Description
Melodic Techno / Tech House • 126 BPM • Ableton Live 12.4
Stop Chasing the JOA Sound.
Open the Template.
Full melodic techno track in the JOA style by Australian producer KayZen. Two editions. Yours to study, swap, and release.
Sound Familiar?
You hear a JOA track and you know exactly what you want to make. That driving melodic techno energy. The hypnotic build. The big emotional drop.
You sit down. Open Ableton. And realise you have no idea where to even start.
I’ve been listening to JOA tracks all year. KayZen has captured this style better than anyone I’ve heard — so I’m bringing his template to RFM.
What Is the JOA Style Template?
It’s a fully arranged and mixed Ableton Live 12.4 Suite project in the style of JOA — the Toronto producer behind those driving melodic techno and tech house tracks Armin van Buuren and Alesso have been collabing on.
KayZen built the whole thing from scratch. Every layer labelled. Every group routed. Every plugin chain visible.
You open the project. You hit play. You hear a finished melodic techno track. Then you start picking it apart, layer by layer, to see exactly how it’s put together.
You don’t start from zero. You start from a finished pro track and learn how it got there.
What’s Inside the Project
Kick & Sub Group
Layered Kick (audio) + Sub on Serum 2 with the full processing chain printed in — EQ Eight, Basslane for mono-bass, Auto Filter, Kickstart 2 sidechain. Group bus running Bark Of Dog 2 on the low end. (Pro Edition adds FabFilter Pro-Q 4 and AOM Invisible Limiter on the Sub chain.)
Bass Group
Two-layer bass design. Mid Bass on Serum 2 with Ozone Imager 2, EQ Eight, and Kickstart 2 sidechain. Reese Bass on Serum 2 with EQ Eight. Group bus running Auto Filter for the breakdown sweep.
Percussion Group
Clap (audio with EQ Eight and a MaxForLive groove device) • Hat subgroup (Hat Loop Kickstart-sidechained, Open Hat raw) • Percussion top loop • Ride loop — all pre-warped to 126 BPM. (Pro Edition group bus: SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 → Auto Filter → StandardCLIP. Stock & Free uses Ableton stock devices on the bus.)
Main Leads Group — 4 layered leads
Lead 1, Lead 2, Lead 3 and a Reverse Lead — all on Serum 2 with EQ Eight per track. (Pro Edition adds OTT on every lead. Group bus: SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 → EQ Eight → Audio Effect Rack with Valhalla VintageVerb + FabFilter Pro-Q 4 → second SSL Bus Comp stage → Kickstart 2.)
Second Drop Leads — 3 more leads
Lead 1, Lead 2, Lead 3 on Serum 2 — a separate stack designed so the second drop lifts instead of repeating. (Pro Edition group bus: SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 → EQ Eight → Audio Effect Rack with Valhalla VintageVerb + Pro-Q 4 → second SSL Bus Comp → Maag EQ4 for air → Kickstart 2.)
Synth Shots & Plucks
Synth Shot 1 + Synth Shot 2 (audio with full FX chains including OTT, EQ Eight, Limiter, Auto Filter, Delay, and Valhalla VintageVerb on Shot 2). Pluck Lead and Intro Pluck on Serum 2. (Pro Edition adds Trackspacer 2.5 on Pluck Lead for lead-pocket carving.)
Atmosphere — 3 texture layers
Atmos 1, Atmos 2, Atmos 3 — three audio atmosphere layers running underneath the track. Makes the mix feel alive without ten hours of sound design.
Vocal Section — main difference between editions
Pro Edition: Full live vocal section with the entire processing chain on the group bus — Waves CLA-2A → Waves RVox → Audio Effect Rack with Soundtoys EchoBoy + Valhalla Room → FabFilter Pro-Q 4 → Auto Filter → Polyverse Manipulator → Kickstart 2. Plus Soundtoys Little AlterBoy on the Vocal Harmony layers.
Stock & Free Edition: Vocals bounced down to 2 audio tracks (Vocal Shot + Vocal Rev for Radio edit). No paid vocal plugins required.
Fills — 5-track snare bus
Short Snare Roll • Snare Roll 1, 2, 3 • Snare Impact. Pre-routed for the build-into-drop snare patterns the JOA style is built on. (Pro Edition group bus: AOM Invisible Limiter + Auto Filter.)
FX — 13 transitions
Crash • Downlifter 1 • Sweep Up 1 • Riser 1, 2, 3, 4 • Downlifter 2 • Uplifter 1, 2 • Swoosh • Big Impact • Sub Drop. Every transition you need for the breakdowns, builds, and drops is already routed and ready to slot in.
Return Tracks
A-Reverb (Ableton Reverb) and B-Delay (Ableton Delay) — set up and routed so every sound is already in the same spatial mix.
Two Editions. Same Project. Your Choice.
Stock & Free Edition
€19.99 — 55 tracks
Built to deliver a fully professional result with mostly free plugins and Ableton stock devices. Vocals bounced down so no paid vocal plugins required.
Free plugins inside: Bark Of Dog 2 • Ozone Imager 2 • Basslane • OTT • Voxengo SPAN
You’ll need: Serum 2 (every modern producer already has it)
Sidechain: Kickstart 2 ships with the project (swap any sidechain you own)
Optional: Ozone 11 on master (loaded but not required)
Full Plugins Edition
€29.99 — 61 tracks
The full Pro chain KayZen uses on his own productions — every boutique plugin visible and editable.
On the leads & bass: FabFilter Pro-Q 4 • Valhalla VintageVerb • SSL Native Bus Compressor 2 • OTT • Maag EQ4 • Trackspacer 2.5 • AOM Invisible Limiter
On the drums: StandardCLIP • SSL Native Bus Compressor 2
Master chain: Endless Smile • Tuner • Voxengo SPAN • iZotope Insight 2 • iZotope Ozone 11
Live vocal chain: Waves CLA-2A • Waves RVox • Soundtoys EchoBoy • Valhalla Room • Pro-Q 4 • Polyverse Manipulator • Soundtoys Little AlterBoy
How It Works
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The goal isn’t to make you sound like JOA. It’s to teach you how a track in that style is actually built, so the next one you write from scratch is twice as good.
Who This Is For
✓Producers who want to make melodic techno or tech house and don’t know how the pros structure a track
✓Trance producers expanding into the melodic techno / tech house space — the storytelling is closer than you think
✓Anyone who’s done my courses and wants a finished pro project to study layer by layer
✓Producers who already have their own sound but want to see how someone else builds a track of this calibre
Requirements
Required: Ableton Live 12 Suite 12.4 or later • Serum 2 (used on Sub, both basses, all 7 leads, both plucks)
Required for Full Plugins Edition: the boutique plugins listed in the Edition comparison above. If you only own some, the Stock & Free Edition is the right pick.
Optional: Ozone 11 on master (loaded on both editions but not required — swap any mastering plugin you own, or bypass it)
Can I Use This for Commercial Releases?
All samples and MIDI inside this product are royalty-free. Once you swap the sounds and build your track, it’s yours to release.
Note: the signature lead melodies designed by KayZen are protected by copyright — just swap them out with your own melodies and you’re good to go. Same rule the rest of the templates on RFM use.
About KayZen
KayZen is an Australian producer specialising in melodic techno and tech house in the JOA style. His templates are built to teach — every track structure, every mix decision, every plugin chain is exposed and labelled. This is his first release on Ready For Masterclass.
Stop Chasing the Sound. Open the Template.
Buy it once, study it as long as you want, and the next melodic techno track you write from scratch will be twice as good.
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