Future rave

History and character

Future rave is the name David Guetta and Danish producer MORTEN (Morten Breum) gave to their productions starting in 2019. It is a blend of techno and progressive house with trance arrangements, recovering sonic palettes similar to those of older rave music: aggressively programmed synths, “rolling” grooves with more syncopation in the percussion, long builds, drops, euphoric vocals and anthemic breakdowns. The stated stylistic origins are big room house, trance, techno, tech trance, tech house and progressive house.

The first tracks in the style came out in 2019: “Never Be Alone” (feat. Aloe Blacc) and “Dreams” (feat. Lanie Gardner); then “Kill Me Slow”, “Permanence”, “You Can't Change Me” (feat. Raye), “Element”, and MORTEN's remix of Avicii's “Heaven”. In 2022 Guetta and MORTEN toured the United States under the Future Rave brand, played EDC and began a residency at Hï Ibiza; the same year Hardwell returned to Ultra Music Festival after four years with a set described as future rave and “future techno” (“Black Magic”, 2022). Other examples: Guetta's remix of “Love Tonight” by Shouse, Armin van Buuren & Shapov (“Let's Rave, Make Love”), JUSTUS, Armin van Buuren feat. RBVLN.

Future rave is the EDM main stage's answer to the rise of techno and melodic techno: darker and more “grown-up” than big room, but with the structures and pop vocals of EDM. The term began as the brand of two artists; it is not a genre with a well-defined independent scene.

Scales and keys

Dark minor with euphoric openings in the breakdowns. Examples in A minor (Am = i, F = VI, G = VII, C = III) and F minor.

Natural minor (Aeolian)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7. W H W W H W W. On A: A B C D E F G.
• Chords: i Am, ii° B°, III C, iv Dm, v Em, VI F, VII G.
• Use: euphoric breakdowns (i–VI–III–VII), drops with synth riffs on the tonic.
• Listening example: the vocal breakdowns of “Never Be Alone” and “Dreams” (Guetta & MORTEN), with an anthemic structure.

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: dark techno riffs in the drop, semitone stabs.

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: 90s “rave” color (i–IV), acid leads.

Harmonic minor

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7. On A: A B C D E F G#. Major V (E).
• Use: trance arpeggios and builds.

Minor pentatonic

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7. On A: A C D E G.
• Use: short, repetitive “rave” riffs in the drop.

How to choose

• Drop: Phrygian or minor pentatonic with repetitive riffs.
• Breakdown: Aeolian with a full progression and vocal.
• Rave color: Dorian.

Common mistakes and a practical example

• Writing the drop riff with more than 3–4 notes: future rave works through the hypnotic repetition of techno cells, with the “real” melody left to the vocal breakdown.
• Example cell in A minor (1 bar, sixteenth notes): A2–A2–C3–A2 | E3–A2–G2–A2, played with a saturated stab and a filter that opens over 8 bars.

Harmony

• Techno drop: minimal harmony, pedal and a 1–2 bar riff; tension through filter and modulation.
• Trance breakdown: 4-chord progressions with pads, piano and vocal; build with V or VII.
• Harmonic rhythm: breakdown 1 chord per bar; drop pedal.
• Voicings: stabs of fifths and minor chords without the third in the drops; full chords in the breakdowns.
• Borrowed chords: Dorian IV, Phrygian bII, harmonic V.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Four on the floor at 126–130 (working value), “rolling” groove with syncopated percussion (Wikipedia: “slightly more mature and rolling groove”).
• Rolling sixteenth-note bass (techno/tech house heritage) instead of the classic EDM offbeat bass.
• Long builds and drops; anthemic breakdowns.

Drums

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

Kick

• Sixteenths 1, 5, 9, 13; shorter and more “techno” than the big room kick (200–300 ms), body at 50–60 Hz, punch at 100 Hz, saturated.

Snare and clap

• Sixteenths 5 and 13: dry clap, sometimes just a rim; less reverb than big room.

Hi-hats and percussion

• Open hat on the offbeat (3, 7, 11, 15); closed hats in sixteenth notes; techno ride on the eighth notes; syncopated percussion (rim on 4, 11, 14; clave and techno toms).

Dynamics and groove

• Varied velocities on the hats; percussion with micro-variations every 4 bars; swing 0–8.

Interaction with the bass

• Rolling sixteenth-note bass (notes on 2, 3, 4 of each beat, with the 1 left to the kick) and tight sidechain.

How it changes by section

• Long techno intro (kick, percussion, filtered bass); breakdown with vocal and pad; build with snare roll and riser; techno drop with riff.

Fills and transitions

• Snare rolls, clap rolls, filters, reverses, repeated “rave stabs”.

Choosing sounds

• Saturated techno kicks, dry claps, rides and metallic percussion.

Typical mistakes

• A big room kick that is too long (it loses the rolling groove); percussion without variation; bass that doesn't leave room for the kick.

Programming example (1 bar)

• Kick 1, 5, 9, 13; clap 5 and 13; open hat 3, 7, 11, 15; closed hats on every sixteenth note with alternating velocity 90/50; rim on 4, 11, 14 at velocity 60; ride on the eighth notes (1, 3, 5…) at velocity 50 in the drop; techno tom on 16 every 4 bars.
• Every 8 bars remove or add a percussion element: this is the techno way of evolving the drop without changing the harmony.

Bass

• Rolling bass in sixteenth notes (filtered saw or “techno bass”), sub underneath.
• Notes: fixed tonic; in the breakdowns, the roots of the progression.
• Sidechain: strong from the kick.
• Range: 40–200 Hz.
• Construction: a single saw or two slightly detuned saws, 24 dB low-pass with cutoff 300–800 Hz, filter envelope with 80–150 ms decay, no release; sixteenth notes on positions 2, 3, 4 of each beat (the 1 belongs to the kick).
• “Offbeat” variant: in more EDM-oriented tracks the bass returns to the offbeat (3, 7, 11, 15) with a separate sub.
• Mistakes: long release (notes overlap with the kick), sub too loud below 50 Hz that clashes with the techno kick.

Harmonic instruments

• “Aggressively programmed” synths (stabs, riffs, rave leads), pads and strings in the breakdowns, piano, trance arpeggios.
• “Rave” stabs: minor chords or fifths with PWM and detune, downward pitch bend (“hoover” effect), saturation; played in syncopated sixteenth notes.
• Trance arpeggios in 1/16 in the breakdowns and builds, with 3/16 delay.
• Pads and strings in the breakdowns, mid-high register, slow attack.

Melody and vocals

• Euphoric vocals and pop topline (Aloe Blacc, Raye, Lanie Gardner in Guetta & MORTEN's tracks); short rave leads in the drop.
• Effects: hall reverb in the breakdowns, dotted-quarter delay, automated filters.

Instruments

• Techno kick, clap, ride, percussion; rolling bass; rave synths (stabs, leads, hoover), pads, strings, piano, arpeggios; pop vocal.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Jup-8 V — Rave stabs and hoover: PWM and detune with downward pitch bend: 90s rave stabs.
• Prophet-5 V — Techno riff: Filtered saw with envelope and resonance; repetitive sixteenth-note riffs.
• Mini V — Rolling bass: Saw with closed filter and short decay; sixteenth notes.
• OP-Xa V — Anthem leads and chords: Supersaw in the breakdowns.
• ARP 2600 V — FX and acid: Resonant filter for “acid” lines and FX.

Song structure

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

• Darker and more “techno” than big room: compact kick, rolling bass, aggressive but controlled synths, euphoric vocals; main-stage loudness.
• References: David Guetta & MORTEN, Hardwell (2022).

Kick

• EQ: high-pass 30 Hz, +2 dB at 55 Hz, −3 dB at 300 Hz, +2 dB at 4 kHz; saturation; clipper; mono.

Snare and clap

• EQ: high-pass 200 Hz, +2 dB at 250 Hz, +3 dB at 3 kHz; fast compression; room reverb 0.6–0.8 s.

Hi-hats and percussion

• High-pass 500 Hz; percussion at 30–60%; low 1/16 delay.

Bass

• Mono sub; rolling bass high-passed at 50 Hz, saturation, sidechain 6–10 dB.

Synths, pads, leads

• High-pass 200 Hz, presence at 2–4 kHz, short hall reverb in the drops and long in the breakdowns; width 120–140%.

Lead vocal

• EQ: high-pass 100 Hz, −2 dB at 300 Hz, +3 dB at 3–5 kHz; serial compression; de-esser; plate + hall; dotted-quarter delay.

Backing vocals

• Wide doubles and harmonies in the breakdowns.

FX

• Long risers, impacts, sweeps.

Buses and groups

• Drum bus with glue + clipper; Music bus with sidechain; Vocal bus.

Sidechain

• Kick → bass, synths, pads.

Master

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

Common mistakes

• Mixing a big room kick with a techno bass (they clash); harsh rave synths at 3–5 kHz.

Reference tracks for the mix

• David Guetta & MORTEN feat. Aloe Blacc — Never Be Alone (2019); Hardwell — Black Magic (2022).

Typical automation

• Rave riff cutoff from closed to open over 16 bars; resonance rising in the last 4; reverb send on the stabs opening in the build and closing at the impact; high-pass on the music bus in the build; bass volume lowered by 1–2 dB during vocal moments.

Reference listening

• David Guetta & MORTEN feat. Aloe Blacc — Never Be Alone (2019)
• David Guetta & MORTEN feat. Lanie Gardner — Dreams (2019)
• David Guetta & MORTEN — Kill Me Slow
• Hardwell — Black Magic (2022)