Select a digital audio program for composing your beat. For intermediate and professional musicians, programs like Pro-Tools and Logic will give you some powerful capabilities. For more novice musicians, Mixcraft and GarageBand will offer you an easy interface. For musicians on a budget, you can download programs like Audacity and Traverso completely free of charge.
Plug your instrument into your computer. If using a MIDI keyboard with software synthesizers, you will need a MIDI keyboard and a MIDI-to-USB converter cable to plug your instrument into your computer. If using a standard audio synthesizer, keyboard or drum machine, you will need an instrument cable and a computer adapter, available at most music stores.
Open your digital audio program and familiarize yourself with the arrangement. You should see a mixer on your screen, containing a series of tracks that look like long horizontal bars. Your tracks will hold all of your recorded sequences, with each track serving as its own layer. For example, if you place a kick drum on track 1 and a snare drum on track 2 directly beneath, the two layers will overlap, giving you a full kick and snare. On each track you will also see mixing options, such as EQ for manipulating different frequencies, a volume fader for raising and lowering the volume, and a pan slider for adjusting your recordings between the left and right channel.
Choose a tempo, or speed, for your house beat. On your mixer, you will see a "Tempo" indicator, allowing you to speed up or slow down your song. Just choose an appropriate tempo by moving the slider or entering the number manually in the tempo box. The website Beat Portal recommends a tempo between 125 and 130 beats per minute to create a standard house music track.
Create a deep, electronic kick drum sound for your first track. You can use the presets on your synthesizer, drum machine or software settings to choose a low-frequency kick, or you can adjust your various effects to create your own kick drum sound if you have advanced knowledge of electronic music manipulation. Record a repetitive, four-beat sequence by selecting your first track, clicking the "Record" button on your mixer, and playing the sequence on your keyboard, groove box or keypad.
Select your second track and choose a snare drum setting to add to your percussion. Add a snare to the third and fourth beats of every measure by pressing "Record" and entering the notes on your music keyboard as the beat plays in real time.
Add high hat and additional percussion effects. House tracks typically contain many layers of percussion, so feel free to add liberally to your mix, incorporating high-hat sounds, claps, whistles and additional sound effects for a rich percussion.
Add a catchy bass line. Choose a deep, sub bass setting with a very low frequency and create a punchy bass line to layer with your percussion.
Add a hook. In other words, create a simple but catchy melody line with just a few notes using a bright synthesizer lead or piano sound. This may serve as the most important layer in your mix, as most listeners will remember the hook more than any other aspect of your beat.