The best definition I’ve seen is a mnemonic.
Space, pace and bass.
Space
Sparseness
Dubby reverb and delay
Pace
Around 140bpm
Half time or 2-step
Bass
Omnipresent subbass
Modulating synth bass
There are exceptions to all of these.
How would you guys define dubstep to somebody who’s never heard it?
Its like a robot fucking a unicorn bro
Music you can’t dance to
Is what I always hear, fucking normies 
It’s like a forum
wobbly wobble music thats awesome.
Bass driven music around 140 BPM that uses minimal elements to maximum effect, and draws the groove out of the negative space as much as the positive.
Dubstep was once a genre which had no rules or limitations with the exception of having low-end frequency, just for the listener to fall into a type of trance, hence the term “Meditate on Bassweight.”
something
Deep
I probably just wouldn’t. Dubstep is something I try pretty hard to avoid talking to people about IRL, and even most parts of the internet, unless I know they’re relatively clued in. Otherwise it just descends into a shit chucking contest for me.
Halftime beat.
Otherwise any dubstep track could be turned into dnb/breakbeat/house etc. just by changing the tempo a little bit. Other stuff like sub bass could be just as well used when trying to define some other genres.
halftime isnt really necessary though, it’s common but not a requirement.
“Bass driven music at around 140 bpm” is probably the best definition I’ve seen used because it’s quite broad. No point trying to define dubstep (or any genre for that matter), if you really wanted to “explain” dubstep to someone it would be better to play them a few tracks to let them get a feel for it.
yeh you might be on to something there
I always think of Burial as being garage.
I was just gonna post this.
Pretty good example of what I meant actually. Sure halftime isn’t a must, but there’s not that distinctive dubstep vibe to it anymore.
that’s the thing though, isn’t it. people’s expectations to find that “distinctive dubstep vibe” killed the beast.
You have to know know where the “Step” in Dubstep came from.
I love this proto-dubstep-shit.
Probably yeah. I like both deep stuff and midrange tearout, but it still went out of hand. So little amount of people who make brostep have any originality that makes them stick from the mass. Song structures and melodies are getting cheaper every (unless they already hit the bottom, I haven’t been following the scene really that much recently).