Is 2015 the year of the reverse bass?
Used predominantly to get the crowd jumping and vibrate dangly bits, hardstyle has featured reversed basslines since its inception. However, over the years, this trend in music has come and gone from the hit list of grade a engineers and producers. In recent times they’ve opted for harder kick styles with reverb tails rather than the pursuit of offbeat baselines.
Thankfully for anyone who prefers basslines from cloud nine (myself included), this year marks a notable comeback for the sound. It has evolved from the classic reversed bassline into an attack bassline with the same offbeat nature giving a nod to the early years of hard trance.
I’d argue that the scene has been permanently changed by releases such as Audiofreq’s Warcry, which I’m incredibly grateful for. Released in April of last year, it featured a bassline so strong it could permanently dislodge eyeballs from sockets, and was the likely cause of several natural disasters around the world.
More importantly it featured one of the freshest and strongest reverse bass sounds made in recent times which inspired crowds around the world with its depth and tone.
Fast forward to today, The Prophet, A-lusion, Daniele Mondello, and a list that’s growing daily have been busy in studios all over the globe creating tracks featuring some of the strongest reverses ever heard.
We were lucky enough to chat to The Prophet and Dj A-lusion about their latest Tracks;
The Prophet interview
What inspired you to make reverse bass again?
The Prophet: At this very moment all kinds of tracks roll out of my studio. The one time it’s a tougher concept like Kikkdrum, then again it’s a freestylish thing like Jumpp Upp and this time I made not one, but two reverse bass tracks. The first one is Mixmaster, which was just released on Scantraxx Recordz. The second one is ‘Reverse Bass’, which was in LOUDER Episode 09.
I can’t predict it! These things just happen. Maybe next week I’ll make another one…. All I can say is that I’m really happy with the current studio/productions flow and that I’ll surely keep it up for a while.
Can you tell me a little about your thought process for you latest track Mixmaster / What does this new track represent for you?
The Prophet: My experience is that reverse bass tracks do incredibly well in other countries (other than the Netherlands). Since I travel a lot for my performances, I decided to give these fans something especially for them.
Will we be seeing more of this style from you in the future?
The Prophet: Sure! Can’t say when though… reverse bass will be released in 2015 as well but I’m not sure when the next reverse bass track will be made.
We also caught up with Dj A-lusion to find out about venture back into reverse bass.
A-Lusion interview
What inspired you to make reverse bass again?
A-Lusion: I felt like I wanted to bring more continuous energy back on the dance floor. Not too much breaks. But keeping it rhythmic. Reverse Bass is the perfect tool for that. And it’s really fun to create a reverse bass in the studio as well. To me, it’s more fun than creating a regular hardstyle kick drum.
I love to put in little details in a reverse bass, that make it seem faster and more advanced. Little extra sounds, little effects, etc. And besides that, a kick + reverse Bass still works really well on the dance floor! So, it’s a mixture of reasons.
Can you tell me a little about your thought process for you latest track Mixmaster / What does this new track represent for you?
A-Lusion: I’ve got 2 releases coming up. Serenity of Night is a bit harder and is mainly focused on original sound design. The feeling it gives me is a feeling of creative satisfaction as it challenged me as a producer.
The other track (I Need You) is more Euphoric and big stage crowd ready smile emoticon. The last reverse bass remix I did is for Betavoice – Ready4This. I loved creating a ‘ triplet ‘ reverse bass again for this track. So much energy is derived from that.
What I loved doing in this track, is use a reverse bass in the climax part of the track again. That’s kind of different from what you usually hear these days.
All the other elements around the reverse bass in that track, give me a nostalgic feeling, with a modern twist smile emoticon
For my upcoming EDC Las Vegas performance, I produced a reverse bass, which makes me feel kind of proud. It ended up being a really full, rich sounding bassline. One of the best I did so far, if you ask me personally. This special track will be free released after the event. So everybody can hear this reverse bass soon! I already previewed it at my social media wink emoticon
Will we be seeing more of this style from you in the future?
A-Lusion: Yes, more reverse bass will follow. But also more tracks with regular kicks. I love to do both.
Needless to say this year is going to be a fantastic year for anyone who’s passionate about the style and I personally can’t wait to see the results. For those luck enough to be based in my hometown Sydney Australia, Masif Saturdays an insanely huge reverse bass night July 25th – I’ll see you on the dance floor!
Catch up with The Prophet here. Catch up with DJ A-lusion here.
Don’t forget, if you like the article, make sure you share it 🙂