How To Make A Banging Tech House Groove
Tech house is a subgenre of house music that combines techno and house. It was created in the 90s and remains one of the most popular genres to this day.
Tech house was influenced by Detroit techno, Chicago house music, minimal techno and electro house. Tech House began as a DJ approach, Bushwaka!, mr. When DJs like C and Wiggle started mixing house and techno.
Over time, the genre has grown and diversified, and today the techno house charts are dominated by artists such as Dom Dolla, MK, James Hype, John Summitt, Soulardo, Chris Lake, ESSEL, Peggy Go and Westend.
But you're here to build your own tech house, right? First, we need to consider some of the USPs of this genre. Tech house has a slower BPM than techno, revolves around a catchy chorus, and has a catchy bass line. The basic elements of any techno song are kick, bass, breath, claps, drums, synths, effects and vocals.
The beat used in this genre is usually short and sharp, giving way to the bass. Your best bet is to listen to links to learn more about the types of drums and drum patterns used in modern tech house, and then find examples that fit your production style.
kick and bass
The kick and bass are central to a tech house beat. Start with a tight snare drum with a short tail to make room for the bass. Click on the quarterly notes. If you know your kick key, raise the major key frequency of the kick and lower the second to make room for the bass. Play around with signals and samples to find what works best.
For bass, you can use Ableton Live's Operator or a software synthesizer. To create your own bass sound on the operator, use a sawtooth wave with a note duration of about 150ms. Use a low pass filter and cut off frequencies above 300Hz. Create MIDI tracks with grids of 1/16 notes one to four bars long.
Program the bass line to the key of your track; Typically, tech house is written in minor keys. You can focus on using a few notes, as a simple bass line with one or two notes can work well. Next we'll add some pitch changes to the notes. Double-click the MIDI region and open the track envelope.
Select MIDI Control, then Pitch Bend, and enter Pitch Bend in Multi-Note Automation. This will give your base line more movement. For bass processing, add saturation with a plug-in like FabFilter Saturn 2 or Ableton's Drum Bass. Try applying it gently at first (if you're using a Saturn 2, try gentler saturation).
Use a bass equalizer to remove frequencies below 30Hz. If you want to go further, take a shortcut by boosting the kick's second elemental boost and base boosting the first elemental boost. Place the side base on the kick drum with a compressor (we used a Kickstart 2) to make room for the kick drum.
Use a filter (we used FabFilter Simplon) to cut frequencies above 1000Hz. If you want to remove frequencies above 300Hz, adjust the filter to your liking. Play the bass together and listen to the beat. Both should have their place in the mix. If you can clearly hear the bass and kick, you're on your way.
Making a drum
Try using different hi-hats to get an interesting hi-hat sound. The classic closed-back 909 hi-hat can double as a roll. Use a sample or samples such as a battery with the 909 kit. Create a MIDI track and program hats for specific rhythms using a 1/16 note grid like 1.1.3, 1.2.3, 1.3.3, 1.4.3.
Find a strum pattern and program it to the same beat as the basic hi-hat. Use audio samples in your DAW or load them into Sampler like Sampler. Make Shaker even wider with extension plugins like StereoSavage or Polyverse Wider. Try adding a sink cap after the third or fourth cap.
Add more interest by adding an additional hi-hat sound below the main hi-hat, such as an open hi-hat. Create a hi-hat group and send that group to the return track using reverb. Adjust the reverb settings for the techno house style you want to achieve, for example a medium house would be fine for a club track.
Add claps to two and four beats, use an audio file or clap sample as an input or sample. Create a more interesting tone by adding an extra layer of hand claps. You can use the same sample for the second slap and process it differently by adding an adjustment app (like zplane Elastique pitch) and saturation.
Choose some drum loops from SampleRadar's sample selection. Instead of playing whole loops, try editing loops and using parts of them Place one or two shock rings so they complement each other. The loops have to work with your base line, which is why these two holes are similar.
Find a vinyl crack sample and add it to the mix as a texture layer played at low volume. You can find and edit a texture sample and play it on all bars simultaneously. Finally, you should add a few drum fill cycles every eight to six bars to keep the groove interesting.
Professional advice
Your battery should have a somewhat dynamic shape. Adjust attack and sustain with your DAW's built-in compressor or using plug-ins like iZotope Neutron 4 or Transient Master from Native Instruments. You can separate them by increasing the attack to adjust the transition of sounds like a high hat.
EQ each drum sound with an EQ (FabFilter Pro Q-3, above, our pick) with a dynamic EQ function that adds more movement when boosting or cutting a track. Compression can be used on drums, but consider whether this is necessary, as many drum patterns are already processed. You can layer drum sounds instead.
Compression can add more strength while temporarily stiffening and reducing stability. Slow attack avoids pre-transition, creating a louder sound. Fast releases sound more aggressive, while slow releases are softer Finally, group your drums, send the group to the drum bus, then add some compression and saturation to the drums.
Listening is recommended
1. ESSEL - sweat (comprehensive mix)
Tech house with powerful drums and a catchy main riff from new talents in dance music.
2. Gorillaz - New Gold (Dom Dolla Remix)
An unforgettable dance party led by one of the greatest techno house producers, Dom Dolla.