How to Write Frenchcore Songs

You want a track that slams like a train and still makes people move with a grin that says danger but in a fun way. Frenchcore is the crazy cousin of hardcore electronic music. It is fast, often ruthless, and deeply musical when made right. This guide gives you everything you need to write authentic Frenchcore songs from concept to release. We will cover tempo choices, sound design for the infamous kick, drum programming, synth design, arrangement, mixing, mastering basics, live performance tips, and promotion tactics that actually work for real artists.

Everything here is written for music makers who juggle jobs, texts, and heartbreaks. Expect direct workflows, no nonsense templates, and examples that actually translate into finished tracks. We will explain technical terms and acronyms so you do not need a degree in wizardry to follow along. Grab your DAW. Lock a tempo. Let us carve a boulder into a club anthem.

What Is Frenchcore

Frenchcore is a subgenre of hardcore electronic music that emphasizes high tempo and hard hitting kicks. It grew from the hardcore and rave scenes and has a distinct focus on relentless rhythm and often twisted melodic ideas. The result sounds like a compressed neon fist to the chest. The style can be melodic and even beautiful or brutal and claustrophobic. The constant is energy and a sense of theatrical intensity.

Real life scene

Imagine a sweaty warehouse with lights like lightning. The crowd moves in pulses. The DJ drops a Frenchcore track and the room compresses into a single breathing organism. That reaction is what you are writing for.

Key Characteristics of Frenchcore

• Tempo often ranges from about 180 to 220 BPM. A faster tempo increases momentum and intensity.
• Kicks are distorted and punchy. They often contain multiple layers and are processed to cut through dense mixes.
• Rhythms can be straightforward or complex. Expect driving four on the floor or rolling patterns that create tension.
• Sound design uses heavy distortion, saturation, and often creative resampling of elements.
• Energy flow is crucial. Songs build and release in ways that keep a crowd in motion.

Terms You Need to Know

DAW

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. It is the software you use to make music. Examples are Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, and Cubase. If you can play a playlist on your laptop, you can learn a DAW.

BPM

BPM means Beats Per Minute. It measures tempo. Frenchcore lives in the 180 to 220 BPM zone. Faster numbers equal more urgency and more leg movement for ravers.

VST

VST means Virtual Studio Technology. It is a plugin format for instruments and effects. Synths like Serum and FM8 and effects like FabFilter plugins are VSTs. They let you build sounds with virtual circuitry.

EQ

EQ means Equalization. It lets you boost or cut frequencies so sounds sit right together. If your kick and bass fight, EQ is the referee.

Compression

Compression controls dynamics. It makes loud things quieter and quiet things louder. In Frenchcore it helps the kick stay consistent and the snare or clap cut through.

Choose a Tempo That Fits Your Intent

Tempo shapes vibe. Faster tempos make music feel urgent. Slower tempos can feel heavy. Pick your tempo before you design the kick. Here are practical targets with real world use cases.

200 to 220 BPM

This range is common for hard hitting, fast tracks meant for peak time sets. Use it if you want people to lose track of time and commit to movement. Example scenario: You play a festival midnight slot and want the crowd to forget about tomorrow.

180 to 200 BPM

Use this range if you want a heavy but slightly more controlled feeling. It is easier to place vocal samples and melodic ideas at this tempo. Example scenario: You want a track that hits hard and also allows for a memorable hook that people can chant.

Above 220 BPM

Extremely fast tempos are niche. They can be exhilarating live but require careful mixing because timing differences become extreme. Use only if you know why you need that speed.

Design the Kick That Carries the Genre

The kick is the heart of Frenchcore. It must be punchy, clear, and aggressive without being a mess in the mix. Most producers build a Frenchcore kick from layers. Each layer has a purpose. Think of a kick like a sandwich with attitude.

Kick Layer Blueprint

• Transient layer for attack. This is a clean click or a short acoustic kick sample. It gives the sound punch. Place it at the start of the kick to cut through cymbals and hats.
• Body layer for midrange presence. This can be a sine wave punch or a mid heavy sample shaped with EQ. It carries the groove so the ear can track the rhythm.
• Sub layer for low end. Use a sine or triangle wave sub to give weight. Sidechain it to other bass elements so it does not clash.
• Distortion layer for grit. This is where the Frenchcore attitude comes from. Use saturation, tube simulation, or bit crushing and automate it for dynamics.
• Noise or texture layer for color. Add vinyl crackle, industrial hits, or resampled noise to add character.

Practical example

Start with a hard kick sample. Layer a sine tone under it tuned to the kick fundamental. Add a distorted copy of the kick with saturation and then roll off everything below the fundamental to avoid doubling the sub. Finally add a short click at the top end. Process with temporary compression and then use a limiter to glue the layers together. The result is a single coherent hit that still shows the different parts when you solo them.

Distortion Techniques

Distortion is not one trick. You can use multiple types at once. Try soft clipping for warmth. Use hard clipping for digital aggression. Use bit reduction to add digital grit in the top end while leaving the sub intact. Parallel distortion lets you keep the original clean kick under the full blown aggressive signal. Blend to taste.

Real life scenario

You are mixing in the morning and your room sounds small. Instead of cranking everything, create a parallel bus. Send the kick to that bus and add heavy distortion there. Pull the bus in to taste. The kick will feel like a monster without crushing your monitors.

Programming Drums and Groove

Frenchcore often uses a driving pattern. Four on the floor remains valid. You can add syncopation and fills to create momentum. At high tempos small timing differences matter more so be intentional.

Basic Groove Template

1. Kick on every quarter note. At 200 BPM that is relentless. Use variations sparingly.
2. Add open hats or rides on eighth notes or sixteenth notes to create momentum.
3. Introduce snare or clap on the two and four or sometimes on off beats for surprise.
4. Create rolling sections with kick triplets or swung patterns for moments of release.

Tip on fills

Short fills matter. At high tempo a long drum fill can feel too busy. Use micro fills of two to four hits to punctuate transitions. Try pitched tom fills or reversed cymbal hits before a drop. Keep fills tight and loud so the transition lands with authority.

Groove and Humanization

At high BPM, perfect quantization can feel robotic. To inject groove, nudge hats and percussion slightly off the grid. Use small velocity variations. Program a ghost kick that sits underneath the main kick. That ghost can add swing and make the pattern feel more alive without losing punch.

Synth Work for Frenchcore

Synths can be melodic or textural in Frenchcore. You can use simple saw stacks for leads and FM for sharp character. The trick is to design sounds that cut through distortion and work alongside heavy kicks.

Lead Sound Ideas

• Use a detuned saw stack with a soft low pass envelope to make the lead bloom under the kick.
• Use FM synthesis for metallic leads with harmonics that survive distortion.
• Use formant filters or vowel filters for vocal like synths that stand out in the midrange.

Melodic choices

Use short motifs that repeat. At high tempo your listeners cannot follow long complex phrases easily. A three or four note figure that repeats with evolving processing gives listeners something to latch onto. Use call and response with percussive elements. When the lead drops use a sparse rhythm so it can be heard.

Texture and Atmosphere

Use noise beds, resampled field recordings, and reversed elements to add atmosphere. Frenchcore tracks can be aggressive and still have cinematic moments. Use reverb with caution. At high tempo long tails can smear the rhythm. Use short plates or gated reverbs that die quickly so the rhythm stays tight.

Arrangement and Energy Curve

Arrangement in Frenchcore is about controlling energy. You want peaks that hit hard and valleys that give the audience a breath. A standard arrangement may look like an intro, build, break, drop, mid section, buildup, second drop, and an outro. Keep sections short and purposeful. At 200 BPM listeners process events faster so you can fit more ideas into the same time span as a slower track.

Practical Arrangement Roadmap

• Intro with a signature sound or motif so DJs can mix in easily.
• Build
• Break
• Drop
• Mid section
• Final drop
• Outro

Transition tools

Use risers, white noise sweeps, reverse hits, and short breaks. A silence of one bar right before the drop can be like a pressure release and will make the drop feel bigger. Make those silences strategic and not filler. A single lost beat can create a communal gasp that then becomes a roar.

Vocals and Samples

Vocals are optional but powerful. Short shouts, chants, or processed vocal chops can make a track memorable. Samples from movies or interviews can be effective but watch licensing. Use royalty free sources or record your own lines. Processing vocals with pitch shifting and heavy formant manipulation works well with distortion dense arrangements.

Relatable example

Record a friend saying a single line like I want it louder. Pitch it down and add reverb with a short decay. Layer it at the start of the drop. Suddenly the crowd has a phrase to repeat and a moment to chant. That is festival currency.

Mixing Frenchcore

Mixing needs to keep clarity in a dense and distorted environment. The aim is to let the kick dominate while keeping midrange elements clear and treble elements present. Use reference tracks. Put your ears on tracks you admire and compare.

Kick and Low End Management

• Use a high quality low shelf or multiband compression to control sub energy.
• Sidechain bass elements to the kick. Sidechaining means ducking one sound volume when another plays so they do not clash. In practice set a compressor on the bass that reacts to the kick and makes the bass breathe around it.
• Use a dedicated sub bus limiter if the low end becomes unruly.

Midrange Clarity

Distortion fills mids quickly. Carve space with surgical EQ. Cut competing frequencies between the lead and vocal. Use narrow cuts to remove build up. Use parallel distortion on mids to preserve transients while adding grit.

Stereo Imaging

Keep the low end mono. Use stereo widening on pads, synths, and FX. If you widen the kick or sub you risk phase problems in clubs with mono playback. Use mid side EQ to push atmospheres wide without touching the center energy.

Master Bus

Light compression on the master bus can glue the track but avoid heavy processing until the final mastering pass or a dedicated mastering engineer. Limiters must catch peaks without pumping. Trust meters. Aim for loudness that fits where the track will be played. For club use a strong RMS that sits in the right ballpark for hardcore genres but do not destroy dynamics completely.

Mastering Basics for Frenchcore

Mastering brings a track to competitive loudness and spectral balance. If you are new to mastering do a gentle master and consider a pro for release. If you master yourself here are key checks.

• Make sure the kick is consistent across playback systems. Test on headphones, monitors, laptop speakers, and phone speakers.
• Check mono compatibility to ensure the low end stays intact when the club system sums to mono.
• Match tonal balance to reference tracks you admire in the same subgenre.
• Use a limiter last. Set ceiling, then adjust input gain to reach target loudness. Watch for distortion introduced by over compression or digital clipping.

Common Frenchcore Production Mistakes and How to Fix Them

Too much distortion

Fix by using parallel processing. Send an element to a distortion bus and blend. This keeps transients alive and adds grit only where you want it.

Kick sits muddy in the mix

Fix by splitting the layers. Use EQ to carve room for the mid and transient layers. Tighten the transient with transient shaper plugins. Sidechain competing elements so the kick always communicates its pulse clearly.

Cluttered midrange

Fix by subtractive EQ. Identify the two most important midrange parts and give them priority. Avoid layering ten elements in the same frequency band unless you have a clear idea why.

Loss of energy on playback systems

Fix by referencing on multiple systems. If the song loses punch on phone speakers try adding midrange harmonics to the kick and a fast attack transient to help it translate. Also check mono mix because club rigs often collapse stereo image to center.

Performance and DJ Tips

Frenchcore tracks are made for the floor. If you plan to DJ your own music here are some tips.

• Create intro friendly versions with extended intros so other DJs can mix your track.
• Prepare stems for live sets if you want to remix on the fly. Stems are grouped audio files like drums, bass, and leads that allow flexible mixing in live software.
• Practice transitions. At high tempo a small timing error becomes obvious. Use cue points and practice beatmatching by ear if you can.
• Learn to read a crowd. Drop energy when the room needs a breath and then push back for a huge return. Sensing the room makes your tracks feel alive.

Collaboration and Legal Basics

Work with vocalists and producers but agree rights early. Use written agreements that state splits, credits, and who handles licensing. If you sample a commercial film clip get permission or use royalty free resources. The worst time to learn about rights is after a label offers you money for a track with uncleared samples.

Relatable scenario

Your friend sends a raw vocal they recorded on their phone with a catchy line. You use it but do not discuss splits. The track goes viral. Suddenly everybody wants money and the friendship smells like a lawsuit. Avoid this by agreeing splits before the first render.

Creative Exercises to Write Better Frenchcore

The One Riff Rule

Create a single three or four note riff. Build the entire track around variations of that riff. Change processing, rhythm, and octave to keep it interesting. This forces focus and gives your track a recognizable identity.

Kick First Workflow

Design the kick until it sits right in different speakers before adding anything else. Then add bass and percussion. If you start without a kick you will keep changing the low end and waste time. The kick is the anchor.

Resample Everything

Record a short loop of anything you build. Push it through effects and resample it. Use the result as a new raw element. This creates unique textures and sounds that others will not immediately recognize.

Promotion and Release Tactics

Frenchcore lives in niche communities and on festival stages. Promotion requires cultural understanding and targeted outreach.

• Build relationships with DJs who already play Frenchcore and send them DJ friendly promos.
• Release on niche labels that understand your scene. Their audience is your audience.
• Create memorable visual content. A striking cover and a short high impact video clip can make people listen longer.
• Play live as often as you can. Scenes grow through shows and word of mouth. Even small local parties can build momentum.

Case Study: From Idea to Warehouse Ready

Imagine you have a two bar synth riff that feels angry and catchy. You set tempo to 200 BPM. You design a layered kick with a sine sub and a distorted top. You place the riff in the midrange with a formant filter to make it vocal like. You build a short break at bar 32 where the crowd can hear the melody and a sampled shout lands one bar before the drop. You craft two drops with different percussion patterns to avoid repetition. You mix with care and master lightly. You send the track to a DJ friend who plays it at a local rave and a clip goes online. The clip brings new listeners to your release day. That is the path from idea to impact. It is messy and beautiful.

How to Finish a Track Faster

1. Limit choices. Pick a single lead sound and stick with it for the first draft.
2. Use templates for routing. Create a project template in your DAW with a kick bus, distortion bus, and master chain so you do not reinvent routing each session.
3. Commit to a rough arrangement in one afternoon. Do not polish until the structure and energy work.
4. Export a rough master and sleep on it. Fresh ears catch problems quickly.
5. Ask one focused question when you get feedback. For example what part made you move the most. Use that to guide final tweaks.

Common Questions Answered

What tempo should I pick for Frenchcore

Choose a tempo between 180 and 220 BPM depending on the mood you want. Use 200 BPM as a practical midpoint that translates well to both live and listening contexts. Faster tempos give more adrenaline. Slower choices let you fit melodic ideas more comfortably.

Can I make Frenchcore in any DAW

Yes. Any modern DAW like Ableton Live, FL Studio, Logic Pro, or Cubase is capable. The important part is knowing routing and using the right plugins for distortion and transient shaping. Workflow matters more than software brand.

Do I need analog gear

No. Analog gear can add character but you can make professional Frenchcore tracks with plugins. Focus on sound design, layering, and intelligent processing first. If you want analog color later you can add hardware or emulate it with plugins.

How loud should I master Frenchcore

Master loud enough to stand next to other tracks in the genre. Loudness units like LUFS measure perceived loudness. For club tracks aim for a solid integrated LUFS while keeping dynamics. If you are unsure, hire a mastering engineer experienced in hard electronic music.

Action Plan You Can Use Today

1. Set your DAW to 200 BPM.
2. Design a layered kick with transient, body, sub, and distortion layers.
3. Program a four on the floor groove and add hats on sixteenth notes.
4. Create a short three note riff that repeats and process it with formant or FM synthesis.
5. Build a break where the riff is exposed with minimal drums to create impact.
6. Mix the kick and sub first. Then bring in mids and top elements. Use reference tracks.
7. Export a rough master and send it to one trusted DJ for feedback.

FAQ

Is Frenchcore just about speed

No. Speed is a characteristic but not the only one. The writing, sound design, and energy flow define the style. A great Frenchcore track uses tempo as a tool to create intensity and pairs it with smart arrangement and emotional content.

How do I keep the kick clear when everything is distorted

Use multiband processing and parallel routing. Keep a clean low sub under the distorted layers. Use sidechain compression on bass and other elements. Automate distortion amount so the kick can breathe where you need clarity.

Can I use vocals in Frenchcore

Yes. Short vocal hooks, chants, and processed lines work well. Keep them concise and place them strategically. Long lyrical verses rarely work at high tempo because the listener cannot follow them easily in a live setting.

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