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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.
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http://www.myspace.com/jbradberrymusic/
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