Time is single by Drum and Bass Titians Sub Focus and Wilkinson from the collaberative album Portals. It perfectly blends liquid drum and bass with dancefloor drum and bass to create a song that feels emotional and nostalgic yet still has a danceable groove. In this essay I am going to go through breaking down the composition techniques along with the history of the genere and how it will impact future generations.

About the Artists:

Sub Focus, real name Nicolaas Douwma, is a DJ, producer and overall musician born in Surrey. He is most known for his electronic influence with memorable and catchy melodies. His rise to fame came about when a friend of his was warming up for the legendary Andy C, and managed to hand him Sub Focus’ demo CD. Andy loved the songs so much he later signed Nicolaas to his record label RAM Records, which is renowned as being one of the biggest drum and bass labels of all time. His debut album “Sub Focus” was released in 2009, which included singles such as “Rock It” and “Follow the Light”. After a few EPs and remixes, he released his 2nd album in 2013. “Torus” was a massive hit, it included collaborations with fellow DnB artists TC and Culture Shock, as well as house icon MNEK. “Turn Back Time” and “Endorphins”, singles from the album, both peaked at number 10 in the official charts. After releasing songs with 1991 and Rudimental, his first song with Wilkinson was announced, “Take it Up”. “Desire” with Dimension came after, which contains such a memorable rift, it is constantly played at clubs and festivals to this day, even though it was released four years ago and has since been awarded . More recently, in 2021 Sub Focus released a remix EP “Reworks I”, which contained remixes of his old school classics by artists such as Bou, Wilkinson and Camo & Krooked. This year he has released three singles, “Off the Ground”, “It’s Time” and a second collaberation with Dimension "Ready to Fly", all with similar artwork which could be hinting at a future album.

Wilkinson, real name Mark Wilkinson, is a DJ and producer from Hammersmith. His biggest claim to fame has been his single “Afterglow” with vocalist Becky Hill, this feel-good, sing-along tune has peaked at number 8 on the official charts and has been awarded two platinum awards by the BPI. Like Sub Focus, his career started by sending in demos to RAM Records. His debut album Lazers Not Included was released in 2013, which included songs such as “Take You Higher” and “Heartbeat” which was a collaboration with rapper P Money and vocalist Arlissa. In the years after he released an extended version of his album, made official remixes for Chase & Status, pop superstar Ed Sheeran and Naughty Boy. Finally in 2017, he released his second album “Hypnotic” on RAM Records as well as “Rush” with Dimension, “I Need” with Hayla and “Machina” on the UKF10 sampler album. In 2021, Wilkinson announced that he had set up his own record label Sleepless Music, which has since seen releases from artists such as KMotionz, Krakota, Skantia and Exeter based Fred V. In February 2022, his fourth album Cognition was released on his label, which included collaborations with Kanine, his partner iiola and once again Becky Hill. Wilkinson has just finished a summer of touring his album at festivals such as Glastonbury, Nass and Let it Roll. Personally, seeing them both at Glastonbury playing tunes from thier album “Portals” like “Illuminate” was such a wonderful moment as all the crowd knew the song and were singing along, it was really special to witness.

Tonality, Melody and Harmony:

Tonality by defintion is the key the piece of music is in and in most Western Music wether it is major or minor. There are some exceptions to this with blues songs potentially being in modes, such as Dorian or Lydian, or songs may be chromatic which means they use any of the notes on a keyboard. Melody is the main tune present in a peice of music, often this is the most memorable part of the song. Harmony is the different chords that are used to compliment the main melody.

Most drum and bass is produced in the key of F minor because according to this website, https://www.edmprod.com/how-to-make-drum-and-bass, "This is because bass tends to be low enough to be felt well, but high enough to still be heard." The note F1, which has a frequency of 43.65Hz, feels the most powerful on large sound systems, which is where drum and bass is made to be played. Below, two notes are played on a classic DnB reece bass I made, the first is an F, the other is a C. There is such a different feel between the two notes which shows why the key of drum and bass is so important, headphones are needed. As such, when I make my own drum and bass, I write in the key of Fm.

In Time, the key of the song is F# minor, which contains three sharps: F#, G# and C#. The chord progession for this song is D Major (VI), F# Minor (i), E Major (VII). The harmony is interesting in this song because the chord progression does not start on the tonic, it starts on the relative major. Starting a song thats minor on a major chords creates tension and suspense. This is also helped with the utilisation of open chords, when a chord is neither major or minor.

Structure and Dynamics

Structure is how a song is set out and ordered. In most pop music this is verse, chorus, verse. Dynamics are how soft or hard an instrument is played which alters the volume of a song. 

The structure of "Time" is song structure, but has been modified for dance music. This means that it still has an intro, verses and an outro but what is different is that there is a build before the chorus, which is often referred to as the drop, and the second verse is called the breakdown. This is the part of the song where the texture is stripped back and the dynamics become much softer in order to keep the song interesting and allows for a greater contrast before the second drop. The build before the drops utilises a few techniques in order to build excitement for the drop to come. These include the guitar strumming to speed up compared to the verse, the introduction of the main synth lead that plays throughout the drop, the kick drum's beat sub divide which means that more and more notes are being played, lots of white noise risers along with reverb automation, dynamics get louder and louder and one bar before the drop the texture thinness to allow for a greater impact for when the drop finally hits. Below is the structure plan for my chosen song.

In my own drum and bass production, I often follow similar structure so when I play out as a DJ, I am able to transition smoothly between songs as they have the same length intros and outros. Also when DJing drum and bass, there is a technique called double dropping, which is playing the drops of two tunes together in order to create energy. Having songs with similar structures, especially 16 bar blocks, makes this process much easier.

In this one, there is no syncopation. The drums follow a basic rock rhythm, with the high hats playing 8th notes and the kick playing on beat 1 and 3 and the snare playing on beat 2 and 4. 

In this one, there is syncopation. The snare and high hats are doing the same thing but the kick is slightly off-beat, which creates a push rhythm. This makes the music more exciting and allows people to move to it.

Here is the main melody of the tune transcribed onto a piano roll, it is also syncopated. The orange notes are on the string beats and keep a steady rythm, however the purple notes are syncopated, as they play before the beat.

Instrumentation

Instrumentation is a word to describe the different instruments that are used in a particular song. In "Time", a range of instruments are present. These include a piano, which is noticeable in the intro as the first instrument, a guitar strumming chords and a solo male vocal, Tom Cane, singing through out the entire piece. A stringed instrument, which is confirmed to be a Cello in an interview with UKF, https://ukf.com/words/sub-focus-wilkinson-uncover-why-portals-is-the-truest-album-they-could-have-created/28231, is heard. Also in this interview, Sub Focus says "I brought my modular kit down" for the month long session they were in Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios to create "Portals". This was most likely used for the synth lead, bass and risers in the song. Like most dance-floor drum and bass, the drums in this particular tune are most probably are made on a synthesiser or a drum machine. Personally, I like how there is a mixture of traditional and synthesised instruments, they blend together perfectly to create a rich, organic soundscape.

Timbre

According to this website, https://www.twinkl.co.uk/teaching-wiki/timbre, timbre is the "quality of a musical note". It is the way an instrument is played to create that pitch. For example, this an audio clip of a gutiar, a piano, a flute and a cello playing the note C. Even though they are all playing the same pitch and some (the guitar and cello) even come from the same instrument family (strings), they all sound slightly different. This is timbre.

Timbre can also be the way one instrument is played. For example, a violin can be bowed slowly to play sustained legato notes, a quick bow will create a staccato note, the violin can be plucked with a finger to a create short pizzicato notes, or the bow can shimmer on the strings to create a ominous tremolo effect. These are demonstrated below, again just using the note C.

In "Time", there is lots of uses of Timbre. The piano is playing long sustained legato chords. Legato, according to this website https://www.masterclass.com/articles/music-101-what-is-legato-learn-what-effect-legato-has-on-music-and-what-you-need-for-good-legato-technique, is a "musical performance technique that produces fluid, continuous motion between notes." The cello is also playing sustain legato notes. The guitar is rhythmically strumming the chords. The melodic lead synthesiser is playing quick notes with a short attack, which could be described as being pizzicato.

Time Signature

Time signature is a way of telling the musicians how many beats are in a bar. In most day music there is 4, which is shown on a music stave as this, 4/4. There is some exceptions to this, which I have explained and given examples of below.

"Time" has the time signature of 4/4.

Tempo

Tempo is how fast or slow a piece of music is. Traditionally, this would be dictated on a piano score with Latin words, such as "Largo", "Moderato" or "Allegro". Today, music's tempo is described using BPM, which means Beats Per Minute. The video below explains how each Latin tempo markings line up with modern BPM and gives musical examples of each.

BPMs are often identified with specific genres. For example, Lo-fi beats are around 75-85BPM, House music is 128BPM, UK Drill is often between 140-145BPM and Drum and Bass is 170-180BPM, most of the time it is 174BPM. "Time" is a DnB song and according to Tunebat, https://tunebat.com/Info/Time-Sub-Focus-Wilkinson-Sub-Focus-Wilkinson/0siHKXxX5xyHvjBCxogran, it has a BPM of 174.

Lyrics

The lyrics for this song are written and sung by Tom Cane and according to Genius (https://genius.com/Sub-focus-and-wilkinson-time-lyrics) they are:

[Verse 1]

Losing your way, you can't find it

I know you stumbled off track

Got out of your lane, slipping sideways

It's not too late to get back

[Pre-Chorus]

So when you think you're gonna fall

Just don't look down

When your back's against the wall

We'll turn things 'round

[Chorus]

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

[Post-Chorus]

Have we still got time?

This one's for the late night

This one's for the sunrise

For when those dark clouds break

This one's when you realise

Red lights ovеr skylines

This one's a brand new day

[Verse 2]

Out of thе rut, there's no fighting

Keep stepping over the cracks

With every touch, I feel lighter

We've come too far to go back

[Pre-Chorus]

So when you think you're gonna fall

Just don't look down

When your back's against the wall

We'll turn things 'round

[Chorus]

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

Have we still got time?

[Post-Chorus]

Just don't look down

Have we still got time?

We'll turn things 'round

I think these lyrics tie in beautifully with the ethos of the album, Portals, that this single is from. When the album was being produced, Sub Focus and Wilkinson wanted to create a sense of escapism and take the listener on a journey. This was so important as it was released on the 9th October 2020, around the height of Covid. As such people couldn't travel anywhere, so having music that took you somewhere else was so powerful. In an interview about the album, Wilkinson said, "We really wanted to try and give people that same feeling of escapism we had when we were in the studio feeling like we were in nature." The lyrics are empowering and motivating, like "When your back's against the wall, We'll turn things 'round", to perhaps help people who were struggling in this dark time in people's lives. The artwork featured on the the album, singles and subsequent remix EPs were all created by Big Active and add to the narrative of how listening to the music will transport you from your home to another dimension, as they all depict some sort of portal into another dimension. These are exampled below.

It is bizarre for dance music to have meaningful, powerful lyrics like this, as often EDM is about the emotion of the instruments and building and releasing tension for a night club setting, not the artists telling a story through words. Normally, there may just be a word before the drop or a repeated phrase, like in the song below "Drugs from Amsterdam" by Mau P.

Effects

A range of effects have been used in this song in order to elevate it too sound professional. These include:

History Of The Genre

Jamaica

Jungle, the predassor to Drum and Bass, also had major influenced from the Jamaican sound system culture. The following websites explains how crucial sound system culture is. (https://artsandculture.google.com/story/the-roots-of-sound-systems-notting-hill-carnival/zgUR3Nwc_u2Jhg?hl=en). I have learnt that it was when in the 1950s large sound systems were set up in streets as major radio stations refused to play certain genres of music so people took matters into their own hands and played their music on these massive sound rigs. Normal people often could not afford to buy lots of records so would often use these events to listen to new music, which at the time was ska, reggae and rocksteady. These sound systems had very large subwoofers, the dedicated speaker for low end, becuase the bass was so important to the styles of music played. Another thing that came from Jamacia was "sound-clashes". This was when  two groups would set up their sound systems near one another and would play out tunes to try and drown out the oppostions sound system. The audience would then vote for which was better by making the most noise. This is where the "gun fingers" sign origninatred, which is now a major staple in modern drum and bass music to show appriaction to the DJ. People would but their guns into the air and shoot them to the skies, therefore making the most noise. Many Jamicans emmigrated to the UK in the 1960s, and with it they broght sound-clashes and soundsystem culture. These have now become much more formal, with DJs from two differnt labels going back to back, yet the values have stayed the same.

Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994

After the Castlemorton party, the most expensive legal case in the UK was conducted. It cost £4 million in legal fees are resulted in a new law being put into place. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 gave the police the power to turn away anybody 5 miles away from an illegal rave, it was basically a law that banned raves. In the legislation it also stopped people listing to music at night that is “wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats". Following the passing of this law, there was major upset. People took to the streets and protested. In July, around 50,000 people marched from Hyde Park too Trafalgar Square, all angered by the bill that gave the police powers to unsupervised stop and search and caused for harsher punishments towards squatters and travellers. Despite their efforts, the bill was passed and is still used to this day. Today, people still through and attend free parties, regardless of the repercussions in order to keep this scene alive. 

Jungle

Drum and bass was not offically created untill 1995 but the genre that heavily influeneced was jungle. Jungle is a genre of dance music that came out of the UK rave scene in 1990s, it takes the "basslines from reggea music, breaks from hip hop" said pioneering artist Roni Size in an interview with DNB Arena on their recent drum and bass documentary. The first recorded jungle song was "We Are I.E" by Lennie De Ice in 1991.  It takes the vocal sample and pads that was tradionally of the breakbeat music of the time and blended it with the "Amen Break" and a dub influnced bass line. People were listening to this music in the underground London nightclubs.

Drum Breaks

Jungle often used drum breaks from old funk and jazz tunes such as the "Amen Break" from the 1969 tune "Amen Brother" by The Winstons, which has been sampled in 5900 documented songs (https://www.whosampled.com/The-Winstons/Amen,-Brother/) , but in reality the real total could be over 10,000 because of unrelsed tunes. It was played by drummer Gregory Coleman. In the modern day, when people use a sample from a song the original creator gets paid a royaltiy but this was not the case for this song. The band leader of The Winstons Richard Spencer said in an interview in 2011 that "[Coleman's] heart and soul went into that drum break. Now these guys copy and paste it and make millions." This sparked up the creation of a GoFundMe in 2015 for Spencer by British DJs Martyn Webster and Steve Theobald which generated £24,000 for him. Coleman however died in 2006, poor and homeless. Here is the amen break.

original junglists

Some pioneering artists in the Jungle scene when it was being created include: Fabio & Grooverider, Andy C, Shy FX, General Levy, Goldie, Chase & Status, AWOL (Randall, Mickey Finn, Kenny Ken, Darren J, Dr S Gachet) and DJ Rap. Each artists has had their own unique impact on the genre. Fabio & Grooverider are thought to be the grandfathers of jungle, they first sped up hip hop breakbeats and put hardcore and house melodies on top, this was the first taste of Jungle. Andy C set up RAM Records, a drum and bass label that s thought to be the most established in the scene. He became famous at a young age by annoying promoters to let him play, until they finally agreed and he was phenomenal. To this day, he is the best and most sort after drum and bass DJ. He is always touring across the globe, often plays multiple festivals in a weekend, and is rumoured to charge £10,000 a set. Unlike most other DJs transitioning to CDJs, he use Audio Technics vinyl players, that he connects to his laptop to load and play songs. Personally, I've seen him at countless shows and he has always been amazing, I was even lucky enough to meet him! Shy FX is another old-skool junglist that is still relevant today. He released a single with UK Apache in 1994 called "Original Nuttah" and it was a massive hit. It peaked at number 39 in the charts, this was the first tune of the genre to ever do this. It has such a memorable chant that is often sang back by the crowd and in 2020 it was given a modern remix by drum and bass duo Chase & Status, which made it sound even better. General Levy and M-Beat released the tune "Incredible" around a week after "Original Nuttah", which was even more popular. This song peaked at number 8 in the official charts, https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/incredible/, and was regarded as one of the most well known jungle tunes ever. Even the 2002 film "Ali G In Da House" used it in their opening scene.

AWOL, standing for A Way Of Life, was a group of DJs who put on nights and went back to back in the 90s. They started off by putting on nights at the Paradise Club and then onto the Ministry of Sound. One of their most famous nights were on Christmas Day. Here is a recording of a set with legendary MC GQ and Fearless on the mic, for a CD they released.

2010s

By the start of the 2010s, drum and bass started to become a lot more recognised. For what had started as an underground genre, it had now gained mainstream attention. Major artists from this time period were: Wilkinson, Rudimental, Pendulum and DJ Fresh. Wilkinson collaborated with Becky Hill in 2013 on a song called "Afterglow". This is such a powerful song even to this day, with everyone knowing the lyrics as it combines drum and bass with traditional pop music. It peaked at number 8 in the official charts and Let It Roll, a major drum and bass festival, conducted a survey for the best drum and bass tunes of all time, this song came out on top (https://ukf.com/news/let-it-rolls-top-100-dnb-full-results/25096). Rudimental also started to push drum and bass into the charts, as they earned two number ones, "Feel the Love" with John Newman and "Waiting all Night" with Ella Eyre. They did a DnB revamp of Ed Sheeran's song "Bloodstream" (see the video below) and released their own songs with Dizzie Rascal and Anne Marie. They also played on the most prestigious stage at Glastonbury Festival, the Pyramid Stage, and teamed up with super group Bastille to perform a mash up of their song "Pompeii" and "Waiting all Night" at the 2014 BRIT Awards. A video of this performance can be seen below.

As well as collaborating with pop singers, drum and bass also joined forces with rock music. Pendulum were the main group to do this and had they teamed up with DJ Fresh and MC Spyda on "Tarantula", as well as giving the classic Prodigy tune "Voodoo People" a much needed drum and bass remix. They also managed to get a number one album with "Immersion" on the 5th June 2010, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/31894/pendulum/. Recently, they have started performing shows with a live band, with a secret set at Reading and Leeds Festival. 

DJ Fresh was also an artists that was vital in the growth of drum and bass. Originally starting in a group called Bad Company with dBridge, Vegas and Maldini, releasing tunes such as "Planet Dust" and "The Nine". The group then disassembled and Fresh focussed on solo projects. These proved massive for him, with some achievements including the timeless classic "Gold Dust" with Ms Dynamite, Two number one singles "Hot Right Now" with Rita Ora and "Louder" with Sian Evans, featuring on the soundtrack for the film "Kick Ass" with Diplo on the song "Earthquake" and releasing his album "Nextlevelism" on the label Ministry of Sound. He then went through a period of time where he stopped DJing as his health was at risk, as he contracted thyroid cancer. He has now recently started playing out and releasing again, starting with a Gold Dust remix EP, with artists such as Bou, Krafty Kuts and Dutty Moonshine Bigband. His most recent single and collaboration was with rising Belgian star, USED called "Higher".

today...

Now drum and bass is as big as it has ever been. There is so much talent out there that is on display, with so many artists pushing the boundary of what this genre has to offer. Jump up is a style that has really grown, with artists such as Macky Gee and Mr Traumatik leading the line. Bru-C is bridging the gap between rap and drum and bass, releasing songs like "No Excuses", which peaked at number 14 on the offical charts and "You and I". His style is rapping over drum and bass beats. This has seen worldwide attention as he has played all over the globe, he even played prime time on the main stage at Redding and Leeds, which saw his set being released on iPlayer. the growth of social media, like TikTok, has also helped artists and songs grow. Australian artists Luude put a video out that he had done a bootleg, unofficial remix, of the song "Down Under" by Men at Work. This blew up, with people doing dance routines to it and because of all the hype surrounding the song, the original vocalist Colin Hay rerecorded the vocal and the song was officially released. Since then, it reached the top 10 in the UK charts and managed to get number one in the New Zealand charts. This majorly boosted Luude's carrer, and he has just finished a UK tour. Another artists that has recently gained popularity through a remix and social media is goddard. He remixed Cat Burn's single "Go" which was a viral hit. People now know this version more than the original, personally I played the song at a festival set I did and it was one of the highlights of my summer as everyone was knew the lyrics and was singing along together. Now, goddard has released a song with vocalist venbee called "Messy in Heaven", which has just seen it's 9th week in the official charts, https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/63406/venbee-and-goddard/. Major festivals now also focus heavily on drum and bass, with Boomtown being the best example. This is a festival with a capacity of 77,000, which always sells out before the line up is announced. The lineup was full of drum and bass icons as well as new up and comers. This includes Noisia's last ever UK set, the Brazilian turn table-ist DJ Marky, sets from the Born on Road crew like Crossy, Bish and Gray, as well as some live drum and bass/jungle bands Dub Pistols and Gentlemen's Dub Club. The only way is up for the future of drum and bass. More and more artists are breaking through the charts, promoters are planning more and more DnB nights, with the most exciting being Andy C playing at the O2 Arena in London. This is the same venue that hosts major boxing matches. Andy C is the first drum and bass artist to play there, and he is doing a unique 5 hour set.

sub genres

What makes Drum and Bass so unique is the choice of sub genres it has, there is something that will fit the vibe for any circumstance, that can be enjoyed by all. Here is a website that lists some of the sub generes, I have taken some from here and explained them deeper, as well as adding a few from my own knowledge. https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/a-to-z-of-drum'n'bass 

record lables

Here are some examples of vital record labels in the drum and bass scene.

Why I Love The Genre

The genre of this tune is drum and bass, more specifically liquid drum and bass. I fell in love with this genre because of my dad, he listened and witnessed the birth of jungle, the predecessor of drum and bass at clubs and festivals in the 90s. This passion continued and was passed onto me as we went to festivals each summer for work, where we would always have a speaker blasting out music, which was often bass-heavy music like drum n bass and jungle. Also, by being at festivals exposed me to so many artists and musical experiences, with a highlight being around 5 years old running the light show at the Little Big Top at Beautiful Days Festival. My love for the genre kept growing and growing when in October 2019 I did my first DJ blend using a free app on my iPad Djay Pro 2, with the songs being "We Got It (SPY Remix)" by Metrik and "Bricks Don't Roll" by DJ Hazard. Since then I have known I want to be a Drum and Bass DJ. I have set up a Soundcloud account where I release mixes, play at festivals and clubs and hope to continue this to make it a full time career.