DJ Steffen Coonan
Menu

10 Deep House Production tips

29/9/2011

1 Comment

 
I read a real helpful article to help any producers out there.

1. A lot of deep house's vibe comes from its rhythm. While the drum patterns don't generally deviate much from the 4/4 template, leaving them straight makes them sound too robotic. To give them a more human feel - à la Chris Brann's Ananda Project - you can apply 16th-note swing quantisation or some more sophisticated groove quantisation if your sequencer supports it. Analysing live drum breaks will give you a more human feel than straight quantisation, though you'll probably find that keeping the kicks dead on the beat works best.

2. While programming riffs and chord progressions with a mouse is convenient if you can't play the keyboard - and handy for tricky stuff, of course - you should at least give the old-fashioned live approach a try. Mistakes can always be corrected later using your sequencer's MIDI editor, and you might be surprised at how much better your sequences sound when you've played rather than programmed them. Plenty of top producers swear by the 'human touch' to inject a bit of life and soul into their tracks.

3. A very commonly used sound in deep house music is the electric piano. While it's possible to spend hundreds of pounds on a commercial electric piano emulation, there are some superb free plug-ins out there that are more than capable of doing the job. Check out the latest version of MrRay if you don't believe us.

4. If you want to create an authentic electric piano sound, it's crucial that you use the right effects. Check out the Kjaerhus Classic Series - the Auto-Filter effect in particular can be used to add movement and feeling to an electric piano sound. Start out with the Panning Notch preset and turn the LFO Rate up to around 1.5Hz. Then add the Kjaerhus Delay and Reverb plug-ins in that order. Turn the Dir/Eff level of the reverb down to make it sound more intimate.

5. If your chords don't have enough body, you can make them bigger by doubling them with another instrument. Even if the part you double it with is extremely quiet (you don't want it to overpower the original chords), it can still add character and definition.

6. You need to ensure that you're properly utilising space in the stereo image when you're creating deep house, and a stereo imaging plug-in can make this a lot easier. Try installing mda Image and turning the S Width value up to 200% for an extra wide stereo image that'll give your tracks a widescreen feel.

7. Another thing to try with mda Image is to turn the S Width down to 0%. This will 'mono-fy' the signal and enable you to place it precisely in the stereo panorama using your sequencer's pan control. This can be useful when you want to accurately position percussion sounds in the stereo mix.

8. When using doubled parts in this manner, you can use the stereo space to create different feels. Try doubling the Mr Ray electric piano with something else, using mda Image to increase the stereo spread of Mr Ray and mono-fying the other patch. This will keep the electric piano vibes rolling around the stereo field while retaining a lot of definition in the centre of the mix.

"If your chords don't have enough body, you can make them bigger by doubling them with another instrument."9. Effects are generally used quite sparsely in Deep House, so those that you do use need to be up to scratch or they'll stick out like sore thumbs. Reverbs, then delays are the most commonly used - if you're in need of a high quality reverb try Ambience and for delay, give Big Tick's Dual Delay. Both are free and cross-platform.

10. If you're using reverb or delay send effects on sounds that have a large amount of low end, you can curtail the amount of bass output from the send effect by adding a high-pass filter at any point of the effect chain.

1 Comment
Gary W4M link
4/2/2025 09:48:12 pm

Thank you for writingg this

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Steffen Coonan

    All House Music News from Ireland.

    House music Ireland AISENMA BEATZ Erra P.

    Categories

    All
    20 Years Of House In Waterford **28th December**
    6th Borough Blend
    Amsterdam Festival
    Amsterdam Hot Or Not House Mix
    Art
    Artist
    Bank Holiday
    Beach House Mix
    Berlin
    Big Daddy Can
    Canada House Music
    Carl Cox
    Christmas Mix
    Classic Deep House Vinyl Mix
    Clonmel
    Clonmel Music Prodution
    Clonmel Music Studio
    Club House Music Mix
    Club Music
    Coonan
    Cork
    Cork City
    Cork House Music
    Craichouserecords
    @Crane Lane Theatre
    Danny Krivit
    Davidoleary
    Declan Omahony
    Deep
    Deephouse
    Deep House
    Deep House 2018
    Deep House Album
    Deep House.DJ
    "Deep House DJ Mix | Chill Out And Get Lost In The Deepness"
    Deep House & House Music Mix
    Deep House Ireland
    Deep House Mix
    Deephousemusic
    Deep House Music
    Dj Set
    Dj Steffen Coonan
    Dolans Pub & Restaurant
    Downtempo
    Downtempo Mixes
    Erra P.
    Erra P. - And The Waters - New Release 2020
    Erra P. At Electric Picnic
    Events
    Experimental
    Figure App
    Fish Go Deep
    Folamour House
    Funk
    Funk & Disco DJ Set Live From DJ Mag HQ
    Galway
    Galway Arts
    Gavin_Boyce
    Gigs
    Guitar
    Heinz
    Hiphop
    Hip Hop
    Hip Hop Event
    Hip Hop Festival
    Hip Hop Loop
    Hip Hop Mix
    Homesick New Track
    House
    House Mixes
    Housemusic
    House Music
    House Music Event.
    House Music Ireland
    House Music Ireland.deep House Music Ireland
    House Music Waterford
    Iamcosmonaut
    In 4 Days Time
    INDIEPENDENCE Music & Arts Festival
    Instrumental
    Instrumentals
    Ireland
    Ireland Electronic Act
    Ireland House Music
    Ireland Music Events 2014
    Ireland Music Production
    Irish
    Irish Electronic Music 2016
    Irish Event
    Irish House DJ's
    Irishhousemusic
    Irish House Music
    Ivan Mokshin - Forest Tribe
    Jimmy Penguin
    Kate Power
    Kenny Dope
    Konnect Festival Launch Party
    Lana Del Rey
    Laurent Garnier
    Layo & Bushwacka
    Leftfield Mix
    Limerick
    Live Dj
    Longy
    Lougin
    Machinedrum
    Mary-Ruth Walsh
    Mash-up
    Mixcloud
    Music
    New Deep House Music Ireland
    New House Music 2021
    Nu Disco
    Ordinary Subject
    Pico Frames
    Podomatic
    Posh
    Posh Funk
    Promo House Music
    Remix
    Republik
    Sir Henry's
    Soundcloud
    Spraoi
    Steffe
    Steffen
    Steffencoonan
    Steffen Coonan
    Steffen Coonan.
    Steffen Coonan Blog
    Steffen Coonasn
    Stefffen Coonan
    Students
    Studio Tips
    Sunday Morning House Mix #1 By ERRA Project
    Supersoul Machine
    Tech House
    Tech House DJ Club Mix
    Technizzel
    The Pavilion Carey's Lane Cork
    The SquaRE Pre Party - Marvin & Guy Public · Hosted By RePublik Music
    Timothy
    Trip Hop Mix
    Waterford
    Waterford City
    Waterford House Music
    White Minds

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    January 2021
    December 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    April 2018
    December 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    December 2013
    February 2013
    November 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    December 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010

Site Map

  • Home
  • Blog
  • My Mixes
  • Guest DJ's
  • My Production Studio Songs
  • Links
  • Contact

Contact Email

DJ Steffen Coonan avatar
[email protected]
  • Home
  • My Mixes
    • Guest DJ's
    • Other Mixes
  • News
  • Erra P.
  • My Productions
  • Contact
  • Home
  • My Mixes
    • Guest DJ's
    • Other Mixes
  • News
  • Erra P.
  • My Productions
  • Contact