Tips on Producing Tropical House

What is Tropical House?

Tropical House is a sub-genre of House music that has been pretty popular in the recent years. Here’s some of the elements that make a Tropical House track:

The arrangements are easy-going & casual.
- The melodies of Tropical House are often sweet and easy to listen to.
- They are usually more melodic than usual EDM tunes.
- The beats aren’t as heavy and don’t pound as hard as compared to other EDM genres.
Tropical Vibe
- You would find in most tropical house tracks, tropical-type of instruments such as flutes, folk guitars, horns, steel drums, and marimbas. These instruments give a tropical vibe and flavor to your track.
- Unlike other EDM tracks, there’s hardly any ‘big drops’ in Tropical House. The feel is relaxed and chill.

Tropical House Producers & DJs

Kygo

Thomas Jack

Motoma

Common Techniques for Producing Tropical House Tracks

Use the Pentatonic Scale
- There’re plenty of Tropical House tracks that use the pentatonic scale for their melodies. One reason may be that the pentatonic scale is usually very easily remembered and thus poises to be a great hook.
Watch your BPM
- Tropical House is meant to be laid-back and chill. Try to keep your BPM in between 100-115.
Instrument Textures
- Tropical House tends to be more pop and “organic”. Try combining lush instrument pads with edgy synths or add in non-electronic instruments like guitars, saxophones, horns. Get creative and find a blend that works well for you.