Deep house and tech-house are opposite ends of a harmonic-density spectrum within house

House is not monolithic: the source defines a spectrum running from deep house to tech-house, distinguished primarily by harmonic density and timbre. Deep house ‘leans lusher/jazzier’ — richer chord extensions, warmer timbres, more melodic content. Tech-house ‘strips chords back toward a percussive, near-atonal groove,’ converging toward techno’s approach. A livecoder can slide along this spectrum by dialing chord complexity up or down (add extensions, remove extensions, remove chords entirely) while keeping the house rhythmic skeleton — four-on-the-floor, offbeat hats, backbeat — constant. It is harmonic density and timbre, not the groove, that names the sub-genre.

Examples

Deep house: chord('<Am9 Dm9 Fmaj9>').voicing() with a warm pad timbre. Tech-house: drop the stabs, keep a single-note percussive bassline and harder drums.

Assessment

A student’s house groove should move toward tech-house. Which harmonic and timbral changes move it along the spectrum, and which groove elements must stay constant for it to remain ‘house’?