Dance Music Production - Deep House (2015)

For Volume 16 we examine the theory and practice behind the production of Deep House. Drawing on elements of Chicago house, soul, funk and Detroit music, deep house is often best known for its jazzy suspended chords, close-concentrated dissonant melodies, soulful vocal snippets and a general laid-back, deep feel to the music.

Spread across 3 DVD's and running close to 14 hours of video we examine the production of this genre step by step with a focus on the deep house style signed to labels such as Anjunadeep.

The tutorial begins with the general idea composition and sound design principles behind the trademark chord progressions, bass lines, vocals and counter melodies. During the course of the first disc, we work at building the basic backbone of the example track while introducing the theory of chord development, retrograde inversion, thematic development in the bass, chord "planing", chords suspensions, diminution, intervallic dissonance and bass/harmony/melodic counterpoint.

Using various examples in both theory and sound design we show how these can be used to create the jazzy feel of the genre.

With the compositional backbone of the track complete, in the second disc we move onto further sound design, this time examining the requisite processing techniques to help maintain the laid back feel and sound of the genre. We also investigate the sound design and programming behind the house style skippy drum loops and generation of the over-percussive elements, introducing further techniques such as displacement, modulation, cell patterning, multi-rhythmic programming and nulti-measure patterning.

Finally, for disc 3, we work towards completing our example track by tieing all of our ideas together. Beginning with a further examination of synthesis, effects busses and processing chains, we work to develop the track with further melodies and vocal hooks while working towards the complete arrangement.

Content:

Disc One

Introduction
An introduction to the DVD

Session 01: Defining a Genre: 10 minutes.
For the first session we examine Deep House as a genre and attempt to unlock exactly what style it encapsulates.

Session 02: Chords: 20 minutes
Here we examine the theory of diatonic harmonisation and how it can be used to quickly create chords.

Session 03: Major & Minor: 20 Minutes.
We begin by examining the differences between major and minor chords and how to convert between them for deep house progressions

Session 04: Chord Development: 35 minutes
In this session, we examine how to develop chords further to create chords that are typical of most deep house

Session 05: Chord Progressions: 55 Minutes
For the final session on chords, we examine how to create a chord progression for deep house and the example track.

Session 06: Deep House Bass: 30 Minutes
For this session we examine the music theory behind building a melodic bass for deep house.

Session 07: Counterpoint: 30 Minutes
For the final music theory session, we examine counterpoint showing how to create a bass from chords & vice versa.

Session 08: Planar Chords: 50 Minutes
In the first session on sound design we examine designing chords and the various methods of chord "planing" for house and deep house

Session 10: Hocketing: 40 Minutes
For the final session of disc one, we continue to look at sound design and chordal structure.

Disc Two

Session 10: Bass Sound Design: 45 minutes.
For the first session of this disc we investigate bass sound design, with a focus on the "rubber" style bass popular in this genre.

Session 11: Bass Sound Design 2: 20 minutes
Here, we build on our bass by showing how to design sub basses in Massive.

Session 12: Deep House Rhythm 1: 45 Minutes.
In this session we begin constructing the archetypal house drums, starting with the basics of the kick and hats.

Session 13: Deep House Rhythm 2: 40 minutes
Here, we continue to evolve the percussion, examining techniques such as multi-meter, multi-rhythm and sound design

Session 14: Advanced Rhythm: 40 minutes
In this session, we examine further percussive sound design and techniques

Session 15: Deep House Vocals: 25 Minutes
Here, we discuss the application of vocals and show how to design the classic "deep vocal sound"

Session 16: More Vocals: 40 Minutes
In this session, we examine more vocals and look at some of the techniques employed by artists.

Session 17: The Break: 30 Minutes
For the final session of this disc, we come up with some ideas for the main break before the drop.

Disc Three

Session 18: Arranging Part 1: 50 minutes.
Here, we examine how to create textural development by beginning to arrange a quick example track

Session 19: Arranging Part 2: 45 minutes
We continue to arrange the example track

Session 20: Arranging Part 3: 40 Minutes.
We continue to arrange the example track

Session 21: Arranging Part 4: 25 Minutes.
We continue from the previous session, this time completing the rough arrangement

also You can look my other last: Sound Processing-posts