Amen Break

The so-called Amen Break is a sample from the piece Amen, Brother of soul band The Winstons of 1969. It is a short solo by drummer Gregory C. Coleman in the middle of the song. The break lasts for four bars and is relatively fast for a radio break at about 130 bpm.

The Amen Break is one of the most frequently used samples in the history of hip -hop and electronic music. The powerful and have a relatively dull sound of the drum recording and the catchy, syncopated rhythm make the sample particularly useful for this to be played at higher speeds, for example by a 33 ⅓ RPM record with 45 revolutions per minute is played. The effective rate is then about 175 bpm.

Breakbeats and the Amen Break in particular are the basis of the Jungle music was born from the later drum and bass. Especially in the beginning almost every Jungle- piece contained the Amen Break in more or less recognizable form, but even today it is used again and again. The tempo of 175 bpm of the playing faster Breaks is still the common pace in drum and bass.

Nowadays, the Amen Break is no longer played just faster but divided into individual short samples, which can then be rearranged. Especially the continuous sounding cymbals produce a charming effect here. The samples are (also independently) worked with different alienation effects and played with different pitches ( pitches ). Some of the samples are combined with other drum samples. Nevertheless, the Amen Break has a high recognition value due to its characteristic sound. The described technique is used in drum and bass and other styles of electronic music for other drum breaks.

It can be assumed that, especially in jungle and drum and bass - but also in other styles like breakcore - the Amen Break was used thousands of times.

The band members were not aware of the use and success of the samples. Singer Richard Lewis Spencer learned until the mid- nineties it when someone tried to call the rights to the song.