Tech House mix analysis — scored against real Tech House references

Upload a Tech House mix and Unveil grades it against a hand-curated reference set of commercially released Tech House records — not a generic loudness number. It checks the things that actually matter for Tech House: club-ready low end and groove-locked dynamics. Then it hands you the specific fixes for your DAW.

What a tech house mix is about

Tech house is groove music for the club, typically played between about 124 and 128 BPM. The elements are few and rhythmic: a tight four-on-the-floor kick, a rolling or bouncing bassline, off-beat open hats, shuffled percussion, a clap or snare, short stabs, and often a chopped or processed vocal. The mix has to make the groove feel locked and propulsive for ten minutes of continuous play, not just for the first drop.

Unlike big-room EDM, tech house is less about explosive drops and more about subtle movement: small changes in filters, percussion and bassline over long sections. The mix must remain clean, because a DJ may layer your track with another for 32 bars or more.

Tonal balance across the six bands

Tech house is bass-focused but tight. The sub band (20-80 Hz) holds the kick and a controlled sub, while the bass band (80-250 Hz) holds the bassline and the body of the kick. The low-mid band (250-800 Hz) is kept relatively clean because percussion and stabs can accumulate here, and the mid band (800-2500 Hz) carries the character of the bassline, stabs and vocal chops. The hi-mid band (2500-6000 Hz) gives bite to claps, percussion and vocals, and the air band (6000-16000 Hz) is crowded by hats, shakers and ride cymbals.

Where mixes go wrong: a bassline and kick that are both heavy in the 60-120 Hz range so the groove becomes blurred; percussion layers that add up to a harsh, busy top end; vocal chops that sit in the same area as the bassline mids; and an over-bright mix that does not feel warm on a club system. A tech house track generally has less low-mid warmth than pop and more tightly controlled bass than house with a long sub tail.

The kick and the bassline

The groove depends on how the kick and bassline interlock. Typically the bassline plays off-beat or in a bouncing pattern between kicks, so the kick has space on its own. Keep the kick short and punchy, with the fundamental around 50-60 Hz, a click at 3-5 kHz and the tail ending by about 200-300 ms. Use a high-pass on the bass at 35-45 Hz to remove inaudible rumble that eats headroom.

Where the bass and kick overlap, use sidechain compression on the bass: a fast attack, a release of 100-150 ms and 3-6 dB of reduction creates the bounce that is characteristic of the genre. At 126 BPM, a beat lasts about 476 ms, so a release of 120 ms gives a clear recovery before the next kick. Some producers prefer EQ carving, boosting the kick at 60 Hz and cutting the bass at the same frequency by 2-3 dB, because it keeps the bassline fuller between kicks. Both are valid; listen for whichever gives the more consistent groove.

Keep everything below roughly 100 Hz mono. Because tech house is often played on large club systems with summed low end, a stereo-wide sub can cancel in the room.

Dynamics and loudness: -9 LUFS and DR 6

The reference is about -9 LUFS integrated with a dynamic range of about 6, measured by BS.1770-4 and EBU R128 respectively. These describe where club-oriented masters tend to land, not a rule you must meet. A tech house track that is intended for DJ play often sits slightly louder than streaming-focused music, but it is also a genre in which a sensible mastering level leaves room for the DJ to push the mixer.

On streaming platforms the track will be normalised to about -14 LUFS on Spotify or YouTube and -16 LUFS on Apple Music, so a -9 LUFS master is turned down by 5 dB or more. Pushing for -6 or -7 LUFS makes the kick shorter, the hats harsher and the groove stiffer without making it louder for the listener. In tech house the swing and bounce rely on dynamic movement in the bass and percussion, and heavy limiting flattens those.

Aim for a true peak under about -1 dBTP. Note that DJs often use club systems and hardware that add their own gain; headroom is more helpful than a maxed-out file.

Percussion, hats and groove

The top-line groove comes from layers: closed hats, open hats on the off-beat, shakers, rides, congas, and clap or snare accents. Level and EQ are what keep this from turning into a wall of noise. High-pass each percussion element according to its role: closed hats at 300-500 Hz, shakers at 400-800 Hz, rides at 500 Hz and above. Put the open hat around 5-8 dB below the kick in level and check it against the clap.

Use panning to build width: pan percussion 20-60 percent either way and keep the open hat and the primary clap closer to the centre. Vary velocity and timing slightly; a swing amount of 52-58 percent on the 16th notes, or small manual shifts, gives a human feel. This is a matter of taste, but a rigidly quantised hat pattern with no variation often sounds flat in a club.

Vocal chops and stabs should be processed with filtering and short reverbs, with the reverb ducked by the kick so that the rhythmic clarity is maintained. Avoid long wet tails on busy sections; a delay at 1/8 or 1/16 note with low feedback gives movement without clutter.

Step-by-step workflow

1. Start with kick and bass only. Set the kick level and tune the bassline so the root notes work with the kick's fundamental.
2. Apply a high-pass at 35-45 Hz on bass and kick, then sidechain or carve until the groove bounces consistently.
3. Add the clap and percussion, one element at a time, and high-pass each so it only occupies its own range.
4. Balance the hats and top percussion against the clap; if the top end feels harsh, lower the hats by 1-2 dB before cutting EQ.
5. Bring in stabs, chops and vocals, and carve space with a 2-3 dB dip where they overlap with the bassline mids (usually 200-800 Hz).
6. Check mono compatibility, especially for the sub and bass layers, and narrow anything below 100 Hz.
7. Add subtle automation: filter movement, send levels and percussion volume over 8 and 16 bar sections.
8. Apply gentle bus compression, a limiter ceiling at -1 dBTP, and compare with a reference track in the same style at matched loudness.

Worked examples, mistakes and checklist

• If the bass band is 4 dB stronger than the sub band and the kick sounds weak, shorten the kick tail and raise the kick fundamental by 1-2 dB while cutting the bass by 2 dB near 60-80 Hz.
• If the air band is 3 dB hotter than your reference and the top feels edgy, lower the hat and shaker bus by 1.5-2 dB and check the open hat against the clap.
• If the master reads -7 LUFS with a DR of 3, you have likely limited the groove out of the track. Back off by 2 dB and compare how the bassline bounces.
• If the sidechain makes the bass vanish between kicks, shorten the release from 200 ms to 100-120 ms or reduce the amount to 3 dB.
• Common mistakes: kick and bass both full range with no separation, stereo-wide sub layers, too many percussion layers with no filtering, vocal chops competing with the bassline, and long reverbs that blur the groove.
• Checklist: kick is short and punchy; bassline interlocks with sidechain or EQ carving; mono below about 100 Hz; percussion is filtered and the top end is not harsh; vocal chops and stabs sit around the bassline; true peak at or below about -1 dBTP; loudness around -9 LUFS or lower with groove intact. After any change, re-measure to confirm that the numbers moved the way you intended.

What you get

• Tech House-specific targets: roughly -9 LUFS integrated loudness and DR ~6 dynamic range, with a genre tonal-balance curve.
• Frequency-conflict detection localized to the second — find where your Tech House elements mask each other.
• Fixes written for Ableton, Logic, FL Studio, Pro Tools and more using stock plugins.
• A clear 0–100 score so you know if the mix is release-ready before you send it out.

Questions

Related

• Free online LUFS checker
• Free online true peak meter
• Frequency spectrum analysis, explained for producers
• Dynamic range analysis: DR, crest factor & LRA
• Ableton Live mix analysis
• Logic Pro mix analysis