What makes a trance song trance?

[xiujk71]

Hello guys. Have a question to ask. What makes a trance song, trance, like when u hear it u know its trance, and, not house or rock.
what i know is that there will usually be minor scales in trance, with alot emphasis on melodies, but i guess thats about it i know.

I do listen to trance music, and wants to make progressive trance, but unable to find 'that' thing that makes it trance, usually ended up producing things that i do not like or enjoy.

[Cyoon]

[fgimian]

Hello guys. Have a question to ask. What makes a trance song, trance, like when u hear it u know its trance, and, not house or rock.
what i know is that there will usually be minor scales in trance, with alot emphasis on melodies, but i guess thats about it i know.

I do listen to trance music, and wants to make progressive trance, but unable to find 'that' thing that makes it trance, usually ended up producing things that i do not like or enjoy.

I'll answer this seriously before people start acting silly

Typical trance (at its roots) generally has the following properties.

Tempo: The tempo tends to be between 136 - 140 BPM.
Drums: Starting with the drums, the kick drum is rather thick, heavy and punchy and the percussion is very elaborate and detailed.
Bassline: Basslines tend to be layered heavily and are relatively aggressive in nature (lots of 16th notes, relatively interesting sound design). Trance is also known for having acid lines mixed in as part of the bassline.
Melodies: Melodies usually are layered on top of pad sounds which are thick and detuned. Main melodies have to usually be quite memorable and vary in style from track to track. The more traditional trance track would use something similar to a supersaw for the lead, but most underestimate the complexity in sound design of the main lead in modern trance productions. A typical sawtooth unison patch won't do at all and people expect way more!
Effects: Effects are used heavily to transition from section to section in trance. These are a huge part of the production that many producers underestimate.
Vocals: Vocals are totally optional in trance and when used should be used as a compliment to the main melody. They should NOT overtake the track and often it's just a single verse and chorus. Trance vocals do tend to be pretty dreamy and heavily processed. Most often vocals are performed by females and the typical voice for the genre is rather tender and soft.

Some examples of good trance (in my opinion) are:

Activa - Don't Leave Me (Original Mix)



Motionchild & Will Holland feat. Tiff Lacey - Arctic Kiss (Andy Blueman Remix) [Vocal Trance]



Inertia - The System (Sean Tyas And Tom Colontonio Remix)



Progressive trance tends to borrow more elements from house music. Several aspects of the track change.

Tempo: The tempo tends to be between 132 - 135 BPM.
Drums: Unlike more typical trance, the kick is less thick and is a bit more minimal in nature. Similarly with other percussion, there are less layers but each layer contains more unique sounds and patterns.
Bassline: Just like the percussion, basslines tend to contain less layers and are less "busy" in general. They also tend to be more groovy as opposed to continuous and repetitive. Basslines in progressive trance are also more heavily sidechained against the kick to help with groove. Proggy trance styles rarely have acid lines added in.
Other Components: Other elements of the track remain similar to traditional trance although for melodies, often more proggy trance varies a little in sound design and patterns. Quite often, melodies will be sidechained more heavily and once again have a particular groove instead of faster 16th note patterns.

Some examples of awesome progressive trance (in my opinion) are:

Ad Brown feat. Kerry Leva - Memorial (You Were Loved) (Maor Levi Club Mix)



Tritonal feat. Cristina Soto - Lifted (Mat Zo Remix) [Vocal Progressive Trance]



Stevy Forello - Navala (Aiera Remix)



In comparison, house genres tend to stay more club focused with more emphasis on basslines and less on melody. It's a bit hard to really summarise house because it alone has many sub-genres (progressive, electro .etc) but in general, it's less about the emotional melodies and vocals and more about getting people dancing

Hope this was helpful ... now let the fun carry on ...

[xiujk71]

thanks alot soundpalace! Now it makes more sense! I think I have a new direction to go now
btw, about progressive trance melodies, u said it is heavily sidechained. what input should I use?

[DJ Warmonger]

I'd say that the key point of trance, any trance, is thick bassline that never goes away. You need to feel the bass persists all the time, even though it's heavily sidechained.

Another point of focus are effects. They may be subtle and not really attract attention usually, but the track is full of sounds fading in and out all the time. This is the way to keep interest and link key elements which may vary quite dramatically in the tune.

[fgimian]

thanks alot soundpalace! Now it makes more sense! I think I have a new direction to go now
btw, about progressive trance melodies, u said it is heavily sidechained. what input should I use?

Personally, I like to use plugins like TAL Filter II, LFO Tool or VolumeShaper/FilterShaper for sidechain effects. However, if you wish to perform the same task using a compressor, then a simple kick drum with pretty short sustain playing 1/4 notes would do the trick as a sidechain input.

Check out 7 Skies' channel on YouTube to get a feel for the production process for trance He's an awesome producer

Perhaps it may be worth buying a template project or two if you really want to see how each of the elements fit together in your DAW of choice. There's one particular reputable trance producer who's made a template available for purchase...

Static Blue:

I suggest also choosing one or two tracks you like and attempting to mimic them, at least in your first two or three productions. After this point, you should definitely try to be more inventive but comparing and attempting to copy sound design and drum patterns from a favourite track can be a great way to learn when you're starting with a genre you haven't produced before.

Good luck

[CableChannel]

Answer: the supersaw

[chk071]

Don't want to sound harsh, but maybe when you need to ask what makes a trance track sound like trance, you need to listen more to the music? Tbh, when i read the title, i thought you wanted to lead another trance related thread into the joke direction, but it seems that it's not the case. So, really, my suggestion would be to listen to the music more frequently and with more attention.

[xiujk71]

thanks again soundpalace! will definitely check it out.
@chk071 yeap, i probably should. but I cant really hear stuffs and put into my DAW, for example, in progressive trance, they start with a drum.loop and some synth (playing one chord) going on. after every 8 a new melody is added, and maybe one melody was removed. when the pads comes, i can feel the drop is coming. but thats all i know, the arrangement. but all the effects, sounds, etc, im still scratching my head, as following the arrangement with minor chords, just doesnt sound trance...