Minimal Prog
Minimal · 2004 · 128 to 134 BPM · also known as Minimal Progressive House, Minimal Progressive, Min Prog, Min P, Min
Minimal prog is progressive house passed through a minimal sieve between 2005 and 2015: melody shrinks to two or three note motifs, a round bass line carries the track, dub-style delays carve out space, and the music evolves over ten minutes by subtraction rather than addition. It is the soundtrack of warm-ups and after-parties, hypnotic, patient and never spectacular. The South American school around Hernan Cattaneo is its living home, with an acknowledged kinship to Scandinavian psy-prog, which explains this graft on the family tree. Nothing rushes: the pleasure lies in slow, repeated cycles rather than in build-ups or drops.
8 reference tracks
- The MFA: The Difference It Makes (2004)
- Dominik Eulberg: Der Buchdrucker (2004)
- Nathan Fake: The Sky Was Pink (Holden mix) (2004)
- Fairmont: Gazebo (2005)
- Trentemoller: Moan (2006)
- Extrawelt: Soopertrack (2007)
- Yotto: The One You Left Behind (2019)
- Eelke Kleijn: Transmission (2020)
At a glance
- Tempo: 128 to 134 BPM
- First appeared: around 2004
- Machines: Ableton Live, Roland TR-909, Elektron Octatrack
- The sound: Basse ronde soutenue, Delays dub synchronisés, Nappes discrètes, Percussions fantômes, Automations de filtre au long cours
- Labels: Hope Recordings, Replug, Movement Recordings, Bedrock, microCastle, Sudbeats
- Key artists: Hernan Cattaneo, Guy J, Henry Saiz, Cid Inc, Eelke Kleijn, Yotto
Producing Minimal Prog
Minimal prog sits at 120 to 124 BPM, the slowest of the family, with little or no swing since movement comes from delays and automation rather than note placement, and nothing changes before 16 or even 32 bars. Build a round 909 kick with no click on every beat, a soft rimshot on 2 and 4, closed hats in eighths and, the genre's real signature, tiny ghost percussion sounds sitting quietly on isolated sixteenths, mostly heard through their own delays. The bass is a round, sustained saw or square tone on the root, near legato, filtered low, changing one note every 4 to 8 bars while its cutoff opens gradually over 64 bars in place of a build-up. A soft pluck feeds a synced dub delay, joined by a filtered pad and a sustained lead rising across half the track.
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 Minimal Prog?
Minimal prog is progressive house passed through a minimal sieve between 2005 and 2015: melody shrinks to two or three note motifs, a round bass line carries the track, dub-style delays carve out space, and the music evolves over ten minutes by subtraction rather than addition. It is the…
What tempo is Minimal Prog played at?
Between 128 and 134 BPM.
Who are the key Minimal Prog artists?
Hernan Cattaneo, Guy J, Henry Saiz, Cid Inc, Eelke Kleijn, Yotto.
In the same family
- Minimal Techno
- Tech House
- Microhouse
- Clicks & Cuts
- Minimal Tech
- Ro-Minimal
- Minimal Wave
- Deep Tech
- Fidget House
- Micro Techno
Listen to Minimal Prog in the atlas · Cette page en français
