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is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s; generally characterized by a
tempo of between 120 and 145 bpm, repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that
builds up and breaks down throughout a track. It is a combination of many forms of music such as
techno, house, industrial, new age, pop, chill-out, ambient, electronic art music, classical music, and film
music. It is more melodic than Techno, and usually has harder beats than House. The origin of the term
is uncertain, with some suggesting that the term is derived from the Klaus Schulze album Trancefer
(1981) or the early trance act Dance 2 Trance. Moreover, the trance-oriented artists are considered as
the most popular DJs in the world. Indeed, in 12 of the last 13 years, trance DJs al ways ranked #1 in the
world in the DJ Mag ranking : Paul Oakenfold (1998-1999), Sasha (2000), Tiësto (2002-2003-2004), Paul
van Dyk (2005-2006), and Armin van Buuren (2007-2008-2009-2010).



[1]
Jean Michel Jarre - a pioneer of electronic music - released two highly influential albums in the late
[2]
1970s: Oxygène in 1976 and Equinoxe in 1978.

[„

]
The 1980s saw the further development of the genre ; Klaus Schulze - inspired by the work of
[„

]
Jarre in the previous decade - composed several albums of highly atmospheric, sequencer-
driven "experimental music"[„

]. Two of these albums - 1981's  „
 and 1987's  „ -
include the word "trance" in their titles. The albums share similarities with early trance music; and, for
[ ]
this reason, are sometimes labeled as "trance". Neil Young's 1982 electronic effort -   album -
bears striking resemblance to the trance music genre. [3]

In retrospect, some of the earliest identifiable trance recordings came from the acid house movement,
[„

]
with records such as "Jesus loves the acid" and groups such as Phuture . The word 'trance'
would often be used to describe the mood of the (often intoxicated) revelers at parties, clubs and raves,
[„

]
due to the repetitive nature of the music of the day . The crowd could 'trance out' to the
slightly metamorphosing sounds and simple, repetitive beats and dance movements. Another influential
[ ] [„

]
song of the time was Orbital's instantly recognizable "Chime" (1990) , which allegedly
[„

]
being produced with next to no money, went on to receive huge success .

[„

]
The trance sound beyond this acid-era genesis is said to have been an off-shoot of techno in
German and Belgian clubs during the very early 1990s. Age of Love's self-titled debut single which was
[ ]
released in early 1990 is seen by some as a basis for the original trance sound to come out of
[ ]
Belgium. Some consider "The Age of Love" to be the first true trance single.
Germany is often cited[„

] as a birthplace of trance culture. [„

] Some of the earliest
pioneers of the genre included Laurent Garnier, Jam El Mar, Oliver Lieb, and Sven Väth who all produced
numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q, Harthouse, Rising High Records 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. Also, the songs did not "bounce around" in the same way that house did and often contained
[„

]
unpredictable shifts in beat structure. These early forms of trance are now referred to as
classic trance and were longer and more abstract than the more danceable trance that was to follow.

' 


By the mid-1990s trance, progressive trance, which emerged from acid trance much as progressive
house had emerged from acid house, emerged commercially as one of the dominant genres of dance
music. Progressive trance has set in stone the basic formula of modern trance by becoming 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 continued to contain incremental changes (aka progressive structures),
sometimes composed in thirds.

Meanwhile, a different type of trance, generally called uplifting trance, became 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 wide audience. Artists like
Tiësto, Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren, Robert Miles, Above & Beyond, Darren Tate, Ferry Corsten,
Johan Gielen, ATB, Paul Oakenfold, Pulser and Third Element 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.

' . 


As an alternative evolution, some artists have attempted to fuse trance with other genres such as
drum'n'bass. Others have experimented with more minimalist sounds. Frustrated, extreme versions of
trance have mutated through gabber into fringe genres of "hard trance" or "hardstyle" overlapping with
[„

]
hardcore and terrorcore.

Trance more loyal to its roots has begun to rear its head on the internet with the abundance of legal
music download sites, including Juno Download, and Beatport, enabling enthusiasts to avoid tracking
down hard to find vinyl by downloading mp3s and uncompressed wavs. 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 Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Above & Beyond, Paul van Dyk, Tiësto, ATB, Markus
Schulz, Rank 1, Gareth Emery, Dash Berlin, Paul Oakenfold, and the US's Christopher Lawrence and
George Acosta able to maintain their esteemed positions while upcoming producers and DJs can also
break through into the public domain.



c 

In today's music, many artists have been influenced by Trance, and all of its sub genres, created songs,
with genres being mostly Electropop and Electrance which has brough about new talent like DJ Pioneer,
Kenneth Thomas, Nat Monday and other new artists mainly from some of the largest recording labels in
the Trance industry like Perfecto Records.


 


Classic trance usually employs a 4/4 time signature, a tempo of 130 to 155 BPM, 32 beat phrases, and is
somewhat faster than house music but usually not as fast as psychedelic trance. Occasionally, trance
may be faster and slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often
placed on the upbeat. 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.

Roland JP-8000, this synthesizer is famous because it incorporated the supersaw waveform

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. As with other genres of
electronic music, important synthesizers are the Roland TR-808, TR-909, and TB-303, which is the source
of the "acid" sound. There are also several synthesizer sounds that are almost completely unique to its
genre. One of these sounds is the "supersaw", a waveform made famous by such classic trance
synthesizers as the Roland JP-8000, the Novation Supernova, and the Korg MS2000. A technique called
"gating" is often employed in creating 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. 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 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. Records that adhere to this "build
up, strip down" arrangement during intros and outros are referred as being "DJ friendly". 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.



  

Trance music is broken into a large number of genres. Chronologically, the major genres are Classic
trance, Acid trance, Progressive trance, and Uplifting Trance. Uplifting Trance is also known as "Anthem
trance", "Epic trance", "Stadium trance" or "Euphoric trance". Closely related to Uplifting Trance is Euro-
trance, which has become a general term for a wide variety of highly commercialized European dance
music. Several subgenres are crossovers with other major genres of electronic music. For instance, tech
trance is a mixture of trance and techno, Vocal Trance adds vocals and a pop-like structure to the songs,
and Ambient trance is a mixture of ambient and trance. Balearic beat, which is associated with the laid
back vacation lifestyle of Ibiza, Spain, is often called "Ibiza trance". Similarly, Dream trance is sometimes
called "Dream House", and is a subgenre of relaxing trance pioneered by Robert Miles in the mid 90s. In
recent years, trance has been blended with elements of heavy metal music (mostly melodic death
metal). This fusion genre is often termed "
„
".

Chinese trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in China in 2000. It features accelerated
tempo, between 160 and 190 bpm. It derives from House, Techno, Psy and Indian Goa Trance.

Another important distinction is between European trance and Goa trance which originated in Goa,
India around the same time trance was evolving in Europe. Goa trance was influential in the formation
of Psychedelic Trance, which features spazzy, spontaneous samples and other psychedelic elements.
Trance is also very popular in Israel, with psychedelic trance producers such as Infected Mushroom,
Astrix, and Yahel Sherman achieving world wide fame.



 

Trance music festivals attract enormous crowds and usually feature sophisticated lighting, laser and
[„

]
pyrotechnic displays. Most of the largest trance festivals are held in Europe.

In the past, ID&T has been expanding operations and begun to organize festivals in Belgium and
Germany which have become popular in these countries. More recently (2008), ID&T is planning the
Sensation World Tour in Chile, China, Poland, Czech Republic, Dubai & more to follow. Sensation white is
more about the show and the performances surrounding the event where as ID&T's Trance Energy is
about the DJ's. Trance Elements discusses details about Sensation White & Black and the future planning
of this global phenomena.