Trance music

[BSHC]

Trance music

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Trance
Stylistic origins	Techno, House, Electronic Music, Industrial
Cultural origins	Late 1980s, India; Early 1990s: Germany, and then Sweden, and the Netherlands
Typical instruments	Synthesizer, Keyboard, Drum machine, Sequencer, Sampler
Mainstream popularity	High
Derivative forms	Psychedelic trance
Subgenres
Acid, Classic, Euro, Goa, Hard, Progressive, Tech, Uplifting, (Full list)
Fusion genres
Futurepop, Hardstyle, Trancestep
Other topics
Raves - Glowsticking

Trance is a style of electronic music that developed in the 1980s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 160 BPM, featuring repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track. It often features crescendos and breakdowns. Sometimes vocals are also utilized. The style is arguably derived from a combination of largely electronic music such as ambient music, techno, and house. The origin of the term is ambiguous with suggestions that the term is derived from the Klaus Schulze album Trancefer or the early trance act Dance 2 Trance though it is likely that both these uses are linked to the perceived ability of a drum beat to induce altered states of consciousness, aka a trance. As this music is almost always played in nightclubs at popular vacation spots and in inner cities, trance can be understood as a form of club music.

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[edit] History

[edit] Origin

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of "What Time Is Love?" and "3 a.m. Eternal" (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound - as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave); and the 1988 track "Kylie Said Trance". The KLF labelled these early recordings "Pure Trance"; they were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and 'underground' in sound. While the KLF's works are clear examples of Proto-trance, two songs, both from 1990, are widely regarded as being the first "true" trance records. The first, Age of Love's self-titled debut single was released in early 1990 and is seen as creating the basis for the original trance sound to come out of Germany. The second track was Dance 2 Trance's "We Came in Peace", the b-side of their own self-titled debut single.

The trance sound beyond this acid-era genesis is said to have begun as an off-shoot of techno in German clubs during the very early 1990s. Frankfurt is often cited as a birthplace of trance. Some of the earliest pioneers of the genre included Jam El Mar, Oliver Lieb, Sven Väth, and Torsten Stenzel, who all produced numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q, Harthouse, Superstition, Rising High, FAX +49-69/450464 and MFS Records were Frankfurt based. Arguably a fusion of techno and house music, early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones which were appropriated from the style of house popular in Europe's club scene at that time. However, the melodies in trance differed from euro/club house in that although they tended to be emotional and uplifting, they did not "bounce around" in the same way that house did. This early music tended to be characterized by hypnotic and melodic qualities and typically involved repeating rhythmic patterns added over an appropriate length of time as a track progressed.

[edit] Popular trance

By the mid-1990s trance, specifically Progressive trance, which emerged from acid trance much as Progressive house had emerged from Acid house, had emerged commercially as one of the dominant genres of dance music. Progressive trance set in stone the basic formula of modern trance by becoming even more focused on the anthemic basslines and lead melodies, moving away from hypnotic, repetitive, arpeggiated analog synth patterns and spacey pads. Popular elements and anthemic pads became more widespread. Compositions leaned towards incremental changes (aka progressive structures), sometimes composed in thirds (as BT frequently does). Meanwhile, a different type of trance, generally called uplifting trance was becoming popular. Uplifting trance had buildups and breakdowns that were longer and more exaggerated, being more direct and less subtle than progressive, with more easily identifiable tunes and anthems. Many such trance tracks follow a set form, featuring an introduction, steady build, a breakdown, and then an anthem, a form aptly called the "build-breakdown-anthem" form. Uplifting vocals, usually female, were also becoming more and more preval‎ent, adding to trance's popular appeal.

Immensely popular, trance found itself filling a niche that was 'edgier' than house, more soothing than drum and bass, and more melodic than techno, which made it accessible to a wider audience. Artists like Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, Robert Miles, Above & Beyond, Darren Tate, Ferry Corsten, Johan Gielen, ATB and Paul Oakenfold came to the forefront as premier producers and remixers, bringing with them the emotional, "epic" feel of the style. Many of these producers also DJ'd in clubs playing their own productions as well as those by other trance DJs. By the end of the 1990s, trance remained commercially huge, but had fractured into an extremely diverse genre. Some of the artists that had helped create the trance sound in the early and mid-1990s had, by the end of the decade, abandoned trance completely in favor of more underground sounds - artists of particular note here include Pascal F.E.O.S. and Oliver Lieb.

As trance entered the mainstream it alienated many of its original fans. As the industry became bigger, record labels, Ibiza based producers, clubs (most notably Ministry of Sound) and DJs began to alter their sound to more of a pop based one, so as to make the sound more accessible to an even wider, and younger, audience.

[edit] Post-popular trance

An alternative evolution would be to fuse trance with other genres such as drum'n'bass, various artists have attempted this but it has still to break into acceptance even in the underground. Frustrated, extreme versions of trance have mutated through gabba into violent fringe genres of "hard-trance" such as terrorcore and drillcore.

Trance more loyal to its roots has begun to rear its head on the internet more recently however, with the abundance of legal music download sites - including the likes of Juno Download, Audiojelly, Trackitdown, and Beatport, - enabling enthusiasts to avoid having to track down hard to find vinyl by downloading mp3s and uncompressed wavs, updated on a weekly basis. As a result, both commercial and progressive trance now have a much more global, if not chart-bound, presence, with big-draw artists such as Tiësto, ATB, Markus Schulz, Armin van Buuren, BT, Paul van Dyk, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, Paul Oakenfold, Johan Gielen, Enigma, Schiller, Solarstone and the US's Christopher Lawrence and George Acosta able to maintain their esteemed positions while upcoming producers and DJs can also breakthrough into the public domain.

[edit] Trance production

Trance employs a 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 130 to 160 BPM, and 32 beat phrases, somewhat faster than house music but usually not as fast as Goa Trance or Psychedelic Trance. Early tracks were sometimes slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often foreshadowed by lengthy 'snare rolls' - a quick succession of equally spaced snare drum hits that builds in volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.

Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple sawtooth-based sounds used both for short pizzicato elements and for long, sweeping string sounds. A technique called "gating" is often employed in creating these lead sounds (turning the volume up and down rapidly in rhythm with the piece to create a stuttered, chopped sound). Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook" melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars.

While many trance tracks contain no vocals at all, other tracks rely heavily on vocals, and thus a sub-genre has developed. The sound and quality of the production relies to a large degree upon the technology available. Vintage analog equipment still holds a place in the hearts of many producers and enthusiasts, with names such as Moog, Roland and Oberheim staples in the trance sound palette. However, the mainstream availability of digital technology has allowed a whole new group of producers to emerge due to the fact that while top shelf digital (or analog modeling) synthesizers cost thousands of US dollars, high demand and a small supply of clean vintage analog synthesizers causes them to be extremely expensive.

Trance records are often heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synthesizer sounds, vocals and often parts of the percussion section. This provides the tracks with the sense of vast space that trance producers tend to look for in order to achieve the genre's epic quality. Flangers, phasers and other effects are also commonly used at extreme settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to resemble any real-world instrument, and so producers have free rein.

As is the case with many dance music tracks, trance tracks are usually built with sparser intros and outros in order to enable DJs to blend them together more readily. As trance is more melodic and harmonic than much dance music, the construction of trance tracks in such a way is particularly important in order to avoid dissonant (or "key clashing," i.e., out of tune with one another) mixes by DJs who do not mix harmonically. This is a technique generally employed throughout dance music (in its various forms) and records that adhere to this "build up, strip down" arrangement during intros and outros are referred as being "DJ friendly".

[edit] Trance genres

Main articles: Trance genres and List of electronic music genres

[edit] Trance festivals

Some of the best known Trance festivals in the world are held in the Netherlands and Great Britain.

[edit] The Netherlands

Some of the best festivals are displayed in the Netherlands. Trance festivals in the Netherlands are mainly organized by three companies ID&T, UDC and Q-Dance:

• Tiësto In Concert Amsterdam: is a gig only performance by Tiësto. Organized by ID&T
• Armin Only, Ahoy, Rotterdam: the only DJ to mix at this event is the very popular Armin Van Buuren. Organized by UDC.
• Dance Valley, Netherlands: an outdoor festival organized by UDC.
• Qlimax, Gelredome, Anthem (20,000 visitors): a Hardstyle, Hard Trance event which has been gaining in popularity recently. Renowned for its impressive laser show. Organized by Q-Dance.
• Sensation, Amsterdam Arena (80,000 visitors on two nights). Not a trance-only festival, many genres such as house and hardstyle coexist. Famous for the venue (a football stadium) and the lightshow. Organized by ID&T.
• Trance Energy, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht (30,000 visitors): a festival which features only trance music, and very popular for diehard fans of trance. Many well-received DJs have played sets at this event, helping to create its fame. Organized by ID&T.
• Impulz Festival, At the Brabanthallen,'s-Hertogenbosch ( 20,000 visitors ) which started as a try-out, became a festival well known, in the BeNeLux countries, France and Germany.

[edit] Great Britain

• Global Gathering festival, promoted by the Angel Music Group. The weekend long Global Gathering held every summer features the Godskitchen arena as its centerpiece, showcasing the best trance and techno acts in the world and attracting 45,000 people between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday morning. The organization promotes other stadium trance events under the Godskitchen brand, the largest being Godskitchen: A Gift From The Gods which brought 12,000 revelers to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK back in April 2003.
• Cream's annual Creamfields festival has also showcased an 10,000 capacity trance arena for the last 8 years at various venues across the United Kingdom.
• Gatecrasher also promote sporadic events and have in the past also used venues such as Birmingham N.E.C. Gatecrasher is currently on hiatus until further notice due to fire damage.
• South West Four held every summer has come a long way since beginning as a backyard party it found its home on Clapham Common, London. Since then moving to Cardiff in 2006. Packing the big names in one day it is a chance to top up your tan whilst listening to the great live acts without having to pay hundreds for a week in Ibiza.
• PlanetLove, Northern Ireland also has had a thriving trance scene since the early 90's, at the legendary Kelly's Complex in Portrush, shooting local trance pioneers such as DJs X-ray & Si into the Northern Ireland Dance Music Hall of Fame. PlanetLove holds a yearly festival in both the North and South of Ireland, and numerous other events on a smaller scale. Major DJs have performed at PlanetLove events such as Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk and Tiesto.

[edit] Non-European festivals

• Monster massive, a Los Angeles Sports Arena event held once a year around the night of Halloween. Typically an audience of 15,000+ electronica enthusiasts attend.
• Ultra Music Festival, Miami, Florida, USA: (80,000 visitors): A two day-long event with eleven stages playing various genres of electronic music with the main stage focusing on trance. Famous for their impressive lineup of the most famous and influential DJs in the world along with pyrotechnics and light/laser shows.
• Ultraworld and Universe Kryal Castle, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia: a 12 hour long event, comprising mainly Hardstyle, Hard Dance and Hard Trance (also featuring happy hardcore) event held in a replicated medieval castle.
• World Electronic Music Festival: held annually in Canada, this three-day-long outdoor event, comprising mainly of Trance, Hard Dance and Jungle (also featuring happy hardcore) has been held for the past ten years. It is also known as WEMF.
• Winter Music Conference: held annually toward the end of Northern Hemisphere winter in Miami, WMC is a week-long conference and festival featuring many of the hottest DJs in the world each year.
• Love Fest: Held Annually in San Francisco, CA. Formerly known as the Love Parade. Typically an audience of 60,000+ watch the elaborate parade of famous DJs down Market Street to end at San Francisco City Hall for an impromptu dance party. Love Fest is followed by the Official Love Fest afterparty held at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium right next to the San Francisco City Hall. The event normally lasts from 12:00pm noon until 4:00am the next day. Many other events lead up to the main event throughout the week with guest DJs playing at many of the clubs.

[edit] Other

• Portugal: Boom Festival (the last edition was in Idanha-a-Nova) since 1997. This event is an outdoor festival running every two years with a duration of several days, focusing in psychedelic goa trance. The festival also features workshops, presentations, and cinema.
• Germany: Full Moon Trance Festival This event is held during July 7-12th between the cities of Wittstock and Roebel, Germany. This festival celebrates psychedelic trance. In the year 2006 trance artists such as: Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, Astrix, Space Tribe, 1200 Mics, GMS, Etnica, Oforia, Tristan, Perplex, Atomic Pulse, Electric Universe and Parasense plus many others were lined up to play. [1]

Many other countries lack such festivals due to legal restrictions. Public prosecution departments in many countries — notably France — have been reluctant to give permits for techno and trance events, due to perceived drug issues.^{[citation needed]} Recently however, ID&T has been expanding operations and begun to organize festivals in Belgium and Germany which have become very popular in these countries.

트랜스(trance)는 1980년대에 만들어진 전자 음악의 한 종류로, 테크노와 하우스 음악에서 파생된 장르이다. 트랜스 음악은 130-160 BPM의 속도로 몽환적인 느낌의 신디사이저 멜로디가 사용되는 것이 특징이다. ‘트랜스’라는 이름은 반복되는 비트와 약동하는 멜로디가 듣는 사람을 무아지경(trance)의 상태로 만든다는 것에서 유래하였다. 트랜스 음악은 주로 클럽에서 연주되고 클럽 뮤직으로 분류되지만, 선율적인 트랜스는 클럽이 아닌 곳에서 즐기기 위해 듣는 사람도 있다.

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[편집] 트랜스의 갈래

• 애시드 트랜스 (Acid Trance) : 애시드 테크노에서 파생된 초기 트랜스의 갈래 중 하나로, 1990년대 초반 유행했다. 롤랜드의 신디사이저인 TB-303의 소리가 자주 사용된 것이 특징이다.
• 업리프팅 트랜스/에픽 트랜스 (Uplifting Trance/Epic Trance) : 1990년대 후반에 등장한 트랜스의 갈래로 선율적인 멜로디와 기승전결이 뚜렷한 구성이 특징이다. 브레이크 다운 (일시적인 음량 감소나 정적) 후의 업 리프팅 (음량 증가 및 음원 추가) 이 두드러지는 비교적 대중적인 트랜스이다.
• 고아 트랜스 (Goa Trance) : 인도의 고아지방에서 탄생한 트랜스의 갈래로, 1990년대 초반에 만들어졌다. 후에 사이키델릭 트랜스로 발전했다.
• 사이키델릭 트랜스 (Psychedelic Trance) : 고아 트랜스로부터 파생된 장르로, 고아 트랜스보다 하드하고 무기질적인 음원을 사용하는 것이 특징이다. 사이트랜스 (Psytrance)라고도 불리며 고아 트랜스와 함께 취급되는 경우가 많다.
• 하드스타일 (Hardstyle)
• 프로그레시브 트랜스 (Progressive Trance)
• 드림 트랜스 (Dream Trance) : 1995-1997 년 즈음에 유행했던 트랜스로, 몽환적이고 아름다운 선율이 특징이다. 주로 피아노가 많이 등장한다. 에픽 트랜스에 영향을 주었다. 드림 하우스라고도 불린다.

우선 트랜스(Trance) 장르의 소속을 살펴보면, 넓은 범주의 일렉트로니카(Electronica) 장르를 댄스와 일렉트로니카로 일단 나누고, 다시 좁은 범주의 일렉트로니카 장르에 속하는 것이 바로 트랜스 장르입니다.

(댄스와 일렉트로니카를 칼로 베듯이 확연히 구분할 수 있는 것은 아니지만, 일반적으로 댄스에는 팝적인 요소들 - 악기 구성이라거나 편곡 등의 기법에 있어 - 이 다분하여, 대중 친화력에 있어 일렉트로니카보다 더 큰 비중을 두고 있다고 생각하시면 되겠습니다. 모호한 기준일지 모르겠지만, "대중성과 예술성"을 잣대로 본다면 대중성을 중시하는 것이 댄스 장르, 음악적 예술성을 중시하는 것이 일렉트로니카라고 볼 수 있습니다.)

"트랜스"라는 단어의 사전적 의미는 '황홀, 열중, 무아지경, 실신, 혼수 내지 최면상태'등으로, 더 거슬러 올라가면 '영적(靈的)인 존재와 교감하는 과정에서 경험하게 되는 일련의 일탈적 정신상태'를 지칭하는 말입니다. 우리가 어떠한 종류의 음악을 일컬어 '트랜스 장르다'라고 부르기 시작한 것은 1990년대 초반으로, 그 원류는 독일의 하드코어 테크노에서 찾아볼 수 있습니다. (※ 테크노Techno 장르의 시초는 1980년대 미국 디트로이트 언더그라운드로서, 미국에서 비주류에 머물던 것이 영국이나 독일 등 유럽 각국으로 전파되면서 미국과는 달리 '주류 장르'로 편입된 것이 그 시작점입니다. 따라서 트랜스보다는 테크노가 약 10년 정도 먼저 등장했다고 보는 것이 맞습니다.)

사용되는 악기를 살펴보면, 트랜스의 상위 장르라 할 수 있는 일렉트로니카와 마찬가지로 주로 신디사이저를 사용한 멜로디와 베이스, 전자드럼을 사용한 비트를 전면에 내세우고 있습니다. 악기 구성이 동일하므로, 우리가 진정한 '트랜스' 장르의 색채를 구분할 수 있는 것은 '어떤 식으로 편곡하는가'에 달려있습니다. 트랜스 장르는 완전히 동일한 몇 마디의 신디사이저 리프(riff)를 트랙 전체에 걸쳐 무한대로 반복하는 형태를 띠고 있습니다. 곡 중간에 일부 리듬 패턴이 변용되는 구간에 있어서는 리프의 멜로디도 다소 변주되는 경우가 있지만, 전반적으로는 거의 최면을 걸다시피 동일한 리프만을 반복하게 됩니다. 이러한 편곡의 의도는 듣는 이들로 하여금 앞서 언급한 '트랜스'라는 단어의 정의대로, 일종의 무의식 최면 상태에 도달하게끔 하는 것입니다. 특정 종교와는 당연히 무관하지만, 불특정 다수를 그 대상으로 음악을 통해 어떠한 집단 정서를 유발시킨다는 차원에서 본다면 분명 '종교와 같은 성질'은 있다고 보는 것이 맞을 것입니다.

트랜스 장르는 1990년대 중반 들면서 다소 침체되고 외면받는 분위기였지만, '90년대 후반 들어 다시 (특히 유럽의) 클럽 및 댄스홀을 중심으로 각광받으면서 가장 인기있는 일렉트로니카 장르 중 하나로 급성장했습니다. 그리고 앞서 정의한 '댄스 음악'과는 그 출발을 달리 했지만, 본질적으로 강력한 중독성을 가졌기에 점차 대중의 많은 사랑을 받으며 오늘에 이르고 있습니다.

독일 프랑크푸르트에 위치한 Harthouse/Eye Q 레코드와, 벨기에 겐트에 위치한 R&S 레코드 등은 최초로 트랜스 음반을 발매한 레이블로 기록되고 있습니다. R&S 레코드에서는 Joey Beltram의 "Energy Flash", CJ Bolland의 "The Ravesignal", Robert Leiner, Sun Electric 등의 음반을 출시한 바 있으며, 1992년 Sven Väth, Heinz Roth, Matthias Hoffman이 모여 설립한 Harthouse 레코드는 트랜스의 등장을 전세계에 확실히 각인시킨 Hardfloor의 "Hardtrance Acperience"와 Sven Väth의 "L'Esperanza", 그리고 Arpeggiators, Spicelab, Barbarella 등의 음반을 발표하며 일찌감치 시장을 선점했습니다. 사실상 이들에 의해 '트랜스'라는 장르가 상업적 대중음악의 한 장르로서 분명한 정체성을 갖게 되었다고 해도 과언이 아닙니다.

한때 잠시나마 트립합과 정글 비트 등의 비약적인 성장에 가려 뒤로 밀려났던 트랜스 장르는 1990년대 후반 영국 런던의 하우스 클럽들에서 짧은 시간 안에 다시 주목받기 시작했는데, 이 시기의 트랜스는 독일이나 벨기에 등 동유럽 풍의 강력한 오라를 지닌 것이 아니라 유로 댄스나 일반적인 하우스 장르와의 접목을 통해 이른바 '프로그레시브 트랜스'로 재정립되는 과정을 겪었습니다. 지나친 리프와 프레이즈의 반복에 식상함을 느낀 트랜스 아티스트들은 조금 더 대중 친화적인 형태의 트랜스를 선보였고, 여기에 대중들이 크게 호응했던 것이 그 배경이었습니다. 이러한 분위기를 타고 큰 인기를 얻은 영국 출신 트랜스 DJ들로는 Paul Oakenfold, Pete Tong, Tony De Vit, Danny Rampling, Sasha, Judge Jules 등이 있으며, 이들은 런던 클럽 씬을 거의 장악하다시피 하며 미국 음반시장에도 일정 부분 영향을 미쳤습니다. 미국을 무대로 활동한 Christopher Lawrence, Kimball Collins 등의 DJ들이 그 좋은 예라 하겠습니다.

일렉트로니카의 하위 장르 가운데 트랜스와 유전적으로 밀접한 관계에 있는 다른 장르들로는 액시드 테크노(Acid Techno), 프로그레시브 하우스(Progressive House), 미니멀 테크노(Minimal Techno) 등을 꼽습니다. 또한 트랜스 장르의 명반으로 꼽히는 것들로는 다음과 같은 음반들이 있습니다.