what is 'hard'?

[alasdairm]

for you what's the single best example of a 'hard' track - which track exemplifies 'hard' for you?

 

alasdair

[TomD]

good question! it's totally subjective, innit? years ago i would have considered "born slippy" as "hard".

 

for me "hard" implies techno, so following on from that personally i think because "hard" house or "hard" trance still has an underlying melody... bassline... etc... it's not "hard" enough really IMO. with techno we're talking raw drum loops... distinct lack of melody in many tracks, it's just a no-frills way of instilling energy into a dancefloor. rough. simple. but hard.

 

so for me that would mean speedy j's latest album on novamute. also, things like d.a.v.e the drummer productions,

stuff released on Drumcode, etc.

[SarahPVC]

To me hard is anything that has a hard or heavy bassline - tunes such as Paul Glazby - 'Motherfucker' or RR Fierce.

[goshow]

160bpm+ heavy bass line, hoovers & horns

[DjKrisKelly]

I agree with SarahPVC, any Choon that is banging!

[alasdairm]

i can think of loads of banging choons which would not be considered hard...

 

if your definition of 'hard' is 'whatever's banging' then what's your definition of 'banging'?

 

alasdair

[Clubbing Si]

fast and hoovery! lol

[Mr Happy]

To me hard is anything that has a hard or heavy bassline - tunes such as Paul Glazby - 'Motherfucker'

 

ah, but that tune doesn't have a heavy bassline - and most of rr fierses tunes dont either

 

nu nrg isn't a bassy genre @ all yet its considered v hard

 

 

imo - a hard tune is ne tune thats not built to be fast or melodic, but desined to have pace to it. how many times have i heard a DJ play fast but play tunes that were melodic - it didnt sound hard @ all. yet DJs like chris liberator play hard and they play @ the fraction of the beatrate to alot of hard hosue djs.

 

hard is definatly a style based around makeing a tune with rough edges and raw sounds. 99% of the hardest tunes use a v simple format, basic sounds, all rough and raw and oftern v minimalistic too. yet the arangement of the percusion and other samples and the simple format of the bassline keeps ppl hooked to the tune and it just skips along. hard tunes rnt written to sound euphoric, thier just desined to make ppl dance

[Signum]

what is 'sad' alasdair?

 

for you what's the single best example of being 'sad'?

 

[SarahPVC]

ah, but that tune doesn't have a heavy bassline - and most of rr fierses tunes dont either

 

I personally think it does!

[LiquidEyes]

years ago i would have considered "born slippy" as "hard".

Actually I still do regard it as fairly hard. It's got that really driving, vicious edge to the beats. Nice minimal percussion; tribal-sounding drums always do it for me!

 

Case in point, my flatmate has a totally different idea of "hard" to me. His idea of hard is your 150bpm hard-house-by-numbers Nukleuz type stuff. To me it's just samey and cliched, some of the vocal samples and "hard" synth sounds just make me laugh!

 

To me, "hard" music has to sound intense, nasty, and it definitely shouldn't sound remotely cheesy! But the sort of technoey hard stuff I like, he calls "dark" not "hard". Horses for courses!

 

P.S. Sometimes really good hard music does make me laugh in the same way that more uplifting/atmospheric music makes my hairs stand on end. But that's laughing with enjoyment, not laughing AT the music!!

[Clubbing Si]

hard tune = over the line -12 inch thumpers / 4 motion - tidy boys mix

 

its got a belting bassline - shite loads of hoovers and horns - banging vocals - and a gr8 big pile of RARRRRRRRRRRRRR

[SarahPVC]

If you can get your hands on a tune called 'People of the Earth' by Steve Knight (www.htfr.com) that re-defines Hard!

[Mr Happy]

 

In reply to:

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ah, but that tune doesn't have a heavy bassline - and most of rr fierses tunes dont either

 

 

 

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I personally think it does!

 

it has a nu nrg beet which is a knocking sound more than a heavy thumping technoy bassline

 

but nu nrg does however tend to use the bass as another sythn so it can sound very bassy even tho its not nesseserilly a bassline

[SarahPVC]

At the end of the day it still comes back to each individuals definition of 'hard'. I personally dont think techno is really hard. Some of the Acid Techno stuff they play at Havok in Manchester is tho!