Neurofunk

History and character

Neurofunk is the most technical, dark and "engineered" current of drum and bass. It emerged in England between 1997 and 1998 as a deviation from techstep: Ed Rush & Optical released "Funktion" (1997, V Recordings) and the album "Wormhole" (1998, Virus Recordings), which slowed techstep's aggression toward a funkier groove, with "talking" synthetic basses, dry drums and sci-fi atmospheres. The term "neurofunk" was coined by the critic Simon Reynolds in an article in The Wire in December 1997. Other pioneers: Konflict ("Messiah", 1998), Bad Company UK, Matrix, Fierce.

In the 2000s neuro became the gym of sound design: Noisia (Netherlands, Vision Recordings), Phace, Black Sun Empire, Spor, Teddy Killerz, then Mefjus, Current Value, Billain, Optiv & BTK, Agressor Bunx, Signal, Hamilton. Labels: Virus, Vision, Blackout, Eatbrain, Critical (in part), Program, Neosignal, Bad Taste. "Machine Gun" by Noisia (2010) is one of the emblematic tracks for mix and timbre.

The aesthetic is that of science-fiction film and cyberpunk: basses that sound like machines, metallic timbres, dialogue samples, harmony reduced to a minimum, extreme precision in the mix. It is music for DJs and producers: the audience listens to "how" the bass is built, the variations every 2–4 bars, the "bass switches". From 2015 onward there is also a more "jump-up" neuro and a more minimal and deep one.

Scales and keys

In neuro the harmony is often reduced to a root and half-step cells; the modal color comes from the basses and stabs. Examples in F (sub F1 = 43.65 Hz, very commonly used).

Phrygian

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. H W W W H W W.
• In F: F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb.
• Characteristic note: b2 (Gb): tension, menace, an "alien" color.
• Chords (relative to natural minor): i Fm, bII Gb, III Ab, iv Bbm, v° C°, VI Db, vii Ebm.
• Use: F–Gb–F reese riffs, i–bII stabs, pads on Fm with Gb on top as a dissonance. It is the most typical mode of neuro and techstep.
• Listening example: the Ed Rush & Optical / Noisia tradition often uses half steps above the root in riffs.
• Common mistakes: using the b2 as a long note in the sub (two notes at 43 and 46 Hz "clump together"): put it in the mid bass, not in the sub.

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. W H W W H W W. In F: F G Ab Bb C Db Eb.
• Characteristic note: b6 (Db): the Db–C descent is the dramatic gesture of breakdowns.
• Chords: i Fm, ii° G°, III Ab, iv Bbm, v Cm, VI Db, VII Eb.
• Use: cinematic intros and breakdowns, pads and strings; in the drop the root remains.

Locrian and the diminished fifth

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7. H W W H W W W. In F: F Gb Ab Bb Cb(B) Db Eb.
• Characteristic note: b5 (B): the tritone, the most unstable sound.
• Chords (relative to natural minor): i° F°, bII Gb, iii Abm, iv Bbm, bV Cb (B), VI Db, vii Ebm.
• Use: not as the key of the track but as a cell: F–B tritone in the bass or in stabs for horror moments. Dubstep and neuro often use the tritone as a dissonance.
• Common mistakes: building a whole track on Locrian: the root doesn't "stand up"; use it for 1–2 bars.

Octatonic scale (half-whole) and chromaticism

• Formula: H W H W H W H W. In F: F Gb Ab A B C D Eb.
• Characteristic note: it alternates half steps and whole steps, contains both b3 (Ab) and 3 (A) and the tritone (B): ambiguous and "mechanical".
• Chords: it contains four major and four minor triads a minor third apart (F, Ab, B, D and Fm, Abm, Bm, Dm) and diminished chords.
• Use: stab riffs rising by minor thirds (Fm–Abm–Bm–Dm), sirens, bass glissandi.
• Common mistakes: using it in long melodies: it sounds like a '60s soundtrack; in neuro it should be used in cells.

Harmonic minor (for breakdowns)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7. In F: F G Ab Bb C Db E. Characteristic notes: leading tone E and major V (C).
• Use: last bar of the breakdown (C or C7 before the drop) and "epic" strings.

How to choose

• Drop: root + Phrygian (b2) or chromaticism; the bass supplies the "mode".
• Breakdown and intro: Aeolian, harmonic minor for the final cadence.
• Horror moments: tritone (Locrian) and octatonic, very brief.
• Rule: the richer in harmonics and distortion the bass is, the fewer notes are needed; one dissonance up high (b2, b5) is enough to give color.

Harmony

• Almost no harmony in the drop: tonic pedal in the sub and "timbral harmony" in the mid bass (the filter, distortion and formant change more than the notes).
• Pads and drones: minor chords without the third (bare fifths) or with seconds and half steps (Fm(addb9)), mid-high register, long.
• Harmonic rhythm: a change of "color" every 2–4 bars (bass variation), a change of note every 4–8.
• Cadences: only between breakdown and drop (VI–V or bII–i).
• Borrowing: from harmonic minor (major V), from Phrygian (bII), chromaticism.
• Intervals: fifths and fourths (neutral), half steps and tritones (tension); avoid overly sweet thirds in the drops.
• Voicing: very tight stabs (clusters) or very open (fifth + octave); no root in the pad.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• A very rigid two-step at 174, quantized, no swing; the "funk" groove lives in the ghost notes and in the bass answering the drums.
• Rhythmic variations in the bass every 1–2 bars: the bass plays sixteenth-note phrases with rests, like a second drummer.
• The kick often changes position in the second half of the phrase (1–11 → 1–8–11) to create movement.
• Sampled breaks are little used (compared with jungle and liquid): synthetic drums or hyper-processed one-shots.
• Breakdowns in half time or without drums; the drop restarts with a kick hit + impact.

Drums

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

Kick

• Sixteenth notes 1 and 11; variations 1–8–11 or 1–11–12. Short kick (150–200 ms), lots of click (4–6 kHz) and body at 55–65 Hz, often compressed and clipped for an instant attack.

Snare

• Sixteenth notes 5 and 13; ghosts on 8, 10 or 16 at low velocity. The neuro snare is huge and dry: body 180–220 Hz, crack 3–5 kHz, short "noise" layer; reverb almost absent or a very short room (0.3–0.6 s) with a gate.
• Tuning the body to the root or the fifth is essential because the snare sits in the same space as the mid bass.

Hi-hats and percussion

• Hats in eighth or sixteenth notes with alternating velocities, often "metallic" (synthetic, FM); ride is rare. Synthetic percussion: clicks, glitches, mechanical noises, processed foley.
• Elements in wide stereo to leave the center to kick, snare and bass.

Dynamics and groove

• Velocities programmed decisively: snare 127, ghosts 30–40; the groove comes from the interlocking of drums and bass.
• Microtiming: almost none; everything on the grid, but the bass can be pushed early by a few ms to drive.

Interaction with the bass

• The bass plays in the spaces left by kick and snare: e.g. bass notes on sixteenth notes 3, 7–8, 14–15. It is a call-and-response "conversation".
• Very precise sidechain: the mid bass ducks on every snare (not just the kick).

How it changes by section

• Intro: atmosphere, dialogue samples, hats and percussion; full drums after 16.
• Build: snare in eighth and sixteenth notes, filter and riser, often a "fake drop" (a 1-bar false drop).
• Drop: two-step + bass; every 8 bars a bass variation, every 16 a new kick or fill.
• Switch (second drop): completely new bass, same groove.

Fills and transitions

• Snare fills in thirty-second notes with rising pitch, stutter (1/32 repeats of the whole drum kit), reverse, "glitch" (Gross Beat, Effectrix), a half-quarter-note stop before the drop.

Choosing sounds

• Synthetic, hyper-processed one-shots; layered kicks and snares (2–4 samples per sound) with complementary EQ cuts.

Typical mistakes

• Snare with too much reverb (loses its dryness), long kick, constant fills, no space for the bass, stereo elements below 200 Hz.

Bass

• The absolute protagonist: mono sine sub + hyper-elaborate mid bass (multi-layer reese, FM, wavetable, resampling).
• Techniques: reese with 2–7 detuned voices; FM with non-integer ratios; multiband distortion; formant filters ("talking" bass, "a-e-i-o-u" vowels); comb filter; resampling (bounce the bass to audio, process it, resample it and repeat); OTT for aggression.
• Register: sub 40–60 Hz; mid bass 150 Hz–5 kHz; sub/mid crossover at 100–150 Hz.
• Notes: almost always the root; b2, b5, b7 as answers; pitch movement with glide and pitch envelope (slides of 2–12 semitones).
• Rhythm: short sixteenth-note phrases, rests, accents in the spaces of the drums.
• Tuning and kick: the sub doesn't play under the kick (sidechain or volume shaping), the kick is tuned; the sub root must match the kick's dominant note.
• Examples: Noisia ("Machine Gun"), Phace, Mefjus, Black Sun Empire.

Harmonic instruments

• Dark pads and drones (synthetic strings with a closed filter, filtered noise), FM or wavetable metallic stabs, modular synthesizers for textures.
• Orchestral strings and low choirs in "cinematic" intros.
• Solo piano in some intros, often with long reverb and minor harmony.
• Mid-high register (above 300 Hz); lots of stereo space, no root.

Melody and vocals

• Melodies are rare; the "lead" is the bass. When present: phrases of 2–4 notes, glide, siren or FM timbres.
• Vocal samples: dialogue from sci-fi films and documentaries (to be handled carefully for rights), robotic voices (vocoder), syllable chops.
• Sung vocals are rare; MCs at live shows.
• Effects: delay with high feedback and filters, "shimmer" or metallic reverbs, granular.

Instruments

• Synthetic drums and hyper-processed one-shots; foley percussion.
• Bass synths (wavetable, FM, virtual analog; Serum and Phase Plant are standards in the modern scene), sampler for resampling.
• Pads, drones, FM stabs, orchestral strings, low choirs, cinematic effects.
• Vocal and dialogue samples, vocoder.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• DX7 V — Metallic FM basses: Algorithm with a 1:3 or 1:3.5 ratio modulator and high feedback; fast modulator envelope for the attack: the basis for growls and "neuro stabs". Then distortion and low-pass.
• Korg MS-20 V — Mid bass and "talking" bass: Resonant high-pass + low-pass in series with drive; modulate the cutoff with EG and an LFO at 1/16: vocal-like, biting sounds.
• Prophet-VS V — Vector textures: Vector joystick and digital waves: metallic, evolving pads for intros and breakdowns.
• Modular V — Sound design and drone: Patch with cross-modulated FM oscillators, filters and sample & hold: drones, sirens and mechanical FX.
• Mini V — Sub: Triangle or sine wave with a closed filter: a clean sub to build on.
• Synthi V — FX and noises: Pin matrix for chaotic modulations: sci-fi effects, risers and transitions.
• Augmented Strings — Cinematic strings: "Film-style" intros and breakdowns; dark orchestral pads.

Song structure

• The neuro audience expects a "bass switch" every 8–16 bars: it is the genre's real arrangement.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Maximum clarity and impact: clean, constant sub, aggressive mid bass without annoying resonances, huge dry snare, instant kick, detailed but not harsh highs.
• References: Noisia, Mefjus, Phace, Black Sun Empire.

Kick

• EQ: high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 55–65 Hz, −3/−4 dB at 300–500 Hz, +2/+3 dB at 4–6 kHz.
• Fast FET compression (4:1, attack 5 ms, release 50 ms, 3 dB) + clipper. Mono, no reverb.

Snare

• EQ: high-pass 120 Hz, +3 dB at 200 Hz, −3 dB at 500–800 Hz, +3 dB at 3–5 kHz, +2 dB shelf at 10 kHz.
• Serial compression: VCA 4:1 (attack 10 ms) + clipper; parallel at 30%.
• Transient shaper +attack, −sustain for dryness.
• Space: room 0.3–0.5 s with a gate or trimmed reverb; mono.

Hi-hats and percussion

• High-pass 500 Hz–1 kHz, de-esser on metallic hats, light saturation.
• Wide panning (40–80%), light Haas (10–20 ms) to widen.

Bass

• Sub: mono sine, low-pass 90–120 Hz, dedicated clipper or limiter; constant volume.
• Mid bass: high-pass 100–150 Hz (48 dB/oct), multiband distortion, OTT 30–60%, dynamic EQ (Pro-Q 3 / Soothe 2) to control resonances between 300 Hz and 3 kHz, de-esser above 5 kHz; compression with medium attack to keep the punch.
• Stereo: mono below 200–300 Hz, width above with unison or chorus; check phase correlation (>0 in mono).
• Sidechain: kick and snare → mid bass (3–8 dB, release 50–100 ms); kick → sub (3–5 dB).
• Automation: filters, formants, drive, volume of the individual variations.

Pads, stabs, strings

• High-pass 250–400 Hz; sidechain from the snare; long reverbs only in intros; wide stereo.

Vocals and dialogue

• High-pass 150 Hz, presence 2–4 kHz, heavy compression (6–8 dB), distortion or vocoder; quarter-note delay with feedback and filter; long reverbs only as an effect.

Backing vocals

• Rare; in intros: high-pass 200 Hz, long hall reverb, wide panning.

FX

• Risers, impacts, sweeps: high-pass 100–200 Hz, impacts with controlled sub; volume automation so as not to exceed the drop.

Buses and groups

• Drum bus: glue 4:1, attack 10 ms, 2–3 dB, clipper. Bass bus: slow compression 2–3 dB + saturation. Music bus: global sidechain from the snare.

Sidechain

• Fundamental: kick → sub, kick + snare → mid bass, snare → pads. Use drawn volume shapes (Volume Shaper, LFOTool) for millisecond precision.

Master

• Chain: minimal EQ → glue → clipper (2–4 dB) → transparent limiter.
• Indicative targets: −6/−4 LUFS integrated for the club, short-term in the drops −4/−3; true peak −0.3 dBTP. For streaming, a master at −7/−8 keeps more snare impact after normalization.

Common mistakes

• Mid bass with fixed resonances between 1 and 3 kHz (listening fatigue); sub whose volume varies between notes; stereo below 200 Hz; snare crushed by the limiter; too many variations without a recognizable bass "theme".

Reference tracks for the mix

• Noisia — Machine Gun (2010); Ed Rush & Optical — Pacman (1997) for historical comparison; Konflict — Messiah (1998).

Reference listening

• Ed Rush & Optical — Funktion (1997)
• Ed Rush & Optical — Pacman (1997)
• Ed Rush & Optical — Wormhole (album, 1998)
• Konflict — Messiah (1998)
• Noisia — Machine Gun (2010)