How does Trance work?

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Velocistar

I don't listen to a lot of trance, but I'm trying to make a trance track (and failing) for an album I'm working on. I'm kinda stuck because I don't know what I should do to try and make it feel like trance.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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    Celcius (older account)

    If you want someone to collaborate, I would be interested.

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    Infyuthsion
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    Infyuthsion

    Oh also. "The instant trance progression trick" where you boot up a supersaw and just play a low octave key, and a High octave key two white keys above that. For example, a low "C" and high "E", and you just move up and down the white keys like that. Try it.

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      SELCIVS

      Don't forget extended chords. Playing a Cmin7add4 is a lot more interesting than a regular Cmin.

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    Infyuthsion

    I usually do a few of the following things. 130-140 BPMS. Throw down your Backbone beat ( Kick, Clap, Open Hat ). Then add in a percussive backing loop with some more drums. You can do this last but making your crashes/fx, reverse crashes and snare roll sound good right now usually helps a lot. Throw a big reverb on the snare and compressor pump the reverb tail so it pulses in between the beat. Next is instruments.

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      Known As I

      Feel free to add a link to your YT video.

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      Infyuthsion

      Start with bassline, you can just do a low squarewave on the offbeats, or a more busy pattern use saw with an octaved bassline. Sometimes you'll have a sub bass on the offbeats, and a secondary bass stereo spread in the midrange playing a simple rhythmic pattern. Lastly, you make melody. Easiest is just a mock supersaw ( IE just a bunch of detuned saws however you want to make them ), add some delays and reverb on the melody. For intro I like to use pluck things in a middle octave panned to left or right with a delay to the other side.

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      Infyuthsion

      From that point you should have a really solid sounding main intro loop. The rest is pretty easy, you just move the bassline up or down to build a harmony, possibly have a light pad in the background, and create a buildup section.

      If you want context to what I'm saying, open up any of my trance tracks in AT, or go watch my making trance video on youtube where I spend 45 min demonstrating this idea. Otherwise if you have any specific questions I can help you just ask.

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    Jordi Moragues

    I'm also interested in trance myself. I think the first thing to do is to find good reference tracks and decide on the sub-genre: psy, progressive, uplifting, old style... Then you can decide on an arrangement (for example: Intro, 1st. build-up, breakdown, 2nd. build-up, climax, outro) or something else, and suitable chord progressions. From there you can start selecting sounds and working on your sound design, sound effects, etc. Then take care of the mix. I've found some resources online that could help:

    I like "The Grand Sound" selection of uplifting trance tracks for reference: