What I would like (some kind of) trance to be like

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Hi again-again
Thought I liked to share another from my collection. It is pretty much my personal take on trance in various forms. What I would like to do with it:

Every voice plays minimal melodies: Too many side-chained chords already and one note offbeat bass in 16th. However, the bass moves one octave above usual and instead the drums provide a tribal ground (Edit: which also means lot of alternatives to 4-to-the-floor) Chords are used more sporadically, like here, where they are just allowed a little drama. Only minor are allowed, major is a crime. No more happy Eurotrance, plz. In addition, I want to get down from those 144 BPM to a lesser stressing tempo. Generally, melody driven trance should be minimal and repetitive so the “trance inducing” elements are not entirely dependent on the drums and bass. Mixture of melodies (counterpoint) should be explored as well. This tune is inspired by various trance genres, the focus on melody from eurotrance, the focus on psychedelic sounds from psy-trance, some infusion with early industrial-like bassline (and thus early goa-trance too) and a tribal foundation, of course.

Not that I am going make any revolutions, though. Trance is not really my backyard but here are some ideas that other can catch or decline. It is produced in Orion Platinum with some of its onboard stuff and synths like Predator, Sylenth 1 and Korg Polysix LE. I am not satisfied with the production but I still like the power of the tune.

https://soundcloud.com/incarnatex/restart-1
Last edited by IncarnateX on Mon Aug 13, 2018 11:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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This has got a touch of new beat goodness to it, I guess its from the same place as trance originated from.
Overall a pleasant enough listen, I'm not a trance aficionado by any means, so to have a non 4*4 is somewhat different. :tu:
Man is least himself when he talks in the first person. Give him a mask, and he'll show you his true face

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Thanks a lot, mate :) And for reminding me of an importent ingredient that I missed in the OP: Tribal = A god deal of alternatives to the 4-to-the-floor. The latter rhythm is so strongly associated with hangovers to me that I think it is traumatic.

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I like it. Sounds like 90-something goa (which many people still consider to be the only period when the "real" goa trance was made). The production is not bad at all, some synths do sound thin but this may be a part of the aesthetics.
You may think you can fly ... but you better not try

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recursive one wrote:I like it. Sounds like 90-something goa (which many people still consider to be the only period when the "real" goa trance was made).
Thanks, pal and yes, I know what you mean, in early Goa, melodies did not dissapear but were moved to the bass, and base rhythm could occasionally be other than 4.Today most of psytrance is rhythm + single note off beat bass; um-dada-um-dada and effects only. Melodies are used sparsely in present Goa.
The production is not bad at all, some synths do sound thin but this may be a part of the aesthetics.


I wish it were but unfortunately it is due to my lack of knowledge of how to produce softsynths back then. The tune is made 8 years ago or so, I was hardly into then and never really got the grib of it to my satisfaction. So now I am back into hardware. Better the devil you know.

Thanks again for feedback.

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Some very vintage electronica, possibly from the beginnings of goa, but not much. Constant breakbeat is not a very trancy thing. Also, if you're doing analog, you have no excuse not to do much more modulation. Now it feels like a bunch of static loops played over and over again.

Either way, this track needs a mix. Badly.
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Tricky-Loops wrote: (...)someone like Armin van Buuren who claims to make a track in half an hour and all his songs sound somewhat boring(...)

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DJ Warmonger wrote:Constant breakbeat is not a very trancy thing.
Not much of what I do here are :hihi:
DJ Warmonger wrote:Also, if you're doing analog, you have no excuse not to do much more modulation.
It is made from soft synths only, but yes, it would have been nice with more evolving sounds. At least the leads. Unfortunately I do not have the original project for Orion Platinum anymore, only my hard-to-save master files from then, so the deal is done. :(
Either way, this track needs a mix. Badly.
No shit. But impossible, I am afraid. That would take a reconstruction of the project. Though your points hold for future tracks as well, so wasted they are not.

Thanks for your time. Appreciated.

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It wasn't the beginning of 'Goa',, it was moreso the end of it. I was very lucky to get a glimpse at the scene in the mid-90s just a few years before it went commercial and 'Goa' was everywhere. Won't go into details for obvious reasons.

So this is another project i cannot comment on because i feel biased. Instead i leave you with a suggestion, an Album i loved very much (and still do) which has a lot of great songs on it. You probably won't be able to lay your hands on that, but you can check the track list and try to find the songs in the highest possible quality. Its called 'Spirit Zone - Global Psychedelic Trance Compilation vol.4' and includes 2 CDs. Judging from your song you may like it (if you don't already know it), and i believe you could get a ton of inspiration out of it.

Take care!

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Hi Numb
Thanks for a very interesting post. I will definitely check the tube for Spirit zone. I am not strong in history of trance but the trance I referred to is something I recall as prime 90s where I met “Goa-trance” as a hippie outcast of industrial. It sounded among other like this:

https://youtu.be/MpnT0rt3ZJQ

BTW: The tune starting at 27.33 is close to what I recall as a classic goa sound.

In many of these tunes the bassline are minimal melodies and not just one note off beats, there also riffs above them exploring myxolydian or dorian scales among other. These days, I get the impression that psy-trance is mainly rhythm and effect driven and I can hardly tell one tune from another. However there is a chill style called psy-bient where melodic themes have much more room. Cool style btw:

https://youtu.be/0GtArVAawng


Thanks again for posting.
And you take care too.
Last edited by IncarnateX on Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:53 am, edited 3 times in total.

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Yes, that track reminds me of the really early goa/trance stuff, which indeed was coming from industrial/synth/EBM-ish electronica like Front 242 etc, which was played in the parties in Goa during the 80's and 90's.

There are lot of new Goa projects/releases coming out recent years, where melodies are the main focus. They tend to be more in the area of 145 bpm though.
Checkout artists like Filteria, Unknownium, Merr0w, Morphic Resonance.

This video!!! Gives me goosebumps. From Israel party two years ago... Wow... Incredible energy compared to most most parties nowadays where people look like they are bored with the music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HS0Jr92-iAs

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I am at 3.04 ^^^ and this riff is deffo more like it.

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IncarnateX wrote:I am at 3.04 ^^^ and this riff is deffo more like it.
You were there? :)
I have never been to Israel but that Doof festival looks amazing.

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cnt wrote: You were there? :)
I have never been to Israel but that Doof festival looks amazing.
No mate, wish I were :) I meant that the riff that goes on at 3.04 is one that I like. Goes on a little too long though but that is another issue of trance that could be dealt with, e.g. more breaks.

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Well, melodic psytrance is still made, you just need to know where to look. Artists like Artifact303, Psy-H Project E-Mantra, Median Project are doing something that may be defined as modern take on classic goa sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3WjqxqrOWQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXTxNBzbXrU

There are also various melodic variations of full-on and progressive subgenres, U-Recken and Digicult come to mind first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ2JUZnaoCA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzBQQSe2_qk

This one may be way too trancey/dreamy in some parts but i still like it a lot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf-GAowxkyU
You may think you can fly ... but you better not try

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These links are really cool, but note that example 1., 3. 4. and 5. all rely on the one note stacatto off beat bass that I find characteric for modern psy-trance. Though there are filter movements, the base is all but rhythm. Minimal melodies are allowed above but we are not completely there. In example 2. the bass plays a tiny figure that goes in tune with the rest of the riffs.

However, in general these examples have more melodic content than what I otherwise hear from that front.

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