What is deep drum & bass?

Deep drum & bass runs at the usual 170 BPM but pulls everything back. Sparse, machine-like rhythms, deep sub-bass with little to no wobble, cool glassy pads, and a lot of negative space. Dancefloor in pulse, introspective in mood.

Most of it traces to Autonomic, the project dBridge and Instra:mental (Darren White, Damon Kirkham, and Al Green) built around a 2009 podcast series and the 2010 Fabriclive 50 mix. They pared the breakbeats and bass pressure down to highlight space and sound design, and the Autonomic label gave the sound a base.

Deep drum & bass shares its roots with halftime.