EDM and the Dilution of Today’s Music

One of today’s most dominant musical genres is EDM, or electronic dance music. This genre covers a large span of sub-genres that may be discussed. It should not be perceived that this is a negative article against EDM, but simply a clarification of the styles found, and their effects in our musical world.
Since the inception of the synthesizer in the mid-60s, elements of electronic music have found their way into almost every conceivable genre. By the late 70s many artists and bands were recording and programming their music using solely electronic equipment. This means that the artist could set a synthesizer to essentially perform anything he or she wanted, on a loop. By the time the 80s rolled around it was obvious that synthesizers were here to stay. Genres such as house and new wave were programming their songs more than ever. Pop stars such as Madonna (see: Like A Virgin) and Michael Jackson (see: Thriller) championed this sound with their new albums.
Fast forward to today. We enter a world where recording equipment is cheaper and more accessible than ever. What would take an entire studio weeks to do when editing tape (analog) could take hours, minutes and even seconds on a computer (digitally). This amazing leap in technology has brought us as composers and artists closer to creating the sound we want, when we want. But, it has also diluted our musical ear; now that everybody can record a song that is professional, or close-to professional quality, how can we tell who the real pros are?
Before this time rock and pop stars were rock and pop stars because they worked in state-of-the-art studios; there was no pitch correction software (i.e. auto-tune), many bands performed their albums live, which meant NO mistakes. If you messed up, there was no fixing it unless you could splice really well, but that was to be avoided as much as possible. Today, mistakes are fixed with a click of a button and performances are doctored with the best editing software. This has resulted in much of recorded music, especially EDM, becoming a boring, homogenous sound with no character whatsoever. BUT, if you dig deep, there are some gems.
The dubstep genre is a branch of EDM that has experienced severe mutilation. This genre came from blending dub style reggae from Jamaica with British two-step and garage beats. Because of reggae’s penchant for extremely low and loud bass, dubstep as well contains bass as low as the human ear can perceive (20 hz). The two-step meter was halved with a strong snare hit on beat 3. The tempo of this style rarely deviates from 140 bpm (beats per minute). Skream, one of the original champions of dubstep, gives a great representation of the genre with his track Gritty:

Note: DO NOT LISTEN TO THIS MUSIC WITHOUT AT LEAST A DECENT PAIR OF HEADPHONES. Dubstep simply cannot be appreciated on laptop speakers because of the ridiculously low bass tones. To listen to this music on anything less than a great stereo with a subwoofer is to do it injustice.

Now, comparatively listen to the artist Skrillex’s track Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites. It contains many of the elements of dubstep but retains a different character when compared to the Skream track. Listen to this track on both stereo or headphone speakers and then listen on laptop speakers.

While the cut in bass should be noticeable, it is of interest to observe that the bass line for this track is actually found in the mid-low to middle frequencies of the range of human hearing. In keeping with the true nature of the definition of dubstep this breaks the tradition. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, the true meaning and understanding of what dubstep is has been mangled, warped and adulterated. It is the equivalent of a young amateur listener experiencing the band Nickleback and calling it true rock music. (Sorry Nickleback.)
There are many sub-genres that haven’t been discussed, but as shown, there are examples of fantastic EDM artists out there today. Today’s average listener needs to dig deeper than ever because of the homogenized sound found in contemporary popular music. While this may be frustrating, it is truly necessary in raising the bar of the quality of songwriting and production, so lovers of music: learn your history and keep your ears open!
If you are interested in researching some sub genres of EDM, check out D&B (Drum and Bass), Trance, Trap, Ambient and Hard Style.