trax.house archive

issue 53 · 2026-08-30 · for people who make house

Analog drum crush: Smack plug-in walkthrough

A DBX 160–style compressor for the drum buss, and a walkthrough that shows how to really lean on it — from maxed-out mojo to the de-esser trick for taming harsh highs. Plus: Reason’s 15 classic devices land free in any DAW, Arturia’s new bass synth does a sub-regeneration thing worth a look, and sidechain routing without the guesswork.

◆ start here

▶ Smack plug-in walkthrough: analog drum crush in the box

It’s a deep dive on a DBX 160–style compressor, but the de-esser trick, expander for contrast, and parallel compression workflow are the real takeaways for any drum buss.

watch →
📡 on the radar

Europa is popping because Reason just made it free, Ableton Move has producers talking about the portable sketch workflow, and Serum continues to top the charts for wavetable design. Good week to be a sound designer.

◢ learn

▶ Sidechain routing without the guesswork

Covers the stock Ableton Compressor, Kickstart2’s shape control, and how a ghost kick track keeps things rhythmic without cluttering the mix. Also, why EQ first.

watch →

◢ free & gear

Europa and Scream 4 land free in any DAW(free)

Reason Studios just dropped 15 devices — wavetable synth, distortion, convolution reverb, m-class maximizer — all as free VST3/AU. A solid grab bag for new sound palettes.

3 min read · grab it →

Arturia Pure SUB: bass shaping with a sub-regeneration trick

It’s a bass designer, not just a synth. The sub-regeneration restores a clean fundamental after processing, and the additive engine lets you morph up to eight waveforms. The review walks through making kicks and wobbly subs.

9 min read · grab it →
♫ In Rotation
 
Hector Couto, KiRiK — Day By Day
the way the filtered vocal 'day by day' rides the offbeat bass stab
— LarryLuxe's pick
📊 The Charts
 
Market read: Minimal / Deep Tech has the most charting tracks this week
Across 9 house genre charts for the week of 2026-08-24, Minimal / Deep Tech has the most charting tracks: 313 in all, 183 of them new entries, from 159 labels. Label share is most concentrated in Soulful House, where the top 5 labels hold 22% of charting tracks.
Nu Disco / Indie Dance has the widest label spread this week — 171 labels behind 288 charting tracks.
Cecille is heating up in Deep House
Cecille has 10 tracks on the Deep House chart this week, including 4 new entries and 9 inside the top 50, spread across 8 artists.
3 of these tracks come from one various-artists release, Summer 2026.
LTF Records is heating up in House
LTF Records has 12 tracks on the House chart this week (plus 2 on a second chart), including 3 new entries and 8 inside the top 50, spread across 9 artists.
One artist, Franky Rizardo, is behind 3 of them.
Nervous is charting on 6 of 9 genre charts
Nervous is on 6 of 9 genre charts this week — 23 tracks charting this week, led by 12 in Tech House.
Of the 23, 11 first charted this week.
▲ #10 Anna-Marie Johnson, Steve Taylor, Richard Earnshaw — Say Yes (Extended Mix)
new entry
🎯 Tonight's Move
Conform hi-hat velocities to 80–105 in one MIDI Transform pass
Your hi-hats lock into a tight, focused pocket — no stray ghost notes or velocity spikes.
  1. 1. Select all hi-hat MIDI regions.
  2. 2. Open MIDI Transform (Cmd+9).
  3. 3. From the preset menu, pick **Fixed Velocity**.
  4. 4. Set the velocity operation to **Range**. Low: 80. High: 105.
  5. 5. Hit **Select and Operate**.
Why it works: A velocity range clamps dynamics like a gate, trimming extreme highs and lows so every hit reinforces the groove instead of fighting it.

🔮 Producer Horoscope (for fun) — Your sample's tail will be exactly one 16th note too long, and you will solve it with a fader ride like a pro.

Now twist that expander and make the drum buss breathe.

one of these lands every morning.

for working house producers with a track already half-finished.

free · every morning · unsubscribe any time

covered in this issue: reason free · arturia pure sub