To make excellant trance you need to know IMHO:

music theory and something about notation/structure
sound synthesis - to create the sounds you use
sound engineering e.g. eq and compression and mastering
creativity - though you cant learn that and you can just use trial and error

and i suppose general knowledge of existing methods for making trance e.g. how a beat would be programmed, what type of basses etc

I dont know half of this, and its quite demanding trying to learn. But if you didnt like it ....

___________________
Kuroi
@ web/Kuroi Music
@ myspace/Kuroi Music

promo track: Mirco de Govia - Voller Sterne (Kuroi Remix)

Hi trance-nation,

You can learn best just by making music I think. You can read magazines, books and look on the internet to understand more about it, but this is mainly usefull go get your music improved.
Just get a music program and try to make music with it. Trackers are mainly quite easy to work with and they come often with a lot of sounds. Read the help file of the program and if your clueless of wich sounds you can use, just listen to a favorite number of yours.
Just try to make music with such a program and you will see that you don't need to now a lot to start making it. You will have to need a little bit of talent though.

I don't know any trackers that are available right now, so I hope someone else can tell you wich ones there are.

If you want get more serious on making music you can get Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, or Logic Audio, but Logic is only going to be available for Mac soon.
There are also all in one programs, like Reason and Fruityloops, but al these programs cost money (like Cubase, Logic and Cakewalk also). Trackers are free and you don't need to do a lot of reading to understand the programs, but I believe Fruityloops is also quite easy to work with.

You can find Cubase at www.steinberg.net, Cakewalk at www.cakewalk.com, Logic at www.emagic.de, fruityloops at www.fruityloops.com and Reason at www.propellerheads.se.

If you have a little bit of talent you will be able to make music, but don't expect that it will sound very good in the beginning. It will take practice to get your songs sound better. (It can take a few years till you have something like professional music)

Good luck

Ben

Hi BenB,

Can u recommend me some of the books or magazines?I have been searching on the Internet, but no luck yet.This music is so common that it is very difficult for beginner like me to start....

futuremusic has done a recent article on makign trance, its was a "euphoria special", that'll help you with some parts.

Post any other questions youve got up here or other production boards, poeple are more than happy to help.

What equipment/pc have you got already?

___________________
Kuroi
@ web/Kuroi Music
@ myspace/Kuroi Music

promo track: Mirco de Govia - Voller Sterne (Kuroi Remix)

You can buy audio magazines at your local book store I think. Just look at the audio section from the magazines there.
These magazines will help you on your way in making music later, but you can start with the Future Music article that flutlight junky suggests. Maybe you can order the issue at www.futuremusic.co.uk if it's not available in the United States.

There are a lot of available books about making music at www.barnesandnoble.com. You can use this link:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bo...erid=54HJZVJ18C

There are a lot of them so just let me know if you don't know wich one to chose.

Ben

I am planning to buy Numark DMC-1, but i still don't know wat kind of mixer to buy?Some help pls.And i gonnas use pcdj red software.That's all i gonna buy i think and maybe some other software.Is that enough for a beginner?

That material is only appropriate for DJing. I think you implicate DJing with producing. A producer makes the records and the DJ plays the records. The material I metioned is usable for producing.

Sori for the confusion.Thx for all the information.I will just post another thread for dj ing.but i am interested in producing also. So i don't need the numark and pcdj software right?do u have websites that give u information about trance types and techniques?(the latest 1)

I have found a funny program that will show you how music is made. It is made by the makers of some well known audio programs. The program looks a bit similair like cubase or other programs like that.

You can see if the program is something for you, with the online demo:

http://www.musiclooper.com/flashdemo.htm

To make a song, click on "Add New Loop to Your Song" first, then place the loops in the right field, and then play the song. You can start with bass, drums and keyboard loops. If you don't understand it, open a song and play it to see how it works.

You can read about the program here:

http://www.sonicfoundry.com/product...uct.asp?PID=535

Also take a look at the Music Theory tutorials part 1,2 and 3 on this page:

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/features.asp

You can also take a look at:

http://www.computermusic.co.uk/tutorial/scindex.asp

and read the Basic Beats 1 and 2 and the Dance tutorials.

As you can see the www.computermusic.co.uk site has a lot of tutorials you can read to improve your music.

Other audio sites with some info/tutorials I know are:

www.bluelifeaudio.com

www.futuremusic.co.uk

www.intermusic.com

www.hitsquad.com

www.synthzone.com

www.sospubs.co.uk

and another site with a good forum:

www.futureproducers.com

For professional midi programs like Reason or Cubase etc you will need a music keyboard b.t.w. That is usually not nessessary with trackers where I wrote about.