Dancehall

What it is

A riddim is a rhythm track that a dozen artists all record over, and in the nineties Kingston produced them at industrial speed. Dave Kelly's Pepperseed and Joyride, Steely and Clevie's Poco Man Jam, Jeremy Harding's Playground: each one arrived, ran for a year, and left a shelf of singles behind. What separates this from ragga is where the syncopation went. Ragga kept the reggae backbeat on 3 and syncopated around it. Nineties dancehall moved the snare to 2 and 4 like a pop record and put the tresillo into the kick instead, which is the arrangement most of the world now recognises as a Caribbean rhythm. It also produced its own dance culture, named steps invented by dancers like Bogle and named back in the records themselves.

What it sounds like

Punchy and mid-forward with real low end for the first time since the digital turn. Sampled kicks with weight under them, a snare or rimshot with a hard crack, and a bright metallic percussion layer, usually a cowbell or a timbale, playing a clave figure across the bar. Synth stabs, a bassline that is often three notes, and enormous amounts of empty space in the middle of the arrangement. The vocals are the record: two deejays trading, or a singer over the same riddim someone chatted over last month. Effects are used as punctuation rather than atmosphere.

Key elements

• The tresillo kickKick on beat 1, the and of 2 and beat 4. A 3-3-2 shape across the bar, and the reason these riddims feel like they are pulling ahead of the beat.
• Snare on 2 and 4The backbeat finally leaves beat 3 after nearly thirty years. Losing the reggae accent is what let dancehall cross over to American radio.
• A clave on the bellA cowbell or timbale playing the 3-2 son clave against the kick, which is where the Latin edge in these riddims comes from.
• One riddim, many recordsProducers licensed a rhythm to a whole roster. Learning the style means learning to write a rhythm that leaves room for a vocal you have not heard yet.
• Very few notesThree-note basslines, two-chord stabs, no pads. The arrangement is drums, bass, a hook and silence, and the silence is load-bearing.

How to get them

• KickLayer a short 808-style sub with a punchy acoustic sample on top. Place it on beat 1, the and of 2 and beat 4, with beat 1 about ten velocity above the others.
• SnareBright, high-passed at 220Hz, with a very short room. Put it on 2 and 4 at 112 and let it hit beat 4 at the same instant as the kick; that collision is a real dancehall move.
• CowbellProgram a 3-2 son clave: beat 1, the a of 1, the and of 2, the and of 3 and beat 4. Pitch it up, keep it dry and pan it about twenty percent off centre.
• BassThree notes, sub-heavy, with a slide between the last two. Cut everything above 300Hz and let it sit in the gaps the kick leaves rather than doubling it.
• Leave a holeSweep out 800Hz to 2.5kHz on every instrument that is not the vocal. These riddims are mixed as beds for someone who is not there yet.
• Swing51 percent. Effectively straight, with just enough to stop the sixteenth hats sounding like a quantised export.

Reference points

Dave Kelly at Madhouse, Steely and Clevie, Jeremy Harding, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Lady Saw, Mr Vegas, and the dancer Bogle. Named as reference points for the sound, not as endorsements or as anyone to imitate.