Task 1: Three Minute Song Production (70%)
Task 2: 1000 Word Write-Up (30%)
Process and Commercial Potential
For this assignment, I aimed to create a House track that both calls back to a classic late 80’s Acid House sound, and also incorporates elements of the more modern Deep House genre. Some reference tracks I used for inspiration on both the composition and mixing of this track consist of 808 State’s “Pacific 202” (through the use of a classic Acid bass and approach to sampling), MK’s “17” (punchy, more refined and deep bass/drums) and Robin S’ “Show Me Love” (approach to direction of vocal performance, as well as vocal processing).
The first element composed is the main driving drum pattern, utilising sequenced hard “four on the floor” kicks, closed and open hi-hats, subtle rimshots and a classic house clap (some House/Garage top loops subtly sit on top of these drums during the chorus sections to create a more complex and full groove, alongside an additional vocal one-shot). I then layered a syncopated vocal one-shot for a more complex groove, as well as introducing a vinyl static loop giving the track a more “retro” feel as well as glueing some elements of the mix together. A modern House bass pluck plays off-beat, complementing the kicks and filling in the low-end gaps between them, playing a similar rhythm to more classic House minor 9th synth chords, laying out the main harmonic makeup of the track. Further, a legato string synth plays a subtle and occasional counter-melody, creating more melodic complexity. The Acid element of this track is created using a synthesiser to imitate the Roland TB-303 (the hardware synthesiser/sequencer that pioneered the genre), with LFOs controlling both the level and filter cutoff, to create a fast sequenced effect and variation in timbre over time, paired with a high resonance on the filter to create the iconic sharp “squelch”. Variations are made in the bass and Acid synth alongside newly introduced classic House piano chords during a bridge section before entering back into the final chorus.
In the vocal writing/recording session, we aimed to focus on writing a collection of catchy hooks, and stringing them together to create repetitive lyrics more suited to dance music, as opposed to complex and varying but less memorable lyrics. I chose the session vocalist I did based on her experience in Neo-Soul performance, and due to this was able to easily direct a more soulful performance. She was recorded in an isolated vocal booth to minimise room acoustics using a Sontronics STC-3X, a large diaphragm condenser microphone chosen for it’s cardioid polar pattern and high pass filter (which was utilised) as well as it’s low self-noise, sensitivity and detail. A pop shield was also used to reduce the air produced by plosive syllables. Two slightly varying strong takes were used in order for me to splice them together in post-production, alongside some additional background riffing.
Regarding the mix of the track, I aimed to create a sort of blend between older, more analogue and traditional House and the newer more refined and clear mixes of recent House. Due to this, dynamic processors such as EQ and compression were used widely on essentially all tracks, but used sparingly in many contexts such as not severely cutting frequencies below where elements are “supposed to” sit and allowing some warmth to remain as to not achieve modern complete separation, but a warmer more blended mix. Vintage-emulating compressors lower the dynamic range of many elements (bar some such as the kick and clap samples), alongside creative effects like soft clippers and saturators to further achieve a more analogue feel. Delay and reverb buses are used through sends to give some elements a more subtle “bouncy” rhythm and to give all tracks the same collective “room” sound, with varying amounts of signal sent to give elements such as the vocals a more present and larger reverb. Additional reverbs are used on tracks such as the legato strings (a subtle blurred pink noise convolution reverb) and on the Acid synth (a subtle pitched delay-reverb effect) to make the elements more interesting and alive-sounding to a modern audience. Stereo enhancers are utilised to widen some elements in the stereo field without creating potentially uneven panning.
In terms of commercial potential, the large time-spanning influences of this track prove complex to analyse. However certainty is found in the role the vocal hooks play, carrying “significant emotional weight, conveying the mood and message of the track”, a keystone in the commercial potential of all electronic dance music- giving the track it’s sense of catchiness (W.A Production, 2024). It can also be said that House music is still essentially as popular as it has ever been, including the more recent Deep House by the likes of Marc Kinchen a.k.a “MK”, as well as new found revivals of Acid bass-utilising tracks especially under UK names (Murphy, 2019).
Evidence of Sampling
Sampling in this track has been used simply but effectively, in order to conform to the genre norms of the House subgenres that influenced it. All drum and vocal one-shots are inserted into FL Studio’s native sampler in order to convert them into MIDI, for ease of editing when it comes to MIDI clips that use these elements. Other samples such as the drum top loops are time-stretched while retaining original pitch to be layered in time over the main drum patterns, as well as the sample of vinyl static that is looped throughout the length of the track, including in solo at the beginning and end to simulate a real vinyl record.
Bibliography
Murphy, B. (2019) Acid Revival: Long Live The Squelch. Electronic Sound, 10 October. https://www.electronicsound.co.uk/features/long-reads/acid-revival-long-live-the-squelch/ [Accessed 28 Apr 2026].
W.A Production (2024) The Role of Vocals in EDM: From Sampling to Synthesis [Blog post]. Tips and tricks | Music production. 12 June. https://blog.waproduction.com/the-role-of-vocals-in-edm-from-sampling-to-synthesis [Accessed 28 Apr 2026].
