Tech house

History and character

A hybrid of house groove and techno dryness. The name began as a record-shop label for music that combined the "rough" basslines and "steel" drums of techno with the harmonies and groove of house. The scene took shape in London between the mid and late 1990s around the nights The Drop (Mr C and Paul "Rip" Stone), Heart & Soul and Wiggle (Terry Francis and Nathan Coles), and the club The End run by Mr C and Layo Paskin, considered in the late 1990s the home of British tech house; at the same time in the USA Derrick Carter, Stacey Pullen and the West Coast (E.B.E from 1995) were working on similar sounds.

In the early 2000s the genre spread across Europe — very strong in Spain (Barcelona: Marc Maya, Oscar Aguilera, Raul Mezcolanza) — and was adopted by techno and house DJs (Adam Beyer, Richie Hawtin, Carl Cox, Joris Voorn). In the 2010s it became the dominant sound of Ibiza and the big clubs: Jamie Jones and Hot Creations, Patrick Topping, Hot Since 82, Solardo, the Dirtybird crew around Claude VonStroke in the USA ("bouncy" basslines and humor), then FISHER — Losing It (2018), which took tech house into the charts, followed by Meduza, Chris Lake, John Summit and Acraze (Do It To It, 2021).

Aesthetic: a physical, minimal and repetitive groove; harmony pared to the bone; basslines as the protagonists; "shout" vocals or spoken phrases; dry, surgical percussion; drops built on bass tension and release rather than melodies.

Scales and keys

Convention: Roman numerals refer to the major scale on the same tonic (uppercase = major, lowercase = minor, ° diminished, ø half-diminished, + augmented; b/# = degree lowered/raised relative to the major scale: in A minor F = bVI, G = bVII). The notes and chords below are calculated exactly from the formula.

Aeolian (natural minor)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 — steps: T S T T S T T
• On G: G A Bb C D Eb F
• Diatonic triads: Gm i · Adim ii° · Bb bIII · Cm iv · Dm v · Eb bVI · F bVII
• Seventh chords: Gm7 i7 · Am7b5 iiø7 · Bbmaj7 bIIImaj7 · Cm7 iv7 · Dm7 v7 · Ebmaj7 bVImaj7 · F7 bVII7
• Characteristic note: b6 (Eb) and b7 (F): dark, "street" basslines.
• Use: one-bar bass riffs (G–Bb–F–G with octaves), occasional minor stabs, vocal samples. There is often a single chord or none at all.
• Common mistakes: basslines that are too melodic: in tech house the bass is a 2–4 note groove.

Phrygian

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 5 b6 b7 — steps: S T T T S T T
• On E: E F G A B C D
• Diatonic triads: Em i · F bII · G bIII · Am iv · Bdim v° · C bVI · Dm bvii
• Seventh chords: Em7 i7 · Fmaj7 bIImaj7 · G7 bIII7 · Am7 iv7 · Bm7b5 vø7 · Cmaj7 bVImaj7 · Dm7 bvii7
• Characteristic note: b2 (F): the semitone above the tonic, used in the bass as a "bounce" note (E–F–E) or in the bII stab.
• Use: aggressive basslines, dark drops, organ or synth stabs i–bII.
• Common mistakes: holding the bII too long: it is a color, not a chord to sustain.

Dorian

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 — steps: T S T T T S T
• On A: A B C D E F# G
• Diatonic triads: Am i · Bm ii · C bIII · D IV · Em v · F#dim vi° · G bVII
• Seventh chords: Am7 i7 · Bm7 ii7 · Cmaj7 bIIImaj7 · D7 IV7 · Em7 v7 · F#m7b5 viø7 · Gmaj7 bVIImaj7
• Characteristic note: major sixth (F#): the "groovier" and more soulful tech house (Jamie Jones, Hot Creations) uses Dorian m7 and 9 chords.
• Use: organ or Rhodes stabs i7–IV9, basslines that pass through F#.
• Common mistakes: mixing F and F# for no reason between the bass and the chords.

Minor pentatonic

• Formula: 1 b3 4 5 b7 — steps: T+S T T T+S T
• On F: F Ab Bb C Eb
• Characteristic note: no semitones: every note works over the pedal.
• Use: funky Dirtybird-style basslines, synth riffs, vocal phrases.
• Common mistakes: too many notes per bar: two or three well-placed hits are worth more than a full line.

How to choose between scales

• Dark, hypnotic bassline: Aeolian or Phrygian, 2–4 notes.
• Soulful or funky groove: Dorian or pentatonic, with organ/Rhodes stabs.
• The tonic matters more than the scale: choose a note that makes the sub "speak" between 41 and 55 Hz (E1–A1) and build the riff around the root, the octave and one color note (b7, b3, b2).

Harmony

Function

Minimal. Many tracks have just one chord (or none): the tonal center is given by the bassline. When there is harmony, it is a repeated stab, a filtered pad or a 2-chord loop.

Techniques

• Bass pedal with minor stabs on top; m7 or m9 stabs on the offbeat with delay.
• i–bVII or i–bII dyads; Dorian vamps i7–IV9 in the groovier tech.
• "Chopped" chords from samples (organ, piano, voice) cut down to a single chord.
• Timbral movement in place of harmonic movement (filters, distortion, automation).

Harmonic rhythm

One stab per bar or every 2 bars; rare harmonic changes (every 8–16 bars).

Examples

• Gm7 held for the whole track with a bassline in G.
• Em–F (i–bII) as a stab in the drop.
• Am7–D9 as an organ stab in soulful tech house.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Feel: straight but with a light swing on the percussion (52–56% MPC; FL Studio 10–20). The groove is in sixteenth notes, heavily quantized.
• Accents: strong, short kick, clap on 2 and 4, open hat on the offbeat; the syncopated bass acts as a second rhythmic instrument.
• Microtiming: almost none on the drums; sampled percussion with group swing.
• Tension: builds based on filters, removing the kick, snare rolls and repeated vocal samples; drops with the return of kick and bass.

Drums

Kick

Short, deep and often slightly distorted: fundamental 45–60 Hz, decay 150–250 ms, click at 3–5 kHz. Always on the quarter notes. Work on layering: a "top" (click) + a body; the whole must leave room for the bass that comes right after.

Clap and snare

Clap on 2 and 4, often layered with a dry snare; variants with an early clap (step 12) or a doubled clap (step 13 + 14 at low velocity). Short reverb.

Hi-hat

Open hat on the offbeat (steps 3, 7, 11, 15) with short decay; closed hats in syncopated patterns (x.xxx.x.) with varied velocities; ride absent or only at peak moments.

Percussion

Rim, sampled bongos and congas, dry toms, "click" and "wood" percussion, shaker in eighth notes; lots of panning and small half-bar loops that repeat.

Dynamics and ghost notes

Ghost notes on closed hats and percussion (velocity 40–60%); variation with volume or filter LFOs to add movement.

Interaction with bass and vocals

The bassline plays in the gaps between kick and clap (steps 2, 4, 7, 8, 10…): drums and bass form a single rhythmic figure. High percussion is removed under the vocal chop.

Sections

• Intro: kick, hats, percussion.
• Build/break: kick removed, snare or clap roll, HP filter on all the drums, repeated vocal; often a 1-bar "stop" before the drop.
• Drop: kick + full bassline + percussion; second drop with a bass variation or new percussion.

Fills and transitions

Clap rolls, tom fills, reverse cymbals, short noise risers (2–4 bars), vocal "stutter".

Sound choice

Clean, powerful modern samples; processed 909; dry percussion; everything tuned around the tonic.

Typical mistakes

Kick with a long tail that cancels the bass; too much percussion (confused groove); inconsistent swing between loops; hats that are too bright.

Bass

• Sound: analog or virtual synth bass (filtered saw or square, often with distortion), "rolling bass" in sixteenth notes, "bouncy" basslines (Dirtybird) with pitch envelope or glide, organ bass in some tracks. A separate sine sub often underneath.
• Range: E1–E2 for the sub (41–82 Hz), harmonics up to 2–4 kHz for the "mid" part.
• With the kick: never together: kick on the downbeat, bass right after. Tight sidechain (4–8 dB) or volume shaping (LFOTool/Kickstart). Tuning: the kick tail on the root or the fifth.
• Notes: root and octave, b7, b3; glide on tied notes; a single off-pattern note to give the "bounce".
• Rhythm: syncopated sixteenth notes, 1-bar patterns with a variation in the fourth.
• Examples: the pulsing bass of "Losing It"; the "rolling" basslines of the British scene.

Harmonic instruments

• Stabs: synth stabs (Juno, Prophet), distorted organ, "chopped" piano.
• Pads: filtered, with deep sidechain, only in the breaks.
• Rhodes/organ: in soulful tech.

Secondary role: they occupy 300 Hz–5 kHz intermittently, never continuously during the drop.

Melody and vocals

• Vocals: spoken phrases, "shouts", samples from hip hop, R&B or film; rhythmic vocal chops; sometimes verse/chorus in chart-oriented tracks.
• Backing vocals: almost absent; doublings or short harmonies.
• Melodies: simple synth riffs or "acid" 303 leads.
• Effects: tempo-synced delay, filters, distortion, pitch shift (voices lowered by 3–7 semitones), stutter (Gross Beat), gated reverb.

Instruments

Drum machines and samples (909, 808, modern percussion), analog and virtual synth basses, sine sub, TB-303, organ, Rhodes, synth stabs, vocal samples, FX (risers, noise, impacts).

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• Mini V — Bassline: The 24 dB ladder filter and fat oscillators give full basslines: oscillator 1 saw, 2 square an octave below, cutoff 30–40%, env amount 40–60%, decay 120–200 ms, low sustain; light drive.
• Korg MS-20 V — Distorted bass and leads: Aggressive filter with resonance and overdrive: "acid" basslines and raw leads; HP on the second filter to remove the mud.
• DX7 V — Plucky FM bass: Short, percussive FM basses (algorithms with a fast-decay modulator): the "pluck" that cuts through the mix.
• B-3 V — Organ stab: Organ with full drawbars and drive for stabs in soulful tech; HP at 200 Hz.
• ARP 2600 V — Perc and FX: Noise, sample & hold and resonant filter for synthetic percussion and sweeps.
• Jun-6 V — Stabs and pads: Short stabs with Chorus I; pads in the breaks with deep sidechain.

Song structure

DJ form in 8-bar phrases, 5–7 minutes (extended) or 2:30–3:00 (radio).

Rule: tension and release on the bass. In the break remove the bassline or leave only a fragment; at the drop it comes back in full.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Very powerful, clean low end: kick and bass separated in time and frequency; dry mids; precise highs. High loudness but with a kick that "hits". References: FISHER — Losing It, Chris Lake & Alexis Roberts — Turn Off the Lights, Patrick Topping.

Kick

• EQ: HP 25–30 Hz; +2 dB at 50–60 Hz Q 1.5; −3/−5 dB at 200–400 Hz; +2 dB at 3–5 kHz for the click.
• Compression: usually none; clipper (Fruity Soft Clipper, KClip) to raise it without peaks.
• Transient shaper: +3 dB attack, sustain −2/−4 dB if the tail covers the bass.
• Saturation: light to medium (Saturn 2, Decapitator) so it translates on small speakers.
• Space: none. Stereo: mono.

Clap and snare

• EQ: HP 180–250 Hz; +2 dB at 1–2 kHz; air +1 dB at 10 kHz.
• Compression: fast FET 4:1, GR 3–5 dB; or parallel.
• Space: room or plate 0.6–1 s, pre-delay 10 ms, HP 400 Hz on the return; reverb automated longer in the breaks.
• Stereo: main clap in the center, widened stereo layer.

Hi-hat and percussion

• EQ: HP 400–700 Hz; dynamic EQ at 7–10 kHz; narrow peaks removed from percussion (notch).
• Compression: perc bus 2:1 (GR 2 dB).
• Saturation: light, to even out the samples.
• Space: short room; 1/16 or 3/16 delay on isolated percussion.
• Panning: hat 10% L, open hat centered, percussion at the sides (L30–60/R30–60), shaker opposite the hat.
• Automation: HP rising in the breaks; percussion volume varied with slow LFOs.

Bass

• EQ: sub HP 25 Hz, LP 100–120 Hz; mid part HP 100–150 Hz, +2 dB at 700 Hz–1.5 kHz, LP 4–6 kHz.
• Compression: VCA or opto 4:1, GR 4–6 dB; limiter on the sub for constant level.
• Saturation/distortion: on the mid part only (multiband or send): tube, foldback, overdrive; never on the sub.
• Space: none below 200 Hz; possibly a short delay on the upper part.
• Stereo: mono sub; mid part slightly widened above 300 Hz (chorus, stereo shaper), watching the correlation.
• Sidechain: 4–8 dB with release 80–150 ms, or precise volume shaping from the kick.

Stabs, pads, organ

• EQ: HP 200–250 Hz; −2 dB at 300–500 Hz; LP 8–10 kHz.
• Compression: stabs with a fast compressor (GR 3 dB).
• Space: filtered dotted 1/8 delay (≈ 357 ms at 126 BPM), short hall; pads in hall 2–3 s.
• Stereo: stabs centered/slightly wide; wide pads.
• Sidechain: 6–10 dB on the pads.

Vocals and vocal chops

• Chain: HP 100–150 Hz; FET compression 4:1 (5–8 dB GR); de-esser; EQ +3 dB at 2–4 kHz; saturation or light distortion for character.
• Space: 1/4 or dotted 1/8 delay throw; short plate reverb (0.8–1.2 s); long reverb in the breaks.
• Stereo: centered; wide pitched doublings.

FX

Risers (HP 300 Hz), noise sweeps, impact on the drop; cut all FX 1 bar before the drop to create the void.

Buses and groups

Drum bus: glue 4:1 attack 30 ms, auto release, GR 2–3 dB, light clipper. Bass bus mono below 120 Hz. Music bus with group sidechain. FX bus with deep sidechain.

Sidechain

Kick → bass (4–8 dB), pads/stabs (6–10 dB), reverbs (6 dB), FX (6–10 dB). Release consistent with the tempo.

Master

Chain: EQ (HP 20 Hz) → bus compressor 1–2 dB → clipper (1–2 dB) → limiter (Pro-L 2, Ozone, Fruity Limiter). Club target: −7/−6 LUFS integrated, short-term in the drop −6/−5; true peak −0.3/−0.5 dBTP for club files, −1 dBTP for streaming; crest factor 6–8 dB.

Common mistakes

Bass and kick overlapping ("dirty" low end); stereo sub; distortion on the sub; too much percussion between 2 and 6 kHz; a squashed master that makes the kick's punch disappear.

Mix reference tracks

• FISHER — Losing It (2018)
• Chris Lake & Alexis Roberts — Turn Off the Lights (2018)
• Dennis Ferrer — Hey Hey (2009)

Reference listening

• Green Velvet — La La Land (2001)
• Dennis Ferrer — Hey Hey (2009)
• Chris Lake & Alexis Roberts — Turn Off the Lights (2018)
• FISHER — Losing It (2018)
• Meduza ft. Goodboys — Piece of Your Heart (2019)
• Acraze ft. Cherish — Do It To It (2021)