Baltimore Club

What it is

Two records built this. Lyn Collins recorded Think About It in 1972 and Gaz cut Sing Sing in 1978, and from about 1990 onward almost every Baltimore club track has used one, the other, or both. Frank Ski, Scottie B, Rod Lee and DJ Class put the Think break over a house kick at 130 and left it there. The kick keeps four to the floor, which makes this the one entry in this family that a house DJ can beatmatch without thinking, but the break sits on top with its ghost notes intact, and the argument between the two is the whole record. Everything else is chanted vocal, a horn stab and a lot of repetition.

What it sounds like

Sampled and unpolished. The Think break as a whole loop rather than as individual hits, so the room, the bleed and the tape hiss come with it. Under it a kick that is punchy and short, and a cowbell playing an ostinato. There is usually no bassline at all, which is why these records sound so light next to anything else at 130. Vocals are chanted call and response phrases repeated until they become the arrangement. Records tend to be four or five minutes of the same eight bars with the sample dropping in and out, and mixed hot with the break clipping slightly.

Key elements

• Four on the floor, pushedKicks on all four beats plus the and of 2 and the and of 4, so a house DJ can mix it while a dancer still hears the syncopation.
• The Think breakBackbeats on 2 and 4 at 110 and 112, with ghost notes at the a of 2 and the a of 3 sitting at 52 and 60. The ghosts are what identify the sample.
• A cowbell ostinatoFour hits in bar one on the and of 1, the a of 2, beat 3 and the e of 4, with two more filled in at the end of bar two. It holds the record together between vocal phrases.
• No basslineThe low end is the kick and nothing else. Adding a sub turns it into a house record, which is precisely the line these producers were not crossing.
• Chanted vocalsA shouted phrase, call and response, repeated for the length of the track. It is arranged by being dropped in and out rather than by being written.

How to get them

• Use the whole loopChop the break into two or four bar slices rather than into individual hits. Baltimore records keep the bleed and the room, and one-shot replacement sounds wrong immediately.
• KickShort and punchy, tuned around 55Hz, on all four beats. Then add one on the and of 2 and one on the and of 4 and stop, because a busier kick fights the break.
• Keep the ghostsDo not gate the break to remove its quiet hits. Everything between velocity 40 and 60 in the snare lane is what a listener uses to recognise the sample.
• CowbellOne sample, a four stroke figure that only fills in at the end of the second bar. It is a metronome with a personality, so resist the urge to rewrite it every eight bars.
• Nothing below 60HzHigh-pass the whole mix. The absence of sub is not an oversight in these records, it is what makes the break audible on a system that is already loud.
• Arrange with the mute buttonDrop the break out for two bars, bring it back, drop the vocal, bring it back. Eight bars of material and a mute button is a complete Baltimore arrangement.

Reference points

Frank Ski, Scottie B, Rod Lee, KW Griff, DJ Class, Miss Tony, Blaqstarr, and the Lyn Collins and Gaz records the whole genre is cut from. Named as reference points for the sound, not as endorsements or as anyone to imitate.