Trance Production Glossary and History

What is Trance?

As a musical genre that came into existence in the latter part of the 20th century, trance music is an art form that relies heavily on the use of electronic equipment and a specific tempo range to create a musical arrangement that is understood to have somewhat hypnotic qualities. Trance music is generally considered to be a form of electronic music that has been influenced by other electronic music genres, such as house music, techno, and ambient music.

The exact origins of trance music are usually traced to the late 1980s, where the first compositions considered to be trance in nature emerged from the acid house movement in the United Kingdom. The emerging compositions included beat ranges that were in the range of 130 to 160 beats per minute, and involved repetitious chains of melodies that were connected with a series of crescendos and breakdowns. While most of the earliest examples of trance music were instrumental in nature, vocals soon came to be included with the arrangements as well.

During the 1990s, trance music became part of the club scene in a number of counties around Europe, especially in Germany. The popularity of the genre in Frankfurt was so pronounced that there are many musical experts who trace the origin of trance music with vocals to that city. The pattern for vocals usually took a course of being somewhat uplifting in nature, rather than addressing social issues or focusing on story lines that tended to focus on negative emotional subjects, such as broken hearts.

Trance music offered an alternative to the techno and house music of the era, in that the genre was thought to be a musical style that was intended to help revitalize people, rather than be a vehicle for perpetuating stereotypes or promoting political agendas. Since the beginning of the 21st century, trance music has captured audiences on a global basis, with record labels, clubs, and radio outlets around the world.

Today, the general positive attitude of trance music remains a positive music form that attracts a number of fans. The musical compositions are often produced with a combination of traditional instruments used in conjunction with a musical synthesizer. Many of the most popular trance music artists today have tended to structure the recordings so that the sound has more in common with more mainstream pop, which has helped trance music to be more accessible to the general public.

Psychedelic Trance

Trance has many forms and shapes and caters for styles across the board but psy-trans' as it is also known is very 'tribal: As the name suggests, it is just that ...a psychedelic Trance. With origins that extend out from the shores of Cape Town, Goa, India and Israel. Psy-trance contains many emotive elements, enchanting percussion, haunting electronics, somewhat muted fast and repetitive baselines and a deep rooted, and womb?state bass. Psychedelic Trance with its unequalled philosophical and `spiritual' obsession is generally associated with new agers, hippies, freaks, underground cult travelers and alternative snobbery. It must be said though, that people from across the spectrum love it. Cape Town has a thriving outdoor Trance culture.

International Pioneers: Tsyoshi Suzuki, Infected Mushroom, DJ Dream Creation / DJ Kuma / Yumade.

Urban (underground- progressive) Trance

`Urban Trance' has taken the urban dance industry by storm. Characterized by a composition of powerful bagatelles, melodies and vocals, which are introduced as orchestrated `Build-Ups'. A `Build-Up', is a section within a track, where the beat and baselineare taken away and a soothing melody or vocal introduced. Various elements of percussion and sound effects are then arranged together in an uplifting manner, taking the listener up and up . The Beat and Baseline are reintroduced, combining melody and percussion to create an `Explosiv' effect. This style of Trance is more progressive by nature but still has more of a mainstream appeal than Psychedelic Trance.

International Pioneers: Paul Oakenfold, Sasha, John Digweed, Anthony Pappa, Nick Warren Darren Emerson, Parks and Wilson

'Trance'- House

'Trance House' has had a major impact on the club scene in recent years. This style of trance is the most commonly played in clubs in South Africa. This style of Trance is not for the `Undergrounders', it's happy, uplifting and appeals to clubbers on a huge scale. Trance House is easy listening Party music, but retains certain elements of Trance, but with a `Housey' bounce and 'up' vocals. Many people love to hate this music, but as far as the roots of House Music go, making the crowd `happy' without darkness and depression was one of the first intentions, thus it is still hugely popular.

International Pioneers: Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten