In this Classic HOUSE Skill Session, we dive deep into advanced sound design, creative drum processing, and music theory breakdowns inspired by Glen Underground’s “Colouration.” Whether you’re producing house, deep house, broken beat, or anything in between — this video will give you tons of inspiration and techniques you can apply today in Ableton or your DAW of choice.

From quirky piano textures to saturated 909 claps and punchy basslines made in u-he Diva, this tutorial covers:

Topics Covered:

• Sound design with formant shifting, bit reduction, saturation & chorus
• How to transform a basic piano sound into a unique, broken-sounding chord stab
• Recreating the textured claps and ghost delay tricks found in “Coloration”
• Tips for advanced hi-hat programming using choke groups & swing
• Music theory for house chords (Cmin9 & Ebmin7 voicings) and groove-friendly basslines
• Using reverb & delay as character effects, not just space tools
• Advanced drum bus processing: EQ, formant shifts, saturation, and creative delay
• Pad programming using Korg M1 and techniques to spice up simple voicings

Gear & Plugins Used

• Ableton Live
• u-he Diva
• MeldaProduction MHarmonizerMB (formant shifting)
• FabFilter Saturn (saturation)
• Waves Abbey Road Saturator
• Sausage Fattener (by Dada Life)
• TAL-Chorus
• Safari Pedals Delay
• Korg M1 VST
• convologyXT
• Waves R-Bass

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

00:36 Overview

01:16 Processing Kick & Clap

07:00 House Hats & Groove

10:19 House Piano Theory & Processing

16:16 House Pad

17:44 Bass Music Theory & Synthesis in Diva