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Trance is dead(free sticks available for poking)

I've been listening to trance for quite a while and I've come to a point where all of its flaws are staring me right in the face.

The good?

Atmosphere and catchy leads.

And the bad?

Where should I start? Drums. Drums are the worst out of any genre. 16th note hihat patterns seem more like a strict utility instrument to make sure that the track sounds fast and energetic. The patterns are usually very simple and they are typically quantized to a T which makes it sound even more boring. The typical 4 bar melody is actually a downgrade from the eight bar melody. I have a problem with plucks. I like the sound of plucks but they restrict inspiration of creativity in a perverse sort of way. There is hardly any volume after the initial attack,so it's written as strictly one type of note duration: the 16th note. The 16th note is nice, but there are several other durations and varying them adds to the expression of a track. Oh, and vocal trance lyrics are usually utterly smeared in on-sale 99 cent canned squirt cheese.

Speaking of vocal trance...

For fun let's listen to In and Out of Love(Radio Edit). Ignore the beats, bassline, and everything but the vocals. Don't listen to the lyrics either...Listen to the notes, the note duration, her breathing, the timbre of her voice, the vibrato, the attack and decay... Do you hear THAT?! THAT is what trance is missing. It's simply not enough the beat and melodic patterns are simple; everything sounds too similar and too quantized to move the listener.

But...nobody really gives a shit. How can I tell?

The most obvious answer is that I can hear it, and the second answer is that the producers don't really care based on what they talk about. Drum pattern topics are as rare as a public water fountain in sahara desert and topics about music theory are typically resisted with the "it's stiffing my creativity" argument. What's the most popular? Talk about getting the new sample pack, the new plug-in or piece of hardware, how do I make Sound X(...so they can make a really shitty melody), layering, sound design shit, and more shit about mixing. Learning about mixing before writing a track is funny. It doesn't matter how good the sound design is or how well it's mixed, if the music is shit. Would you rather listen to Bach who couldn't design, or the best sound designer in the world who can't write a piece of music?


After a decade of listening to mostly trance, it's dawned on me the music is mostly shitty and boring.

what sort of trance are u talking about, pre or post 2003-2004. its a huge difference.

99-09

Re: Trance is dead(free sticks available for poking)

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux After a decade of listening to mostly trance, it's dawned on me the music is mostly shitty and boring.

welcome to the club

So is there an era of trance you do like, or are your tastes simply moving away from all trance entirely?

I would not call simple repetitive melodies a flaw, since trance is all about hypnotizing the listeners -- which is why it is called "trance" after all -- and making them dance.

What happened to tracks like The Gate-Iron Eden , which used a kooky off key melody.

Im into doing this at the moment , it awesome.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux Would you rather listen to Bach who couldn't design, or the best sound designer in the world who can't write a piece of music?

Just as a side note, but classic music requires a good sense of orchestration which is not too different from mixing considering it incorporates frequency division to prevent unwanted sound masking.

Progressive Trance FTW

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux 99-09

try looking longer back, 93-98, and then from 98 look at prog

well this topic kinda brings me to my point in dj robby thred last week about people making there own shit rather then using the same tired sounds.

sound design is more improtant then people give it creddit for the problem is no one wants to make anything really new or if not new at least different enough to put some mark on their tracks.

of course learning how to make good tunes is hard work and so putting a new spin on things gets put back to the list of importance.

as producers we all want to make the the best tracks we can making track for enjoying at home is very differnt then what is played in clubs for reasons that are obvious.

i will say thoe a lot of trance out there is still good but its all made up of differnt genres and crossovers and even the good stuff is still recyeled.

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux For fun let's listen to In and Out of Love(Radio Edit). Ignore the beats, bassline, and everything but the vocals. Don't listen to the lyrics either...Listen to the notes, the note duration, her breathing, the timbre of her voice, the vibrato, the attack and decay... Do you hear THAT?! THAT is what trance is missing. It's simply not enough the beat and melodic patterns are simple; everything sounds too similar and too quantized to move the listener.

I actually liked this track solely based on the vocal when it came out. Unlike a lot of the other singers I hear in modern trance who seem to be exclusively focused on EDM, Sharon is the singer in a Dutch symphonic metal band that I was a fan of before this track came out. She has a fairly distinctive style that kind of gets away from the typical singers you hear in vocal trance. I thought it was pretty cool that Armin (or his people) worked with a singer not normally associated with the genre. This used to happen a lot more back in the 90's than it does today.

quote:

Originally posted by palm try looking longer back, 93-98, and then from 98 look at prog

It does seem that it all changed once Binary Finary came out around 98/99.

Electro House is ded!

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J I thought it was pretty cool that Armin (or his people) worked with a singer not normally associated with the genre. This used to happen a lot more back in the 90's than it does today.

Dance music is so incestuous. You have plenty of people making trance, for example, who listen to nothing but trance, or close to it, and who never give much thought to trying to produce in another genre, let alone writing or listening to non-electronic music, and then they go out and DJ and spin nothing but trance trance trance. And then people wonder why the genre stagnates and starts to sound samey.

Re: Trance is dead(free sticks available for poking)

quote:

Originally posted by Beatflux I've been listening to trance for quite a while and I've come to a point where all of its flaws are staring me right in the face. The good? Atmosphere and catchy leads. And the bad? Where should I start? Drums. Drums are the worst out of any genre. 16th note hihat patterns seem more like a strict utility instrument to make sure that the track sounds fast and energetic. The patterns are usually very simple and they are typically quantized to a T which makes it sound even more boring. The typical 4 bar melody is actually a downgrade from the eight bar melody. I have a problem with plucks. I like the sound of plucks but they restrict inspiration of creativity in a perverse sort of way. There is hardly any volume after the initial attack,so it's written as strictly one type of note duration: the 16th note. The 16th note is nice, but there are several other durations and varying them adds to the expression of a track. Oh, and vocal trance lyrics are usually utterly smeared in on-sale 99 cent canned squirt cheese. Speaking of vocal trance... For fun let's listen to In and Out of Love(Radio Edit). Ignore the beats, bassline, and everything but the vocals. Don't listen to the lyrics either...Listen to the notes, the note duration, her breathing, the timbre of her voice, the vibrato, the attack and decay... Do you hear THAT?! THAT is what trance is missing. It's simply not enough the beat and melodic patterns are simple; everything sounds too similar and too quantized to move the listener. But...nobody really gives a shit. How can I tell? The most obvious answer is that I can hear it, and the second answer is that the producers don't really care based on what they talk about. Drum pattern topics are as rare as a public water fountain in sahara desert and topics about music theory are typically resisted with the "it's stiffing my creativity" argument. What's the most popular? Talk about getting the new sample pack, the new plug-in or piece of hardware, how do I make Sound X(...so they can make a really shitty melody), layering, sound design shit, and more shit about mixing. Learning about mixing before writing a track is funny. It doesn't matter how good the sound design is or how well it's mixed, if the music is shit. Would you rather listen to Bach who couldn't design, or the best sound designer in the world who can't write a piece of music? After a decade of listening to mostly trance, it's dawned on me the music is mostly shitty and boring.

Agree 100% - thanks for the clarity of thought, this was an inspiring post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caOL...feature=related

Fun thing is, if you take as much time to get into another genre exactly the same applies, there is tons of shit to go through .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsRDjZD9T6c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mDUdcIXFwQ

quote:

Originally posted by Storyteller Fun thing is, if you take as much time to get into another genre exactly the same applies, there is tons of shit to go through .

^^THIS. Believe me theres still tons of good stuff out there you just gotta expand your horizons and dig a lil bit.

p.s. ASOT sucks stop listneing to that show if you do I did a long time ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Nightshift p.s. ASOT sucks stop listneing to that show if you do I did a long time ago.

Then why did you just post a bunch of ASOT-style tracks?

when all the doubters and phonies get away from trance it can be good again. so just leave. leave it for the true trancers, those who cant live without it.

quote:

Originally posted by palm when all the doubters and phonies get away from trance it can be good again. so just leave. leave it for the true trancers, those who cant live without it.

Yep. Posted this in MD recently:

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Given the way dance music has blown up in the mainstream in the past decade, I am just hoping we see an anti-dance music backlash soon. Disco Demolition Night all over again. Then all the trend-seekers can go do buttrock or folk or whatever the new fad becomes. And electronic music can go back underground.

quote:

Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Then why did you just post a bunch of ASOT-style tracks?

Because every track and their mom's track gets played on ASOT whether its good or not.

ASOT is boring and just ruins the good tracks imo.

Global DJ Broadcast FTW.

However this is all left to taste.

People complaining about trance not focusing on percussion is completely asinine. Most producers don't focus on the perucssion because most listeners give it the same attention. As long as it serves as a formation for the bassline, the hooks, the overall sound, then there's no reason to go further than that. Though plenty producers still do.

And yeah, trance is, IMO, better than it's ever been. The sound's changed for the most part but it's up to personal opinion as to whether or not it's better or worse, but musically trance has been doing some amazing things if you look beyond ASOT or the top 100 garbage.

Also, Oceanlab is the only vocal trance you'll need.

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