A weekly dose of musical culture - Trance

Ready for your next new music experience?

Trance.

Trance is an electronic form of music. When it first became popular, it was generally created with a combination of drum machines, synthesizers, and mixers. You wouldn't see that at a show, as it's DJ'd with turntables and all that but any more it's computer generated or at least computer controlled.

There is a huge representation of trance DJ's in North America, but the Netherlands probably has the highest concentration of famous DJ's, at least in names I recognize, like Armin Van Buuren, Tiesto, Afrojack, and Headhunterz, to name a few.

Trance is a large genre, containing a lot of sub-types, with hard trance and acid trance on one end and ambient trance on the other. There is a lot of cross-over between other genres, like pop, indie, and rock. Some people might not associate vocals with trance but that's not really the case. There is a lot of trance that does not have vocals, but there is a lot with vocals too.

In my experience, trance is very open ended. Wikipedia says it's "generally characterized by a tempo of between 120 and 145 bpm" which may be it's only cohesive characteristic.

Hard Trance is probably what most people think of when they hear of trance. Fast, with a lot of drums, and no vocals. Not my favorite, but something I'd listen to when I want to drive fast.

On the other end of the spectrum is one of my favorites called "In and Out of Love" by Armin Van Buuren. A lot more like pop music. Something I think a lot of you will enjoy too. I really like it when professional DJ's have female singers do the vocal work. Sexy.

Trance DJ's do a lot of remixing too. Pick your favorite song and there is probably a remixed version somewhere.

If you like this, check youtube for artists like Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, ATB, or Paul Oakenfold (he's got a fun one called Ready Steady Go, featured in The Bourne Identity. Weird video.)

Enjoy. Hope you learned something new today.


If you'd like a certain type of music featured, just let me know. If I don't know what it is, I'm sure I'll have fun researching it!


disclaimer - I am in no way shape or form an expert on trance. Or any type of music for that matter. I just listen to it some times. Feel free to correct me if necessary.