Trance (music)

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music developed in the 1990s. It is generally characterized by a tempo between 125 and 140 BPM, short melodic synthesizer phrasing, and a musical form that goes up and down during each theme. Although the rhythms used are patterns of techno music, some called trance atmospheric house in its early days (1989).

It is the result of the combination of, mainly, techno with other musical styles, such as house, acid house, new beat, classical music (little), synth pop, soft-pop, ambient, film music, new age and industrial music, so it can sometimes be very ambiguous due to this wide variety; with type B remixes of pop, symphonic or orchestral, minimalist (with the use of classical piano and organ), with house and/or techno structures, etc.

The origin of the term is uncertain, although it has been suggested that it may derive from the album Trancefer (1981), by Klaus Schulze, or from the group Dance 2 Trance.

History

Background

In the early 1970s, the term "space music" was applied to some of the works of Vangelis or Jean-Michel Jarre and also of German Kraut Rock composers, in particular the so-called Berlin School such as Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze or Ash Ra Tempel, due to the transcendent cosmic feelings of space evoked. by the sound of his music and enhanced by the use of the new emerging instrument, which was beginning to be seen in that decade, the synthesizer. This current collaborated in the development and popularization of Ambient and New Age, created in the late 1960s.

Each artist had a unique style. In particular, Klaus Schulze used short, hypnotic sequences, an octave or two higher than the others. Some of the early works of Schulze have a lot to do with early trance, and are sometimes even classified as such, such as the albums Timewind from 1975 and Moondawn from 1976. Already in the 1980s he produced new works that even included the word trance in two of his titles: Trancefer (1981) and En = Trance (1987).

In 1985 Deep house appeared as an early evolution of house, with influences closer to jazz and soul, with a deep bass and atmospheric chords. The song "Mistery of Love" of Mr Fingers of that same year influenced the incipient Techno of Detroit and in particular Derrick May when he composed the song & # 34; Strings Of Life & # 34; in 1987 that formed the basis of the future Minimal techno in the following years.

Techno (as an evolution of the electro sound of the German group Kraftwerk from the Düsseldorf School) was already a fact in the US around 1986, and its projection to Europe after the great acceptance of house produced a wide range of new sounds that would give rise to new styles of dance music through experimentation, including the incorporation of hypnotic loops from Cosmic Music and new age with atmospheres of ambient and deep house sounds on techno bases, the fundamental elements in the development of trance music.

First productions in Europe

In retrospect, the earliest identifiable trance recordings may come from the acid house movement, with records like "What Time Is Love? (Pure Trance 1)" by KLF, "Jesus Loves the Acid" from Ectasy Club (both 1988), "Chime" by Orbital or "Do You Know Yourself" of Venus 1999 (the latter from 1989) or as a derivative of techno in clubs in Germany, Belgium and Italy in 1989. The first techno tracks with trance elements can be found with "Erdbeermund" from Sigmund Und Seine Freu(n)de or "Psycho" from Psycho Team.

The song The Age of Love (Remix) by the group Jam & Spoon composed by Mark Mark Spoon Löffer and Rolf Jam El Mar Ellmer was released on March 19, 1990 and is considered the first production of a trance sound. i> more definite. Some even consider "The Age of Love" as the first true trance single, the first musical theme of this genre. On the other hand, the song "We Came in Peace", also from 1990, by the German group Dance 2 Trance (a project of DJ Dag and Jam El Mar), of repetitive patterns, was able to lay the basic foundations for the genre. In these years it was not always clear if a song was just more melodic techno (or even ambient or deep house) or if it was actually an example of what would later be called trance. Some artists from this period are The Shamen, Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia, The Irresistible Force or Speedy J. of the New beat scene in Belgium.

The influence of Ambient and New Age in Deep house, which originally appeared from jazz and soul sounds, led to the appearance of a series of artists from that same year who began to use sounds that in retrospect have been considered close to trance thus creating ambient trance, a concept considered simply ambient house by some sectors. This substyle draws dreamscapes with sound, mesmerizing the listener thanks to its intelligent way of using atmospheric sounds imported from the New Age, such as melodies that rise in key and with some symphonic arrangements, although mostly they are not danceable. They have come to be classified as ambient artists with trance elements in some of their work in the early 1990s such as Moby, Critical Rhythm or Astralasia, among others. That same year, German musician Harald Bluechel (aka Cosmic Baby) experimented with classic piano and synthesizer melodies with techno beats.

The first wave of what is retrospectively considered classic trance peaked in 1992 and declined sharply in 1994 with the rise of harder trance. This first wave of classics was dominated by German and UK producers and labels such as Eye Q/Harthouse, Rising High, FAX, ESP and MFS. Hits include Jam & Spoon with "Stella", Jaydee with "Plastic Dreams", Dance 2 Trance with "Power of American Natives&# 34;, Cygnus X with "Superstring" and Cosmic Baby with "Café del Mar". Other references, Oliver Lieb and Paul van Dyk started recording remixes of almost all trance producers with tribal or ethnic fusion, space trance... considering themselves in retrospect as trance. At the same time, some groups begin to include trance elements in euro house productions such as Opus III, Transformer 2 or Snap.

The first volumes of Trancemaster compilations contain some tracks in the Acid Trance style, just like the Classic trance tracks. The difference is that while Acid Trance tracks focus more on the line changes of the Roland TB-303, classic trance has more atmospheric tracks, uses softer synth lines and other Ambient elements. Thus, the line between these two styles is quite marked even though they emerged almost at the same time.

First productions in India

Another trend in the creation of Trance music was the evolution of psychedelic rock towards sounds typical of acid house in conjunction with traditional Indian music, thus giving birth to goa trance around 1991, although the term goa trance itself was not used until 1994. Some of the earliest tracks labeled goa are from a 1992 Gaia Tontrager compilation featuring artists such as M.T. or S.M.I.L.E . Some of the main supporters of the evolution of Goan music in the 1990s were: Juno Reactor, Goa Gil, Astral Projection , MFG, Man With No Name, Transwave, The Infinity Project or Hallucinogen .

The first specific label was Dragonfly Records, which released the Project II Trance & Underground French-Kommunication. Many goan labels were then founded in London after Paul Oakenfold gave the genre sound legitimacy on "The Essential Mix", a popular radio show on BBC Radio 1. Many of the fans of goa Trance consider the "Ethnic Tribute" 12 as a style milestone.

The genre acid trance is often confused with psytrance and goa trance. For this reason it is not uncommon to see many of the artists of the acid scene appear on goa trance albums. However, many of these artists did not consider themselves part of the Goan or psychedelic scene although their records were made by record labels that have been released alongside Goan artists.

Evolution in the 1990s

Around 1994 in Germany and neighboring countries began to merge Trance elements with the prevailing Hardcore and Gabber of the moment, initially giving rise to Hard Acid Trance with harder sounds with artists like Emmanuel Top, Hardfloor or Kai Tracid, and Tech-Trance (or German Trance) with loud kick and filtered, dirty or slightly distorted sounds. While early variants of trance often included piano, strings, or acoustic guitar, "Tech trance" it almost exclusively features synthesized sound, although electric guitar sounds occasionally appear. The main artists are Oliver Lieb, Humate, Chris Cowie or Marmionque. That same year "Revival" of Dance 2 Trance with themes of classic trance, tech and the incipient hard. It is also worth noting the inclusion of trance elements in Eurodance productions, being the beginning of Vocal trance with artists such as Culture Beat, Captain Hollywood, Magic Affair, Jam & Spoon, Caballero or the album "Welcome to tomorrow" of Snap!.

Tech and hard acid quickly fell into the background due to the rise of Hard trance that emerged from the fusion of the two. A more aggressive, acid and dark hard trance had a great following in Europe for several years. Known artists are Commander Tom, Cocooma or Leyend B among others. A small subgenre of space-based hard trance had partial success with songs by Sumbeam, Cosmic Gate or Jones & Stephenson among others.

At the end of 1995 dream trance appeared with Robert Miles as its greatest exponent, with his songs "Children" and "Fable", a style of music which mixed adagios along with piano touches, elements already present before but combined in a very particular way. In a short time it merged with the progressive house of the time. giving rise to progressive trance, an equally melodic but more monotonous style in which more elements are added as the song progresses. Some important artists are Armin Van Buuren, Paul van Dyk or Markus Schulz. On the other hand, the balearic beat took elements of the dream trance giving rise to the Balearic Trance. The greatest exponents are Chicane, Energy 52 and ATB.

At that time, 1996, goa trance gradually lost its Indian sonority, turning to more purely synthetic, dark and repetitive sounds, giving rise to Psytrance. The sound is more techno with German productions like X-Dream or Planet BEN and Scandinavians with a colder and harder sound. Featured artists: Atmos, Koxbox or Son Kite. This in turn reaches scenes in disparate places in the world, generating sub-styles such as Suomisaundi, also known as spugedelic trance, which originated in Finland in the mid-1990s and has many of the characteristics of Finnish folk fused with psytance and goa trance with artists like Peninpala. An important scene was also created in Israel with high energy Full-on trance at the peak moments of the songs. He often has crisp, energetic, melodic bass lines featuring artists such as 1200 Micrograms, Growling Mad Scientists, Astrix, Infected Mushroom and Talamasca.

Around 1997, hard trance declined in popularity and split into two; the uplifting trance, which incorporates more elaborate melodies using arpeggios and giving rise to a euphoric sound, with producers and dj's such as DJ Tiesto, System F or Marco V as representative figures, and hardstyle, with influences from hard house, acid house and hardcore that consists of a deep and strong sound of bass drums, intense uncontrolled or inverted bass lines that accompany the rhythm, a synthesizer playing a melody, and sounds both distorted and melodic with a beat of around 135-145 BPM with artists such as DJ Zany, Lady Dana, DJ Isaac, DJ Pavo, DJ Luna and The Prophet.

Euro trance appears as an evolution of eurodance and hard trance with artists like Milk Inc or DJ Sammy.

Trance music from 2000

Around 2001, Trance music is the majority in electronic dance music productions. The EuroTrance sound is losing popularity in favor of Vocal Trance reinvigorated with elements of Uplifting trance with artists like Kate Ryan, Silver, "io", Lasgo or Ian Van Dahl and enjoyed great popularity until 2005, declining in favor of new sounds like Electro House.

The tech trance returned to take center stage during the 2000s with harder (techno) and synthesized trance sounds, giving a twist to the style of the previous decade of structure techno and elements (trance). >Owen Vallis and DJ Amber. By 2006, it was the most widespread and evolving variant of trance with producers including Dave Schiemann, Simon Patterson, Bryan Kearney, Will Atkinson, Matt Bowdidge, Indecent Noise, Marco V, Tempo Giusto, and Mark Sherry. Subsequently, fusions with Electro house have been generated with productions by Arty or Omnia among others (electro Trance).

The Psytrance continues to evolve and the variants progressive psytrance appear, combining the elements of progressive Trance with complex developments of psytrance with artists like Astrix or Protonica, and darker dark psytrance at the heavier end of the psychedelic trance spectrum with a tempo of about 148 BPM and more. Developed mainly in Germany and Russia with artists such as C-P-C, Kindzadza and Ocelot. As well as other related styles including psycore (fast and crazy), hi-tech (Hardcore techno and glitch) and forest (organic and earthly). Gradually and transforming these styles, a new sub-style appears in China characterized by having a dark, deep and scatological background that leads to deep meditation on death, night and transcendence. Often with gloomy sounds and heavy bass lines. Native artists such as Acid Echoes, Harry Ho or Yi and international artists such as Atoned Splendor (UK), Floveet (FR), Rigel Made (IT), Shak (IND), Spaceghost (US) or Trixphonic (TW).

Trance after its popularization

In an alternative way to the aforementioned evolution, some artists have tried to merge trance with other genres such as drum and bass. Others have experimented with more minimalist sounds, it is also called the sentimental genre, there are also feats or duets.

However, there is still a whole current of trance that maintains a loyal following, even though the time when they had their success on the trance scene was in the mainstream years. Among the exponents of this current are artists such as Armin van Buuren, Gareth Emery, Tiësto, Paul Van Dyk, Kai Tracid, ATB, Dash Berlin, Mauro Picotto, Brian Transeau or BT, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, Lukas Mors, Paul Oakenfold, Orkidea, Solarstone, Deniz Aydin, Johan Gielen, Simon Thaur, Vincent De Moor, Christopher Lawrence (DJ) and George Acosta; list in which there are several djs who have abandoned the trance scene to venture into other genres of electronic music EDM.

Trance genres

Trance music is divided into many subgenres. Chronologically, the main genres are acid trance, classic trance, goa trance, tech trance, hard trance, dream trance, progressive trance, psycho trance, balearic trance, uplifting trance, eurotrance and vocal trance.

It is important to distinguish between European trance and goa trance that originated in Goa (India) at the same time that trance arose in Europe. goa trance had a great influence on the formation of psychedelic trance.

See List of Trance music subgenres

Trance in Spain

The first recordings in which elements of trance music can be identified come from some songs by the Valencian group Megabeat between 1990 and 1992. A pioneering group in Spain of the techno sound, which fused with EBM and New beat laying the foundations of what is known as the "Sound of Valencia" and precursor of the highly successful Mákina style, especially in eastern Spain (Catalonia, the Valencian Community and Murcia). This group used loops with a certain ambient and trance air in some of their songs, as in "Destination" under the alias Interfront in 1991. That same year, and also in Valencia, Boa Club released the song "Tineblas" with some Trance element. It also contains a trance cutting loop of the song "Heaven" of Made in Valencia in some bars.

On the other hand Megabeat also made some experimental songs based on Techno or EBM with synthpop sounds and pianos minimalist assimilable to ambient trance on songs like "Limits", "Story of another time", "The mercy beat" or the version of "Struggle for pleasure", original by the Belgian group Soft Verdict.

In 1992 Apetece launched "Compliche" with very similar piano sounds". Transparent Dreams with "Time Is Imaginary" adds atmospheric synths and New World with "Beats of the Trance" for his part, he adds some hypnotic loops to the piano compositions.

The following year, with the same type of sound is "Classics" from Genova or "The dream is just in my mind" of Piropo, and a year later Committe with "Trance Line". With more minimalist sounds Terminal with "Poem without words" and "Maximizing the audience".

In that year of 1994, the Makina sound was already booming in Spain and merged with Trance in a peculiar way. For several years many DJs have made productions of HardTrance with makina nuances such as Kike Boy, Alberto Tapias and Pedro Miras or Pastis & Buenri among others with different nicknames, or with Progressive Trance with Julio Posadas, DJ Chus & DJ Beto or Koque RV, also with different nicknames.

IN the heat of the sudden rise of Dream Trance in 1996, some national labels produced some tracks with characteristics very similar to the famous "Children" like Vienna or some songs from Spectrum and Amen.

As for Euro Trance, an internationally renowned artist is DJ Sammy. Also a widely used term is the so-called "Trance State " which is widely used today and in which this type of music is usually used in the background.

In 2016 topics like "Orbital Reentry" or "Light Parade" by the producer of Progressive Trance and Cantabrian House DaveBlanch under the influence of international artists such as DeadMau5 or the Italian producer living in Spain Vitodito.

Structure of trance music

Classic trance uses 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 125 to 150 BPM, and 32-beat phrases and is somewhat faster than house music. A kick drum is usually placed on every downbeat and an open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat or every octave division. Additional percussion elements are usually added, and main transitions, builds, or climaxes are often lengthy, ending with a rapid succession of snare hits that bring speed, frequency, and volume back towards the end of the phrase.

Fast arpeggios and minor keys are common features of Trance, the latter being almost universal. Trance tracks often use a "hook" central, or melody, which runs through most of the song, repeating at intervals between 2 beats and 32 bars, as well as harmonies and motifs in different timbres of the central melody. Instruments are added or removed every 4, 8, 16, or 32 bars.

In the section before the break, the main melody is often introduced in a simplified, piecemeal form, to give the audience a "flavour" of what they will hear at the end of the break. Then the final climax is usually "a culmination of the first part of the track mixed in with the main melody".

As is the case with many dance music tracks, Trance music tracks are often built with sparser intros (mix-ins) and others ("mix-outs") in order to allow to the DJs mixing them immediately. As trance is more melodic and harmonic than other electronic dance music, constructing trance tracks in the correct way is particularly important to avoid dissonance (or "clashing de claves", i.e. out of tune some of them). other).

Most recent forms of trance music incorporate other styles and elements of electronic music such as electro and progressive house into their production. It emphasizes harder bass lines and drum rhythms that lessen the importance of offbeats and focuses primarily on a 4 on the floor pattern. The tempo of the newer styles tends to be on par with house music, at 120 - 135 BPM. Unlike trance, however, recent forms of trance remain true to their melodic breaks and longer transitions.

Factors that make trance an emotional genre

Human beings are suggestible by nature to a greater or lesser extent (depending on the resistance to the stimulus) and this allows both physical and psychological perception to be altered. From the activity of the so-called shamans, who sang certain melodies with repetitive sounds to cure their patients of some pain, to the staging of liturgies since ancient times throughout the world with repetitive rhythms or melodies, human beings have sought the possibility of activate a psychological mechanism in which the person abandons himself to certain external or internal conditions and experiences an altered state of consciousness, which in the case of trance music would be related to the concept of spiritual illumination.

This alteration obtained with some of the elements of the trance sound can influence the unconscious through slight modifications of normal behavior that can be increased by being able to "suffer" slight sensations of analgesia and euphoria or even, in collective meetings due to the tendency to ritual imitation (raves or discos) and other hypnotic elements, such as changing lighting, leading to possible temporary hallucinations. (initial phase of hypnosis).

This is due to the functioning of some of the brain waves present in the activity of our brain, in particular theta waves that cause states of creativity by synchronizing the two cerebral hemispheres and reducing the level of beta waves that respond excessively to states of turmoil and disorder.

The repetitive loops and orchestral sounds contained in trance music work on the fundamentals of binaural beats activating theta waves (3.5 to 7.5 hz) that provide the heady and dreamy feeling (hypnotic loops) and alpha waves (from 8 to 12 hz) that are relaxing and provide the feeling of well-being (melodic chords of synth or samples of warm orchestral instrumentation such as piano, guitar, sax...). If, finally, we add a dance rhythm that coincides with that of the pumping of the heart when performing a moderate exercise, such as dancing, between 125 and 160 beats, the sensations of euphoria, hyper-consciousness or well-being that music offers trance, but always depending on the voluntary suggestion of musical stimulation.