I posted this in the LoL review thread, but I think this topic is worthy of its own thread...

Recently, I've been trying to understand what makes a good trance set these days. I've noticed that every time Armin, Ferry etc is in town, the best reviews emphasize how many classics he played. Is this the most important thing in a trance set these days? If he didn't play classics, would that make it a bad set? Isn't there any new good trance being produced?

I like a healthy mix of both the classics and new stuff

a lot of classics he played were some new remixes btw, and he also had some wikkid mashups

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quote:

Originally posted by The Highroller Is this the most important thing in a trance set these days?

seems pretty mandatory... imo another thing holding back a stagnant genre...

the opposite to what a genre should be doing in order to push the boundaries of music/art/culture...

(not sure if that makes any sense)

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I see what The Highroller means. We always enjoy hearing all of their own old songs. Like he probably play about an hour to an hour and a half of 'classic' songs which is about 10% of his 9 hour set. If he doesn't play any of his old classics people would be disappointed. Just like when you go to a rock concert you'd expect Radiohead to play Creep, or Madonna not singing Material Girl, etc.

It's one of those situations that you're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't.

In my opinion a good trance set would have a good flow just like with any other genres. But there has to be a proper time for everything, you can't have classics all night, or buildup/breakdowns every song it will be boring.

I'm no expert, but i think a mix of old-skool trance classics with new-style tracks would be the ideal set for any trance lover. If we're talking a live show/ gig, you gotta throw some vocal trance in there to get the crowd singing on top of their lungs... it's great interaction and keeps the vibe going

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but armin had buildups/breakdowns almost every 5 min...it got pretty annoying

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It's down to everyone's own opinion I guess.. but about the classics, I think alot of DJ's believe quality doesn't have a warranty. For me, I think older tracks should be incorporated in sets today simply because it's a different time, different period of production and it's obvious when you hear it next to a track produced yesterday. When I say older, I'm not reffering to classics or anthems such as Cafe Del Mar or Greece 2000, I mean tracks that weren't really played out and would make even the most knowledgable trainspotter to really feel confused.

I really find it annoying when there are all these anthems in today's sets. It's not so much that they're being played, it's that the longer it goes on, the quicker it gets drained out. Sure, every set could have 1 or 2 classics but guys like Menno, Armin, Tiesto, Ferry take it a little far.

To Graham's first post: I think there is a lack of good trance being produced today IMHO and you have very good accuracy in your curiosity. Alot of genre's are similar today unfortunately; alot of producers turned DJ's who just throw on the beatport top 10 mixed in with their own productions and travelling the world. What seperates 'Trance' (As in the more progressive, melodic a la Tiesto, PVD, Armin etc) is that the big boys have'nt evolved into different sub genre's when they notice that specific sound is getting less and less original like say Sasha, Digweed have over the years. Instead, they use alot of old tricks that they will please the masses because well, the masses go to out to hear what they know.

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quote:

Originally posted by ChemEnhanced any party from 2003 and back I only remember bits and pieces...i've combined those memories into one awesome party

IMO the trance scene is more about the DJ now then it is about the actual track selection, flow, etc.

What makes a good trance set for me is when the DJ can bring you on a journey with him/her. The actual tracks are not as important as the journey.

I don't know why but that isn't as important for me with other genres....with pretty much any other genre I just wanna dance my ass off.

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Last edited by Moral Hazard on Apr-26-2011 at 07:48

To answer from a personal perspective, YES. A top-notch trance set these days NEEDS classic tunes, or modernized remixes of classic tunes. It's not dissimilar to the way the Euro junkies demand at least SOME of the 93-99 era of Euro (most people consider it the golden age) in their sets. Now that Trance is old enough to have songs considered 'classic', those classics deserve to be played. I missed out on the scene back in the day when some of the BEST trance was being spun night in and night out, and those classic tunes don't come pounding out of a real club-system all that often these days. I WANT to hear songs like Saltwater, Gamemaster, Rondezvous, and SOOOO many more that I missed in the clubs when they were the 'overplayed' songs of their time. Without a few good classics thrown in, a set can be a huge disappointment to me, and many others I'm sure feel the same way.

That all being said, YES there is still lots of good trance being produced, but it's being crowded out by the fodder-music being pumped out as trance is getting more and more mainstream. Andy Moor is still a master, and lots of songs I don't even know the names or producers of are still impressing me when I hear them, so a set can still be good, or even great, despite being a disappointment to me and other classic-junkies. As far as I can tell, the only problem is that trance is starting to head mainstream, so there's tons of fodder music saturating the market. I imagine that it's tough as a DJ to sift through ALL of the current trance being produced these days, so most of the time, we get stuck with trash filler songs in between genuine, quality tunes. It's those trash filler songs that we, the clubbers, used to accept as unavoidable because there wasn't enough music to begin with, that we now want filled in with good classics, or better all-around quality music. With the sheer ammount of classic tunes available and enough quality current music, there should be no excuse for forgettable, boring, trash-filler in a set these days.

But, I know nothing at all about the actual practice of being a DJ so there may be limitations they have that I don't have any clue about that holds them back from what I consider proper track-selection. I'm just stating the opinion of a guy who goes out to hear the music he loves

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a lack of trance would be a good start

(too easy)

Are there still a lot of people producing trance....? I know if you look at the beatport top 100, you might find like 4 trance tracks... unless trancers use another site or something...


btw arent a lot of trance DJs playing a lot of progressive house now.... or are trance and progressive house pretty much the same thing?

A good trance set? Probably using rarely played songs...

at the end of a set you want people asking for more...
at the end of a set you want people asking for the name of a song
at the end of a set a DJ should be sweating as hard as the crowd.
Finally, surprises in a set...for example, you think its over then booooom it continues.... love it.

same goes with house.

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