Miami bass

History and character

This entry combines the electro funk of the early ’80s (the funkier, more “danceable” version of electro) and its most famous offshoot, Miami bass (or booty bass), born in Miami in the mid-’80s and popular throughout the ’80s and ’90s.

Electro funk is the music of the breakers and the first hip hop DJs: “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa (1982), “Nunk” by Warp 9 (1982), “Al-Naafiysh (The Soul)” by Hashim (1983), “Bass Machine” by Kurtis Mantronik (1986), The Egyptian Lover on the West Coast. TR-808 drums, syncopated synth basses, vocoder and rap.

Miami bass takes the role of the 808 to the extreme: very long, “sustained” kicks that make cars vibrate, heavy basses, “stop-start” rhythms and “hissing” cymbals (as critic Richie Unterberger describes them), tempos higher than contemporary hip hop and often sexually explicit lyrics. The critic Unterberger calls Maggotron (James McCauley) the “father of Miami bass”, but he credits the producer Amos Larkins with the role; “Bass Rock Express” by MC ADE, produced by Larkins, is often cited as the first Miami bass record with international underground popularity. 2 Live Crew (“Throw the D”, 1986; the album “The 2 Live Crew Is What We Are”, 1986; “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” and “Me So Horny”, 1989) and their leader Luke (Luther Campbell, founder of Luke Records/Skyywalker) are its face, also because of the censorship battles. DJ Magic Mike represents the “car audio bass” current. Labels: Pandisc, HOT Records, 4-Sight, Skyywalker.

In the mid-’90s the genre had a commercial rebirth in the Southern United States: “Whoomp! (There It Is)” by Tag Team (1993), “Whoot, There It Is” by 95 South (1993), “Tootsee Roll” by 69 Boyz (1994), “C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)” by Quad City DJ’s (1996). Miami bass influenced Baltimore club, Brazilian funk carioca (baile funk) and, indirectly, Southern crunk and trap.

Scales and keys

Minor funk and blues; many tracks have almost only bass and vocals. Examples in E minor, A and G (Roman numerals relative to natural minor; in A minor: Am = i, F = VI, G = VII, C = III).

Minor pentatonic

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7. Semitones 3-2-2-3-2. On E: E G A B D.
• Use: 808 and synth bass lines (1–b7–1, 1–b3–4), vocal hooks and chants.
• Listening example: the funk bass riffs of electro and Miami bass.

Dorian (funk)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. On A: A B C D E F# G.
• Characteristic note: major 6 (F#).
• Chords: i Am, ii Bm, III C, IV D, v Em, #vi° F#°, VII G.
• Use: funk i7–IV7 stabs, synths answering the bass.

Blues

• Formula: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7. On E: E G A Bb B D.
• Use: 4–b5–5 slides in the bass lines, rap vocals and chants.

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. On E: E F# G A B C D. Chords: i Em, ii° F#°, III G, iv Am, v Bm, VI C, VII D.
• Use: pads and stabs in the more “electro” and melodic tracks.

Mixolydian (major party)

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. On G: G A B C D E F. Chords: I G, ii Am, iii° B°, IV C, v Dm, vi Em, bVII F.
• Use: ’90s “party” tracks (funk dominants, I7–IV7).

How to choose

• 808 bass and chant: minor pentatonic or blues.
• Funk with chords: Dorian or Mixolydian.
• Melodic electro: Aeolian.

Harmony

• Minimal: the 808 bass and the vocal are enough; the chords (if any) are seventh funk stabs.
• Harmonic rhythm: one chord every 2–4 bars or no change at all.
• Riffs: sequenced synths answering the bass.
• Funk dominants: I7, IV7, i7–IV7.
• Cadences: none; form by sections and stops.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• 808 at 120–140 BPM, straight grid; very long, syncopated kick; snare + clap on 2 and 4; “hissing” hats in sixteenth notes.
• Stop-start: everything stops for a quarter note or half a bar and restarts (Unterberger).
• Electro funk: funkier, more syncopated groove, synth bass in sixteenth notes.
• Miami bass: tempo higher than hip hop, kick that “shakes” (car audio).

Drums

Convention: 2 bars of 16 sixteenth-note steps (32 steps, as in r-miami-bass); quarter-note beats on 1, 5, 9, 13.

808 kick

• In r-miami-bass: steps 1, 8, 11 (bar 1) and 17, 24, 27, 31 (bar 2: the 15 pushes the loop). Decay at maximum: the tail of the 808 is the bass.

Snare and clap

• Steps 5 and 13 of each bar: 808 snare + clap layered.

Hi-hat, cowbell and percussion

• Closed hats in sixteenth notes with the second one of each beat removed (“x.xxx.xxx.xxx.xx”), open hat on 15 and 31; cowbell on steps 11 and 27; 808 toms for fills.

Dynamics and groove

• 808 accent on few hits; no swing; the stops create the dynamics.

Interaction with bass and vocals

• The long 808 covers the bass: often there is nothing else below 100 Hz. Rap and chant lean on 2 and 4; “call and response” with the crowd.

How it changes by section

• Intro with 808 or a vocal sample; verse with full drums; chorus/chant with stop-start; break with solo 808.

Fills and transitions

• 808 tom rolls, kick repeated in sixteenth notes dropping in pitch, a quarter-note stop, scratches.

Sound choice

• TR-808 (long decay), vocal samples, scratches; “hissy” hats.

Typical mistakes

• 808 kick not tuned to the rest; decay too short (it loses the Miami character); swing.

Programming the “Miami” 808 in FL Studio (indicative)

• Use a long 808 sample (or the plugin’s kick with maximum decay, 1–2 s) and tune it with the channel pitch to the tonic (e.g. E1 = 41.2 Hz); enable “cut itself” (cut group) so each hit interrupts the previous tail and the notes don’t stack.
• For the pitch “drop”: automate the 808 pitch falling 5–12 semitones on the last hit before the loop.
• Repeated kick: 4–8 hits in sixteenth notes on the last bar of the phrase, with rising velocity and falling pitch.
• Electro funk: shorter decay (300–500 ms) and a separate synth bass in sixteenth notes (e.g. notes on sixteenths 1, 4, 7, 11, 14).

Bass

• Long 808: the long-decay kick is the bass; it is tuned (sample pitch) to the tonic or follows the notes.
• Sequenced synth bass (electro funk): filtered sawtooth/square in sixteenth notes.
• Notes: tonic, b7, b3, 5; slides and pitch “drops” of the 808 in Miami bass.
• Register: 30–80 Hz (car audio); harmonics for audibility.
• Common mistakes: two 808s overlapping (the cut is missing), tail that “plays” a note different from the track’s key, sub without harmonics (inaudible on small speakers: add saturation or a layer an octave above at −12 dB).

Harmonic instruments

• Funk stabs and synth pads, vocoder, sequenced synths; in Miami bass often almost absent.

Melody and vocals

• Rap and chant: rap vocals (2 Live Crew), party chants (“Whoomp! There It Is”), call and response.
• Vocoder and robotic voices (electro funk).
• Vocal samples repeated and chopped, scratches.
• Effects: short delay, plate reverb.

Instruments

• TR-808, synth bass, analog synths, vocoder, samplers, turntables (scratching), rap vocals, chant.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Mini V — Funk synth bass: Sawtooth/square with short filter and contour: sixteenth-note electro funk basses.
• Vocoder V — Robotic voice: Vocoder for robotic voices and backing vocals.
• Jup-8 V — Stabs and pads: Funk chord stabs and cold pads.
• Prophet-5 V — Lead and riffs: Sequenced riffs answering the bass.
• ARP 2600 V — FX: Zaps and lasers.

Song structure

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Huge, long sub-bass (car audio), crisp clap and hats, vocal up front; Miami bass more “bass heavy”, electro funk more balanced.
• References: 2 Live Crew, MC ADE, Hashim, The Egyptian Lover.

808 kick

• EQ: high-pass 20–25 Hz, +3 dB at the fundamental (35–55 Hz), −2 dB at 250 Hz, +1 dB at 2 kHz; light saturation for the harmonics; limiter to control the tail peaks; mono.

Snare and clap

• EQ: high-pass 150 Hz, +2 dB at 200 Hz, +3 dB at 4 kHz; short plate reverb.

Hi-hat, cowbell, toms

• Hat: high-pass 500 Hz, +1 dB at 10 kHz (the “hissy” sound); cowbell 30% to the side.

Synth bass

• If present together with the 808: complementary EQ (808 below 60 Hz, synth above 80 Hz).

Synths and vocoder

• High-pass 150 Hz; 1/8 delay.

Rap vocals and chant

• EQ: high-pass 80 Hz, −2 dB at 250 Hz, +3 dB at 3 kHz; heavy FET compression; short reverb; chants doubled and wide.

Backing vocals

• Group chants in wide stereo.

FX

• Scratches and samples at moderate level.

Buses and groups

• 808 bus with limiter; Vocal bus.

Sidechain

• Absent or minimal.

Master

• Chain: EQ → glue → limiter (watch the sub: check in mono and on a subwoofer).
• Indicative targets: −9/−7 LUFS integrated (working estimate); true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• 808 tail that saturates the limiter and makes the whole mix “pump”; sub inaudible on small speakers (missing harmonics).

Reference tracks for the mix

• 2 Live Crew — Throw the D (1986); Tag Team — Whoomp! (There It Is) (1993); Quad City DJ’s — C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train) (1996).

Typical automation

• 808 volume lowered by 1–2 dB in the rap verses to leave room for the vocal; low-pass filter on the synths during the stops; reverb on the clap that widens on the last hits before the chorus.

Sub control in practice

• Listen in mono and on a subwoofer; check with an analyzer that the 808’s fundamental sits between 35 and 55 Hz and that the tail peaks don’t exceed −6 dBFS on the bus before the master: that way the limiter works on the transients and not on the tail.

Reference listening

• Hashim — Al-Naafiysh (The Soul) (1983)
• Kurtis Mantronik — Bass Machine (1986)
• 2 Live Crew — Throw the D (1986)
• 2 Live Crew — Me So Horny (1989)
• Tag Team — Whoomp! (There It Is) (1993)
• 69 Boyz — Tootsee Roll (1994)
• Quad City DJ's — C'mon N' Ride It (The Train) (1996)