Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
If we're talking straight-up prog rather than glowstick trance, it's all still in my collection and still very much on rotation.
Since Holden tracks were already posted I thought it would be alright to post some straight up prog. I recently realized that some of it feels almost futuristic now, with these elaborate structures and multiple phases/parts in one track, where as these days people have really gone back to a more 90s, stripped down, loopy style.
Personally, I've never been into that 90s glowstick sound, even in my trancecracker phase. I still like some 2000s glowstick trance for nostalgic reasons, but I'm perfectly aware that most of it is total shit.
Posted by the-sixth on Oct-10-2016 13:38:
Horizons was and is a fucking amazing record I am not having anyone even it's creator call it shit.
That piano always reminds me for some reason of title music from some sort of documentary of factual program on the BBC back then. Panorama, Tomorrows World or something.
Posted by Zharen on Oct-10-2016 14:25:
quote:
Originally posted by Mr.Mystery
This thread actually inspired me to get off my ass and do something. Thanks.
Posted by OrangestO on Oct-10-2016 15:57:
Playing Creamfields this morning. Nostalgia
Forgot how much more productive I can be when tranz is on in the background.
I noticed that back I used to work in an office, too.
Posted by SYSTEM-J on Oct-10-2016 18:11:
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
I recently realized that some of it feels almost futuristic now, with these elaborate structures and multiple phases/parts in one track, where as these days people have really gone back to a more 90s, stripped down, loopy style.
Depends on the genre in question. In the '90s, elaborate structures and multiple parts was the style for prog and a lot of trance.
That said, I understand your point. Even in the modern melodic/tech/whatever stuff that has succeeded progressive, the tracks are a lot simpler and more efficient. The arrangements are stripped back, the bass engineered to hit a lot harder, the structures are more straight-forward and DJ friendly. Everything is more tool-like, optimised for one particular objective in a set. This may be partly why the tempo has dropped so much, because tracks can feel bigger and more powerful without having to create energy just by ramping up the BPM.
It's a double-edged sword, of course. A lot of those older progressive/trance tracks had a lot of unnecessary shit in them, or stuff that didn't really hit as hard on the dancefloor as it wanted to, but you had more interesting and complete tracks, I feel. Some of those old tracks have more ideas in them than four or five modern equivalents.
Posted by Salegon on Oct-10-2016 22:40:
Posted by Woony on Oct-11-2016 08:42:
quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
It's a double-edged sword, of course. A lot of those older progressive/trance tracks had a lot of unnecessary shit in them, or stuff that didn't really hit as hard on the dancefloor as it wanted to, but you had more interesting and complete tracks, I feel. Some of those old tracks have more ideas in them than four or five modern equivalents.
Yes, that sums up my thoughts as well. I hate the structure of some prog because you're just thinking god damnit, couldn't you have looped that REALLY good part for two more minutes rather than having a 3 minute outro? I think i'll eventually sit down and make a whole bunch of edits of some favorites, I think. But at the same time, these people actually had ambitions. I feel like in modern techno especially, that whole loopy, minimal and tool-y attitude is very self defeating in a lot of ways. If people only sit down to make simplistic, stripped down music, all you're going to get is simplistic, stripped down music. Which is of course, can be really good but I think electronic dance music is capable of more.
That said, since i've started to make tracks myself, i've realized how god damn hard it is to make a good sounding record with a bunch of shit going on. I'm trying to break out of set-defeating cycle but most of the time I have to strip down tracks regardless, because it just doesn't work. You need serious, veteran studio engineer esque, engineering skills to make it work, which most bedroom dance producers obviously don't have. I don't know about prog, but a lot of golden era drum & bass was mixed in traditional, professional recording studios and drastically transformed in mastering. These records wouldn't sound nearly as good if the guys had just mixed it by themselves and were mastered with a more conventional hands-off approach.
Posted by SYSTEM-J on Oct-11-2016 12:57:
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
Yes, that sums up my thoughts as well. I hate the structure of some prog because you're just thinking god damnit, couldn't you have looped that REALLY good part for two more minutes rather than having a 3 minute outro?
That's a techno-head talking. What I love about prog mixing is having those long intros and outros that crash into each other. It creates big sweeping undulations in the way a set unfolds. That shit is absolutely gold when you're running, driving, on a train, travelling anywhere. It's why progressive/trance DJs always bang on about "the journey".
You aren't going to mix like that, or use surrounding records that work like that, so those intros are useless to you.
Posted by Woony on Oct-11-2016 18:11:
Hah, I wasn't necessarily complaining about 3 minute outros per se but more about how short the climax is. I think it's a bit absurd when the "real good part" is under 2 minutes in a 10+ minute track. That said a lot of these prog intros/outros have 2 minutes of nothing but rather bland tribal drums which I think is bit excessive. But I suppose it makes more sense when you are mixing prog records into prog record which I don't really do.
Posted by Mr.Mystery on Oct-12-2016 10:10:
quote:
Originally posted by Woony
Funny that this topic has come up, i've been buying a lot of old prog recently. One thing that surprised me is how well a lot of old prog breaks hold up, some of that stuff you could drop and people would think it's a recent electro track.
This one has been stuck in my head for months, I actually didn't know it for some reason, even though it's probably his best track. That part with the breaks, fuck me. In classic prog fashion the best part only lasts a minute and a half though
Whatever happened to Yunus anyway? He doesn't seem to have done anything in years.
Posted by Lews on Oct-12-2016 11:42:
