Hi! Newbie here! First than all hello to everybody i hope i'm putting this thread in the correct section.

I'm just trying to learn how to produce deep house and tropical house.
I recently listened to this song and i liked very much, how can i reach that sound and what's the chord progression? I'm on the learning curve of music theory and sound design

I'm just learning 7th chords and understanding their building but as you might know, it's still very hard for me to identify chords by ear, like i said before i am a newbie. All advice are welcome about ear training, how to learn produce this sub genre or even about good courses

Thank you

 

When I have time I can help with more infos but essentially it's like this.

I can tell you that this is a Eb minor

Bass is Eb-Ab-Db-Gb (Db could be a Cb, not sure right now)

Chords are:
Eb Gb Bb Db (minor 7)
Ab Cb Eb Gb
Cb Eb Gb Bb
Gb Bb Db F

I'm not taking in account chord inversions, have a try yourself.

Better to point out that I wrote notes of chords, so each row you see is one single chord.

 

Last edited: Jun 28, 2019

???

 

Can't help me maybe? Like i said, i just know a bit of theory but not so good identifying chords

 

I appreciate your help, all info is very welcome.

 

I don't know how some people can say which chord it is by listening a song.They have probably a lot of experience.
I can't do that,even if I make music since long years now.With inversions,2nd inversion,7th,9th,11th,different timbres and filters the synths have,it's very hard for me.
I can't remember in my head X frequency its X note if I am not playing with a synth.

 

Learn singing and remember intervals. You don't have to memorize frequencies, wow. You compare intervals to a given reference frequency and find everything you need. Actually, very few people have pitch memory (remembering specific frequencies).
see this list of intervals, found in popular songs:
https://www.earmaster.com/products/free-tools/interval-song-chart-generator.html
(can be used as a cheat sheet)

 

Indeed, it's not easy. I don't want to discourage anyone, but unless you have a natural talent with freqs (personally I have not), it takes a while to recognize the whole bunch of details in music.
However with knowledge, study and PRACTICE you can reach something remarkable.

I saw in this forum somewhere a VERY interesting YT course (possibly one of the best I saw):

In 1992 I bought a course of audiocassettes (yes, the old audio mag tape), it was David L. Burgess - Perfect pitch course.
With that I thought that I would recognize songs by ear, but it wasn't that easy, actually I couldn't even recognize some basic note (the course started with F# and Eb, stating that the first is vibrant and the second mellow, no matter which instruments or ocatave you would play, and I could agree to some extent).

Instead, I found much more useful the course by the same guy on relative pitch, even if it wasn't that viable unless you had a companion (and ear training software was not much existing those days).

However after many years of studying harmony, and a lot of practice I can recognize almost instantly the root key, and with a bit of analysis, chords.

However the basics steps to recognize by ear songs are:
1) find the root key;
2) find the bass notes;
3) find the chords.

Chords are usually within the scale of root key, so are basically easy to find.

There are also songs where root keys are changing (modulating), analysis is a bit more complicated.

 

Last edited: Jun 29, 2019

creating deep house? don't think it just feel it, it's a spiritual thing.

btw your link is hardly deep house but nu disco, vocal house

deep house is something like this:

the vibes, the drive, vitality, it takes you over.

 

Last edited: Jun 29, 2019

Thanks for the tip.

So you mean that the song that i shared it's not deep house? I searched for Nu disco like you said and it's very different. I'm confused now.

 

I agree on that.

Technicaly, it is neither deep house nor nu disco eitherso. It is more a hybrid, trying to appeal to lovers of different sub genres of house music, among them, deep and new disco. There are like 30+ sub genres of house with many borrowing from the other. We can be here arguing all nite long about that. I don't want to get off topic here, but as way of illustration I will share with you a song that I always recommend to those trying to discover deep house. As @PAskaperse stated, deep house is a spiritual thing. Feel it in your soul. It does not get any deeper than this song. Simple, and yet so powerful.

 

Great answer! Btw do you have more examples of 'pure' deep house? I'm trying to learn about subgenres.

 

Bro don't get me started. Always remember, that the use of the word deep in Deep House is all about the way this genre reaches your core, your subconsciousness. It goes deep into your soul. It certainly is deep music. That is the reason why we call it Deep House. Below are several examples of Deep House songs spanning 3 decades. It has evolved BUT has not lost its soul.

 

This site is pretty fun: https://chordify.net/chords/viva-la-panda-amaze-mrrevillz

 

The sub-genres of House Music will drive you crazy. It seems like everyday a new sub-genre is added to the list. Totally ridiculous, if you ask me, and made even worst by producers trying hard to strictly fit their songs and other's into one of the 30-plus extincting sub-genres.

1. Deep House
2. Soulful House
3. Tech House
4. Minimal House
5. Progressive House
6. Getto House
7. Baleric House
8. Tropical House
9. Dutch House
10. lo fi House
11. Latin House
12. Acid House
13. Ambient House
14. Diva House
15. Electro House
16. Future House
17. Funky House
18. Garage House
19. Nu Disco
20. Microhouse
21. Tribal House
22. Chicago House
23. French House
24. Italo House
25. Outsider House
26. Moombahton
27. Baltimore Club
28. Hip House
29. Gqom
30. Kwaito
31. Big Room House
32. Complextro
33. Fidget House
34. Juke House
35. Future Funk
36. Bass House
37. Jersey Club

I am sure I have missed a couple. With such a variation, it is difficult for people to agree within which sub-genre of house music a song falls.

 

There is no big difference between most of these outside of the instrumentation (timbres).

 

The difference goes beyond the use pentatonic scale in Deep House and Future House's simple triads. The structure/arrangement/tempo/production/mixing... differ.
As I said earlier, we can be here all day long discussing the differences in all those subgenres. A couple of years ago I ran into a similar discussion in reddit. While I don't agree with all that is stated (who does?), I think it may be of help to @Charly R. I, therefore, will post some excerpts from it:

Deep house: slower, around 120-123 bpm with a characteristic bass pluck sound. Techno influence is pretty easy to hear, but to me it sounds like more modern techno. Pitched down vocals, psychedelic soundscapes, and groovy basslines are the style of deep house.
Chicago House: the original "house music." Sped up disco breaks, simple synth lines, and R&B a capellas over the groove. The beat rarely stops. Usually around 125 bpm.
Tech-House: crossover of techno and house. Same Chicago style loops and vocals but with Detroit style basslines and percussion. Quicker than both but it has range between 125-128 bpm
Progressive House: faster at 128 bpm, and unlike the grooves of the other genres it's influenced by trance with a focus on melodies and chords with long builds and bridges where the beat drops out. Nowadays it's a catch all for mainroom house, but I'll get to that in a second.
Minimal House: sometimes also called Berlin House or Berlin Techno, this is the more European response to the American styles of house. Focus on simple, repetitive basslines and the addition of elements over time to build up a groove from nothing and then break it all back down.
Electro House: focus on the bassline, but with more complex sounds than other genres. In electro house the bassline is the entire focus. It started with electro and ended up nowadays with complextro with those sporadic, heavy and aggressive basslines.
Mainroom House: somewhere between electro house and progressive house this genre popped up. It's what's played in the "mainroom" of the club, this is the easily digestible and formulaic tracks. More or less the "pop" of house music.
Festival house/Festival electro: kind of the mainroom of electro, this is the build build build, chords, drop with one synth playing one rhythm with a heavy kick. You hear it in festivals, hence the name.

 

Last edited: Jul 2, 2019

Holy C*** that's a lot of subgenres! I'll take a time everyday to listen some examples of each one, i'm very interested on learning more about this. Thanks for the info Pirate.

Sorry for the noob question but what do you mean with no difference? I feel like there are many differences specially in rhythm and the arrangement? Or maybe that difference is for me but and not for the pros.

 

I'm still trying this but i can't get same sound. I tried with inversions but i can't still reach the exact notes.