Personally I think on the whole it is completely crap.

Way too focused on engineering and not enough on the qualities that make a melody good.
I have been DJing this for a long time (trance for nearly 10 years) and it's fair to be said that the selection of stand out tracks is rather slim these days.
I have seen trance go through various phases and it's had it's ups and downs, at the moment it is having quite a bad down.
I think people will eventually start to write more unique stuff, but at the moment the industry is full of a bunch of copy cats with no imagination.

Speaking with a lot of my colleagues, both them and I find that we are playing a larger amount of older stuff these days.

I do however think that it is necessary for it to have a low at the moment as it did have a good time on the up between 2002-2004 and the end of the 90's prior to that.
It will come again, you just need someone to write something that redefines the rules a little and away we go.

It's not getting me down, but it does make DJing a little dull, so I do find myself playing some different stuff too.

I think the re-emergance of prog has also had a large part to play especially as the US is big on this and for a long time this was the unconquered market and prog became a way to do this. It is a bit sell out but you are living off this so you have ensure that you 'can' live of this.

The other thing to remember is this, you get an awful lot of good music that never gets released being sent to DJs, and you do get some quality sets that have very good trance being played by the big names, but the chances of getting hold of these tracks are pretty slim unless you know the producers.

If I think about it, actually the problem isn't that people arent writing good music, it's the record companies who are afraid to branch out and step out of their comfort zone. Also with the emergance of MP3 sites you have seen the death of a lot of the more independant lables and the major sites are largely controlled by the record companies and will not take unsigned stuff or alternatively the people that run them do not have the knowledge in the genre to actually make good choices as to what to sell.

I think on these forums a lot of the production creativity is very unimaginative even though it's perfect in a lot of ways but you do also get a lot of cool stuff that I know would provide a positive boost into the genre if it only got the chance. (Sorry for some reason forgot to state that so had to re-edit)

Cheers
Nem

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Last edited by Nemesis44 on Aug-25-2006 at 10:10

quote:

Originally posted by DJ Shibby +1000 Some of these producers today who are *too* engineering oriented may someday realize the soul of a song is the story it tells and the unique way that you use your instruments and soundscapes to get across a state of mind -- a specific energy that makes you more than a producer. If they make just *one* GREAT track out of a 1000, then you can be sure you'll know their name and hear what their style has to bring to the table. And yes, it's the DJ's job to use whatever venues are open to him -- whether it be vinyl, mp3s, promos, or free shit on the net -- to find those tracks which are gems and play them for us. That is to say; it's the line between science and art, and that's what makes a song great. Also... Is anyone feeling a sour taste in their mouth at the fact that the people who are writing the music (us here in this forum) are saying ridiculous things about how bad the music is nowadays, when we're the one's making it?

I Like what you have to say. I can't disagree with any of it. Very well put. I can't add anything to it so I won't.

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quote:

Originally posted by DJ Shibby Also... Is anyone feeling a sour taste in their mouth at the fact that the people who are writing the music (us here in this forum) are saying ridiculous things about how bad the music is nowadays, when we're the one's making it?

No, because I feel it's mostly the labels' fault for only signing the generic mindless drivel constantly. I hear stuff on these forums that's far more original than anything they release nowadays but it'll never get signed because the labels are playing it safe. Don't blame the producers (apart from the few "big ones" who are involved in the label business as well).

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quote:

Originally posted by staticblue It's always quite frustrating for me to read "trance is getting worse and worse" or "nowadays trance sucks". Do you people who say this really don't like anything that is being released at the moment ? and more important, what kind of new trance would you like to hear ?

Hey Jon,

I'm not talking about today's trance in general, I'm pointing out to what is actually 'released' today... This, in comparison with before, seems WAY less to me. Trust me, I can find good tunes nowadays, but a whole lot few that I will actually remember for a long time - since I'm still young, this is still valid I suppose

I heard a whole lot of unreleased tracks which I would love for them to see the light of day at a good, decent label. But it never (or HARDLY ever) happens... Then again, if I would release them myself someday, I'm afraid people will still stay clear of it because they are simply used to the other garbage and think trance is only that.

I do think there are more 'sound engineers' at work and less people who can write a real reminiscent melody. In this way, you could say trance is getting more and more 'perfect' regarding production, but it'll NEVER stand out of the crowd, or be remembered.

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My feelings exactly Wim, trance has stopped being emotional since it became so "perfect".

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