How to make Melodic House Like Ben Bohmer, Anjunadeep | Live Electronic Music Tutorial 334

How to Make Melodic House Like Ben Böhmer & Anjunadeep

In this live session from the Live Electronic Music Tutorials series, Mikas builds a deep, melodic, progressive house track from a blank project in real time. Instead of staying inside one DAW’s stock plugins as he usually does, he goes all in — pulling in his favorite hardware-modeled and software synths to chase a track dripping with texture, in the spirit of Ben Böhmer and the wider Anjunadeep sound. You see every tool and decision as drums, bass, pads, melody, and percussion come together.

What you’ll learn

• Setting up a steady 118 BPM melodic house beat and balancing the percussion bed
• Programming a rich, vibey bassline with the Arturia modular synth and sidechaining it to the kick
• Building atmospheric ambience and pads with the Yamaha CS-80 emulation and Logic’s SilverVerb
• Using LFO modulation and automation to make synths breathe and evolve
• Layering an Anjunadeep-style pad, plucks, choir, and Serum textures for depth
• Using sends, EQ, sidechain compression, and delay to seat every layer in the mix

1. Establish a 118 BPM drum beat

Mikas starts with the groove, laying down a straight, steady drum beat at 118 BPM that suits the progressive feel. Early on he notices the percussion sitting too far forward, so he drops the overall percussion volume — leaving the kick alone — to push the shakers and hats back behind the lead elements. Getting the supporting percussion to sit in the back rather than fight the kick is the key move here.

2. Craft a vibey bassline with the Arturia modular synth

For the low end he reaches for an Arturia modular synth, calling it a serious synthesizer with a vibrancy and quality you don’t get from basic sources. Working from a simple preset, he writes a steady riff, then reuses the same recorded part an octave lower (transposing by −2 and back up) to act as a sub layer underneath the main bass. The goal is a steady, repeating bass that he can play with later rather than a busy line.

3. Sidechain the bass to the kick

To lock the bass and kick together, Mikas adds a compressor to the bass channel and sidechains it to the kick. This pumping ducks the bass each time the kick hits, carving out space so the low end stays clean and the kick punches through — the foundational glue of a melodic house low end.

4. Build atmospheric ambience with the CS-80

Next he moves to pads, declaring the CS-80 emulation “the king” for ambience. He creates a reverb send channel using Logic’s old, basic SilverVerb — a sound he keeps coming back to — and feeds the synth into it. He notes the patch is a stacked, layered preset (in the spirit of two synths running on top of each other), which is exactly where its rich, complex texture comes from.

5. Add LFO modulation and automate it

To keep the ambience moving, Mikas dials in LFO modulation and reaches for the filters to make it expressive. He sidechains the reverb itself, sets it to “touch” mode, and records automation by playing with the LFO speed to make the sound feel analog and alive. He prefers a linear automation curve — he likes his music to feel mathematical — and EQs the reverb so it doesn’t bleed across the spectrum. A simple delay bus adds extra dimension on top.

6. Layer an Anjunadeep-style pad

For the signature melodic-house pad, he loads a synth he has used for years, browses into the Definitive Collection bank, and picks the “Anjuna” pad — his all-time favorite. It’s rich and textured, and he keeps the part simple on purpose because the simplicity carries a nostalgic, happy feel. He copies the channel routing he already built, sending the pad to the large reverb and the delay for extra dimension, then nudges the level up to sit it forward in the mix.

7. Add plucks with PolyM and textures with Serum

For movement he brings in the PolyM synth for subtle plucks, shaping it with contour, decay, and sustain and adding a resonator-style bell filter plus a delay to make it swirl. He then turns to Serum — using Splice preset packs — for out-there sequenced textures, triggering it on every beat for strange, characterful detail. He also tames busy shakers and snares with compression (around a 10:1 ratio) and EQ, cutting low end and excess top so each part finds its place.

8. Add a choir pad and organic percussion, then design the intro

To enrich the arrangement, Mikas adds a choir pad — sent to reverb for depth — for vocal-like warmth, and experiments with Alchemy for more movement. He layers in organic and synthesized percussion to add vibe without clutter, accenting only occasionally. Finally, he designs the intro, stripping the arrangement back to the cleanest possible elements (including the bass) so the track opens with space before the full groove arrives.

Get the project file. Every episode comes with a free template you can open in Logic Pro, Ableton, or FL Studio — sample the synths into a sampler and keep building at your own pace. Download the template →