How to Make House Music: Drum Patterns, Basslines and Chords

House music is built on a steady four on the floor kick, a groove you can dance to for hours, a bassline that locks with the drums and chords that give the track its mood. The parts are simple, which is why house is a great genre to learn production with. The hard part is making those simple parts feel good. This guide walks you through each step, starting with the drum pattern.

Set Up Your Project

• Tempo: most house sits between 118 and 130 BPM. Deep house often runs from 118 to 124 BPM, tech house from about 124 to 128, and future and progressive house a little faster.
• Key: minor keys give a deeper, moodier sound; major keys feel brighter. Pick one at the start so your bass and chords fit together.
• Grid: set the grid to 1/16 notes. Almost every house part is written on this grid.

The Basic House Drum Pattern

Here is one bar on a 16 step grid. Each number is a 1/16 note step, and an X means a hit. This pattern is the starting point for most house tracks.

Step	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
Kick	X				X				X				X
Clap / snare					X								X
Open hat			X				X				X				X
Closed hat	X	X		X	X	X		X	X	X		X	X	X		X

Kick and clap

The kick on every beat is the heart of house. Pick a kick with a short, punchy click and a round low end, and keep it simple. The clap or snare on beats 2 and 4 gives the backbeat. Many producers layer a clap with a snare or a short reverb tail to make it wider.

Hi hats and the offbeat

The open hat on the offbeat, between each kick, is the sound most people link with house. It makes the groove lift. Closed hats on the 1/16 notes fill the space and drive the track forward. Lower the volume of some closed hats so they do not all hit equally, and you will hear the groove come to life.

Groove and swing

Straight drums can sound stiff. Add a little swing to the hats and percussion, around 55 to 60 percent in most DAWs, while you keep the kick straight. Then add percussion: shakers, rides, congas, bongos and rimshots. Short percussion loops placed slightly off the grid are a quick way to add movement.

Write the Bassline

The bassline is where house gets its bounce. A classic move is to place bass notes on the offbeats, between the kicks, so the kick and bass take turns instead of fighting.

• Start simple: write a one or two bar pattern using the root note of your key, then add one or two other notes from the scale.
• Use short notes: short, punchy notes keep the groove tight. Longer notes work for deep house subs.
• Sidechain to the kick: duck the bass slightly every time the kick hits, so both stay clear.
• Pick the right sound: deep house uses warm, rounded basses; tech house uses short, rubbery or plucky basses; future house often uses a bouncy, pitch bent bass.

Add Chords and Melody

Chords set the mood of a house track. Deep house leans on warm seventh and ninth chords played on electric pianos, organs and soft pads. Classic house uses piano stabs. Tech house often keeps it to one short stab or a single note riff.

• Try a simple two or four chord loop and let it repeat. House rewards repetition.
• Play chords as short stabs on the offbeat for energy, or as long pads for a deeper feel.
• Filter the chords with a low pass filter and open it slowly through a section to build tension.
• Vocal chops and short vocal phrases are a big part of house. A few words, repeated, can become the hook.

Stuck on chords? Drag in a MIDI chord progression and change it until it sounds like yours. Our EDM MIDI Collection has 82 key labelled MIDI files of progressions, synth lines, arps and basslines.

Arrange for the Dance Floor

House tracks are made to be mixed by DJs, so the arrangement matters. Work in blocks of 8, 16 or 32 bars, and change something at the start of each block.

1. Intro (16 to 32 bars): mostly drums, so a DJ can mix in.
2. Build: bring in bass, percussion and parts of the chords.
3. Breakdown: drop the kick, let the chords or vocal carry the track, and build tension.
4. Main section or drop: everything plays together.
5. Second breakdown and main section, with a small change such as a new chord sound or vocal.
6. Outro (16 to 32 bars): strip back to drums so a DJ can mix out.

Small changes keep a long track interesting: mute the kick for one bar, add a new percussion loop, open a filter, or add a riser before the drop.

Mix It Clean

• Kick and bass first: mix these two together before anything else. If they sound right, the track will hit on a club system.
• Cut low end from everything else: use a high pass filter on chords, hats, percussion and vocals.
• Keep the clap clear: a short reverb helps it sit in the mix without washing it out.
• Use width carefully: keep the kick and bass in the center, and spread percussion and pads left and right.
• Compare with a reference: play a released house track at the same volume as yours and listen for differences in the low end and the overall balance.

Want to hear your low end properly? See our guides to choosing studio monitors and treating your room.

Common Mistakes

• A kick and bass that hit at the same time and cancel each other out.
• Drums that are perfectly on the grid with every hit at the same volume.
• Too many parts playing at once, with no space for the groove.
• Intros and outros that are too short for DJs to mix.
• One loop repeated with no changes from start to finish.

Start Faster With House Construction Kits

Construction kits give you drums, bass, chords and melodies that already work together. Load one up, study how the parts fit, then swap in your own sounds one part at a time.

• $1 Deep House Kit: one full deep house kit from Deep Dream, with 33 WAV loops, 9 one shots and 4 MIDI files. A cheap way to try the sound.
• Deep Dream Sample Pack: five deep house construction kits at 120 to 126 BPM, with 133 WAV loops, 47 one shots and 17 MIDI files.
• Tomorrow’s House Sample Pack: five future house kits, each with a full demo track, 106 WAV loops, 48 one shots and 17 MIDI files.
• Pro-Tech Sample Pack: five progressive and tech house kits with 105 WAV loops, 44 one shots and 23 MIDI files.
• Key Sounds Super Bundle: Deep Dream, Tomorrow’s House, Club Techno and Key Sounds Vol.1 plus our production ebook in one bundle.

All Rhino Star sounds are royalty free for use in your own music. Read what royalty free samples mean before you release. Making trap too? See our guide on how to make trap beats.