From the studio
What separates the genres, how the records get made, how to mix them. Written from the Ableton session, not from theory.
DJing·
He is a tech house DJ, not a melodic techno one, and mixes at roughly the opposite speed to us. That is exactly why his cue, loop and EQ work is worth studying, and here is which parts of it survive at 122 BPM.
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Production·
In melodic techno the bassline is not the foundation, it is the heartbeat. Layering sub with mid bass, filter envelopes, saturation and sidechain, using Chain Reaction as the worked example.
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DJing·
Long sweeping transitions that run one to three minutes, harmonic mixing on the Camelot wheel, and using filters and reverb to hold tension across a set.
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Genres·
Festival lineups and Beatport pages are full of subgenres. Here is what actually separates techno, tech house and melodic techno: the vibe, the tempo, and the sound.
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Chain Reaction
Melodic