metallic and “glass” percussion.

Dynamics and groove

• Low, varied hat velocities; swing 10–20; rolls with rising velocity.

Interaction with the bass

• The reese is long and on the tonic; the kick is short so it doesn't mask it; light sidechain.

How it changes by section

• Intro: pads, chops, no drums; drop: trap drums + reese; breakdown: just pads and vocals.

Fills and transitions

• Hat rolls, reversed chops, stops with reverb.

Choosing sounds

• Trap snares with reverb, thin hats, “crystalline” percussion.

Typical mistakes

• Reverb on the kick; hats too loud; drums too “hard”, which breaks the atmosphere.

Hardwave variant

• From 2017 (Skeler, Ytho) trance and hardstyle elements come in: distorted four-on-the-floor kick in the “hard” drops, open hat on the offbeat, builds with eighth- and sixteenth-note snare rolls. The rest (huge pads, reese, chops) stays wave.

Programming example (1 bar, 16 sixteenth notes)

• Kick: 1, 8, 11. Snare: 9 (with a pan hit layered on top). Hat: every odd eighth note (1, 3, 5…) at velocity 60, with a 1/32 roll between 14 and 16 at rising velocity 40→90. Open hat: 7. Metallic percussion: 4 and 12 at velocity 40, panned ±50%.

Bass

• Heavy, filtered reese: two or more detuned saws with a low-pass, often heavily distorted but “under” a closed filter; slow cutoff movement.
• Sub/808: sine or 808 under the reese.
• Notes: tonic, slow roots; glide.
• Sidechain: light, from the kick.
• Examples: Kareful, Klimeks, Skit.
• Indicative recipe in FL Studio: two saw oscillators (or Mini V) with ±12 cents of detune and light unison; 24 dB low-pass with cutoff at 300–600 Hz and low resonance; distortion (Fruity Blood Overdrive or Distructor) before the filter, so the filter “tames” the harmonics; a very slow LFO (1–4 bars) on the cutoff; OTT at 20%; bounce, and a second automated low-pass for the openings in the drops.
• Mistakes: reese too open (it becomes neuro), excessive detune that makes the sub “beat”, stereo reese below 150 Hz.

Harmonic instruments

• Atmospheric pads with very long reverb, glacial arpeggiators, bells, distant piano, vaporwave textures.
• Mid-high register, very wide stereo.

Melody and vocals

• Vocal chops: pitched vocal fragments, with reverb and delay, often the “lead”.
• Minimal leads: arpeggios, plucks, synthetic flutes.
• Occasional sung/rapped vocals (cloud rap influence).
• Effects: huge reverbs, ping-pong delay, pitch and formant shift, granular.

Instruments

• Trap drums, 808, reese, pads, arpeggiators, bells, vocal chops, atmospheric FX.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Mini V — Filtered reese and sub: Two detuned saws with a low cutoff and drive; triangle for the sub.
• Jup-8 V — Atmospheric pads: Saws with PWM and chorus, slow attack, long release.
• Prophet-VS V — Digital pads and bells: Vector waves for “icy” textures.
• Jun-6 V — Arpeggios and warm pads: The Juno's arpeggiator and chorus: dreamy arpeggios.
• DX7 V — FM bells: 1:3.5 or 1:7 ratios with long decay: crystalline bells.

Song structure

• Short tracks (2:30–3:30), made for streaming listening and for sets.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Huge atmosphere but a defined bass; heavy, dark reese; light, “distant” trap drums; lots of stereo space.
• References: Kareful, Klimeks, Skeler (hardwave).

Kick

• EQ: high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 55 Hz, −3 dB at 300 Hz; mono; no reverb.

Snare and pan hit

• EQ: high-pass 150 Hz, +2 dB at 200 Hz, +2 dB at 3 kHz; hall reverb 2–4 s with 30 ms pre-delay, return high-passed at 400 Hz and low-passed at 8 kHz.

Hi-hats and percussion

• High-pass 600 Hz; automated panning; 1/16 delay.

Bass

• Mono sub; reese high-passed at 80–100 Hz, saturation, automated low-pass, mono below 200 Hz; light sidechain.

Pads, arpeggios, bells

• High-pass 250 Hz; long reverb; width 150%.

Vocals and chops

• High-pass 150 Hz, presence at 3 kHz, heavy reverb and delay, pitch shift.

Backing vocals

• Vocal pads in wide stereo.

FX

• Textures and risers at a low level.

Buses and groups

• Music bus with light glue; FX bus with a shared reverb.

Sidechain

• Light: kick → reese and pads.

Master

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

Common mistakes

• Reverb that muddies the reese; too many stereo elements in the bass; a mix that is too loud and destroys the atmosphere.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Kareful — Deluge (album, 2016); Plastician — The Wave Pool MMXV (mix, 2015).

Typical automation

• Slow opening of the reese low-pass over 8–16 bars; the chops' reverb send growing before the drop and cutting off at the impact; pad volume lowered by 2–3 dB in the drop to leave room for the reese; delay throw on the last syllable of the chops.

Lead vocal (when present)

• EQ: high-pass 100 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, +2 dB at 4 kHz; 4:1 FET compression (4 dB) + opto; 2 s plate reverb with 50 ms pre-delay and a long hall in parallel; often a −12 or +12 pitch-shifted double for the “ethereal” effect.

Reference listening

• Plastician — The Wave Pool MMXV (mix, 2015)
• Kareful — Deluge (album, 2016)
• Wavemob — wave 001 (compilation, 2016)
• Dean Fujioka — Echo (2018)