French House
House · 1995 · 118 to 128 BPM · also known as Filter House, Sidechain House, Tekfunk
Paris, the second half of the 1990s: a generation raised on filtered disco turned sampling into a national signature. Breathing filters, compression pumping in time with the kick, and unashamedly pop melodies define the sound. Daft Punk carried it worldwide, but the scene ran from Motorbass to Alan Braxe, and its vocabulary, the French filter house sound, still stands as a production reference twenty five years later, studied by producers who were not even born when it first appeared on Parisian dancefloors.
18 reference tracks
- Daft Punk: Da Funk (1995)
- Cheek: Venus (Sunshine People) (1996)
- Chateau Flight: Discobole (1997)
- AIR: Sexy Boy (1998)
- Etienne de Crecy: Am I Wrong (1996)
- Daft Punk: One More Time (2000)
- Modjo: Lady (Hear Me Tonight) (2000)
- Alan Braxe & Fred Falke: Intro (2000)
- Myd: The Sun (2021)
- Braxe + Falcon: Step by Step (2022)
- Justice: One Night/All Night (2024)
- Justice (3) & Rimon: Afterimage (Justice Remix) (2024)
- JOYCA: Discobeast (2025)
- Daft Punk: Revolution 909 (1997)
- Daft Punk: High Life
- Daft Punk: Voyager
- Daft Punk: Too Long
- Daft Punk: Superheroes
At a glance
- Tempo: 118 to 128 BPM
- First appeared: around 1995
- Machines: Akai MPC, Vocodeur, Talkbox
- The sound: Filtre et phaser sur boucles disco, Compression sidechain caractéristique, Talkbox et vocoder
- Labels: Ed Banger Records, Source, Vulture Music, Roulé, Crydamoure, Roche Musique
- Key artists: Daft Punk, Cassius, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Etienne de Crécy, Bob Sinclar
Producing French House
Stay between 120 and 128 BPM, as in the disco house it grew from. What changes is the breathing: the French touch feel comes from sidechain compression pumping on every kick, with a release landing just before the next beat, around 200 to 250 milliseconds at 125 BPM. The sampled loop keeps its own swing while the machine stays straight, and choruses are melodic, sung in phrases of four or eight bars. Drums stay simple, a sampled disco kick or a short 909, clap on two and four, hats from the disco sample, and the whole kit is caught in the same sidechain as everything else, so it pumps too. The bass is sampled or replayed in funky eighths with octaves, often through a talkbox, sidechained hard with a sine sub underneath.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is French House?
Paris, the second half of the 1990s: a generation raised on filtered disco turned sampling into a national signature. Breathing filters, compression pumping in time with the kick, and unashamedly pop melodies define the sound. Daft Punk carried it worldwide, but the scene ran from Motorbass to…
What tempo is French House played at?
Between 118 and 128 BPM.
Who are the key French House artists?
Daft Punk, Cassius, Alan Braxe, Fred Falke, Etienne de Crécy, Bob Sinclar.
In the same family
- Chicago House
- Acid House
- Garage House
- Deep House
- Soulful House
- Lo-Fi House
- Hip House
- UK House
- Italo House
- Hard House
- Progressive House
- Disco House
Listen to French House in the atlas · Cette page en français
