Are you talking about from a typical epic trance perspective?

Just keep adding percussive elements, at a quicker and quicker rate, right up to the buildup's end.

Totally cliche kick drum example:

K---|---K---|----K---K---K---K---K-K-K-K-K-K-K-K-KKKKKKKK


Not really sure what you mean, outside of that. Most of that sort of buildup is uplifting sounds/fx (white noise, highpass filter, etc.)

Maybe post an example for further help.

its all about creating tension ie thinking in reverse transitions are very widely used to. when you make a track do you start at the top or the bottom because in most cases it's best to start at the bottom with kick bass and percussion.

i'm talking about the tension of the track,

i have all the structure in place from verse to bridge and even main melody all i need to do is build the tension from the bridge to the main melody. I do bring stuff like fx etc into it but always feel it lacks energy.

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Octave changes can sometimes help....ultimately (and obviously) you need change.

Usually by the addition of elements, although maybe by taking them away. Uplifting and tension building stuff is as others pointed done by adding more elements to a track and progressively adding them more quickly. Use white noise sweeps and play with filter automation on your lead sounds. Automating your filter is classic. I'd avoid the snare rolls and kick rolls unless you're talking break down. Just automate your resonance and actually up the volume on the sounds you're trying to build. (Automate it up and automate the volume down of whatever you feel is hurting the energy)

Though it's a fairly cheap trick, I'm still a fan of a steadily increasing reverb on the entire track/master channel which cuts back off at the finish of the buildup.

Have you tried automating the release of notes on certain tracks (like leads or bass) so that notes get progressively longer and more powerful. That and the reverb thing above work well.

quote:

Originally posted by Waza i'm talking about the tension of the track, i have all the structure in place from verse to bridge and even main melody all i need to do is build the tension from the bridge to the main melody. I do bring stuff like fx etc into it but always feel it lacks energy.

maybe post up an audio sample of that section so people can comment on it that way, that may be best!

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But the real trick is in making sure after that massive build, the momentum and power continues into the chorus - sounds obvious - but loads of tracks suffer with a chorus less powerful than the build, so it's a very fine balance to achieve.

I've really gone off kick / snare rolls.

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quote:

Originally posted by david.michael Though it's a fairly cheap trick, I'm still a fan of a steadily increasing reverb on the entire track/master channel which cuts back off at the finish of the buildup.

Love it lol easy as hell but loads of fun when someone does it on a dancefloor

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Processing a highly structured and complex pattern of sensory input as a unified percept of "music" is probably one of the most elaborate features of the human brain.....understanding how music is perceived and how it may elicit intense sensations is far from being understood.

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Originally posted by Sonic_c Love it lol easy as hell but loads of fun when someone does it on a dancefloor

Yeah, I fully admit it's a cliche and cheap trick, but I like it anyway. Sometimes I'll do this "live" on the mixer when DJing with a reverb effect (and also cutting frequencies slowly out with EQ or filter).

quote:

Originally posted by Waza i'm talking about the tension of the track, i have all the structure in place from verse to bridge and even main melody all i need to do is build the tension from the bridge to the main melody. I do bring stuff like fx etc into it but always feel it lacks energy.

Usually I work in 16 bar increments since it gives my elements more time to develop; and then when I'm trying to build tension I'll still be in 16 bar increments but add in minute details in 8 bar increments to give things a feeling of building/speeding up quickly. An example is adding clap/snare/hi hats during a breakdown and truncating note lengths and variations as the end of the build gets closer and closer.