How to make house music like SOLOMUN [Customer is King Remake] [GTA V Los Santos Soundtrack]

The video focuses on creating a SOLOMUN remake of the track 'Customer is King' that was premiered in GTA Online during a special event in the game.

• Features a distinctive SOLOMUN groove • Contains really nice toms and drums • Has an interesting bike sound element

The emphasis is on the groovy and cool drum and tom groove, which is crucial to get right for this track.

Learn how to reconstruct the SOLOMUN sound and production techniques from this GTA Online track.

Create a kick with a thumb-like but still low bassy sound, establishing the foundation for the groovy track.

• Use a deep tom sample that is naturally pushed back • Layer it with very fast tom hits stacked on top of each other • Create a repeating pattern that cycles four times

Move the tom transient slightly to differentiate it from the kick transient, preventing them from hitting at exactly the same time.

• Apply EQ to remove super low frequencies and excessive highs • Use compressor sidechain to the kick with fast release and look-ahead • Create a pumping effect where the tom ducks when the kick hits

Add mid-oriented tom samples that are slightly ghosty and pushed back in the mix.

• Original tom at base pitch • Duplicate tuned down 12 semitones (one octave below) • Third tom tuned down 17 semitones (perfect fifth) for harmonic variety

Group the toms and apply reverb to push them back into the background, making the space darker by cutting high frequencies.

• Use glue compressor to bind the tom elements together • Apply sidechain compressor triggered by kick for cohesive punching • Add clap sample panned to the right for additional texture

Create a simple sub-bass tuned to D (the track key) to fill the remaining space without conflicting with the dark, deep toms.

• Use Serum to generate D2 note with filter set one octave down • Apply 24dB low-pass filter with smooth release • Use EQ to remove super low and super high frequencies • Sidechain compress to both kick and deep tom for ducking

Add super simple white noise hi-hats placed on the off-beat, duplicated and mixed for a clean, bright texture.

• Create brighter room reverb for hi-hats • Make reverb smaller and shorter than the tom reverb • Send hi-hats to create sizzling background ambience that feels like the room acoustics

• Create three different shaker versions using drum rack • Tune shakers up and down slightly for different tonal variations • Make each version slightly different in length and attack

Design a non-regular shaker pattern that feels like someone playing with their hand rather than a mechanical drum machine pattern.

Add a crackle percussion element at the beginning of bars, slightly delayed to give groove and prevent everything from hitting at the same point.

• Use finger clap sound for organic vibe • Apply slight EQ to cut low and high frequencies • Send to room reverb for cohesive spatial treatment

Create a panned left snare sound that has a crowded feel and gives groove without being a traditional snare.

• Apply chorus with high modulation to create a crowded feel • Use very high feedback to enhance the layered effect • The chorus makes it sound like multiple people playing simultaneously

• Compress the snare sound heavily • Apply EQ to add nice grip and presence • Create rhythmic groove on top of the sound

Add white noise on the right side to balance the left-panned snare, creating stereo balance and preventing everything from sounding like it's in one spot.

Create a simple sine wave sound using Serum with basic mini oscillator that has triangular shape and minimal harmonics.

• Introduce envelope for attack control • Add unison to push sound back and create ambience • Use LFO on release parameter to vary note lengths dynamically

• Boost high frequencies slightly with EQ • Cut extra low frequencies to reduce mud • Final EQ pass to create the percussive character

Add slight reverb to make the sound feel more spacious and percussive rather than like a synthesizer, blending it into the groove.

Use a high closed hi-hat sound that is really bright, then tune it down using the sampler for more control.

• Use shape control to create almost square wave effect • Pan hard right and left rapidly using multiple panning techniques • Add auto-pan effect to create subtle left-right movement around center

Apply slight glue compression and utilities to prepare for later automation in the full track arrangement.

Add ambient noise from sample pack layered with the hi-hat percussion to create complex, interesting texture that supports the main groove elements.

The track contains a complex chord progression that resembles guitar playing more than typical synthesizer patterns, developed through trials and errors.

• Create base layer with simple square wave • Add envelope to control the sound • Use bit reduction and filtering to add bright high-end character

Layer a brighter synth on top using digital oscillators with unison effect to make it ambient and percussive rather than purely melodic.

• Use long reverb tail from Sim reverb (8.9 seconds) • Automate reverb send to create ambient buildup • Sound opens up completely during track breaks with full reverb effect

Synthesize guitar-like sound using sine wave oscillators layered with distortion rather than traditional samples.

• Use resonant filter peaks to imitate guitar strings • Create moving peaks that emulate string vibration • Apply flanger effect to enhance the guitar character

• Use heavy diode distortion to add harmonics and aggression • Cut mid frequencies in post-distortion EQ to remove mud • Guitar is a mid-heavy instrument when distorted, so heavy compression and mid-oriented EQ are essential

Heavy compression and EQ shaping create the final guitar character by driving the mid frequencies hard and controlling the resulting dynamics.

• Use reversed grand piano for dramatic effect • Add Zebra synthesizer for classic 2000-2010 era sound design • These provide foundational atmospheric elements

Single note string sounds in C with heavy processing including flanger, phasers, chorus, and reverb to create evolving ambient movement.

• Use LFO and other modulation to create mouth-like movement • Create peaks and dips in the sound rather than static tones • Heavy glue compression controls the dynamic movement

Apply dark hole reverb for additional ambience and depth, layering multiple reverb effects to build the immersive soundscape.

Add simple bell sound chimes found in Splice Disguise to contribute magical ambience to the track.

• Create simple serum patch playing notes A in different octaves • Use unison for brighter sound • Add distortion and reverb for depth

The arpeggio opens up during the track progression with assignable shimmer reverb, creating building intensity with utility volume increases.

• Use snare roll with slight vocoder for organic sound • Create open hi-hat movement by sampling and panning in sustain mode • Match duration with track tempo for seamless looping effect

The complete track contains three to six different channels with multiple layers stacked on top of each other throughout different sections.

• Multiple drum and percussion elements layered for groove • Synthesizer layers creating harmonic and melodic content • Ambient elements providing space and movement

SOLOMUN sound is about numerous small, tiny percussion design elements and noises that make the drums groovy, rather than big fat individual sounds.

Each element has its own place and function, with careful panning and processing ensuring no frequency masking despite the density of elements.

The completed track runs approximately three minutes and forty seconds, with the full arrangement cycling through all sections.

After the extended break and buildup sections, the track resets itself and returns to the original drum foundation, completing the structural cycle.

The second cycle of the track is identical to the first, so it is not repeated again to avoid redundancy in the tutorial.

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