Trance

jemmons · 2025-03-27T20:52:51.425Z

Every Bluffmunkey video over at Sonic Academy is worth it, but he did a particularly nice series on How to Make Classic Trance.

He does that in the box, but limits himself just a few bus FX, simple EQ, and a handful of tracks to mimic what he used to do in hardware. So very translatable into DAWless.

no-thanks · 2025-03-27T21:09:14.544Z

Good call, maybe so. That is something else I haven’t revisited in many years.

happymozg · 2025-03-27T21:26:45.623Z

my favorite mix)

bangonadigi · 2025-03-28T01:59:24.080Z

Something about the tempo of these new tracks just turns me off for some reason…I don’t mind fast techno and used to love 90s trance/prog…not sure what it is but after about 4 bars I know it’s not for me.

stevebk · 2025-03-28T02:05:19.928Z

I find the 90s era 136bpm just sounds right to me

DJCHEMIE · 2025-03-28T02:13:15.014Z

For trance lovers, I will have a 7-track “album” later this year. I think 2-3 of them have late 90s trance sound. Other ones, not sure. People who listen can decide. @nirun had mentioned one of my older tracks could be a good trance track candidate and it all started there. After that I couldn’t stop making more…

To me trance is the most emotional music genre out there. I started listening to electronic music with trance and never felt like “yes, this tune is epic!” No, it was always “wow this sounds more sad than the other…” etc. I am drawn to those sounds, melodies and scales/modes.

HoodWolf · 2025-03-28T06:55:27.431Z

The site kept glitching when I was scrolling through. This is probably my favorite.

DavidL · 2025-03-28T07:46:31.229Z

DJCHEMIE:

For trance lovers, I will have a 7-track “album” later this year. I think 2-3 of them have late 90s trance sound

Cool, looking forward to it!

fixme · 2025-03-28T12:04:42.868Z

Why today 's music just sound like crap.

jm2c · 2025-03-28T13:11:54.495Z

I grew up listening to Eye Q trance classics, and still do listen to them from time to time. I wish there was more of stuff like that, not really into the progressive “kiksu” sounds of the 00s to be honest… But isnt that the stuff the kids are into these days?

no-thanks · 2025-03-28T13:26:52.677Z

The fun thing about rediscovering it now is that years ago all I was really listening to was the probably mainstream vocal trance, like Tiesto and BT, so now in my advanced age I get to explore all the hidden gems I missed.

Keep the recs coming!

tdmusic · 2025-03-28T14:21:49.253Z

Same! There is so much good stuff. Especially the earlier 90s stuff

Pulsar · 2025-04-05T19:01:50.640Z

Trance on the progressive side…

tdmusic · 2025-04-05T20:46:38.563Z

Man Holden was amazing back then. Still super talented and interesting but I really loved his earlier stuff, both this proggy stuff and also the slightly later period where his stuff got a bit more fucked up but still 4/4 (The Sky Was Pink etc).

That Mad Dogs track is one of my all time faves. Used really well in this amazing Mixmag cover CD mix

Pulsar · 2025-04-05T22:07:46.769Z

It’s great stuff and has aged well imo. I’m always digging around for info on the production from those days.

no-thanks · 2025-04-05T22:47:09.334Z

Holden before The Idiots Are Winning is not something I was familiar with, excellent stuff.

tdmusic · 2025-04-06T07:10:11.633Z

You may have already seen it but I posted some stuff I’ve found up thread Trance - #71 by tdmusic

The courses mentioned here and here on producing classic trance on modern DAWs seem interesting.

Holden is interesting as he was an outlier at the time of this stuff. Most trance people were still using hardware with a MIDI-only DAW for arrangement but he was using the (amazing freeware) Buzz Tracker for all this stuff! So he was 100% ITB way before it was commonplace. Smart guy.

Any interesting stuff you’ve found?

tdmusic · 2025-04-06T07:30:31.393Z

Ah he did some lovely progressive trance stuff and was a bit of a sensation when he hit the scene as his production was a cut above most stuff around at the time. He was also only young. You should also check the stuff like his Britney Spears remix which I think came before “The Idiots”, where he still had some trance influence but was starting to go a bit weirder. I really like that era.

Not trance but have you heard his amazing At The Controls mix CD? His Balance mix gets all the love and it is very good (and more trancey) but I always preferred that one.

Pulsar · 2025-04-12T16:42:23.573Z

Great set too. I love this genre. I’d kill to be able to make tunes in this style.

Bcharlie · 2025-04-12T17:24:53.308Z

Always loved the sizzle of the HP filter of the Way Out West remix of Horizons.

A Break In The Clouds is a great one from his more rhythmically interesting beginning: