well let's start what i like and what i don't like:

1st of all i don't like the snare and i think this is quite slow or at least you need more drive on this, in trance is quite common to use a clap with pre delay and a common snare like the one you used.

You need more hi hats , i use 3-4 on each production but some people even use 7 between hats, shakers etc...

Some percussion is always welcome in this kind of prog. tracks.

About sound design i'd say that your pluck sounds quite cheap, i'd tweak it a bit and with some delay it surely sounds better.

The synth of the main lead is not bad, melody is ok, this part has some potential.

About bassline... in trance is common to have 3 basslines, one sub bass, "proper bass" like you have used and sometimes a mid range bass, quite like the bass used though.

Now this is generic advice of how trance tracks are done it's completely fine not to follow this guidelines but as a starter i'd suggest you to go for the basics, some side chain compressed pads and strings can make the track dreamier.

And you need a lot more of sfx, atmospherics in trance are so important both as hooks while the track progress but also to link different sections.

Thanks Rodri, exactly the kind of reply I was hoping for!

Hi all,

Here is version 2 of the song excerpt. I have made an effort to follow some of Rodri Santos' advice:

Snare drum: added pre-delay & gate
Hi-hats: added a parallel loop track with hi-hats/light percussion
Pluck sounds: replaced
Bass line: added a sub bass
SFX added

Some sounds has been replaced, and most (song and instruments) tracks has been feed through eqs in an attempt to do some sound sculpting.

Grateful for all feedback! Don't hesitate to be honest, I have a lot to learn and I am confident that the track has a lot more room for improvement.

Time (heals all wounds) v2 - Pre-Master Excerpt by CosmoWerx