How to Make Classic Deep House Like Kerri Chandler + Templates | Live Electronic Music Tutorial #351

How to Make Classic Deep House Like Kerri Chandler — A Real-Time Production Walkthrough

In episode 351 of the Live Electronic Tutorials, Mikas builds a classic, soulful deep house track from scratch in real time, paying tribute to the signature sound of Kerri Chandler. Working in Logic Pro at a slow, groovy 118 BPM in A minor, he lays down an FM bassline, classic drum grooves, layered Alchemy synths, atmospheric pads and a plucky guitar riff — capturing the whole idea as a loop before arranging it.

What you’ll learn

• Building an authentic deep house groove from classic drum sounds and tempo-synced loops
• Programming a warm FM bassline and layering two basses for a fuller low end
• Layering two Alchemy patches, bussing them and sidechaining to the kick to make them pump
• Adding atmospheric pads and EQ’d reverb for depth and dimension
• A fast, capture-first creative workflow — record the idea now, refine the sound later
• Practical mixing notes on low end, kick selection and why headphones aren’t ideal for the final mix

1. Set the tempo and start with the beat

Mikas goes classic and raw at 118 BPM — deliberately slow and groovy so the track sits in deep, rather than afro, house territory. Rather than starting with a melody, he begins with the drums, pulling in a kick (noting how thin a kick sounds before the sub arrives) and building rhythm around it with crunchy toms and a clap from a drum kit. His point: a drum is a drum, so don’t worry if the kit wasn’t built for the genre — you can make anything groove.

2. Drop in tempo-synced drum loops

To add organic movement, he layers in percussion loops — shakers and conga loops — dragging them straight into Logic, which time-stretches them to the project tempo automatically. He grabs a second, longer loop so there are natural variations across the track, keeping the groove interesting instead of static.

3. Record the FM bassline

With the groove laid, the first melodic element is the bass. He records a MIDI sequence using FM synthesis, experimenting with different patterns to find a groovy, almost staccato feel. He replicates the part but glues it together so he can tweak it later, keeping the sound because he likes how it grooves even before mixing.

4. Layer two Alchemy patches, bus and sidechain them

Mikas opens another instance of Alchemy and hunts through its large preset library for a complementary sound, then plays two patches together — “both together, magic.” He busses the two channels to a single bus and puts a sidechain compressor on that bus, triggered by the kick, so the layered synth pumps in time with the beat. An EQ on the bus then shapes it into one big, cohesive instrument that already forms a major part of the track.

5. Add pads and EQ’d reverb for atmosphere

Next he reaches for an old-school string/pad sound. The reverb is the key trick here: he high-passes it (cutting everything below roughly 200 Hz) and chooses a gentler, more chromatic reverb rather than a huge room, adding dimension without muddying the low end. He even reuses the drum kit’s built-in effects on other elements so the processing stays in tune.

6. Work fast — capture the idea, fix the sound later

Mikas champions a capture-first workflow: input something rather than chasing the perfect sound on every pass, then improve it afterward. He records all the elements first — including a plucky guitar-style part and a vocal effect washed out with a slow filtered delay — so he can arrange a real track once the ideas are down. Timing that’s slightly off the grid, he notes, can actually sound more human.

7. Mix the low end and choose the right kick

In the mix he separates the two basses across the spectrum so they don’t fight, keeping some grit around 100 Hz on one, then checks the kick against them. With four kicks in the kit, he auditions each looking for real boom and substance, even dropping a kick down an octave to find the weight he wants.

8. Build the intro and turn the loop into an arrangement

Once the roughly two-minute loop holds all the core elements, he replicates it to his full track length and starts arranging. For the intro he strips back to just the strings, places the opening phrase first and saves the key change for later, then layers the guitars, pads and vocal triggers back in to build tension. One last tip from Mikas: headphones are great for composing, but a tuned room with a sub is what you really need to finish the low end and balance.

Get the project file: Want to open this exact session, study the routing and remix it yourself? Grab the Ableton, Logic and FL Studio templates. Download the template →