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Trance music

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Trance
Stylistic originsTechno, House, Electronic art music, Industrial
Cultural originsEarly 1990s, Europe, particularly France, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and UK
Typical instrumentsSynthesizer, Keyboard, Drum machine, Sequencer, Sampler
Subgenres
Acid Trance, Progressive Trance, Uplifting Trance, Tech Trance, Hard Trance
(complete list)
Fusion genres
Deep Trance, Futurepop, Hardstyle
Other topics
Notable artists and DJs - Raves - Glowsticking

Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 160 bpm, featuring repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track, often crescendoing or featuring a breakdown. Sometimes vocals are also utilized. The style is arguably derived from a combination of largely electronic music and house. 'Trance' received its name from the repetitious morphing beats, and the throbbing melodies which would presumably put the listener into a trance-like state. As this music is almost always played in nightclubs at popular vacation spots and in inner cities, trance can be understood as a form of club music.

History

Trance begins as a genre

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of What Time Is Love? and 3 a.m. Eternal (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound - as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave) and the 1988 track Kylie Said Trance". Their use of the term 'pure trance' to describe these recordings reinforces this case strongly. These early recordings were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and 'underground' in sound. While the KLF's works are clear examples of proto-trance, two songs, both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first "true" trance records. The first, Age of Love's self-titled debut single was released in early 1990 and is seen as creating the basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany. The second track was Dance 2 Trance's "We Came in Peace," which was actually the b-side of their own self-titled debut single. While "Age of Love" is seen as the track which cemented the early trance sound, it was Dance 2 Trance (as a result of the duo's name) that probably gave the sound its name.

The trance sound beyond this acid-era genesis is said to have begun as an off-shoot of techno in German clubs during the very early 1990s. Frankfurt is often cited as a birthplace of trance. Some of the earliest pioneers of the genre included DJ Dag (Dag Lerner), Oliver Lieb, Sven Väth and Torsten Stenzel, who all produced numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q, Harthouse, Superstition, Rising High, FAX +49-69/450464 and MFS Records were Frankfurt based. Arguably a fusion of techno and house, early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones which were appropriated from the style of house popular in Europe's club scene at that time. However, the melodies in trance differed from euro/club house in that although they tended to be emotional and uplifting, they did not "bounce around" in the same way that house did. This early music tended to be characterized by hypnotic and melodic qualities and typically involved repeating rhythmic patterns added over an appropriate length of time as a track progressed.

Of worth to note, the album that is generally accepted as THE definition of the Frankfurt trance sound, and which subsequently influenced all of the early pioneers mentioned above, was the Pete Namlook "4Voice" album. Of note, one of the studio engineers who worked on this pioneering effort was one Maik Maurice, otherwise known as ½ of Resistance D, the famed Hard Trance duo. If you are a fan of the Frankfurt sound, this album is the beginning.

At about the same period of time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a musical revolution was happening in Goa, India. Electronic body music (EBM) bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 came to Goa and began influencing artists like Goa Gil, Eat Static, The Infinity Project, Doof, and Man With No Name who heard the psychedelic elements of EBM, expanded on them minus the vocals and guitars to create Goa trance. Goa music is heavily influenced by Indian culture and psychedelic drugs, as seen in numerous references to both in track and album titles. Goa trance was brought back to the electronica hubs London and Sheffield in the UK and around the world.

The original Goa sound played heavily on scientific and technological themes. Later these influences (most notable though vocal samples dropped into the music) faded away, along with the more baroque complexities of countermelodies, leaving a more minimalist Psy-trance.

Commercial trance

By the mid-1990s, trance, specifically Progressive trance, which emerged from acid trance much as Progressive house had emerged from Acid house, had emerged commercially as one of the dominant genres of dance music. Progressive trance set in stone the basic formula of modern trance by becoming even more focused on the anthemic basslines and lead melodies, moving away from hypnotic, repetitive, arpeggiated analog synth patterns and spacey pads. Popular elements and anthemic pads became more widespread. Compositions leaned towards incremental changes (aka progressive structures), sometimes composed in thirds (as BT frequently does). Buildups and breakdowns became longer and more exaggerated, and the sound became more direct and less subtle, with a more identifiable tune. This sound came to be known as anthem trance.

Immensely popular, trance found itself filling a niche as 'edgier' than house, more soothing than drum and bass, and more melodic than techno, something that made it accessible to a wider audience. Artists like Paul Oakenfold, Paul van Dyk, DJ Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond and Armin van Buuren came to the forefront as premier producers and remixers, bringing with them the emotional, "epic" feel of the style. Many of these producers also DJ'd in clubs playing their own productions as well as those by other trance DJs. By the end of the 1990s, trance remained commercially huge, but had fractured into an extremely diverse genre. Some of the artists that had helped create the trance sound in the early and mid-1990s had, by the end of the decade, abandoned trance completely in favour of more underground sounds - artists of particular note here include Pascal F.E.O.S. and Oliver Lieb.

As trance entered the mainstream it alienated many of its original fans. As the industry became bigger, record labels, Ibiza, clubs (most notably Ministry of Sound) and DJs began to alter their sound to more of a pop based one, so as to make the sound more accessible to an even wider, and younger, audience. Female vocals in particular are now extremely common in mainstream trance, adding to their popular appeal. This mainstream trance is also known variously as commercial trance, vocal trance, euphoric trance or uplifting trance.

Post-commercial trance

The original trance scene has largely died down, partly by having been overrun by the commercial mainstream; some would also argue that the original Goa and Psy- trance has exhausted the possibilities of its musical niche. An open question is where non-commercial trance will go next. One lively underground scene is "dark" or "goth" trance, also known as "neuromantic", which reunities the original EBM influences with Psy-trance and modern synthesizers. This music is characterized by low -- usually male -- vocals, and also borrows heavily from the 1980s new romantic and gothic movements. In the mid 2000s, other new bands like Tony Reed and Synthetik FM began to fuse rave styles of music with synthpop and new wave and use the new medium of the internet to distribute their music. The evolution of Goa trance into dark trance is well illustrated by the changing population of London's Cyberdog store, which has notably started to attract goths into its previously goa/psy culture. An alternative evolution would be to fuse trance with other stagnating genres such as drum'n'bass, various artists have attempted this but it has still to break into acceptance even in the underground. Frustrated, extreme versions of trance have mutated through gabba into violent fringe genres such as terrorcore and drillcore.

The scene today

Trance more loyal to its roots has begun to rear its head on the internet more recently however, with the abundance of legal music download sites - including the likes of Audiojelly and Beatport - enabling enthusiasts to avoid having to track down hard to find vinyl by downloading mp3s, updated on a weekly basis. As a result, both commercial and progressive trance now have a much more global, if not chart-bound, presence, with big-draw artists such as Tiësto, Gareth Emery, Stuart Langelaan (better known as Lange), and Armin van Buuren able to maintain their esteemed positions while upcoming producers and DJs can also breakthrough into the public domain.

Mixing has also seen a surge recently, with widely available PC software allowing budding DJs to perfect their craft and distribute their music online, through portals such as MixUpload.com and MixDepot.net.

Trance production

Trance employs a 4/4 time signature, and has a BPM of 130-160 beats per minute, somewhat faster than house music. Early tracks were sometimes slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the off-beat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often forshadowed by lengthy 'snare rolls' - a quick succession of equally spaced snare drum hits that builds in volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.

Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple sawtooth-based sounds used both for short pizzicato elements and for long, sweeping string sounds. Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook" melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars. While many trance tracks contain no vocals at all, other tracks rely heavily on vocals, and thus a sub-genre has developed. The sound and quality of the production relies to a large degree upon the technology available. Vintage analog equipment still holds a place in the hearts of many producers and enthusiasts, with names such as Moog, Roland and Oberheim staples in the trance sound palate. However, the mainstream availability of digital technology has allowed a whole new group of producers to emerge, and although top shelf digital (analog modeling) synthesizers are quite expensive, they are nothing compared to the relatively high cost of early analog synthesizers.

Trance records are often heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synthesizer sounds, vocals and often parts of the percussion section. This provides the tracks with the sense of vast space that trance producers tend to look for in order to achieve the genre's epic quality. Flangers, phasers and other effects are also commonly used at extreme settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to resemble any real-world instrument, and so producers have free rein.

As is the case with many dance music tracks, trance tracks are usually built with sparser intros and outros in order to enable DJs to blend them together more readily. As trance is more melodic and harmonic than much dance music, the construction of trance tracks in such a way is particularly important in order to avoid dissonant (or "key clashing", ie out of tune with one another)mixes by DJs who do not mix harmonically.

Trance Genres

Some Sub-Genre Classifications Of Trance
Name Of The Sub-Genre Description Noteable Artists
Acid Trance An early '90's style. Characterized by the use of a Roland TB-303 bass machine as the lead synthesizer. Hardfloor, Art of Trance, Union Jack, Eternal Basement, Emmanuel Top, Solar Quest, Kai Tracid
Anthem Trance/Uplifting Trance Style of trance that emerged in the wake of progressive trance in the late 90's. Characterized by extended chord progression in all elements (lead synth, bass chords, treble chords), extended breakdowns, and relegation of arpeggiation to the background while bringing wash effects to the fore. Vincent de Moor, Ronski Speed, Tiësto, System F, Pulser, 4 Strings, Ayla, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, ATB, Neo & Farina, Blank & Jones, Marco V, Matt Darey, Sean Tyas
Buchiage Trance Popular club style of trance in Japan currently, using more eurobeat-esque synths and peppy vocals. Maeken Trance Project, Arpeggio, DJ Kaya, DJ Kosuke, Ryu*
Classic Trance Original form of trance music, said to have originated in the very early 90's. Characterized by less percussion than techno, more melody, arpeggiated melody, and repetitive melodic chords/arpeggios. Cygnus X, Dance 2 Trance, Jam & Spoon, Sven Väth, Oliver Lieb, Cosmic Baby
Euro-Trance Euro Trance is a hybrid of Hard Trance and Eurodance music incorporating hardstyle bass drums and trance elements. The trance synths at times sound like techno hoovers with trancey effects and strings backing it up. The vocals are often pitched up for the most part, but sometimes they can be heard as in normal pitch range. This is often confused as vocal trance because of its use of vocals. The lyrical content is usually pretty simple, containing an introduction to the song with usually no or little drums, and often includes renderings of classic Happy Hardcore anthems or melodies. Also some of the middle 90's Happy Hardcore producers started to produce tracks in this style. Jan Wayne, Nemystic, Rob Mayth, Milk Inc., Special D, Starsplash, Mark'Oh, Pulsedriver
Hard Trance Aggressive and faster trance sounding, Originating in Frankfurt, includes influences from hardcore. This style arguably began around 1993 and peaked in popularity in in the late 90's. Andrea Montorsi, A*S*Y*S, Derb, Hennes & Cold, Kai Tracid, Legend B, Nostrum, Gary D, Genetic Line, Trance Generators, Flutlicht, Mat Silver & Tony Burt, Jones & Stephenson, Yves Deruyter, Cosmic Gate, S.H.O.K.K., Mauro Picotto, Warmduscher
Hardstyle Closely related to nu style Gabber and Hard Trance. Its sound is usually characterized by a mix of gabber and hardcore like kick/bass sounds, trance like synth stabs and sweeps and miscellaneous samples. However, Hardstyle usually has a lot slower BPM (between 140 and 150). Blutonium Boy, Dana, DJ Luna, DJ Isaac, Technoboy, Trance Generators, The Prophet, Zany
Progressive Trance Style of trance that originated in the early-mid 90's. Differentiated from the then "regular" trance by breakdowns, less acid-like sound & bass chord changes that gave the repeating lead synth a feeling of "progression". BT, Humate, Sasha, John Digweed, Sander Kleinenberg, Slacker, Breeder, Narcotik, Markus Schulz
Hands Up (music genre) Mixture of the two category Trance and Hardstyle is roughly said. From this category above all the hard, roaring Bassdrum plays a strong role, while the melodies and the singing remind rather of classical Dance music. In contrast to the "genuine" Trance the rather short instead of laminar Synthesizertoene remind also far away of Hardstyle. The melodies originate frequently from older hits, often also from child songs. Cascada, Verano, DJ Manian, Jordan Mencel, Alex Megane, Marco Juliano, Rocco, Rob Mayth
Pizzicato Trance This style of trance that originated in the mid 1990s. It's a Progressive Trance variant with pizzicato violin sounds from the late 1990s, especially 1997 and 1998.[citation needed] Faithless, Sash!, Dj Quicksilver, Brainbug, Future Breeze.
Tech Trance A merge of Techno and Trance, Tech Trance is a fairly new genre that originated in the late 90's and early 2000s. L.S.G., Mark Sherry, Fabio MC, Incolumis, Humate, Sander van Doorn, Jesselyn
Vocal Trance/Epic Trance Broad term referring to trance with a full set of lyrics, which may or may not be any of the above genres. Often an artist will borrow a singer's talents as opposed to the singer himself or herself (vocalists are typically female), or sample from/remix more traditional pop music. Note that there is some debate as to where the divide lies between vocal trance and Eurodance. 4 Strings, Lange, Ian Van Dahl, Above & Beyond, Fragma, Lost Witness, Armin van Buuren, Oceanlab, Chicane, Lasgo
Electro Trance This style has been influenced by electroclash and takes some elements from Uplifting Trance. Originated around 2004. Ferry Corsten, Elevation, Marcel Woods, Gabriel & Dresden
Ibiza Trance/Chill Trance/Ambient Trance This style has been influenced by various relaxed music genres, especially linked to Ibiza's (Spain) chill-out style of life parallel with the huge rave scene that is present in the islands. Very melodic and mellow, sometimes with ethnic features, it often samples seaside elements like seagulls and ocean waves. Also known as balearic house. Chicane, Solarstone, Chiller Twist, York, Miro, Salt Tank

Trance Festivals

The best known Trance Festivals in the world are held in the Netherlands. They are mainly organized by three companies ID&T, UDC and Q-Dance :

  • Trance Energy, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht (30 000 visitors) : The only festival which features only trance music, and very popular for diehard fans of trance. Many well-received DJs have played sets at this event, helping to create its fame. Organized by ID&T.
  • Sensation, Amsterdam Arena (80 000 visitors on two nights). Not a trance-only festival, many genres such as house and hardstyle coexist. Famous for the venue (a football stadium) and the lightshow. Organized by ID&T.
  • Armin Only, Ahoy, Rotterdam : The only DJ to mix at this event is the very popular Armin Van Buuren. Organized by UDC.
  • Qlimax, Gelredome, Amhem (20 000 visitors) : A hardstyle, hardtrance event which has been gaining in popularity recently. Renowned for its impressive laser show. Organized by Q-Dance.
  • Dance Valley, Netherlands : An outdoor festival organized by UDC.

Those festivals typically attract visitors from many European countries due to easy connections from rail and air of Dutch cities.

Many other countries lack such festivals due to legal restrictions. Public prosecution departments in many countries — notably France — have been reluctant to give permits for techno and trance events, due to perceived drug issues.[citation needed] Recently however, ID&T has been expanding operations and begun to organize festivals in Belgium and Germany.

One other noticeable exception is the Global Gathering festival brand promoted by the Angel Music Group. The weekend long Global Gathering held every summer in the UK features the Godskitchen arena as its centrepiece, showcasing the best trance and techno acts in the world and attracting 45,000 between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday morning. The organisation promotes other stadium trance events under the Godskitchen brand, the largest being Godskitchen: A Gift From The Gods which brought 12,000 revellers to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK back in April 2003. Cream's annual Creamfields festival has also showcased an 8,000 capacity trance arena for the last 8 years at various venues across the United Kingdom.

See also

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