House music comes in many shapes and sizes, but underpinning it is a driving four-to-the-floor groove between 115 and 130bpm that’s stayed pretty consistent since its first appearance in Chicago in the mid 1980s. There’s an abundance of DJs, labels and artists to reference and multiple sub genres to align to. Here we’re keeping it mainstream and looking at the sort of groove you’ll get on UK labels such as Defected or Toolroom and supported by DJs such as Dennis Ferrer.
House started out using the classic drum machine sounds of the time, particularly Roland 909 kicks, hats and snares. Nevertheless, over time more blended sounds have become the norm. To produce convincing house beats you need to use the sounds that are currently popular, so in addition to referencing current releases, you may want to audition the latest house-specific sample packs. In general terms you want to look for short, heavy kicks without too much pitch in them, a selection of hats including some longer, looser open hi-hats, and tight snares and claps. 909 snares and claps can be particularly handy for fills and builds and extra percussion such as congas and shakers can be added to taste.
Start with a quantised KICK pattern on all quarter notes and then add an offbeat OPEN HI-HAT on all the 1/8th notes between the kicks. The length of the open hi-hat influences the overall feel, and here we’ve gone for a longer hi-hat sound and that’s reflected in the note lengths. Add a closed hi-hat on all quarter notes. This helps add presence to the kick drum. Despite having a rigid kick pattern a mainstream house beat has a skippy feel to it. This can be achieved using additional hi-hats and here we’ve labelled
