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-- Whats in a genre?

Whats in a genre?

Okay...Im so sick of saying, "hey..that's a great trance tune!" only to have someone say...
THAT'S NOT TRANCE... That's _______ (insert breakbeat, ambient, chill, techno, etc)

I know the various TYPES of House but what defines each from the other...and I realize there's some overlap here...but is it purely based on the speed (bpm) ???

Thanks.

i agree...too much over genreizing going on...

its pretty easy to see the main genres, but sometimes its a little ridiculous...

Answer me this...

What is Breaks?

When does Trance become HARD?

How mellow does it get before it's Chill and is that the same as Ambient?

How does regular ol' trance differentiate from PROGRESSIVE trance...

and is PROG also referred to as PROG HOUSE?


Several questions I've wanted to ask since I started.

Thanks for your forbearance!

Re: Answer me this...

quote:

Originally posted by Digital Aura What is Breaks? When does Trance become HARD? How mellow does it get before it's Chill and is that the same as Ambient? How does regular ol' trance differentiate from PROGRESSIVE trance... and is PROG also referred to as PROG HOUSE? Several questions I've wanted to ask since I started. Thanks for your forbearance!

1. Breaks is music created with drums sampled from drumbreakups (mostly from old funk tunes) or drums programmed in similar patterns as breakbeats.

2. I'd say trance becomes hard when it pounds you more and gets a litle faster than "regular" trance.

3. How mellow? Isn't that a matter of opinion? As long as the music carries a relaxed vibe it's chill IMO.
The answer to the ambient question lays in the name. Ambient is of course another word for atmosphere. Therefore ambient music is music that has little enough caracheristics to lay in the backround without disturbing a soul. The best explonation on what ambient is that i've heard was: "could be your refigerator".

4. I've never been sure about the existance of progressive trance. IMO most tracks that are referred to as progressive trance are usually nearer the vibe trance carried at it's early days than what's going on today, so it can hardly be progressive. But that's my opinion.

5. I'd say prog is a direct referance to progressive house. That's how I understand it anyway.

Hope this helps.

quote:

Originally posted by Floorfiller i agree...too much over genreizing going on... its pretty easy to see the main genres, but sometimes its a little ridiculous...

I agree!

K...thx..sheds some lite on it all. A tad. Still confusing aint it?

Can be very confusing. Especially since they (the media) are always making up new & new genre names.
Like with jungle. First there was hardcore (hardcore what? techno? rave?), then jungle, then drum & bass, then came subcategories such as hardstep, techstep, darkstep, jumpup, intelligent and the list goes on! I still just call it all jungle.

http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...threadid=192368

Perhaps you will find this interesting. I got lost in all the genres...

the thing is...I liked Ishkurs guide alot...even the old version.
But he never went on to explain WHY certain music was classified certain ways...he only gave examples.

His opinions are just that. His opinions, and his guide is still well done. PROPS.

But what makes trance TRANCE and not TECHNO...okay, thats an easy one, but you see where I'm going.

I for once would like to see the FORMULA you use to label each track into its appropriate genre. e.g. Eurodance = bpm of 140-150; always has vocals, extensive use of vocoder.(Admittedly, this doesn't capture the ESSENCE of the Eurodance formula...but you get the picture.)
*sigh* You could go thru your CD's and plug in the formula to determine what something should be labelled and be correct 75% of the time.

u should look up "the electornica primer" it talks about stuff like that

OK i will try to help...i never used to know a lot of this stuff about a year ago, but you will learn soon, my son.

What is breaks?
Breaks (or Breakbeats) is a genre of electronic dance music that uses a broken pattern of drumbeats in a song. A normal 4-4 dance tune has a beat that goes boom-boom-boom-boom and it repeats itself. If you count it out it goes 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. However, breaks use a different beat pattern to 4-4 dance (trance, house etc).

Breakbeats have a beat pattern that might sound like boom-tish-boom-boom or boom-tish-boo-boom-boom-tish. If you sound it out in your head you will figure it out. The beat pattern for breaks would probably be something like 1-2-1-1-2, 1-2-1-1-2, 1-2-1-1-2.

When does trance become hard?
Everyone has different interpretations and opinions, but, as already stated, generally when trance is faster and harder, more pounding, it is considered hard trance. Check out a recent thread titled "What is hard trance" HERE

How mellow does it get before it become chill-out or ambient?
Generally, ambient tracks and chill-tracks have little or no bass. They have slower beats per minute and

quote:

Ambient is of course another word for atmosphere. Therefore ambient music is music that has little enough caracheristics to lay in the backround without disturbing a soul

Have a search for "chill-out" and you will see what kind of tracks fit the description....there are plenty of threads.

What is progressive?
Progressive - can have progressive house, progressive breaks, progressive trance or progressive anything really. Usually progressive contains many subtle layers of sound, and over the course of the song subtle changes occur, like adding an extra element each 4 bars or something like that. Progressive is thought of as more "intelligent" dance music by many prog elitists...i would say the main point to remember is that progressive tracks have very gradual changes in them, rather than big epic breakdowns in trance.

For example, a song might repeat for 16 bars and then an extra high-hat might be introduced, or another 16 bars, and then another small little layer would be added, or another 16 bars, and then the drum pattern might change. Progressive tracks often hit the climax towards the end of the track as they keep building, rather than climax and then outro in a normal trance track.

I'm a n00b when it comes to prog though, so maybe other people could explain it a bit better. It is more of a label than anything...you don't really have to stick to it exactly. Different people have different ideas, opinions and interpretations. I think Sasha has said that he is sick of the progressive label (or maybe it is just prog music in general ) and he is just going to produce/spin music that he likes...whatever genre you call it. Genres aren't rigid, and they are always changing. Don't worry too much about labels.

Progressive trance way played by Sasha, Digweed, Nick Warren, and Dave Seaman around 1997-2000. The genre died by 2001, as progressive house, later simply "progressive," took over. Search the forums for "progressive trance," selecting the 'titles only' option. You will find many threads explaining the genre.

great responses..thanks!

GOOD STUFF!

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