How to Make Melodic Techno: Sequences, Sub Bass and Builds

To make melodic techno, set your project to around 122 BPM in a minor key, build a hypnotic 16-step lead line on a resonant analog-style synth, put a long sub bass under it, add an ethereal pad and lots of reverb, then arrange it around a slow 16-bar build and a big drop. The genre is less about many sounds than about one line that keeps changing.

1. Tempo, key and the groove

• Tempo: 120 to 125 BPM.
• Key: a minor key, A, F or G minor are good defaults. Find the key of a reference with our free key and BPM finder.
• Drums: four-on-the-floor kick, offbeat open hats, a clap or snare on 2 and 4 kept low, and rolling percussion. Keep the kick tight so the sub has room.

2. The hypnotic lead sequence

The lead is the track. Use a mono synth with a saw or pulse wave into a resonant low-pass filter with a short envelope. Program 16 steps over a minor chord: mostly root and fifth, a few passing notes, two or three accents, one octave jump. Then make it move: automate the filter cutoff over 32 bars, vary the resonance, drop notes out in the breakdown. This movement is what makes it hypnotic rather than repetitive.

Afterhours builds this from one held chord. Its Evolve control mutates the line over 8, 16 or 32 bars (filter, accents, note probability, octave jumps and ratchets), so you get the movement without drawing automation.

3. Sub bass and pads

Under the lead, keep the bass simple: a long sine or triangle sub on the root, sidechained to the kick. Above, add an ethereal pad: detuned saws, slow attack, a vocal-like formant or shimmer, and a long reverb. Keep both below the lead in level, they're the floor and the sky, not the hook.

4. Space: reverb and delay

Melodic techno is wide and deep. Send the lead to a dotted-eighth delay and a big hall or shimmer reverb (try Lumen), and duck both with the kick so the groove stays clear. A tape delay like Drift adds the slightly worn, emotional character.

5. The build and the drop

1. Strip the kick and bass for the breakdown and let the pad and lead breathe.
2. Over 16 bars, open the filters, raise reverb and delay sends, add a noise riser and speed up the lead with ratchets.
3. Cut everything for one beat, then bring the kick, sub and the fully open lead back together.

In Afterhours this is the Build fader: push it up over the breakdown and let it fall for the drop, or assign it to your mod wheel and perform it.