Melodic Techno
Techno · 2013 · 120 to 126 BPM · also known as Melodic House and Techno, Afterlife Sound
The 2010s label for a slow, grandiose strain of techno built on minor-key arpeggios, emotional builds, and polished production, sitting somewhere between the progressive house heritage and festival pop. Afterlife and Tale of Us turned it into a worldwide staging. Its border with melodic house is more a matter of marketing than of music, and this entry flags it as a genuinely debated category.
9 reference tracks
- Kolsch: Grey (2013)
- Tale of Us: North Star (2013)
- Stephan Bodzin: Singularity (2015)
- Mathame: Nothing Around Us (2018)
- Adriatique: Ray (2019)
- Massano: The Feeling (2022)
- ARTBAT: Horizon (2021)
- Anyma & Argy: Higher Power (2023)
- Adriatique: Like A Dream
At a glance
- Tempo: 120 to 126 BPM
- First appeared: around 2013
- Machines: Moog Sub 37, Ableton Live, Xfer Serum, Roland TR-909
- The sound: Arpégiateurs analogiques, Nappes cinématiques, Sidechain doux
- Labels: Afterlife, Innervisions, Diynamic, TAU
- Key artists: Tale of Us, Stephan Bodzin, Mind Against, Adriatique, Mathame
Producing Melodic Techno
Keep the tempo between 120 and 126 BPM, the slowest in the techno family alongside dub techno, with a light swing on the hats and a soft sidechain running through the mix for its characteristic pump. The feel is cinematic, built for a festival stage, so each 16-bar section should announce the next, with sixteenth-note arpeggios creating perceived speed even at 122 BPM, and delays synced to the dotted eighth to widen them. Layer a clean, calibrated 909 kick with a sub and a click, a plate-reverbed clap and snare on 2 and 4, closed hats alternating velocities, and a discreet shaker, keeping the rhythm sparse so it serves the melody, with a snare roll and crash before every drop.
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 Melodic Techno?
The 2010s label for a slow, grandiose strain of techno built on minor-key arpeggios, emotional builds, and polished production, sitting somewhere between the progressive house heritage and festival pop. Afterlife and Tale of Us turned it into a worldwide staging. Its border with melodic house is…
What tempo is Melodic Techno played at?
Between 120 and 126 BPM.
Who are the key Melodic Techno artists?
Tale of Us, Stephan Bodzin, Mind Against, Adriatique, Mathame.
In the same family
- Detroit Techno
- Bleep Techno
- Broken Techno
- Acid Techno
- Euro Techno
- Hard Techno
- Schranz
- Industrial Techno
- Banging Techno
- Birmingham Techno
- Peak Time Techno
- Belgian Techno
Listen to Melodic Techno in the atlas · Cette page en français
