Hello producers, how’s it going? In this post, we’ll be taking a look at the production process behind 3 different, but still similar Deep House track ideas. All three examples will be structured around the same drums, pad and bass instruments. Although each track follows a different chord progression, you can feel the distinctive characteristics of the minor 9th chord. If you’re interested in re-creating the bass in Massive, check out this tutorial. So let’s take a listen at each of the three ideas and then we’ll start dissecting them. This post is also available in video format.

Track 1 builds around the ascending chord progression of minor 9th chords. The accent is on the significantly longer chord from the second bar:

Track 2‘s main vibe comes from the co-movement of the on-beat bass with the off-beat stabs:

Track 3 uses Massive’s Stepper function to transform a simple lead sound into a detuned arpeggio:

The post is structured in 10 parts. We’ll build the drums first and then we’ll move through each individual element of all three examples. All MIDI patterns are provided so follow along with your samples and instruments. If you have any questions or suggestions, leave a comment or get in touch with us: hi@promusicproducers.com. Okay then, let’s start!

VIDEO TUTORIAL

DRUMS

STEP 1 – The tempo we’ll be using is 124 BPM. Here is a standard 2-bars pattern, with the kick on every beat, the clap on every two beats and the off-beat open hat. The clap is triggered slightly off-grid. Also, notice the extra hit on the clap in the second bar:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2 - Let’s add a closed hat that follows a basic 1/16 pattern. Notice how the velocity is changing throughout the clip. This creates a nice motion for this element, but we’ll go even further in the next step:

It sounds like this:

STEP 3 - Access the “Swing and Groove” folder in Live 9, and from the “Logic” sub-folder, drag and drop the “Logic 16 Swing 60” preset on the closed-hat clip. Here I’ve used a Global Amount of 100 and Velocity of 33:

It sounds like this:

So, these are the drums:

Track 1 – Pad

STEP 1 - We start with a 2-bars loop and with the following pattern on D minor:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2- Now extend this to a 4-bars loop and insert the progression D – G – A, all minor triads. Not only the A minor is the highest chord from the sequence, but it is also the longest. This difference in length adds a nice touch to this element:

It sounds like this:

STEP 3 - Let’s transform the triads into Minor 9th chords:

It sounds like this:

STEP 4 - Now take the second and third note from each chord and move them in the next octave (F1 and A1 from the D minor 9th are now F2 and A2). This is known as chord voicing. We’ll be using this chord structure throughout the post:

It sounds like this:

Track 1 – Bass

STEP 1 – We begin by drawing the main pattern on D:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2 - Now extend this to 4 bars and insert the main progression D – G – A:

It sounds like this:

STEP 3 - Shift the last D0 to F0, and the last A0 to C1. This creates a nice transition between the bars:

It sounds like this:

Track 1 – Stab

The stab will play a basic off-beat pattern of the same D minor 9th chord structure:

It sounds like this:

So, this is our first track:

Track 2 – Pad

STEP 1 - The pad in the second track will follow a simple on-beat pattern, being triggered on the first and third beat. We start with the same minor 9th chord structure, in C:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2 - Duplicate this 4 times and insert the progression C1 – D1 – G0:

It sounds like this:

Track 2 – Bass

STEP 1 - The bass will follow the same on-beat pattern and progression. Notice the contrary motion in the last two bars, with the bass-line climbing to G1 instead of going down to G0:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2 - Now let’s fill the rest of clip with some short accent notes in a lower octave:

It sounds like this:

Track 2 – Stab

STEP 1 – For the stab, we begin from an off-beat pattern of the same C minor 9th chord. The off-beat pattern goes really well with the on-beat bass:

It sounds like this:

STEP 2 - Now take the second and fourth chord, and move them 12 semitones higher. This add a nice variation every half a bar:

It sounds like this:

STEP 3 - Extend this to 4 bars and add the same progression C – D – G:

It sounds like this:

So, this is our second track:

Track 3 – Pad

In the last track, the pad will follow a 2-bars clip of the F# – E – B progression:

It sounds like this:

Track 3 – Bass

The bass will play the following pattern. The pattern follows the main progression with an extra note at the end of the second bar:

It sounds like this:

Track 3 – Lead Arp

For the arpeggiated lead element, I’ve select a Massive preset that combines the Saw, Guitar-Pulse and Roughmath 1 wave-forms. This element plays the same midi sequence from the pad, and by default it sounds like this:

Now let’s turn this into an arpeggio:

1 – In Massive, click on any of the four LFO tabs (in this case is “6 LFO”) and switch from “LFO” to “Stepper”.

2 – Now adjust the stepper or load one of the built-in presets. In this example I’ve turned on the 3rd step at +7 and the 7th at +12.

3 – Turn on the “Sync” function and select the ratio 1/16:

4 – Drag and Drop the Stepper effect on the “Pitch” setting of all three oscillators, and set the input value to 12.

Play with the “Glide Mod” to adjust the glide settings between the arpeggiated chords.

It sounds like this:

So, this is our third track:

The End

So there you go. Hope you got some inspiration out of this. Let me know which of the three examples is your favorite in the comments below. Finally, if you found this post useful, don’t forget to share it!

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