Big room house

Big room house (also spelled Bigroom house and simply abbreviated to "bigroom") is a subgenre of house music, which combines the melodically rich nature of progressive house and trance music with the minimalistic hard or deep subgenres, such as electro house. It is often characterized by sweeping introductions and breakdowns (featuring piano, string, vocal, and pad sounds) followed by a high-energy climactic build-up and a simplistic bass-heavy section that is often referred to as the drop (which often features bass-heavy kick drums, manipulated supersaws synth leads, and Hoover-like sounds).^[2] The term "big room" refers to the reverberated drums and synths often found in the "drops", which create the illusion that the sounds are coming from a large enclosed space.

Structure[]

The structure of bigroom is similar in terms to that of progressive house/trance, usually inspired from American progressive of the late 2000s. I.e., there are two build-ups complete with breaks, two drop sections, and one or two breakdowns, one of which may or may not include the intro/outro phase. Unlike progressive house, however, bigroom is adapted to radio edited format, and hence, features either the first or the second build-up usually much longer than the other one. In case of remixes, one usually features the whole vocal/riff sample of the initial song, while the other build-up is in fact a simple break that is significantly shorter and prepares the listener for the drop.

The basic characteristic of bigroom lies in its minimalism. One bassline, often aided by one or two highs and lows, creates the mood for the whole composition. This bassline is reverberated so that the echo is cut and spontaneously released only on 1/4 of the tab, usually the last. Unlike in electro house proper, where the bass itself is subject to additional wave effects (such as attack, threshold and sustain) in order to beautify the melody, in bigroom, only the way the sound is released plays a major role. Henceforth, the drum beats are made minimal, sometimes with only a kick/tom and a couple of hit-hats.

Origins and popularity[]

Big room house first appeared in early 2010 and was influenced by famous early electro house tracks, such as Benny Bennassi's "Satisfaction". The increasing role of American progressive (deadmau5, Kaskade) and the revival of melodic pop in the UK (piano, guitars, etc.) at the same time also influenced the scene significantly. Swedish groups such as Swedish House Mafia and Dada Life were among the first to experiment with bigroom by mid-2010, when it found increasing popularity through international dance music festivals such as Tomorrowland, Ultra Music Festival, and Electric Daisy Carnival.

The implementation of "big room" elements in tracks by producers gained prominence on the level of popular music artists, who by 2012 started to include bits of big room into their songs. Examples of such tracks include "This Is Love" by will.i.am featuring Eva Simons and "Work Bitch" by Britney Spears.

By 2013, bigroom gained international prominence, with its base across Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Italy, the UK and Russia. Certain tracks such as "Animals" by Martin Garrix and "Levels" by Avicii have topped the radio charts for over a couple of months, extending well beyond the EDM scene.

Criticisms[]

Critics of big room have pointed to a purported lack of originality, diversity, and artistic merit within the genre.^[3]^[4]

DJ, producer, and prominent EDM figure Wolfgang Gartner called big room house "the EDM Apocalypse", saying "real music should have some soul and authenticity to it, and not just be a big kick drum and a trance breakdown with a cheesy one-liner and a 'big drop'".^[5]

Artists[]

The following is a list of some of the most notable and influential artists of the genre in alphabetical order.

Afrojack
Alesso
Avicii
Axwell
Bassjackers
Bingo Players
Calvin Harris
Clouds Collapse
Cazzette
David Guetta
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike
Dirty South
Don Diablo
Fedde Le Grand
GTA
Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman
Hardwell
Hard Rock Sofa
Krewella
Laidback Luke
Martin Garrix
Michael Woods
Nervo
Nicky Romero
Quintino
R3hab
Ravevx
Sander Van Doorn
Sandro Silva
Sebastian Ingrosso
Scooter
Showtek
Skirisk
Steerner
Steve Angello
Steve Aoki
Swedish House Mafia
Tiesto
Ummet Ozcan
W&W
Yves V
Zedd

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==List of artists/songs who focuses in a different genre that made a Big Room House track==

The following is a list of some artists who produces an entirely different genre that once produced a song under the big room genre in alphabetical order.*Zomboy - WTF?!

Skirisk - Black Friday

(More coming soon)==Labels==

The following is a list of some of the most notable labels of the genre. Many labels are managed by the artists above, who serve the role of A&R managers. The labels are in alphabetical order.

Axtone Records
Dim Mak Records
Doorn Recordings
Flamingo Recordings
Fly Eye Records
Hysteria Records
LE7ELS
Mixmash
Musical Freedom
Phazing
Protocol Recordings
Refune Records
Revealed Recordings
Size Records
Spinnin' Records
Ultra
Wall Recordings
PRMD Records

Songs[]

This is a list of big room house tracks among the most famous and significant of the genre.

2010[]

Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharrell - "One"

2011[]

Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - "Save the World"
Michael Calfan - "Resurrection" (Axwell's Recut Club Version)
Sandro Silva & Quintino - "Epic"

2012[]

Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl feat. Georgi Kay - "In My Mind" (Axwell Mix)
Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin - "Don't You Worry Child"
Swedish House Mafia - "Greyhound"
Nicky Romero - "Toulouse"
Hardwell - "Spaceman"
Hardwell feat. Amba Shepherd - "Apollo"
Alesso feat. Matthew Koma - "Years"
Sebastian Ingrosso and Alesso - "Calling (Lose My Mind)"
Tiësto - "Chasing Summers"
Nari & Milani - "Atom"
Nicky Romero & Nervo - "Like Home"
Avicii vs Nicky Romero - "I Could Be the One"
Krewella - "Alive"
Showtek & Justin Prime - "Cannonball"

2013[]

Carnage & Borgore - "Incredible"
Alesso vs OneRepublic - "If I Lose Myself"
Lana Del Rey - "Summertime Sadness" (Cédric Gervais Remix)
Zedd - "Clarity"
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike - "Mammoth"
Porter Robinson & Mat Zo - Easy
Armin van Buuren feat. Trevor Guthrie - "This Is What It Feels Like" (W&W Remix or Audien Remix)
Sebastian Ingrosso and Tommy Trash feat. John Martin - "Reload" (Vocal Version)
Calvin Harris feat. Ellie Goulding - "I Need Your Love"
Martin Garrix - "Animals"
Hardwell & Dyro feat. Bright Lights - "Never Say Goodbye"
DVBBS & Borgeous - "Tsunami"
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike - "CHATTAHOOCHEE"
Axwell & Sick Individuals feat. Taylr Renee - "I Am"
Steve Angello & Matisse & Sadko - "SLVR"
Nicky Romero & Krewella - "Legacy (Save My Life)"
Hardwell ft. Matthew Koma - "Dare You"
Showtek feat. We Are Loud & Sonny Wilson - "Booyah (song)"
Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike vs DVBBS & Borgeous - "Stampede"
R3hab, NERVO & Ummet Ozcan - "Revolution"
Martin Garrix & Jay Hardway - "Wizard"
Hardwell & MAKJ - Countdown
MAKJ & Henry Fong - Encore
Sandro Silva - Payback
Thomas Newson - Pallaroid

References[]

↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/arts/music/electric-zoo-festival-cut-short-by-two-deaths.html?_r=0
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 http://blog.lessthan3.com/2011/07/progressive-house-explained/
↑ http://www.spin.com/articles/daleri-epic-mashleg-interview/
↑ http://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/hear-16-remarkably-similar-edm-drops-edited-into-a-single-60-second-track-580164
↑ Anthony, Polis (2013-05-02). Wolfgang Gartner Discusses "EDM Apocalypse". DJ City. Retrieved on December 5, 2013. “To be perfectly honest, and I hate to sound negative, cynical or condescending in any way but that’s probably how this will come off, I’ve been really bummed with most of the new music that’s been making waves in 2013. I feel like the “big” sound in dance music right now is just this mashup of every single subgenre possible, to try and appeal to the most people possible, with these cheesy played-out trance pads and vocal hooks, it all sounds exactly the same and it’s really bad for the most part, and the scariest thing is that people are reacting to this stuff, crowds at festivals and clubs are wanting more of it. A few of us have deemed it the EDM Apocolypse. Dance music is in a really weird place right now. I don’t know where it’s going to go. In some way I’m hoping Daft Punk single-handedly destroys this phenomenon we’re experiencing and un-brainwashes everybody into realizing that real music should have some soul and authenticity to it, and not just be a big kick drum and a trance breakdown with a cheesy one-liner and a “big drop.””

[1] ttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/02/arts/music/electric-zoo-festival-cut-short-by-two-deaths.html?_r=0

[LessThan3-2] 2.0 ^2.1 http://blog.lessthan3.com/2011/07/progressive-house-explained/

[3] ttp://www.spin.com/articles/daleri-epic-mashleg-interview/

[4] ttp://www.musicradar.com/news/tech/hear-16-remarkably-similar-edm-drops-edited-into-a-single-60-second-track-580164

[5] Anthony, Polis (2013-05-02). Wolfgang Gartner Discusses "EDM Apocalypse". DJ City. Retrieved on December 5, 2013. “To be perfectly honest, and I hate to sound negative, cynical or condescending in any way but that’s probably how this will come off, I’ve been really bummed with most of the new music that’s been making waves in 2013. I feel like the “big” sound in dance music right now is just this mashup of every single subgenre possible, to try and appeal to the most people possible, with these cheesy played-out trance pads and vocal hooks, it all sounds exactly the same and it’s really bad for the most part, and the scariest thing is that people are reacting to this stuff, crowds at festivals and clubs are wanting more of it. A few of us have deemed it the EDM Apocolypse. Dance music is in a really weird place right now. I don’t know where it’s going to go. In some way I’m hoping Daft Punk single-handedly destroys this phenomenon we’re experiencing and un-brainwashes everybody into realizing that real music should have some soul and authenticity to it, and not just be a big kick drum and a trance breakdown with a cheesy one-liner and a “big drop.””

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