High-Octane Eurodisco Inspired By Captain Hollywood Project

We’re heading back to 1992 to deconstruct the driving Eurodance blueprint of Captain Hollywood Project’s “More and More” – one of the tracks that helped define the genre – to build a modern Eurodance foundation.

By 1993, eurodance was a dominant force on European floors – a high-octane mix of italo-disco melody, Belgian new beat pacing, and Detroit techno’s skeletal drum arrangements. At the centre was the Captain Hollywood Project, led by New Jersey-born Tony Dawson-Harrison.

A U.S. soldier stationed in 1980s Germany, Harrison earned his moniker via barracks breakdancing. He parlayed this into a high-level choreography career, mentoring acts like Paula Abdul and DJ BoBo. His signature “Crew Lock” style was a strategic synthesis: combining military drill precision with street-style popping and locking. This disciplined visual aesthetic became the blueprint for the eurodance stage.

We’re Beat Dissecting the 1992 hit “More and More” from the debut album Love Is Not Sex. The track is a masterclass in balance, pitting Harrison’s gritty rap against Nina Gerhard’s soulful hooks. Its commercial staying power, however, was due to a heavy-hitting collaboration with German production powerhouses DMP and Cyborg.

Today’s ‘neo-trance’ and euro-throwbacks capture that same post-wall Berlin energy. We aren’t making a cookie-cutter copy; we’re dissecting the driving arrangements to build a contemporary, high-energy eurodance beat.

Here’s the original track:

Here’s what we’re making today:

And here’s how the beat sounds with melody for context:

Remember, click any image to enlarge!

STEP 1: THE KICK

First, we’ll create a new MIDI track and load in ‘909 Core Kit’ Drum Rack. Set the channel’s Track Volume to -6.0 dB as a generally good rule of thumb. And -3.0 dB on the Main, unless it’s going to master, where we typically need -6.0 dB of headroom.

Now, insert an empty MIDI clip. On Bass Drum, program in the following four-to-the-floor pattern. 

Adjust the settings to Tune 127 as we tighten up our typical 909 eurodance kick and get it to punch through the mix. Turn the volume down to -10.0 dB. Right-click on Release, select unmap from decay and adjust it to 173ms.

Insert the standard ‘EQ Eight’ and adjust the settings to match the custom ones.

STEP 2: HI-HAT & TAMBOURINE

Next, let’s give the track some drive. On Open Hi Hat, program the MIDI pattern for the off-beat hi-hat on 3, 7, 11 and 15 steps across the four bars.

Shorten the hi-hat sample tail as shown in the image to get this uplifting  ‘90s “oonce” sound. Adjust the volume to -10.0 dB.

For the rolling sleigh bells sound that sets the track in motion, pop onto the Ride pad ‘Tamb Processed 2.wav’. 

To make your rolling percussion, program a beat onto each step.

Now, pan Vol to 12L to create some room.

STEP 3: HAND CLAP

On Hand Clap 909, program in a beat on every 5th and 13th step.

Pan the clap Vol to 17L, so it is emphasized and sits nicely in the mix.

Insert ‘Corridor.adv’ Reverb. Adjust Stereo width to 120% and Dry/Wet to 71% to give the clap a wide, sonically gritty warehouse character. 

Top Tip: To prevent listening fatigue and stay focused, set break timers. If the frequencies start blurring together, then sleep on it and pick it up again upon rising (sometimes even after a few days for the track to breathe).

STEP 4: CONGA & WOOD BLOCK

Now, let’s fill in the rest of the groove. Place ‘Conga Bongo Timbales.adg’ onto Hi Tom.

Copy the MIDI pattern in the image. The conga gives the kick a counterweight and syncopation by breaking up the rigid four-to-the-floor structure.

Change Delay Dry Wet to 0% and Transpose to +2 st. Pan to 13L.

Place ‘Wood Blawk.wav’ onto Ride. Adjust Trans to +5 st, Volume to -14.0 dB and Pan to 13R.

Add ‘Plate Damped.adv’ Reverb. Insert ‘EQ Eight’ and adjust the settings to match. This will give our galloping rhythm less island and more metallic vibes.

STEP 5: MASTER BUS

To finish up our mix, let’s add some punch with ‘Master Dance Aggressive.adg’.

Now, add ‘Multiband Compression.adv’ to balance the scales. Change High Input to 2.00 dB, Mid to 3.00 dB and Low to 4.00 dB. Change Amount to 70%, so we don’t push too hard.

Next, with Glue Compressor, we use some light compression to solidify the mix. Adjust the settings like so: Attack .3, Ratio 10, Threshold -14.0 dB, Makeup 6.00 dB and Dry/Wet 46%.

Lastly with ‘Lookahead.adv’ limiter, our signal security guard will be on the lookout for any peaking to prevent distortion in a hot mix. Change Lookahead to 3 for a quicker response, which is good for peaking. Yet if your processor is ramped up or you have loads of tracks, this can cause distortion, so testing it out is a good practice.

Lastly, let’s group together the mastering chain and save it as a preset if you like it.

Top Tip: Always leave enough head-room in your mix to prevent distortion that can destroy your mix. That can work for noise shows, but let’s assume that’s not the case here. It’s especially important when you’re recording an entire mix onto one stereo channel to get this right, particularly with live mixing at a gig or on a livestream. Because all the Ozone or AI tools in the world probably won’t save a melted mix. Best rule of thumb? Stay in the green, yellow at most.

Here’s the final beat:

Here it is with some melody for context:

Vamp Acid is a music producer, live techno artist, and co-head of Hrdwre.io based in Berlin. Find Vamp Acid on Instagram.

Want to follow along? You can buy Ableton here. Heads up: some links are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission (it doesn’t affect the price).

Follow Attack Magazine