Recording
Midnight Request Line
Skream
Independently chosen for4 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.
- Released
- 2005
- Label
- Tempa
- On
- Dubstep, Bass Weight, The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred, and The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National
- Updated
- 2026-08-29
Analysis
6 sections, the first drop of 3 at 1:09, 29% of the way in, 23% of it spent climbing.
- Key
- C major
- estimated from the pitch content
- Dynamic range
- 11.5 dB
- wide open — the quiet parts are genuinely quiet
- Length
- 3:57
- measured from the YouTube master
The record, end to end
Click the track to jump · ← → move between sections
- 0:00Aintro0
- 0:15Abuildbar 6
- 1:09Bpeakbar 27
- 2:15Bpeakbar 52
- 2:44Cbreakdownbar 63
- 2:57Bpeakbar 68
Drops at 1:09 (bar 27), 2:17 (bar 53), 3:02 (bar 70). A drop is a moment, not a stretch — marked on the track above rather than shaded across it.
0:00 · A · intro
opens the record below its own average energy · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:15
- Energy
- 0
- Brightness
- 0
- Density
- 0
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy and brightness climbing without a break · instrumental · one of 2 stretches of the same music (A)
- Lasts
- 0:55
- Energy
- 33
- Brightness
- 46
- Density
- 55
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 1:05
- Energy
- 100
- Brightness
- 89
- Density
- 71
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:29
- Energy
- 93
- Brightness
- 100
- Density
- 56
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning · instrumental
- Lasts
- 0:13
- Energy
- 1
- Brightness
- 55
- Density
- 100
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
sits at the top of this record's range · instrumental · one of 3 stretches of the same music (B)
- Lasts
- 0:59
- Energy
- 93
- Brightness
- 70
- Density
- 54
- drums
- bass
- vocals
- other
Brightness and density are scored against this record's own sections, not against music in general — they say how its parts differ from each other, and nothing about how it compares to anything else.
- drums
- the drum kit, separated from the mix
- bass
- the bass part, separated from the mix
- vocals
- the voice, separated from the mix
- other
- everything else — synths, guitars, keys, strings
Separated into parts by a source-separation model, so each lane is the instrument it names.
- intro
- opens the record below its own average energy
- build
- energy and brightness climbing without a break
- peak
- sits at the top of this record's range
- breakdown
- energy falling away mid-record, percussion thinning
Measured from the YouTube master on . Section labels describe how the energy of the recording moves, not its musical form — a machine can see loudness climb and jump, it cannot hear a chorus arrive. Anything we were not confident enough to state is left out rather than shown with a caveat.
Ranked No. 1 in Dubstep
The crossover record, made by a teenager in his bedroom. A synth riff simple enough to hum and a bassline that only fully exists on a large rig, which is exactly why it converted so many people at once.
Picked by Bass Weight
The same 140 BPM grid with the kicks taken out and the low end left to do the work alone. The record that made dubstep legible to people who had never stood in front of a proper rig.
Picked by The Waxonia Desk — The Hundred
A riff simple enough to hum over a bassline that only fully exists on a large rig. That combination is why an entire scene got out of South London.
Picked by The Waxonia Desk — The Night It Went National
The tune that converted people who had no idea what they were listening to. A scene needs one record everybody can hum before anything else it does is allowed to travel.