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The Devolution of Trance Music
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| cLj |
The undeniable peak of trance was 1999. The world was gripped by the four on the floor kick and saw leads were king. Decent saw leads, mind, not the watered-down, weak presets that are so prevalent in contemporary pop music. The likes of Ferry Corsten's System F alias and the Stenzel brothers as York had a presence in the mainstream scene, even Armin van Buuren was hovering around. What happened? I'm not entirely sure, but here are some things that changed.
Loudness Wars
The music industry has been rattled by the loudness wars and unfortunately trance is no exception. The mixing of classic tracks in theory does not hold a candle to more recent releases. In practice, much of the newer work sounds vile from a mastering perspective. YouTube compression on uploaded videos means it isn't exactly fair to provide such links as evidence, and to the majority of music listeners the loudness war isn't an issue. The average consumer is not aware of the concept because let's face it, this is the territory of musicians, producers and audiophiles. However, this does not make it ok. What happened to dynamics? Why does the entire waveform need to be a block of concrete, brick walled at 0? It's tasteless and seriously compromises the integrity of the music.
The Synths
Many of today's productions sound like “trouse” or “electrance.” Two of the most iconic leads of all time are those of Carte Blanche and Synaesthesia. What is going on with Corsten's 2012 version of Don't be Afraid? What have the guys who brought us Airwave, Rank 1, done to themselves to conjure up Top Gear? Speaking of Carte Blanche, the 2008 version was a brutal butchery. All of these works are great in their own right, to deny that would be unreasonable and disrespectful. It's just that on the flip side, claiming them to be trance is just as unreasonable.
The Industry?
Popular demand changes, it's a fact of life. The generation that made trance big has had its time and now the next generation has come up with different tastes. This is, of course, a sweeping generalisation that surely doesn't cover the entire spectrum, but it's a fair assumption. Artists have bills to pay and if they're falling short, they have to change what they're doing or not be able to create anything new at all. The market for what started as and has reverted to an underground genre may still be as large as it used to be; while not really a comprehensive assessment, the comments on 90% of classic trance uploads on YouTube go along the lines of “Why don't they make this anymore?” The demand is there. The issue is that it's unfortunately unlikely to be as lucrative as other directions.
In all, there are different ways to look at it. Maybe trance has changed. Maybe that's a cheap, transparent excuse. I personally believe the majority of current “trance” isn't really trance at all, that moniker is reserved for the classics that rocketed EDM to the forefront of the music industry, its influence still going strong today. The more cynical view could be taken that it's just the money, money, money.
Whatever standpoint anybody takes, why can't the fallen giants show us that they're still capable of what made them great? Why can't van Buuren give us another masterpiece like Communication, as a side project? Why was Kyoto one of the last vestiges of Corsten's trance legacy? Aside from the rumours of him involved in running an Armada sub-label, where did Vincent de Moor go? Will we ever hear the likes of Walking on Clouds and Suburban Train from Tiesto again? Steve Helstrip has the resources to give us another Synaesthesia or Affinity between works such as The Last Time, will he bless the very much alive trance world with such a gift?
Again, the validity of any artists or any of their work is absolutely not under fire here. They are talented professionals who produce wonderful music. But I can't help but wonder: will there ever be anything more that could sit comfortably in the company of the classics that we know and love? |
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| Ishkur |
| quote: | Originally posted by cLj
The undeniable peak of trance was 1999. |
| quote: | Originally posted by cLj
What happened? |
Nothing happened, you just got used to the formula. It's called diminishing returns. |
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| djnitride |
The people who really loved trance started to abandon the genre because of the guys you mention becoming increasingly more and more commercial and formulaic as time went on. These are the opportunists/businessmen who ran trance into the dirt. Regardless, trance became a dirty word and for the most part all the talented producers behind it left for greener pastures or sold out to an increasingly commercial scene.
EDIT:
"Trance" as the formula you know it as has been devolving since the beginning of supersaw epic trance around that time. |
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| lacedpills |
| Rank 1 - Airwave is on mount rushmore when it comes to all-time trance classics. screw its haters over the years. |
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| Titanium |
| The Prog stuff that I am finding sounds closer to trance than the stuff that gets incorrectly tagged as trance |
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| LoveHate |
| we all ran out of serotonin. |
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| rubez |
what killed trance music for me is, as pointed out, the mastering.
somehow it became more important than anything else. tracks became so lacquered, hardened. they just didn't breathe anymore. it is ing horrendous to my ear. it sucked the soul out the music, it became overtly manufactured music, instead of just music.
the shift to the emphasis on mastering lead to the rise of the bedroom producer. where a musical ear could be traded in for whizz-kiddery and technical know-how. this of course lead to music.
now, a lot of the '99' producers were whizz kids, that's part of it... but with the accessibilty of computers and DAWs, and basically free-entry, now everyone could join in. a good thing perhaps - but with such a casual opportunity - with no stakes, investement, or risks - this also attracts the wrong kind of person. i.e. " it, why not" producers.
it all sounds the same and tracks have no individuality, hell, even separate instruments within the tracks themselves have no individuality.
one thing not to under estimate, is that there is a natural flow to the movement, and everyone follows it, or gets left behind - somehow it ended up in the toilet!
commericalism eventually killed it off completely. |
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| Lews |
| Guys, it's undeniable. Stop trying to deny it. Stop it. |
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| roregi |
| quote: | Originally posted by Titanium
The Prog stuff that I am finding sounds closer to trance than the stuff that gets incorrectly tagged as trance |
I agree! Since 2010 I was able to find some great progressive trance releases. |
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| pointPi |
Hate statements like these. Evolution does not mean improvement or becoming more complex; it simply means adaption to the surrounding environment. So the term devolution is a misunderstanding
Though I'm pretty sure what OP meant was stagnation, things don't improve from dwelling over how everything was so much better back in the good old days. What I get from others complaining about today's state of music, is that there is more and more focus on detail, and that toady's musicians have lost the sense of the big picture.
BTW, what ever happened to madchester music? I know it pretty much "died" before I was born (1993), but I'd still like to see a revival of it. |
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| Sykonee |
| quote: | Originally posted by pointPi
BTW, what ever happened to madchester music? I know it pretty much "died" before I was born (1993), but I'd still like to see a revival of it. |
They already tried that. Remember Klaxons? |
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| pointPi |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sykonee
They already tried that. Remember Klaxons? |
No, never heard of them. Took a listen to their music and they seem to be quite okay band.
To be fair, I've barely listened to any madchester, probably should. |
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