DRUM AND BASS
IN COSTA RICA.
Why do so many people ask for drum and bass at a night billed as dubstep? Because three out of every ten people who sign up write it on the form. That 30% is the number we have had the hardest time placing, and this page is what we have worked out about it.
What dnb is doing at a dubstep night
On paper the two live far apart. Dubstep sits around 140 beats per minute and drum and bass runs closer to 175, which on a dance floor feels like a different sport entirely.
The gap closes underneath. Both came out of the same world of British sound systems, both were built for big speakers outdoors, and in both the sub carries the whole track instead of backing it up. Nobody drives two hours into a dark field for the tempo. They come for what lands in the chest, and that hits just as hard at 140 as it does at 175.
There is also a technical bridge DJs have leaned on for years. Drum and bass counted at half time lands near the dubstep pulse, so you can cross from one to the other without cutting the night in half. That is why the two genres keep turning up together at bass parties worldwide, even when nobody bills them side by side.
Our lineup is dubstep and experimental bass, and that stays fixed. But 30% says a large chunk of the people standing on that ground have an ear tuned somewhere else on the same map, and that does shape how we order the night.
What the poll says
On signup, each person votes for a genre and names three artists. The percentages show live and shift with every new registration.
- 53% dubstep, the majority with no argument.
- 30% drum and bass, the part we did not expect.
- 17% weird bass, whatever fits in no box.
Where each label comes from is explained in dubstep in Costa Rica. Tickets are on sale now. Choose your night and buy tickets for La Selva del Bajo at The Park at Ocean Ranch.
The three, side by side
The first two columns are common knowledge to anyone who mixes. The third is our own call, and it is here because people ask often, not because the running order is locked.
| Genre | Tempo | How it feels | Where it lands best, in our view |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubstep | Around 140, with the rhythm at half time | Huge gaps between hits, with the sub acting as the melody inside those gaps. | Full dark onward, once nobody is still pitching a tent. |
| Drum and bass | Between 170 and 175 | Chopped drums running over a bassline that never lets up. | The small hours, in the stretch where the floor needs lifting. |
| Weird bass | Whatever the track feels like | Structures that may never repeat and sounds that are hard to name. | Sunset and sunrise, the two strange edges of the night. |
For drum and bass DJs
If you mix dnb and you are reading this from inside the country, the performer call applies to you too. We never put a genre filter on the form and we are not adding one now.
Worth knowing before you write in: the night is built around dubstep and experimental bass, so a dnb set comes in as part of a whole rather than a separate block with its own crowd. If that works for you, send material. If you want a full night of your own genre, we are not that today.
Sending material does not lock anything in yet either: no fee, no slot, no spot on the lineup. That gets worked out directly with us. The artists announced so far are already published. The ground and the schedule we cover separately, on the bass festival page.
Questions from the 30%
Will drum and bass actually play that night?
See the announced artists. What each artist plays is up to their set, so we do not promise a dedicated drum and bass block. The frame has been settled from the start: dubstep and experimental bass. What the 30% changed is how much attention we give proposals coming from that side.
Why not run an edition dedicated to dnb alone?
Because we have not gotten the first one of this right yet. Pulling off a gathering of 500 people before opening a second format seems wiser than splitting ourselves in two. If the number holds once we reach capacity, that becomes a real conversation later.
Can a rig built for dubstep handle dnb?
Yes, for the same reason it handles dubstep. A system reproducing clean sub does not get rattled because the tempo climbed. What changes is how much room sits between hits, which is how much the low end gets to breathe. Outdoors that shows more than it does in a closed room.
How much does the poll still move?
A lot early on, and less every week since. With few registrations a single vote swung everything. As the list has grown, the three percentages have been settling. That is why we publish the current number instead of a tidy average: we want to see whether 30% holds all the way through.
What to send
A mix, loose tracks, a video or a portfolio. Any of those four gets us listening, and we ask for neither unreleased material nor a final master. If you would rather ask first, WhatsApp is +1 518 351 6952 and Instagram is @laselvadelbajo. And if you want context on the week all of this lands in, that lives in New Year's Eve in Costa Rica and Jacó in December.
Performer call
Jungle in Costa RicaJungle in Costa Rica: chopped breaks at 160, the amen break and Jamaican sound systems, told from the open-air grounds near Jacó.
Neurofunk in Costa RicaNeurofunk in Costa Rica: the most technical branch of drum and bass, the reese, and why it splits floors. Told from the dubstep night near Jacó.
Halftime in Costa RicaHalftime in Costa Rica: 170 on the clock, 85 in your body. The hinge between drum and bass and dubstep, and where it lands near Jacó.