Learn how to make Downtempo Breakbeat like Anjunadeep and Above & Beyond Reflection by watching our free live tutorial and study the Template for Logic Pro, Ableton, Fl Studio or the sample pack from the session to practice what you have learned. The Live Electronic Music Tutorials give everyone the opportunity to learn music production at their own pace anytime anywhere. Unlock the secrets of electronic music now.
We dive into episode 327 of your live electronic music tutorial prepared to create a downtempo tune based on a non linear breakbeat drum pattern. We will create all of the elements from scratch in real time in front of your eyes. Learn music production tricks by immersing yourself into this session and download the template to take it to the next level.
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Programing Drums with Drum Machine Designer
6:04 Composing a Reese bass melody in Logic Alchemy Synth
8:52 Creating an arpeggiated melody using Logic Alchemy Synth
11:15 Composing and designing a lead sound using Logic Alchemy synth
15:10 Composing a background pad sound using Logic Alchemy Synth
16:40 Final Thoughts
May the sounds be with you!
How to Make Downtempo Breakbeats Like Anjunadeep & Above & Beyond
In this live electronic music tutorial, Mikas builds a melodic downtempo breakbeat from scratch in Logic Pro X, drawing on the lush, organic sound of labels like Anjunadeep and Above & Beyond. The whole idea gets laid down in real time in around 15 minutes — programming a breakbeat groove, building a fat Reese bass, then layering an arpeggiated part, a lead, and a pad on top. It’s a fast, get-the-idea-down session you can follow along with using the project template.
What you’ll learn
- Programming a non-linear breakbeat using Logic’s Drum Machine Designer
- Tuning every instrument to a single root key for a cohesive track
- Building a thick Reese bass in Logic’s Alchemy synth
- Turning the bass notes into an arpeggiated melody with Logic’s arpeggiator
- Designing a lead with a reverb send and sidechain compression to the kick
- Adding a simple background pad to fill out the space
1. Program the breakbeat with Drum Machine Designer
Start with a basic break — the kind of simple, classic pattern that gets reused over and over. Mikas programs a kick on the lower pad of Drum Machine Designer, then tunes the kick to the root key of the track (he settles on E). The key choice is mostly taste, but tuning drums to the song key helps everything sit together. A handy shortcut: select all (Ctrl+A) and use Option+Shift+Down to drop notes a whole octave at a time.
2. Add hats, snare, and percussion
Drop in a quick closed hat, then a snare on the half-beat — this backbeat is what most producers reach for, with room to vary it. One quirk of the drum machine is that the closed hat gets masked when the open hat hits, so Mikas moves the open hat onto a separate drum machine so both ring clearly. He auditions a punchy FM drum, checks its root key and tunes it lower for depth, then layers in a clap (nice and bright, pulled down slightly in level and filtered) to finish the groove.
3. Build the Reese bass in Alchemy
With the beat replicated (Ctrl+Cmd+R), Mikas opens Alchemy — his go-to synth in Logic. He hunts down a Reese preset (the classic thick, detuned, slightly dissonant bass) and plays in a melody. A Reese can easily dominate a track, so if it’s sharing space with other elements he keeps it more subdued rather than letting it take over the whole low end. He picks the version whose attack best fits the idea and lays the bassline down.
4. Create an arpeggiated melody from the bass notes
Rather than start fresh, Mikas reuses the keys from the Reese bass as a chord trigger for an arpeggiator. He adds Logic’s ARP and reaches for a smoother, more “rolly” preset so the arp has flavor and isn’t boring — something that undulates against the Reese instead of fighting it. Lengthening the notes and considering a key change are easy ways to make the part feel more intricate.
5. Design and record the lead
For the lead, Mikas first sets up an auxiliary bus with a generous reverb so the sound isn’t completely dry while he plays. He records a part to perform with, then dials the reverb back so it’s not overwhelming. The key move here is sidechaining the lead to the kick: he loads the Compressor on the lead, sets it to sidechain off the kick drum instrument, so the lead ducks and pumps in time with the beat — that classic downtempo movement.
6. Add a background pad
To fill out the remaining space, Mikas brings in a simple pad and routes it to the reverb bus alongside the lead. He auditions it in different keys — trying G against C — and nudges it until it sits right behind the rest of the arrangement, adding width and intricacy without crowding the mix.
7. Lock in the idea, then arrange and mix
The goal of the session is to get the core idea down fast. Once the drums, Reese bass, arp, lead, and pad are in place, the finished-sounding version you hear in the episode comes from the next stage — the full mixdown and arrangement Mikas does after capturing the idea. Watch once for the workflow, then recreate every step yourself.
Get the project file: Want to open this exact session and keep building? Grab the full template for Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and FL Studio. Download the template →
