Deep house is known for tempos typically from 110 to 125 bpm,[1][6][7] muted basslines, spacious use of percussion elements (typically using a Roland TR-909 drum machine),[8] soft keyboard sounds (pads), use of advanced chord structures, ambient mixes, and soulful vocals.[citation needed]
Deep house was largely pioneered by Chicago producers such as Marshall Jefferson (On the House) and Larry Heard (Mr. Fingers) and with tracks such as "Mystery of Love" (1985) and "Can You Feel It?" (1986);[9] the latter had a similar impact on deep house to that of Derrick May's "Strings of Life" (1987) on Detroit techno.[10] The jazzy sound became more common due to the favored use of gentler, more organic (yet still synthesizer based) production and instrument sounds. Author Richie Unterberger has stated that Heard's deep house sound moved house music away from its posthuman tendencies back towards the lush, soulful sound of early disco music (particularly that of old Philadelphia International and Salsoul records).[11] "Can You Feel It" became a deep house blueprint; Heard used a Roland Juno-60 synthesizer to create the deep bassline,[12] along with a Roland TR-909 drum machine for the beats.[8]
In the 2000s and 2010s, the genre remained very popular. By around mid/late 2010s, however, the perception of the genre was resulting in a sense that some house music was being labeled "deep" inappropriately,[14] and the term has since been used to encapsulate various types of bassline-driven house music, later named Brazilian bassorslap house, as the genre evolves from its historical origins.
^ abcM'Baye, Babacar; Hall, Alexander Charles Oliver (29 July 2013). Crossing Traditions: American Popular Music in Local and Global Contexts. Scarecrow Press. ISBN978-0-8108-8828-9. Deep house is a subgenre of house music that is revered by its fans for its faithfulness to Chicago house and New York garage. Deep house cooks up a tasty sonic stew from disco, gospel, soul, jazz, funk, Latin, and R & B. Like its predecessors, its simmers at 120 to 125 BPM. What distinguishes deep house from its progenitors is its tendency to overuse shrieking divas, ominous organs, and chord progressions to whip up dance floor drama.