How to Make Melodic House Like Notre Dame
Notre Dame is a Paris producer whose tracks land on Diynamic, Innervisions and Afterlife, and his sound is easy to recognise: emotional chords, a plucky lead that carries the melody, and drums that feel more like a disco band than a drum machine. In this video I build a track in his style from an empty FL Studio project, at 124 BPM, a tempo he uses a lot. Every sound comes from Fiction, our indie dance producer pack.
The drums: electronic kick, live loops
The kick is deep with a solid punch but not much click, so it feels natural, and it has a little noise on top. I put it at about -6 dB on the mixer. That is my usual starting point, and it leaves room to build everything else around it.
Everything above the kick leans live. Listen closely to Notre Dame and you hear disco and live influences in almost every track, so the loops are a disco top loop with a snare that lands slightly early (pre-shift), a natural hand clap loop that feels a bit sloppy, and an acoustic hat loop that opens up now and then. That sloppiness is what makes it sound human. I also cut the clap and snare out of a heavier top loop to add punch, with a bit of reverb so the snare rings out.
For drive there is a hat loop in 16ths, a shaker and an open hat on every offbeat. Percussion matters in his drums too, so a conga loop goes in, panned a little to the right. A breathy texture loop and some noisy ambience sit underneath at low volume.
The last drum element is a big 80s clap fill with a gated reverb. I made two copies and panned one left and one right. It is subtle, but on headphones you hear the width.
The chords: a progressive pad
Notre Dame's music is about emotion, and that starts with the chord progression. His chords have a progressive feel that reminds me of Eric Prydz. The pad is the Hours preset: two saw wavetables, one an octave up, plus an organ layer, which is a sound I think I hear in quite a few of his tracks. LFOs on the fine tune make it slightly unstable, so it sounds more analog.
I played the progression in live, quantized it, then processed it lightly: an EQ that takes off a little low end (not too much, or the pad gets thin), Kickstart for sidechain, and Fruity Stereo Shaper with some stereo delay to push it out to the sides, which suits a pad like this.
The lead: the Yumi pluck
On top of the chords plays the lead, a Serum 2 preset I made as a remake of the lead in his track Yumi, which he also uses in newer tracks. It is the typical Notre Dame pluck. I played the melody in over the chords, fixed a few notes, and kept the processing simple: EQ to remove low end, OTT at a low amount, and sidechain.
Later in the track a support lead (the Stimulate preset) doubles the same melody with long sustained notes instead of the rhythm. That gives the drop more power without writing anything new.
Two basses: a sub and a bass guitar
For the low end I copied the bass notes of the chords to a sub bass, the Glider preset, a noisy sustained saw. An EQ takes off its top end and heavy sidechain keeps it out of the kick's way.
The second bass is a realistic bass guitar, the Funk preset. Notre Dame often uses bass guitar samples or a real bass, and it adds a lot to that disco and progressive feel. The pattern is simple 8th notes with an octave jump at the end of every bar, which sounds like someone sliding up the neck. Because the sub already covers the lows, I removed most of its low end, added Decapitator for drive and a fast EchoBoy slap delay for width.
Sequence, build-up and FX
A sequence (the Turn preset) stays on the root note in short 16th notes. It adds drive and small plucks without getting in the way of the melody.
The build-up is kept simple: a filter on the lead, a high-pass on the master and a few uplifters into the drop. In the drop there are downlifters, sweeps and a disco laser. I kept the FX basic because the chords and the lead carry this track.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Notre Dame?
Notre Dame is a Paris-born DJ and producer making emotional melodic house and indie dance. He has released on labels like Diynamic, Innervisions and Afterlife, and his track Yumi is one of his best known.
What BPM does Notre Dame use?
This tutorial runs at 124 BPM, a tempo Notre Dame uses often. Melodic house and indie dance usually run at about 120 to 126 BPM.
How do you get the Notre Dame lead sound?
It is a short, plucky synth lead playing a catchy melody over the chords. In the video it is a Serum 2 preset remade from the lead in Yumi, with light EQ, a little OTT and sidechain. Doubling the melody with a sustained support lead in the drop adds power.
Why use a bass guitar in melodic house?
A bass guitar line gives the groove a disco and funk feel that a synth bass does not. Keep a sub bass for the lows, cut the low end of the bass guitar, and use simple 8th notes with octave jumps at the end of the bar.
Related reading: making an indie dance track in 1 hour, the Adam Ten and Mita Gami sound, and melodic house sample packs.
