How to make Downtempo Ambient Music Like Reflection | Live Electronic Music Tutorial 337

How to Make Downtempo Ambient Music Like Above & Beyond’s Reflection

In this live session, producer Lucas builds a downtempo ambient track from scratch in real time — a slow, reflective, 102 BPM piece inspired by Above & Beyond’s Reflection (Anjunadeep’s downtempo offshoot). Working in Logic Pro X with Alchemy as the main sound source, he starts from a single pad and gradually layers melody, ambience, bass and light percussion until a full chill-out cut takes shape. There’s no beat to lean on for most of the build, which makes this a great study in writing music that holds attention through texture and space rather than drums.

What you’ll learn

• How to start an ambient track from a single pad and build outward
• Writing slow, reverb-drenched melodic keys that sit on the grid
• Adding ambient sound layers and soundscapes from Alchemy for depth
• Recording and shaping a smooth bass line that anchors the track
• Programming minimal, broken-feel percussion and splitting hits for control
• Using your own reverb and delay sends to place elements in the background

1. Set the BPM and start from a pad

Lucas sets the session to 102 BPM and begins with the foundation: a pad. He browses Alchemy’s pad presets, picks a smooth one, and brings up its volume to fill the space. Before going further he sets up his channel strip with Sonarworks SoundID Reference and selects his headphone profile, which flattens the headphones’ frequency response so mix decisions translate. With the pad running, the mood is immediately set — calm, chilled, and open for a melody on top.

2. Record an airy melody with reverb

Over the sustained pad, he records a slow melodic line on a keys sound, adding plenty of reverb to give it a grand, spacious feel. He leaves the pad running underneath as a bed and finds a key he likes, then nudges the notes so everything lands on the beat. As he points out, exact timing barely matters until there’s a beat or other rhythmic elements — but keeping things on the grid early saves trouble later.

3. Layer in ambient soundscapes

To stop the keys from running constantly, Lucas adds an in-between texture from Alchemy’s Soundscape category — landing on an “airplanes” soundscape that adds movement and atmosphere. This kind of evolving ambience fills the gaps between melodic phrases and gives the arrangement somewhere to breathe before the next section builds.

4. Write and shape the bass line

Next he drops a smooth bass underneath everything. He reaches for a bass patch he uses frequently, records a part, and tweaks it — checking for unwanted distortion and pitching it down because his first take sat too high. The goal is a low, gentle foundation that supports the pad and ambience without becoming the focus, setting up the track to take a beat later.

5. Add minimal, broken percussion

With the harmonic and ambient layers in place, Lucas brings in beats — smooth, very slow, broken-beat style. He programs something basic, quantizes and cleans it up, then opens the drum machine to split the kick and snare onto separate tracks for more control over each element. He notes the kick works well against the bass and trims the bass level back so the low end isn’t fighting the kick.

6. Place percussion with reverb and delay sends

To flesh out the groove he adds rims and side hits, building the percussion gradually. Rather than the default plugin reverb, he routes hits to his own reverb send and rolls off the top end (so it isn’t too shimmery) and the low-mids, leaving just the tail. He does the same with a delay send, tuning and pitching hits down so the percussive elements sit quietly in the background — present, but never dominating.

7. Bring in chords and an evolving arpeggio

Lucas writes a simple chord progression, then runs it into an arpeggiated sound. After rejecting a few arp presets he doesn’t like, he finds an evolving arpeggiator that’s far more inspiring and adds extra texture and a drum-layer feel to the section. A touch of reverb gives it space within the mix.

8. Add a standout texture and final layers

To make the track stand out, he creates one long, twisted texture on the same key — an out-there element that won’t run the whole track but appears when needed. He digs through Alchemy’s Soundscape presets for something dystopian yet musical, settles on one that fits well, and runs it into reverb. He finishes by layering a little extra perky percussion, a triplet drum touch, and a glassy hit with delay one-out-of-two, then reaches for Ozone on the master to glue it all together.

Get the project file: The full template includes MIDI, synth and drum channels, and a mastering rack for Logic Pro X, Ableton Live and FL Studio (102 BPM, F minor). Download the template →