Deep House

The soft kick: round, short, a little dusty

Deep house kicks are rounder and softer than techno kicks: a 909 with the click tamed, or a sampled acoustic-ish thump, often with a bit of tape saturation. It should sit under the chords, not punch through them.

1. Drum Sampler (12.1): a 909 or a warm sampled kick. Pitch to the key (−1 to −3 st usually brings a 909 to A/G). Decay 240–300 ms at 122 BPM (an 8th is 246 ms) — longer than minimal, since the bass is a line not an off-beat pulse.
2. Punch effect low (10%) — you want weight, not click. Optional Sub effect 10–15% tuned to the root for a touch more fundamental.
3. Saturator Soft Sine 3–5 dB, Soft Clip on: adds the 2nd harmonic around 100–130 Hz that makes a soft kick audible on small speakers.
4. EQ Eight: HP 32 Hz, a small cut at 180 Hz where the bass harmonics will sit, high shelf −3 dB at 5 kHz to dull the click.
5. Glue Compressor just touching, 2:1, attack 10 ms, release Auto, for consistency.

The round bassline: a real line, not a pulse

Deep house bass plays a 2-bar melodic line, usually following the chord roots and fifths with octave jumps and chromatic approach notes. The sound is round, slightly plucked, with a filter that closes over the note — somewhere between a Moog and a sampled electric bass.

1. Analog: Osc 1 Saw, Osc 2 Square one octave down (−12 st) at −6 dB for sub weight. Filter 1 LP 24 dB, cutoff 350–450 Hz, resonance 15%, filter envelope +40% with Decay 180 ms so each note opens then closes. Mono voice, Glide 20 ms for the chromatic slides.
2. Amp envelope: Attack 2 ms, Decay 300 ms, Sustain 0.5, Release 80 ms. Note lengths vary between a 16th and a dotted 8th — the line should have long and short notes.
3. Write a 2-bar line: roots on beat 1 and the "and of 2", a fifth or octave on the "a of 3", a chromatic approach note (a semitone below the next root) on the last 16th. Keep it between A-1 and A1 (27.5–110 Hz).
4. Saturator Analog Clip 4–6 dB for the "glue" harmonics around 150–300 Hz; then cut 300 Hz slightly so the chords keep their space.
5. Compressor sidechained from the kick: 4:1, attack 1 ms, release 100–140 ms, 4–6 dB GR. Deep house wants a gentle swell, so release matched to a 16th-ish (123 ms at 122 BPM).

Variations: Operator with Osc A sine + Osc B saw at ratio 1 mixed at −10 dB, Filter LP 12 dB, for a cleaner, more NY sound. Drift with Osc 1 Saw, Osc 2 Sine −12 st, MS2 filter with 20% drive for the "Juno bass" lineage. Electric (bass preset, Pickup type dynamic) for a real electric-bass sound. For the TD-3: resonance 20%, cutoff 30%, env mod 40%, decay long, accent on the approach notes — a 303 playing deep house lines is a classic move.

Rhodes-style 7th and 9th chords (Electric)

The sound of the genre: an electric-piano chord — m7, m9, maj7, dominant 9 — played on the off-beats or as a 2-bar phrase, through chorus and a plate reverb. Voicing matters more than sound design: spread the chord, drop the root to the bass, keep the 3rd and 7th.

1. Electric: Mallet Stiffness 35–45% (softer = warmer), Force 50%, Noise low; Fork Tine volume moderate, Tone volume up for body; Pickup Dynamic (DynamoPickup-style), Distance middle. Global: release 400–700 ms so chords ring into each other.
2. Voicing: for Am9 play A (bass) + C–E–G–B in the C3–B4 range; for Dm7 play F–A–C–D spread. Drop the root an octave or leave it to the bass. Use the Chord MIDI tool (+3, +7, +10, +14) on a single note to sketch quickly, then hand-voice.
3. Rhythm: hits on the "and of 1", beat 3 and the "a of 3", or a sustained chord per bar with a stab on the off-beat 8th. Nudge chords 10–20 ms late for the laid-back feel; velocity 70–100 varied per hit.
4. Chorus-Ensemble in Chorus mode, Amount 15–25%, slow rate — the classic stereo Rhodes shimmer. Auto Filter LP 12 dB around 3 kHz removes tine "bark" and keeps it warm.
5. Gentle sidechain (2:1, 2–3 dB, 180 ms release) so the chord swells after each kick; Hybrid Reverb plate 1.5–2 s on a send at 15–25%.

Variations: Operator "DX-style EP" — algorithm with B→A and D→C paired, A sine, B sine ratio 14 at −30 dB with a fast decay (tine), C sine ratio 1, D sine ratio 1 at −20 dB; amp decay 1.2 s. Wavetable with the Collection category "Organ"-type tables for a Hammond-ish organ chord with Auto Pan-Tremolo (12.3) in Rotary-style fast tremolo.

Swung 909 hats and shaker: the shuffle

Closed 909 hat on 16ths with velocity dynamics, open hat on the off-beat 8ths, and a shaker or tambourine running underneath. The swing is moderate (56–58%) but applied to all three, plus a human nudge.

1. Pad 1: 909 closed hat, Drum Sampler Decay 60–80 ms. 16ths, velocity cycle 100-55-80-60 (accent on the beat, secondary on the "and"). Groove: MPC 16 Swing-57, Timing 80%.
2. Pad 2: 909 open hat, Decay 200–300 ms (choke group with the closed hat), on every off-beat 8th at velocity 90. Same groove.
3. Pad 3: shaker or a sampled tambourine, 16ths at 40–60 velocity, Random 15% via the Velocity MIDI tool, Groove MPC 16 Swing-60 — slightly more swing than the hats for a looser underlayer.
4. EQ Eight on the group: HP 500 Hz, a small 9 kHz shelf for sparkle. Saturator Soft Sine 2 dB softens the 909's digital edge. Glue Compressor 1 dB.
5. Pan: closed hat 8% R, open hat 15% L, shaker 20% R. Hybrid Reverb Quartz short, 10% send — a bit of room so they are not pasted on top of the mix.

Clap and soft snare: layered, roomy

Beats 2 and 4 are a clap, usually layered with a soft snare or a rimshot, with a short plate so it has a tail. Not loud — it sits just behind the kick in level.

1. Drum Rack pad with two Drum Sampler chains: a 909 clap (Decay 150 ms, Pitch −2 st) and a soft acoustic snare or rim (Decay 120 ms, −6 dB, Pitch −4 st). Nudge the snare 4 ms after the clap for a wider transient.
2. Synth alternative: Operator Osc A Noise, amp envelope A 0, D 120 ms with Loop mode set to retrigger 3 times at 10 ms for the "multi-clap" flam, Filter BP 1.2 kHz res 30%.
3. EQ Eight HP 200 Hz (claps carry useless low-mid rumble), a 1.2 kHz presence bump, LP 10 kHz so it does not fight the hats.
4. Compressor 4:1, attack 3 ms, release 80 ms, 3 dB GR to even the layers. Plate reverb on a send with 15 ms pre-delay so the transient stays dry and the tail follows.
5. Place on 2 and 4; add a ghost clap at the "a of 4" every 4 bars, −10 dB, for a turnaround.

Filtered analog pad: the warm bed

A slow, wide, low-passed pad holding the chord tones under the Rhodes, with a filter that opens over 8–16 bars. It is what makes the breakdown feel emotional, and it fills the width the drums leave.

1. Drift: Osc 1 Saw, Osc 2 Saw +7 cents, Voice mode Unison (4 voices, small spread), Drift amount 15% for analog wobble. MS2 filter low-pass 500–700 Hz, resonance 10%. Envelope 1 (amp): A 800 ms, D 0, S 1, R 1.5 s.
2. Play the chord tones (3rd, 5th, 7th) in the C3–C5 range; leave the root to the bass and let the pad voice the colour notes (9th, 11th).
3. Chorus-Ensemble in Ensemble mode: the Juno-style stereo spread. Auto Filter after it with a very slow LFO (0.02–0.05 Hz) over 1–1.5 octaves, or automate cutoff by hand across the arrangement.
4. Sidechain lightly (2:1, 2–3 dB, 250 ms release) so the pad swells into the gaps; Hybrid Reverb Dark Hall 3–5 s at 30–40%; HP at 180 Hz so it never touches the bass or the kick.
5. Level: −16 to −20 dB below the kick. It should be audible only when muted.

Variations: Wavetable with Vintage category table, Unison Shimmer 6 voices, Filter 1 OSR low-pass with a little drive for a grittier, "Prophet-ish" pad; Analog with both filters in series (LP then BP) for a nasal, vocal-ish pad.

Vocal: phrase, hum or chop, in a big plate

Deep house vocals range from a full soulful phrase to a single chopped syllable. Either way: compressed smooth, de-essed, a touch of tape, wide reverb, and frequently pitched or formant-shifted. The chop is the modern default; the full phrase is the classic.

1. Simpler, Classic mode, on a vocal phrase (your own, a collaborator, or a stem separated in 12.3). Warp Complex Pro to tempo; for chops switch to Slice mode (Transient) and play the slices from Push in time with the chords.
2. Auto Shift (12.1) in key-locked mode at 30–50% strength for a light pitch tidy; add 10% vibrato; for a "pitched up" chop use Pitch +3 to +5 st with Formant preserved (or shift formants down for the deep, androgynous sound).
3. EQ Eight HP 150 Hz, cut the 400 Hz boxiness 2 dB, +2 dB air shelf at 8 kHz. Compressor 3:1 gentle, Saturator Soft Sine 1–2 dB for tape warmth.
4. Hybrid Reverb plate (Convolution) with 30–50 ms pre-delay so words stay intelligible; 25–35% send. Echo on a second send, 1/4 dotted, feedback 30%, LP 3 kHz, 10–15% — the ends of phrases get a trail.
5. Arrangement: full phrase in Main 1, chopped version in Main 2; the breakdown is where the vocal goes dry and exposed.

Organ stab and piano: the lift

Many deep house tracks add a second harmonic layer for the drop: a short organ stab (the "M1 organ" lineage) or a percussive piano chord. It plays a rhythmic 1-bar pattern, high-passed, with a short room.

1. Operator, additive algorithm (all four oscillators in parallel, rightmost). A sine ratio 1 (0 dB), B ratio 2 (−6 dB), C ratio 3 (−12 dB), D ratio 4 (−10 dB) — drawbar-style organ. Amp envelope: A 1 ms, D 150–200 ms, S 0, R 50 ms for a stab; S 1 for a held organ.
2. Add a click: Osc D with a 5 ms-decay envelope at ratio 8, which gives the key-click of a real organ.
3. Auto Pan-Tremolo (12.3) Tremolo at 6–7 Hz, 20–30% depth, for a Leslie-like wobble; Saturator Medium Curve 3 dB for drive.
4. Pattern: a 1-bar riff on the off-beats (see sequencer), m7 or dominant 7 voicing in the C4–C5 range. HP 250 Hz so it sits above the Rhodes chords.
5. Piano variant: Electric is not a piano, so use a sampled piano in Simpler (Classic) with a short Release and Saturator for a house-piano stab, or the Operator organ with ratio 1 + ratio 2 only and a longer decay.

Melodic lead: sax-ish, flute-ish or synth, sparse

Where deep house has a melody it is short — a 2-bar call every 8 bars — and warm: a filtered saw with vibrato, a breathy formant sound, a mallet. It answers the vocal rather than competing with it.

1. Meld: Osc A Formant engine (vowel around "oo"/"ah"), Osc B Reed engine at −8 dB for breath; Mono voice with Legato and Glide 30–50 ms so phrases slide. LFO 1 → pitch, 5.5 Hz, depth 10 cents, delayed vibrato via envelope 2.
2. Per-oscillator filter LP around 2 kHz; amp envelope A 40 ms, D 400 ms, S 0.7, R 300 ms. MPE on if you play it from a Push 3 — pressure to filter and slide to pitch sells the sax-like phrasing.
3. Write a 2-bar phrase in the track scale (set the clip Scale so Push is locked), ending on the 7th or 9th of the chord; play it every 8 bars in the main sections only.
4. Echo dotted-quarter plus 8th at 40% feedback, filtered, so the phrase has a tail that fills the silence before the next call.

Variations: Wavetable Basics > Saw with Unison Classic 2 and a slow LFO on position, LP 1.5 kHz: the classic "deep house synth lead". Collision with a Marimba resonator for a mallet lead (the Lounge/Ibiza-deep sound). An actual recorded instrument through Auto Shift for pitch tidy is better than any of these if you have a player.

Lo-fi house treatment: the whole mix through tape

The late-2010s lo-fi house sound is classic deep house with a degrading chain on the drum bus and the master: wow and flutter, bit reduction, a dull top end, and tape-like compression. Apply to taste; the strongest version is on the drum bus only.

1. Saturator Analog Clip 5–8 dB with Soft Clip for tape-style flattening.
2. Redux bit depth 10–12, sample rate ~20–26 kHz with Jitter 5–10% for the aliasing hiss.
3. Vinyl Distortion Tracing model 20–40%, Crackle density 10–30%: the dust.
4. Auto Filter LP 12 dB at 6–8 kHz, slight resonance: the "through a wall" top end.
5. Wow/flutter: easiest in Live is Echo with the delay time at its minimum, feedback 0, dry/wet 100% and Wobble 10–20% at a slow rate — the delay line's modulation becomes pitch wobble. Alternatively Chorus-Ensemble in Vibrato mode at 0.3 Hz, 10%.
6. Glue Compressor 4:1, attack 3 ms, release 0.2 s, 3–5 dB GR, Soft Clip on. For the master, use a milder copy of the same chain (Redux 14-bit, LP 12 kHz).