Post-punk

History and character

Post-punk emerged in the late 1970s in the United Kingdom in the wake of punk, but with more experimental ambitions. Jon Savage's "New Musick" editorial in Sounds (November 26, 1977) is often cited as its starting point. The first key bands: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd (John Lydon after the Sex Pistols), Wire, Magazine, Gang of Four, Cabaret Voltaire, Joy Division, The Fall; scenes in Manchester, Leeds, London and the United States (New York no wave, Pere Ubu and Devo in Ohio, San Francisco). Key albums: Metal Box (PiL), Unknown Pleasures (Joy Division, 1979), Chairs Missing (Wire), The Scream (Siouxsie), Entertainment! (Gang of Four), Dub Housing (Pere Ubu).

The sound is also defined by its producers: Martin Hannett (Joy Division and the Factory scene in Manchester, with AMS digital delays and a conception of "space" compared to dub), Steve Lillywhite, Dennis Bovell; a strong influence from Conny Plank and Kraftwerk. Elements: a melodic bass in the foreground that frees the guitars toward atmosphere and timbre, angular guitars, regular drumming (often motorik), spoken or declaimed vocals, influences from dub, reggae, funk, disco, krautrock (Can, Neu!, Faust), electronics and jazz.

The original era falls between 1978 and 1984; many bands evolved toward new pop, synth-pop and new romantic (New Order from Joy Division), others gave rise to gothic rock (The Cure, Bauhaus), dream pop and shoegaze. The early-2000s revival (Interpol, The Strokes, Editors, Bloc Party) and the wave of the 2010s–2020s (Fontaines D.C., IDLES, Shame, Squid, Black Country, New Road, London's "Windmill scene") brought it back to the center.

Scales and keys

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 (W H W W H W W).
• Example in D: D E F G A Bb C.
• Characteristic note: b6 (Bb), which gives the dark, melancholy color.
• Chords: i Dm, ii° Edim, III F, iv Gm, v Am, VI Bb, VII C.
• Use: ostinato, melancholy bass lines, low and monotone vocal melodies.
• Real-world example: Joy Division — Disorder; The Cure — A Forest (A minor, ostinato progression).
• Common mistakes: too many chords; post-punk lives on ostinatos.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 (W H W W W H W). In A: A B C D E F# G.
• Characteristic note: major 6 (F#) → major IV (D).
• Chords: i Am, ii Bm, bIII C, IV D, v Em, vi° F#dim, bVII G.
• Use: funk-punk grooves (Gang of Four), bass lines with the 6.
• Real-world example: Gang of Four — Damaged Goods (syncopated riffs and funk bass line, modal colors).

Phrygian

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. In E: E F G A B C D.
• Characteristic note: b2 (F), the dark half step.
• Use: gothic and dark post-punk (Siouxsie, Bauhaus — Bela Lugosi's Dead), dissonant guitar riffs.
• Real-world example: Bauhaus — Bela Lugosi's Dead (ostinatos with the minor second and a Phrygian atmosphere).

Major with iii and vi ("bright" post-punk)

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. In D: D E F# G A B C#.
• Use: more pop-oriented songs (Love Will Tear Us Apart is in D with a D–A–Bm/G progression … D major according to SongBPM; The Cure — Just Like Heaven), where the melancholy comes from the vi and the voice.

Chromaticism and dissonant intervals

• Angular guitars with seconds, tritones, chords with dissonant open strings (Wire, Keith Levene of PiL, Andy Gill of Gang of Four): not a scale but a timbral use of intervals.
• Common mistake: playing rock power chords: post-punk avoids the cliché.

How to choose

• Dark ostinato: Aeolian or Phrygian. Funk-punk groove: Dorian. Melancholy pop song: major with vi and iii. Guitars: intervals and timbre rather than scales.

Harmony

Function

Minimal, ostinato-based harmony: often a 2–4 note bass riff that repeats throughout the verse, with the guitar adding colors (intervals, partial chords, harmonics). The progressions are short (2–4 chords), with no classical cadences; tension comes from repetition, timbre and dynamics.

The bass as a harmonic voice

• The bass plays melodies in the mid-high register (Peter Hook played in high positions with a pick), defining the harmony while the guitar stays "ambient".

Pedals and ostinatos

• Pedals on a minor chord with guitar and synth ostinatos; dub influences (space, repetition) and krautrock influences (motorik).

Voicings

• Guitars: partial chords of 2–3 notes on the high strings, minor chords with the 9, intervals of fourths and fifths with chorus or flanger, harmonics; often no full chord at all.
• Synths: long notes, cold pads, monophonic lines.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

4/4 with regular, repetitive drums, often motorik (krautrock) or with disco and funk influences (four-on-the-floor kick, sixteenth-note hi-hat, Gang of Four, PiL, Talking Heads), dub (space, snare with delay, heavy bass) and tribal (continuous toms: Siouxsie, Killing Joke, Adam and the Ants with the "Burundi beat"). The feel is mechanical and precise, sometimes with a drum machine (from the 1980s). The tempo is often fast but feels "cold".

Drums

Role

Post-punk drumming is a repetitive engine: few fills, no virtuosity, a hypnotic groove. Models: Stephen Morris (Joy Division: machine-like precision, toms and snare), Budgie (Siouxsie: tribal toms), Hugo Burnham (Gang of Four: funk), Jaki Liebezeit (Can, motorik influence).

Kick

• Motorik: 1, "2&" and 3 (steps 1, 7, 9); disco-punk: four on the floor; tribal: kick on the quarter notes with toms.
• Dry, short sound.

Snare

• 2 and 4 with no ghost notes; often a dry, high snare, or a "filtered" snare treated with delay and reverb (Hannett processed the drums with digital delays and recorded them with great separation: technical details vary among sources).

Hi-hat and cymbals

• Constant eighth- or sixteenth-note hi-hat; few cymbals; crash only at the start of sections.

Toms

• Toms in eighth notes or tribal patterns in place of the hi-hat (Siouxsie — Hong Kong Garden, Joy Division — She's Lost Control with Syndrum electronic drums).

Interaction

• Melodic bass over the regular drums; the guitar comes in and out without changing the groove.

Sections

• Often the same beat for the whole song; sections are marked by bass, guitar and vocal entrances and exits.

Fills

• Rare and brief; sometimes a repeated tom fill as an element of the pattern.

Sounds

• Dry kit, damped heads, short kick; drum machines (Roland CR-78, TR-808, Oberheim DMX from the 1980s, LinnDrum for New Order), Syndrum and Simmons.

Typical mistakes

• Rock fills and constant crashes; drums that are too "big"; losing the repetition.

Bass

Sound

Bass played with a pick, bright, mid-focused sound, often with chorus (The Cure, Simon Gallup) or flanger; high register (Peter Hook on Unknown Pleasures played with a pick, with melodic lines that act as a "lead guitar").

Role

• Melodic protagonist: the bass riff is the hook (Joy Division — Love Will Tear Us Apart, She's Lost Control; The Cure — A Forest; Interpol — Evil; PiL — Public Image with Jah Wobble and his dub bass).
• In dub-punk bands (PiL, The Pop Group, Killing Joke), heavy, deep bass in the Jamaican style.

Notes

• Repeated riffs of 2–4 notes, octaves, lines in the high register (D3–D4).

Relationship with the kick

The bass plays eighth notes over the regular kick; the sub register is often barely present (mid-focused sound).

Examples

• Joy Division — Disorder; The Cure — A Forest; Public Image Ltd — Poptones; Interpol — Evil.

Harmonic instruments

Guitars

• Angular and sharp: Telecaster, Stratocaster, Rickenbacker, Vox; little gain or "cold" distortion (Andy Gill with feedback and silences, Keith Levene with metallic chords and harmonics, Bernard Sumner with thin, distorted guitar).
• Effects: chorus, flanger, delay, phaser (Robert Smith, John McGeoch).
• Layering: often just one guitar, panned to one side or in the center, with stereo effects; two guitars with different roles (funk rhythm + texture).

Synths and keyboards

• Monophonic and polyphonic synths (ARP Omni, Moog, Prophet-5, Sequential Pro-One), string machine, organ; in New Order, sequencers and drum machines.

Voicings

• Partial chords, intervals, harmonics, repeated single notes; little "full chord".

Melody and vocals

Vocals

• Declaimed, spoken or baritone voices: Ian Curtis (deep, detached baritone), Siouxsie Sioux (powerful and theatrical), John Lydon (sarcastic and wailing), Mark E. Smith (spoken), Robert Smith (wailing), Paul Banks ("Curtis-style" baritone), Grian Chatten (Fontaines D.C., declaimed).
• Melodies with few notes, mid-low register, repetition.

Backing vocals

• Rare; shouted group vocals (Gang of Four), subtle harmonies in the revival.

Effects

• Reverb and delay used as space (Hannett), vocals recorded in a "distant" way (Curtis's voice on Insight was recorded through a telephone line), doubled or filtered voices.

Instruments

• Electric bass (the protagonist).
• Electric guitar with chorus/flanger/delay.
• Acoustic drums and/or drum machine, Syndrum, Simmons.
• Synths, string machine, sequencer.
• Voice.
• Saxophone (The Psychedelic Furs, Magazine), violin, percussion.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• ARP 2600 V — Synths and effects: Cold lines and noises (Joy Division used an ARP Omni and a Transcendent 2000 in the sessions; use the 2600 for similar sounds): filtered saw, internal spring reverb.
• Solina V — String machine: Cold, dramatic pads of post-punk and gothic (The Cure, Joy Division — Atmosphere used an ARP Omni).
• Prophet-5 V — Pads and lines: New Order and 1980s post-punk: cold pads, sync, sequenced lines.
• Mini V — Bass and lead: Monophonic lines and synth basses in the Factory/Magazine style.
• Jun-6 V — Polyphonic synth: Post-punk revival and coldwave: pads with chorus and arpeggios.

Song structure

Form (3:00–5:00)

Many songs are linear (few changes), built by adding and removing layers over the same groove.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Space, coldness and separation: bass in the foreground, dry drums but with treated spaces (delay, digital reverbs), guitars as texture, vocals distant but intelligible. References: Joy Division — Unknown Pleasures (1979, Strawberry Studios, Martin Hannett), The Cure — Seventeen Seconds (1980), Gang of Four — Entertainment! (1979), Interpol — Turn On the Bright Lights (2002).

Kick

• EQ: HP 40 Hz; +2 dB at 70 Hz; −4 dB at 300–400 Hz; +3 dB at 3–4 kHz; heavy compression (6:1, 5 dB), gate to shorten it.

Snare

• EQ: +2 dB at 200 Hz; −3 dB at 600 Hz; +3 dB at 5 kHz.
• Space: short digital reverb (0.8–1.2 s) and/or delay (Fruity Delay 3 or EchoBoy, 1/8 or 1/16, feedback 15–25%, filtered) for the Hannett effect; gate on the reverb.

Toms and hi-hat

• Toms with gate and reverb; dry hi-hat HP 400 Hz.
• Drum bus: compression 4:1, 4–5 dB; drum machine with light saturation.

Bass

• EQ: HP 50 Hz; +2 dB at 100 Hz; +3/+4 dB at 1–2 kHz (pick, high register); chorus (Small Clone or Fruity Chorus, mix 30–50%) or flanger.
• 1176 compression 4:1, 5 dB. High volume: it is the main instrument.

Guitars

• One guitar at L60 or R60 (or in the center) with stereo chorus/flanger; HP 150–200 Hz (very thin), +2 dB at 2–3 kHz, −2 dB at 5 kHz if it's harsh.
• Space: stereo delay, medium digital reverb; automation to bring the parts in and out.

Synths

• HP 150 Hz, pad with long reverb and LP at 8 kHz for a "cold but soft" sound.

Lead vocal

• Chain: EQ (HP 100 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, +2 dB at 2–3 kHz) → 1176 compression 4–6 dB → saturation → tempo-synced delay (1/4 or dotted 1/8, −18 dB) + room/plate reverb.
• Placement: a bit further back than in pop, with ambience.

FX

• Digital delays (AMS-style), short digital reverbs, chorus, flanger; found sounds if you like (glass, elevator: Hannett used these too).

Buses and groups

• "Rhythm" bus (bass + drums) with 2:1 compression to glue them together.

Sidechain

• In the dance-punk revival: bass from the kick (1–2 dB).

Master

• Target: −11/−9 LUFS integrated (originals more dynamic, revival −9/−8); true peak −1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Bass buried under the guitars; thick, rock-style guitars; arena-sized "big" drums; a pop vocal out front.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Joy Division — Disorder (1979); Siouxsie and the Banshees — Hong Kong Garden (1978); Gang of Four — Damaged Goods (1979); The Cure — A Forest (1980); Interpol — Obstacle 1 (2002); Fontaines D.C. — Boys in the Better Land (2019).

Reference listening

• Wire — Outdoor Miner (1978)
• Siouxsie and the Banshees — Hong Kong Garden (1978)
• Public Image Ltd — Public Image (1978)
• Gang of Four — Damaged Goods (1979)
• Joy Division — Disorder (1979)
• Joy Division — Love Will Tear Us Apart (1980)
• The Cure — A Forest (1980)
• Bauhaus — Bela Lugosi's Dead (1979)
• Interpol — Obstacle 1 (2002)
• Fontaines D.C. — Boys in the Better Land (2019)