The Adam Ten and Mita Gami Sound: How a Maccabi House Track Is Built

Maccabi House, the label run by Adam Ten and Mita Gami, has turned a groovy blend of house and indie dance into one of the most recognisable sounds in dance music right now. In this breakdown, Niek from The Producer School opens a finished track in FL Studio and goes through every element: the kick and bass foundation, the percussion that carries the groove, the synths, and the small details that tie it together. Every sound, and the project file, comes from Fiction, our indie dance producer pack.

The drums: soft kick, acoustic loops

The project runs at 125 BPM, a middle ground for a genre that usually lives between 123 and 128. The kick is punchy and deep but deliberately short on click at the start, which keeps it feeling natural rather than clinical.

Over it sits an acoustic hat loop. Live and acoustic hat loops are everywhere in Maccabi house, and they are what gives the groove its disco lean against the soft kick. On top of that: a punchy clap cut out of a loop, a snare with pre-shift so it lands slightly before the beat for a sloppy, human feel, and a real clap loop underneath for more of that disco character.

The percussion: congas, cowbell and the tom

An 808-style tom carries more weight than it looks like it should. It is labelled to key, playing the root note F and moving up seven semitones to the perfect fifth, which gives it a small melody of its own.

The percussion stack is deep: a conga loop as the main percussive element, a second, more textured loop with its low end EQ'd out, a tambourine and a shaker both playing 16ths for drive, a texture loop for the high end, and two open hat loops, one short one on every offbeat and a longer 909-style one across the drop for energy. A high metallic bell sound adds a Mita Gami detail, a clave loop comes in for the second half of the drop, and the cowbell, cut from a loop into a one-shot and pitched into key, is the sound the genre is arguably known for.

The bass and the tom interplay

The bass is a bass guitar preset from the Fiction pack, which is a common choice in this genre for its disco and funk feel. The MIDI is deliberately simple: mostly sitting on F, the root, dropping two semitones to D sharp for the groove, and an octave jump at the end of the fourth bar that reads like a bass player sliding up the neck.

Processing is light: Fruity Destructor for a bit of distortion, adding drive and harmonics so it leans slightly synthetic, plus Kickstart for sidechain at 100 percent mix. The important part is not the sound, it is the arrangement. The tom plays where the bass does not, and the two together produce the bounce. Mute the tom and the groove goes flat.

The synths: sequence, vibrato lead and gliding acid

On top of the bass runs a phasing saw sequence, the Sequence Prime preset, playing steady 16ths. Because the bassline is groovy rather than driving, the sequence is what supplies forward motion, and it is a good candidate for automating through the intro. It is processed with a phaser, a flanger and an EQ sweep for a psychedelic edge.

The lead is the most identifiable sound in the genre. It is the Lead Five preset, two saw waves with one pitched up an octave and slightly detuned, and the character comes from vibrato: an LFO modulating fine tune, routed to the mod wheel and a macro so the amount can be automated. In the video that vibrato automation is drawn in by hand, jumping at specific points, and switching it on visibly brings the lead to life. Processing runs through a splitter with distortion on the mids for grit, Hyper on the highs, OTT, a phaser at 50 percent, a 1/16 ping-pong delay, reverb and a filter to take the digital edge off.

The last synth is an acid line from the Bass Absent preset, and its trick is length. The notes are long and overlapping with mono legato and portamento, so instead of the usual fast, short acid pattern you get a slow evolving glide. The cutoff starts nearly closed at the top of the drop and opens through the track.

The details: vocal, drones and fills

A drone plays the root note with the same trippy vibrato treatment, automated across the track. Ambient sounds, vinyl crackle and a crowd ambience that hits with the drop fill the space, alongside downlifters and sweeps.

The vocal is a deep sample from the Fiction pack, run through a delay, Destructor bit crushing at around 40 percent for a slightly robotic quality, and an EQ that ducks the lows and lifts the highs. It plays through the breakdown and the intro drop. Percussion fills with reverb handle the transitions into a simple 909 crash, and into the final drop the lead pattern sustains its notes, jumps up an octave, and takes more vibrato automation to build tension.

Frequently asked questions

What BPM is Maccabi house?

Indie dance and Maccabi house tracks usually sit between 123 and 128 BPM. The track in this breakdown runs at 125 BPM, a middle ground in that range.

What makes a synth sound like Maccabi house?

Vibrato. An LFO modulating the fine tune, routed to the mod wheel or a macro so you can automate the amount, is the single most identifiable trait of the Adam Ten and Mita Gami lead sound.

What percussion is used in Maccabi house?

Congas and bongos are the backbone, joined by acoustic hat loops, shakers and tambourine playing 16ths for drive, claves, and the cowbell, which is close to a genre signature.

How do you get the bouncy groove in the low end?

Interplay between the bass and an 808-style tom. The tom plays in the gaps where the bass is not playing, tuned to the root note and jumping up a perfect fifth. Remove the tom and the groove noticeably flattens.

Related reading: indie dance like Mita Gami and Adam Ten, how Brunello makes indie dance, and the Fiction indie dance sample pack.

Every sound and the project file in this video are from Fiction, our indie dance producer pack.

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Related: Fiction covers the indie dance and maccabi house sound, and the Fiction Masterclass builds a full track step by step.