UK Hard House - Sound

Sound

Proper hard house is typified by a set formula of up-tempo house music compressed kick drums, signature style off-beat basslines (often referred to as a 'donk') and the use of 'hoover' type sounds. In contempt of the name it shares some parts in style with house music, but borrows elements heavily from trance music (synths and sometimes breakdown formula) plus oldskool/hardcore/rave music (hoover sounds, rap samples). Generally, hard house is part of a wider group of styles called Hard Dance and has little in common with the modern trance or house scenes going for a stronger storm sound. Hard Dance also encompasses NRG or Hard NRG, which UK Hard House is often confused for. However, the two have some variance from each other, and are considered two separate genres by Hard Dance enthusiasts.

Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music does not have an entry for Hard House, it lists only NRG which a sub-genre of hard house, sometimes referred to as "filth" for its darker, menacing, harder and more twisted sound

Hard House is similar to, but distinct from Hardstyle. Confusion can sometimes arise as some club nights and events will play both Hardstyle and Hard House. This may be due to the fact that Hardstyle is quite well known across western europe, where as Hard House has only ever had a limited audience outside of the UK, so there is more new music being released on the Hardstyle scene