Techno

History and character

Born in Detroit in the mid-'80s with the “Belleville Three” — Juan Atkins, Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, high-school friends from Belleville (Michigan) — who fused Kraftwerk and European electronics with funk, Parliament and a futuristic imagery tied to the industrial city in crisis. Atkins formed Cybotron with Rick Davis (“Alleys of Your Mind”, 1981; “Clear”), then recorded as Model 500 on his Metroplex label from 1985; May released “Strings of Life” (1987) as Rhythim Is Rhythim (Transmat); Saunderson had success with Inner City (Good Life, 1988, KMS). The second wave includes Underground Resistance (Mike Banks, Jeff Mills, Robert Hood), Carl Craig, Blake Baxter, Octave One.

After the fall of the Wall (1989) techno became the sound of reunified Berlin: Tresor (1991), Hard Wax, Basic Channel, then Ostgut and Berghain; in parallel, scenes grew in Frankfurt, Birmingham (Regis, Surgeon), Belgium (R&S, Joey Beltram), the Netherlands, the UK, Italy, Spain and Georgia. The genre branched out: minimal, dub techno, acid techno, hard and industrial, melodic techno, hypnotic, peak time. Since 2020 Beatport has separated “Peak Time / Driving” and “Raw / Deep / Hypnotic”.

Aesthetic: instrumental, repetitive and machine-like music built on drum machines and sequencers; the trance of dancing arises from repetition and the slow transformation of timbre more than from melody and harmony. Dark, futuristic, collective, often political (UR, post-1989 Berlin).

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: in A minor F = bVI, G = bVII). 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 A: A B C D E F G
• Diatonic triads: Am i · Bdim ii° · C bIII · Dm iv · Em v · F bVI · G bVII
• Seventh chords: Am7 i7 · Bm7b5 iiø7 · Cmaj7 bIIImaj7 · Dm7 iv7 · Em7 v7 · Fmaj7 bVImaj7 · G7 bVII7
• Characteristic note: the b6 (F): dark melancholy, typical of stabs and pads in melodic and Detroit techno.
• Use: 1-bar sequencer riffs on A with C, E, G; minor stabs; rolling basslines on A.
• Common mistakes: too much harmony: in techno a chord lasts 16–64 bars.

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: the b2 (F): the semitone above the tonic, the darkest and most menacing color; it is the signature of “dark” and industrial techno.
• Use: E–F–E bass riffs, i–bII stabs (Em–F), acid leads.
• Common mistakes: using the b2 as a held arrival note: it must “sting” and return.

Dorian (Detroit soul)

• Formula: 1 2 b3 4 5 6 b7 — steps: T S T T T S T
• On C: C D Eb F G A Bb
• Diatonic triads: Cm i · Dm ii · Eb bIII · F IV · Gm v · Adim vi° · Bb bVII
• Seventh chords: Cm7 i7 · Dm7 ii7 · Ebmaj7 bIIImaj7 · F7 IV7 · Gm7 v7 · Am7b5 viø7 · Bbmaj7 bVIImaj7
• Characteristic note: the major sixth (A): the major IV (F9) gives Detroit's soul warmth.
• Use: i9–IV9 pads and stabs (Cm9–F9), “Strings of Life”-style strings.
• Common mistakes: mixing Ab (b6) into the stabs over the F9.

Locrian (extreme dissonance)

• Formula: 1 b2 b3 4 b5 b6 b7 — steps: S T T S T T T
• On B: B C D E F G A
• Diatonic triads: Bdim i° · C bII · Dm biii · Em iv · F bV · G bVI · Am bvii
• Seventh chords: Bm7b5 iø7 · Cmaj7 bIImaj7 · Dm7 biii7 · Em7 iv7 · Fmaj7 bVmaj7 · G7 bVI7 · Am7 bvii7
• Characteristic note: the b5 (F) on the tonic: the tonic chord is diminished (Bdim), unstable and unsettling.
• Use: dissonant industrial riffs and drones, tritone stabs; often only as a color on a few notes.
• Common mistakes: building an entire “harmonic” track in Locrian: it works only as a color over a pedal.

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: five notes with no semitones: sequences that loop without clashes.
• Use: 8–16 step sequencer riffs, simple basslines.
• Common mistakes: riffs that are too “melodic”: in techno what matters are accents, note length and timbre.

Chromaticism and pedal tone (atonal)

• Formula: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7 — steps: T+S T S S T+S T
• On C: C Eb F Gb G Bb
• Characteristic note: in techno many tracks are atonal or built on a single sound; the b5 and chromaticisms serve for “crooked” riffs. The blues scale here is just a pool of passing notes.
• Use: riffs of 2–3 chromatic notes (C–Db–C, C–Gb), tuned percussion.
• Common mistakes: thinking you need a scale: often a single note and its filter are enough.

How to choose between scales

Rule: choose a tonic that makes the rumble and kick “sound” (often F, F#, G, A) and tune the kick to the same note or to the fifth.

Harmony

Function

In most techno the harmony is absent or static: tonic pedal, a single minor chord held for the whole track, repeated stabs. The “progression” is timbral (filters, decay, reverb, distortion) and one of density.

Techniques

• Pedal and drone: one note or chord for 64+ bars.
• Stabs of minor seventh and ninth chords, often with delay (dub techno).
• i–bII dyads (Phrygian) and i–bVII for minimal tension.
• Planing: m7/m9 voicings shifted in parallel (Detroit).
• Chords without the third (open fifths) and clusters for ambiguity.
• Detroit: soul progressions of 2–4 chords with string pads (Strings of Life, Carl Craig).

Harmonic rhythm

Very slow: changes every 8–32 bars or never.

Examples

• Cm7 for the whole track with stabs in delay.
• Em–F (i–bII) as a stab in peak time.
• Fm9–Dbmaj7–Ebsus2 (i9–bVImaj7–bVIIsus2) in melodic techno.

Typical progressions

Rhythm and groove

• Meter and grid: 4/4, kick on every quarter note, sixteenth-note grid; often 1-bar patterns with elements of different lengths (3/16, 5/16, 7/16) that drift out of phase, creating polyrhythms (“polymeter”).
• Feel: straight and machine-like (swing 0–54%); in groovier techno (Detroit, minimal) a light swing on the percussion.
• Accents: dominant kick; open hat on the offbeat; the clap on 2 and 4 is often reduced or eliminated.
• Microtiming: almost none; the groove comes from the overlapping of cycles and from automation.
• Variation: subtle and slow; no verse/chorus structure; changes every 16–32 bars.

Drums

Role of the kick

Absolute protagonist: on every quarter note (steps 1, 5, 9, 13), short and full or long and distorted depending on the style. Fundamental 45–60 Hz; often accompanied by a rumble (reverberated and filtered kick, or a synth bass that follows the kick) that fills the offbeats.

Snare and clap

909 clap on 2 and 4, often at low volume, or only on 4, or absent. In peak time techno the clap is loud and reverberated; in hypnotic it is replaced by rim and perc.

Hi-hat and ride

• Open hat on the offbeat (steps 3, 7, 11, 15): the engine.
• Closed hats in sixteenth notes with varied velocity or with accents.
• 909 ride in eighth or sixteenth notes: gives the “drive” (typical of Jeff Mills and Berlin techno).

Percussion

Rim, toms, metallic perc, claves, noise, industrial samples; 3/16 or 5/16 patterns that loop over the 4/4.

Dynamics and ghost notes

Velocities mostly fixed; the movement comes from decay, pitch and filter automation (e.g. hat decay that opens up over 16 bars).

Interaction with the bass

The bass is often a sixteenth-note rolling bass on the offbeats (pattern .xxx or ..x.) or the rumble. The kick has to leave space: shared tuning and sidechain.

Changes between sections

Intro of kick and hats; perc and bass added every 16; breakdown of 8–32 bars without kick (pad, noise, reverb); kick re-entry (often after 1 bar of silence); long full section; outro.

Fills and transitions

Few classic fills: the kick is removed, the sound is filtered, the reverb opens up; crescendo clap or tom rolls; reverse cymbal.

Sound choice

TR-909 (kick, clap, 6-bit hats, ride), TR-808 (rumble, cowbell), distorted samples, industrial perc. Tune the kick to the tonic.

Typical mistakes

Kick without space for the rumble; too many elements that never change; hats too bright; no automation; clap too loud, which “makes it house”.

Bass

• Sound: synthetic rolling bass (filtered saw or square, short decay), rumble (kick + long low-passed reverb, saturated and sidechained), sine sub; TB-303 in acid techno.
• Register: E1–E2 (41–82 Hz) for the sub, harmonics up to 500 Hz.
• With the kick: the bass plays between the kicks (steps 2–4, 6–8…) or only on the offbeat; strong sidechain/ducking (6–12 dB). Tune kick and bass together.
• Notes: often just one (the tonic), with occasional octaves or b2/b7.
• Rhythm: rolling sixteenth notes (.xxx), offbeat (..x.), or long notes in the rumble.

Harmonic instruments

• Minor chord stabs (Juno, Prophet, sometimes Rhodes), often in tempo-synced delay.
• Pads and drones: long, filtered, distorted or reverberated.
• Synthetic strings (Detroit).
• Monophonic synth sequences that act as the “harmony”.

Mid register; everything sidechained to the kick.

Melody and vocals

• Melody: often absent; 1–2 bar sequencer riffs, 303 acid leads, arpeggiated sequences (melodic).
• Vocals: rare: spoken samples, filtered voices, vocoder, political phrases (UR), whispers; in melodic techno, ethereal voices.
• Effects: tempo-synced delay, huge reverbs in the breaks, distortion, bitcrushing, granular.

Instruments

Roland TR-909, TR-808, TR-606, TB-303, SH-101, Juno-106, Jupiter, Yamaha DX100/DX7, Korg MS-20, modulars (Eurorack), samplers (Akai, E-mu, Elektron Octatrack), Elektron drum machines, sequencers, mixers with FX sends, digital delays and reverbs, distortion units.

Drum patterns

Synths and sounds

• ARP 2600 V — Perc, FX and basses: Semi-modular with noise, sample & hold, ring mod and 4-pole filter: synthetic perc, sweeps and rough basslines.
• Korg MS-20 V — Distorted lead and bass: Resonant HP and LP filters with natural overdrive: aggressive riffs, alternative acid.
• Modular V — Sequences and textures: Sequencer, VCOs and ladder filter for evolving riffs; modulate the cutoff with slow, unsynced LFOs.
• Jup-8 V — Stabs and pads: Minor seventh stabs with short decay and delay; dark pads in the breakdowns.
• Jun-6 V — Detroit stabs and pads: Detroit-style stabs with Chorus I; warm pads.
• SEM V — Basses and stabs: 12 dB multimode filter for round basses and distinctive “notch” stabs.
• Synthi V — Noise and FX: Patch matrix for noise, drones and industrial FX.

Song structure

DJ-oriented form, 8/16-bar phrases, 6–8 minutes.

Arrangement: every 8 bars a parameter changes (decay, cutoff, FX send, perc entry). The track has to work “inside a set”: no long tonal intros, no abrupt endings.

Mixing and mastering

Sonic goal

Dominant kick and low end, powerful and mono; “metallic” but controlled mids and highs; depth provided by reverbs and delays; physical impact on a club sound system. Balance: kick 0 dB, rumble/bass −3/−6, hats/perc −10/−15, synths −6/−10. References: Jeff Mills — The Bells, Adam Beyer, Amelie Lens, Tresor/Ostgut productions.

Kick

• EQ: HP 25–30 Hz; emphasis 50–60 Hz +2/+3 dB; cut 200–400 Hz −3/−6 dB; click +2 dB at 3–5 kHz.
• Compression: often none; clipper (Fruity Soft Clipper, KClip, StandardCLIP) for 2–4 dB of peaks.
• Saturation/distortion: from light (tape) to heavy (overdrive, waveshaper) for hard/industrial.
• Transient shaper: +2/+4 dB attack.
• Space: no direct reverb (reverb goes into the separate rumble).
• Stereo: mono.

Rumble

• Construction: kick → long reverb (hall 3–6 s, 100% wet) → distortion → 150–250 Hz low-pass EQ → sidechain from the kick (8–12 dB) → possibly a gate.
• EQ: HP 30 Hz, LP 200 Hz, notch on the kick's fundamental so as not to double it.
• Stereo: mono below 120 Hz.

Clap and snare

• EQ: HP 200–300 Hz; +2 dB at 1–2 kHz; LP 12 kHz.
• Compression: FET 4:1, GR 3–4 dB.
• Space: plate/hall 1.5–3 s (lots of reverb is typical), pre-delay 10–20 ms, HP 400 Hz on the return.
• Stereo: centered with wide reverb.

Hi-hat, ride and percussion

• EQ: HP 400–800 Hz; dynamic EQ 6–10 kHz; ride −2 dB at 3–4 kHz if too metallic.
• Saturation: light, or bitcrusher for character.
• Space: 1/16 or 3/16 delay, room 0.5–1 s.
• Panning: hats 10–20%, ride 10% opposite, perc 30–70% to the sides, some perc on slow auto-pan.
• Automation: hat decay, HP cutoff, FX sends.

Bass

• EQ: HP 25 Hz; fundamental 45–80 Hz; LP 300–500 Hz for the rolling bass; harmonics 150–400 Hz if clarity is needed.
• Compression: 4:1 GR 3–5 dB or limiter.
• Saturation: moderate, above 100 Hz.
• Stereo: mono.
• Sidechain: 6–12 dB (volume shaping).

Synths, stabs, pads, riffs

• EQ: HP 150–250 Hz; −2/−4 dB at 300–600 Hz; LP 8–12 kHz.
• Compression: light; the level is handled by the sidechain.
• Saturation: tape/tube or creative distortion.
• Space: stabs in 3/16 or dotted 1/8 delay (feedback 40–60%, HP 300 Hz, LP 4 kHz); pads in hall 4–8 s; riffs with ping-pong delay.
• Stereo: stabs centered with wide delays; very wide pads.
• Automation: cutoff, resonance, decay, reverb wet, delay feedback (up to self-oscillation in the breaks).

Vocals and samples

HP 150 Hz; compression 4:1; distortion/filters; long delay and reverb; often distant.

FX

Noise sweeps, risers, impacts, drones: HP 200–300 Hz, wide, sidechained.

Buses and groups

Drum bus (glue 2:1–4:1, attack 10–30 ms, GR 2–3 dB, clipper), low-end bus (kick+rumble+bass, mono, light limiter), synth bus (sidechain + saturation), FX bus.

Sidechain

Kick → rumble (8–12 dB), bass (6–12), pad (6–10), reverbs/delays (6–8), synths (3–6). Release 100–200 ms.

Master

• Chain: EQ (HP 20 Hz) → bus compressor 1–2 dB → clipper 1–3 dB → limiter.
• Target: club techno −8/−6 LUFS integrated; short-term in the main section −6/−5; hard/industrial −6/−4.
• True peak: −0.3/−0.5 dBTP for club, −1 dBTP for streaming.
• Dynamics: crest factor 6–9 dB; breakdown 4–8 LU below the main section.

Common mistakes

Kick and rumble canceling each other (phase); non-mono low end; unfiltered reverbs that muddy the mix; harsh hats at 8–10 kHz; limiter that squashes the kick; a flat mix with no depth (everything up front).

Reference tracks for the mix

• Jeff Mills — The Bells (1996)
• Adam Beyer & Bart Skils — Your Mind (2018)
• Charlotte de Witte — Doppler (2020)
• Rhythim Is Rhythim — Strings of Life (1987) for Detroit

Reference listening

• Cybotron — Clear (1983)
• Model 500 — No UFO's (1985)
• Rhythim Is Rhythim — Strings of Life (1987)
• Inner City — Good Life (1988)
• Joey Beltram — Energy Flash (1990)
• Robert Hood — Minimal Nation (1994, EP)
• Jeff Mills — The Bells (1996)
• Adam Beyer & Bart Skils — Your Mind (2018)
• Charlotte de Witte — Doppler (2020)