How to make House music with creative constraints

What makes House tick

A house kick hits every quarter note, at about 115 to 130 BPM, with open hi-hats on the offbeat and a clap or snare on two and four. The harmony is a loop of two to four chords, often the jazz-influenced seventh chords that are a trademark of deep house, and often filtered so that the chords open and close over sixteen bars. The classic sounds are a piano stab, an organ bass and a vocal phrase chopped into a hook.

Arrangement does most of the work in house. The usual order is an intro for the DJ, the groove, a breakdown that removes the kick, a build that adds tension with a filter or a riser, and a drop that brings the kick back. The drop rarely adds new material. It is the same loop, finally allowed to play.

Constraints that work in House

• Four-on-the-Floor Kick with Offbeat Hi-Hats (House): build the whole drum part in four minutes, then never touch the kick again. Arrange everything else around it.
• Repetitive Filtered Chord Loop (House): loop two chords through one low-pass filter and automate the filter over sixteen bars. Between them, the loop and the filter cover melody, harmony and arrangement.
• Build and Release with Filter Sweep (House): remove the kick for eight bars, sweep a high-pass up across the loop, bring the kick back on the one. Once you have written this, you know the form of the genre.

Mistakes that flatten a House track

• Too many elements at once. A house groove needs only a handful of sounds. If the drop has twelve, nobody can hear the kick.
• A drop that adds new material. The release should come from the loop returning, not from a different song starting.
• Sidechain as decoration. Pump the pads and bass from the kick until the groove breathes, and leave the drums and vocal out of it.

How to use the 16 House cards

Use the Roman numeral or chord card from your house brief as the loop, and let it run for eight bars before you judge it, because house harmony is heard over time, not in one bar. Then take the form from EDM Structure: Intro - Build - Drop - Breakdown - Drop - Outro and fill the blocks.

Every House card in the deck is listed below. The button above opens a draw with House already selected; the hand you pull is your brief for the session. Pull cards, accept the brief, ship a sketch.

House constraint cards

• Style Emulation EDM Track with Build-Up & Drop Compose an electronic dance music piece featuring a distinct build-up section that creates tension, leading into an energetic drop. Structure for dance floor impact.
• Form EDM Structure: Intro - Build - Drop - Breakdown - Drop - Outro Structure your electronic track following a common EDM arrangement with distinct sections for energy flow, emphasizing builds and drops. Design for dancefloor dynamics.
• Melodic Catchy Synth Lead Hook (Electronic) Design a memorable lead melody using a distinctive synthesizer sound, focusing on its catchiness and suitability as a main hook. Create an ear-worm quality through sound design and melody.
• Chord Minor 7th or 9th Chords (Deep House) Use smooth minor 7th, minor 9th, or major 7th chords with a mellow vibe, typical of Deep House progressions.
• Rhythm Four-on-the-Floor Kick with Offbeat Hi-Hats (House) Establish a classic House beat with a kick drum on every quarter note and open hi-hats on the offbeats (the "&" of each beat).
• Harmony Repetitive Filtered Chord Loop (House) Create a short (1-4 bar) chord progression loop for a House track and apply filter modulation (e.g., low-pass filter sweeps) for movement.
• Roman Numeral Am - G - C - F (Classic House Loop) Create a House track based around a simple, effective chord loop like Am - G - C - F (or vi-V-I-IV in C major / A minor), focusing on groove and subtle variations.
• Instrument Classic House Piano (e.g., Korg M1 Sound) Feature a bright, percussive piano sound reminiscent of the Korg M1 (a staple in 90s House music) playing chords or a melodic riff.
• Tempo Deep House Tempo (118-125 BPM) Compose a House track within the typical tempo range of Deep House (around 118-125 BPM), focusing on a soulful and mellow groove.
• Production Sidechain Compression from Kick (House) Apply sidechain compression to pads, basslines, or other sustained elements, triggered by the kick drum, to create the characteristic "pumping" effect of House music.
• Note Single Filtered Synth Stab Note (House) Use a single, short synth stab note with a prominent filter envelope (e.g., a quick opening and closing low-pass filter) as a recurring rhythmic punctuation in a House track.
• Scale Minor Pentatonic for Bassline Groove (House) Craft a groovy and repetitive bassline for a House track using primarily notes from the minor pentatonic scale.
• Time Signature Classic 4/4 House Beat (Kick on every beat) Establish the foundational 4/4 time signature of House music with a kick drum firmly on every quarter note, often accompanied by an offbeat hi-hat and a snare/clap on beats 2 and 4.
• Challenge Build and Release with Filter Sweep (House) Create a classic House build-up section by gradually increasing layers and using a rising low-pass or high-pass filter sweep on a key element, leading to a "release" where the beat drops back in with full energy.
• Dynamics Subtle Dynamic Shifts via Layering (House) Manage dynamics in a House track not through overall volume changes, but by subtly adding or removing instrumental layers (e.g., hi-hat patterns, synth pads, percussion) to create shifts in intensity.
• Lyrical House Instrumental Evoking "Night Out" Vibe Compose an instrumental House track that evokes the feeling of a sophisticated night out, from the anticipation of getting ready to the energy of the dance floor, using evolving grooves and atmospheric pads.

Keep going

• 20 chord progressions to steal
• 25 production constraints to finish a track
• Odd time signature exercises
• 33 songwriting briefs
• Working with creative constraints

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