Well dubstep is a sub genre of dub which itself is a sub genre of reggae that's around a half century old so there's really nothing new in it really. Reggae artists play real instruments & write real songs in the conventional sense. Dub is pretty much a studio/DJ thing which is very rarely performed live if at all. It started out in Jamaica with DJ's/producers cutting up tape & heavy use of reverb & delay on existing recordings to create dub plates which they could then use to play on there sound systems & in the dancehalls to give there sets a bit of exclusivity.
With the rise of the digital revolution & the new instruments it has brought with it it has become increasingly easier to re-create the FX the first dub pioneers made & also do stuff that is even more radical. Having said that I got bored of the dubstep thing years ago due to the fact it is very easy to make a track that you could pass off as dubstep & EVERY spotty herbert is doing THE EXACT SAME THING! The innovation that was the essence of Dub seems to have gone out the window. There doesn't seem to be anything musical at all about it, just who can make the most annoying, screeching sound possible then compress it to the max to make it even louder & more annoying. Fuckin shite state of affairs if you ask me. Same thing has happend to electro house also.
I deeply still love Dub but you can stick the step part up your arse as far as I'm concerned & while I'm having a rant didn't the term dubstep mean a cross between dub & two step???? As far as I can tell it doesn't resemble either genre...OK rant over, I think I'll make a real Dub track, without the step
