Electro house

History and character

Electro house is a house subgenre with cultural origins in the mid to late 1990s, which emerged strongly in the early to mid 2000s as a heavier alternative to other house styles. The first cited examples are “Dark Invader” by Arrivers (1996), “Raw S*it” by Basement Jaxx (1997) and “Flat Beat” by Mr. Oizo (1999). The key precursor is Italian: “Satisfaction” by Benny Benassi (2002), with its distorted, “buzzing” saw bass. In November 2006 “Put Your Hands Up For Detroit” by Fedde Le Grand and “Yeah Yeah” by Bodyrox & Luciana (D. Ramirez remix) took the top two spots on the UK chart.

From the mid-2000s electro house split and cross-pollinated: the French electro of Justice (“Waters of Nazareth”, 2005) and Digitalism, fidget house (Switch, Jesse Rose, Sinden, AC Slater, Hervé, Jack Beats) with vocal fragments, pitch-bend basses and rave stabs, Dutch house or “Dirty Dutch” (Afrojack, Sidney Samson, Hardwell, Chuckie; from 2009) with Latin-flavored percussion and high-pitched leads, and complextro, a term coined by Porter Robinson in 2010 for his glitchy style with lightning-fast cuts between instruments (Skrillex, Wolfgang Gartner, Feed Me, Knife Party, Madeon). deadmau5 popularized the style in the United States (“Ghosts 'n' Stuff”, 2008); Steve Aoki, Zedd and Porter Robinson followed. Daft Punk and their “Discovery” are an acknowledged influence.

Characteristics: heavy basses, often distorted, “buzzing” saws, a big four-on-the-floor kick, drops, frequent melodic elements. Electro house is the bridge between house and big room: many “electro” tracks of 2010–2013 flowed into big room.

Scales and keys

Minor and “rock” Mixolydian; lots of semitone movement in the basses. Examples in F minor, G and A minor (in A minor: Am = i, F = VI, G = VII, C = III).

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. On F: F G Ab Bb C Db Eb.
• Chords: i Fm, ii° G°, III Ab, iv Bbm, v Cm, VI Db, VII Eb.
• Use: bass riffs on the tonic and the b7; i–VI–VII progressions in the breakdowns.
• Listening example: the repetitive minor bass riff of “Satisfaction” (Benny Benassi).

Phrygian

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. On F: F Gb Ab Bb C Db Eb. Chords: i Fm, bII Gb, III Ab, iv Bbm, v° C°, VI Db, vii Ebm.
• Use: “dirty” semitone riffs, complextro basses.

Mixolydian

• Formula: 1 2 3 4 5 6 b7. On G: G A B C D E F. Characteristic note b7 (F).
• Chords: I G, ii Am, iii° B°, IV C, v Dm, vi Em, bVII F.
• Use: electro anthems and French electro with a rock color (I–bVII–IV).

Minor pentatonic and blues

• Pentatonic: 1 b3 4 5 b7 (on A: A C D E G); blues: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7 (on A: A C D Eb E G).
• Use: bass riffs and “funky” leads (fidget, French electro).

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7. On A: A B C D E F# G. Chords: i Am, ii Bm, III C, IV D, v Em, #vi° F#°, VII G.
• Use: funk and “disco” grooves (Daft Punk influence).

How to choose

• Dirty, aggressive: Aeolian/Phrygian with bass riffs.
• Rock and anthem: Mixolydian.
• Funk and French: pentatonic, blues, Dorian.

Harmony

• Riffs more than chords: the distorted bass plays the riff and defines the harmony; chords are stabs or pads.
• Harmonic rhythm: 1 chord every 1–2 bars; pedal in the drop.
• Breakdown: 4-chord progressions with pads, piano or arpeggios (deadmau5).
• Borrowed chords: Mixolydian bVII, Phrygian bII, harmonic V in the builds.
• Voicings: tight chord stabs in the mid register, power chords in the riffs.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Four on the floor at 128, rigid grid; bass in sixteenth notes or syncopated eighth notes that “buzzes”.
• Fidget: cuts and glitches; complextro: lightning-fast timbre changes every 1/16; Dutch house: syncopated Latin percussion.
• Build with snare roll and filter; drop with bass riff.

Drums

Convention: 16 sixteenth notes; quarter notes on 1, 5, 9, 13.

Kick

• Sixteenths 1, 5, 9, 13; big kick but shorter than in big room (200–300 ms), punch at 100–150 Hz.

Snare and clap

• Sixteenths 5 and 13, dry, “snappy” clap; short-to-medium reverb.

Hi-hats and percussion

• Open hat on the offbeat (3, 7, 11, 15), closed hats in sixteenth notes; Dutch house: syncopated Latin percussion (congas, timbales, cowbell); fidget: chopped, glitchy percussion.

Dynamics and groove

• Uniform velocities; swing 0–10 (a touch of swing in fidget and French electro).

Interaction with the bass

• Sixteenth-note bass with strong sidechain from the kick: the “pumping” is part of the sound; the riff fills the gaps between kicks.

How it changes by section

• Intro with kick and percussion; breakdown without kick; build with snare roll; drop with riff.

Fills and transitions

• Stutters and glitches (Gross Beat), snare rolls, automated filters, reverses.

Choosing sounds

• Reinforced 909 kicks, dry claps, Latin percussion (Dutch), chopped vocal samples (fidget).

Typical mistakes

• Bass covering the kick (no sidechain); percussion too loud; glitches out of time.

Variations by substyle (16 sixteenth notes)

• French electro (Justice): four-on-the-floor kick that is more “compressed and saturated”, clap on 5 and 13, closed hats in sixteenth notes with audible sidechain; often drums sampled from records and heavily distorted.
• Dutch house: four-on-the-floor kick + Latin percussion: congas on sixteenths 4, 7, 11, 14; timbales in the fills; clap also on 16 in the second bar.
• Fidget: cuts and stutters on hats and claps (1/32 repeats on sixteenths 15–16), vocal samples used as percussion.
• Complextro: straight, simple drums, because the complexity is in the bass.

Bass

• Distorted, “buzzing” saw bass (Benassi): two detuned saws, resonant low-pass, distortion; riff in eighth or sixteenth notes.
• Complextro: basses that change timbre every 1/16 (cuts between different patches).
• Fidget: “dirty” basses with pitch bend.
• Notes: tonic, b7, b3; semitones.
• Sidechain: strong (6–10 dB).
• Range: 50 Hz–3 kHz (very midrange).
• “Satisfaction-style” recipe (indicative): two saws with light detune an octave below the written note; low-pass with medium resonance and short contour; heavy distortion after the filter; compression to keep the buzz constant; sixteenth-note riff on the tonic with accents on the b3 and the b7; sidechain from the kick.
• Complextro technique: write the same riff on 3–4 different patches (FM growl, distorted saw, square with formant, vocal sample) and cut the audio, alternating them every 1/16 or 1/8; glue the result with a common bus (compression + saturation + OTT) so it sounds like a single instrument.
• Fidget: pitch bend of ±2–12 semitones on every note, “dirty” basses with a light bitcrusher.

Harmonic instruments

• Chord stabs, pads and arpeggios (deadmau5), supersaws, piano in the breakdowns, “hoover” and rave stabs (fidget).

Melody and vocals

• Chopped, repeated vocal samples, vocoded voices, pop topline in vocal tracks (Afrojack feat. Eva Simons); squeaky leads (Dutch house).
• Effects: automated filters, phaser, flanger, 1/8 delay.

Instruments

• 909 kick, clap, open hat, Latin percussion; distorted saw bass; leads, stabs, supersaws, pads, arpeggios; vocals and samples; FX.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Mini V — “Buzzing” bass: Two detuned saws, filter with emphasis at 30–40%, short contour; then distortion: “Satisfaction”-style bass.
• Korg MS-20 V — Dirty riffs and squeaky leads: Drive and high resonance; fast LFO for the Dutch leads.
• ARP 2600 V — Basses and FX: Filter and sample & hold for “talking” basses and electro FX.
• Prophet-5 V — Stabs and arpeggios: Chord stabs with short decay; deadmau5-style arpeggios.
• OP-Xa V — Supersaw: Wide chords in the breakdowns and festival leads.

Song structure

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Aggressive midrange bass, powerful kick, pumping groove; less “arena reverb” than big room, more “dirty”.
• References: Benny Benassi, deadmau5, Knife Party, Justice.

Kick

• EQ: high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 55 Hz, +1 dB at 120 Hz, −3 dB at 400 Hz, +2 dB at 4 kHz; clipper; mono.

Snare and clap

• EQ: high-pass 200 Hz, +2 dB at 250 Hz, +3 dB at 3 kHz; fast compression; room/plate reverb 0.8 s.

Hi-hats and percussion

• High-pass 500 Hz; Latin percussion at 30–60% panning.

Bass

• Separate mono sub; mid bass high-passed at 80 Hz, distortion, dynamic EQ 300 Hz–3 kHz; mono below 200 Hz; sidechain 6–10 dB.

Leads, stabs, pads

• High-pass 200 Hz; automated phaser/flanger; width 120%.

Vocals and samples

• High-pass 120 Hz, heavy compression, vocoder or filters; 1/8 delay.

Backing vocals

• Rare.

FX

• Filtered sweeps and risers.

Buses and groups

• Drum bus with a clipper; Bass bus with saturation; Music bus with sidechain.

Sidechain

• Kick → bass and music bus (obvious pumping).

Master

• Chain: EQ → glue → saturation → clipper → limiter.
• Indicative targets: −6/−4 LUFS integrated; true peak −0.3/−1 dBTP.

Common mistakes

• Mid bass that masks the clap and vocal; distortion without control of the resonances; pumping out of time.

Reference tracks for the mix

• Benny Benassi — Satisfaction (2002); deadmau5 — Ghosts 'n' Stuff (2008); Knife Party — Internet Friends (2011).

Typical automation

• Bass low-pass opening over the course of the build; phaser/flanger on leads and hats over 8 bars; deeper sidechain in the drop; master stutter (Gross Beat) in the last 2 bars before the drop.

Lead vocal

• EQ: high-pass 100 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, +2/+3 dB at 3–5 kHz; FET + opto compression; de-esser; plate reverb 1.2 s and dotted 1/8 delay; in fidget tracks the vocal is chopped and narrow-band filtered (300 Hz–3 kHz) as a “radio” effect.

Reference listening

• Mr. Oizo — Flat Beat (1999)
• Benny Benassi — Satisfaction (2002)
• Justice — Waters of Nazareth (2005)
• Fedde Le Grand — Put Your Hands Up For Detroit (2006)
• deadmau5 — Ghosts 'n' Stuff (2008)
• Afrojack feat. Eva Simons — Take Over Control (2010)
• Knife Party — Internet Friends (2011)