Hard Techno
A kick that bounces off the offbeat and a snare roll into every loop point.
The pattern
2 bars, sixteenth notes. Loops until you stop it.
The kick on the last sixteenth of each bar at velocity 98 is the element that defines the style. It lands a sixteenth before the downbeat and its tail runs straight into it, which is what produces the bounce. Bar two adds a second offbeat kick on the a of 3 and closes with a short snare roll, 70 then 90 on the last two sixteenths, climbing into the loop point. The hats are sparse for the tempo: offbeat eighths at 90 to 92 with ghost sixteenths at 52 on the e of 2 and the e of 4. One open hat in the whole loop and no percussion lane at all, because at 152 there is no room for one.
What it is
Techno at 145 and above, built around a kick with a long distorted tail that rings into the next beat, and a bounce created by putting an extra kick on the last sixteenth of the bar. It has a long history through the German and Dutch hard scenes of the nineties, but the current form is a 2020s revival that came up through TikTok and festival stages and now has its own circuit. What separates it from schranz is that hard techno still cares about groove: the offbeat kick makes it rock rather than merely hammer, and there are usually only three or four elements in the whole track.
What it sounds like
A distorted kick whose tail is as loud as its attack, so the low end never fully closes. Hats on the offbeat eighths with sixteenth ghosts underneath. A snare on 2 and 4 that rolls into sixteenths at the end of a phrase. Over it, a hoover, a bent lead, or a pitched-down vocal repeating three words. There is very little reverb and almost no mid range, and the mix is louder than is technically advisable in a way that is part of the style.
Key elements
- The bounce kickAn extra kick on the last sixteenth of the bar, and sometimes on the a of 3. That single hit is what makes hard techno rock instead of march.
- A ringing kick tailThe kick decay runs into the next beat rather than stopping, so the sub is continuous and each new kick retriggers it. The tail is the bassline.
- Snare roll into the loopSixteenths on the last beat of the second bar, rising in velocity, landing on the downbeat. It is the fill, the build and the transition all at once.
- Very few elementsKick, hats, snare, one lead. At this tempo anything more turns into a wall, because there are ten sixteenths a second going past.
- The hooverA detuned sawtooth stack with a resonant filter sweep, inherited from Belgian new beat by way of nineties hardcore. Usually pitch-bent by hand.
How to get them
- KickStart with a 909 kick, stretch the decay to around 500ms, then distort it. Pitch-envelope the start down from about 200Hz to 50Hz over 40ms so it has a hard front and a ringing back.
- The offbeat kickCopy the main kick to the last sixteenth of the bar and drop it about six decibels. Shorten it so it does not collide with the downbeat that follows.
- HatsOffbeat eighths at around 90, with quiet sixteenth ghosts in the fifties on the e of 2 and the e of 4. Anything busier disappears into the kick tail at this tempo.
- Snare rollFour sixteenths on the last beat, velocities climbing from about 70 to 108, each one pitched up by two semitones over the previous. Cut the reverb off the last hit.
- LeadThree or four detuned saws, a low-pass with high resonance, and the pitch wheel range set to twelve semitones so you can bend it by hand. Mono, dry, and centre.
- Tempo and mixWrite at 150 and check it at 160, because most of these tracks get played faster than they were made. Leave the mid range empty so the kick tail has the whole bottom to itself.
Reference points
Sara Landry, 999999999, Klangkuenstler, Gabber Eleganza, Rebekah, Hector Oaks, and the Nachtstrom, Naiv and Genesa labels. Named as reference points for the sound, not as endorsements.
The pattern is a starting point rather than a rule. If you want the theory underneath why any of it works, Battuto measures it.