KVR Audio

deggy · Post by **deggy** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:04 am

What's the difference between hard trance & hard house?

Seriously, can someone explain to me the difference between hard house and hard trance? This isn’t meant to be a sarcastic post. I’m just kinda curious. I occasionally meet the odd DJ/producer who is totally into either one or the other but when I ask what the difference is, they look at me like I’m an idiot. To me, they both sound kinda similar so I was just curious what the differences were. Does it have something to do with BPM, the types of synth patches that are used, the bass drum that is used or is each one associated with a specific scene in different countries or something? Because, I think that I can pretty much tell the difference between house and trance. Beyond that, it gets a little fuzzy. Also, does hard trance have something to do with psy-trance because those two genres also sound kinda similar. Strangely enough, it seems that these genre titles also mean different things to different people from different scenes or countries as well.

Thanks. I assume that there are a lot of tarnce fans around here that can help me out.

mandolarian · Post by **mandolarian** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:35 am

if you have to ask....

deggy · Post by **deggy** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:45 am

hehe, true

verstaerker · Post by **verstaerker** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:04 am

have a look here:
http://www.di.fm/edmguide/edmguide.html

btw: i thought it's called hardtarnce

coldmachine · Post by **coldmachine** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:04 am

In hard house the open hat makes a "tsssss" sound and in trance it makes a "pssss" sound and as such they are radically different genres.

stefancrs · Post by **stefancrs** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:09 am

I thought hard house was a hard version of house, kinda techish, meanwhile that hard trance was a hard version of trance (more acid-lines maybe...). House and trance are quite different, imo.

Except when they use trance elements in house and vice versa

nuffink · Post by **nuffink** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:12 am

Dumb & dumber.

Kraku · Post by **Kraku** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:19 am

Whoa!

I think the dude's right. I went to Ishkur's Guide and listened to Hard Trance and Hard House examples and I also had difficulties telling the difference

Cabinfever · Post by **Cabinfever** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:24 am

it's always in the interests of 'experts' to obscure the details of their chosen field to the 'uninitiated'. otherwise, well, anyone might know !

for an alternate explanation i refer you to the still-relevant traditional tale, 'the emperor's new clothes'.

ford442 · Post by **ford442** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:34 am

it all sounds like a bag of grapefruits to me..

Perfect Solitude · Post by **Perfect Solitude** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:14 am

I'd say it really lies in the sound you try to achieve.

House usually relies on more samples and groove, while trance is mostly done with synths/fx and is more athmospheric.

Lunatique · Post by **Lunatique** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:47 am

And if you are locked in a world where the tiny differences between subgenres of electronic music is that important to you, then you really should broaden your musical vocabulary.

Ja.x · Post by **Ja.x** » Fri May 20, 2005 9:50 am

From the samples I heard on the Ishkur's Guide the main difference is in the bass drum: a real low end on hard trance and at a much higher pitch in Hard House (in fact it hardly could be called bass drum).

daverich · Post by **daverich** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:36 am

who cares?

Doesn't matter does it?

Kind regards

Dave Rich

nocompromise · Post by **nocompromise** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:49 am

its nothing do do with how it sounds