Trance Music tutorials

Main Chorus leads Hello i posted a few screen shots from Massive if there is any other vst you have youd like me to post an tutorial on do let me know as im here to help you out the beginner.The newbie. the first one shows you settings for envelope 1 the second for envelope 4 id like to know what sounds you get out of my example. tomorrow i will show you what this sounds like and in my supersaw page i will show you how to give a melody its character. And of course will update you with some more screen shots so you newbies can try out. This is what this blog is for newbies! As you can see from the picture you dont need to use saw waveforms to make trance experience with all waveforms to get the sound you want don't discriminate when it comes to waveforms be creative and get the sound you are after. Here is a trance lead you can use again from Massive. Make sure you stack your musical elements a lot of people fall into the trap of just looping ...

 As you know  trance arps are the cornerstone of trance . You know when your in that underground club at like 3 in the morning and  all the music stops then slowly but,gradually you all of the sudden hear that arpeggios starting to slowly  come back in then it starts to pulsate ,then it goes on for a while taking you away while it gets melodic and a little somber before it gets happy again ,then the  filters start to come back theres some delay all the strobe lights are out its dark and your starting to feel that vibe going on in your head and you just want to get crazy  on the dance floor again well you can make that arpeggios yourself ill show you how. Ill show you  4 ways the first way if with broken chords a melody on top and a bass note on the bottom so basically you have your key your writing in then you shift the scale and the broken chords every 2 bars . so for example bars 1-3 ,bars,3-5,and bars 5-7 and bars 7-9 are all a diff...

The real magic of trance comes alive with velocity and automation. To give you an example im sure you all been to a Sade concert and you will notice that the guy on the sax or the horns,the guy on electric guitar all of these guys none of them play each note at the same velocity!!! Its so funny how i see newbies and even advanced professionals adding elements with the same velocity and no automation over and over again. The fact is we are human so if we are trying to emulate the natural feel of someone playing an instrument we need to draw in some velocity  and create some automation. Back to my Sade concert example i know its not trance but ,no instrument just comes in real hard  or fast its usually gradually a slow crescendo or a decrescendo  ,or a long drum fill then everyone stops then a new element comes in like a new instrument so you could have the most expensive synth and the best gear ever but ,if you dont apply automation or velocity your stuff will sound ...

Try to resist  the urge and the need that you feel you have to use every  drum sample in your library in your track. The fact is that less is more. So dont get too busy with your drums  and your lead syth melody simultaneously  as it wont will  not sound right at all. So heres a few tips  to consider. If your making trance,keep percussion  simple and have  the main melody  synth busy If percussion is not simple and you want to keep the production  going on this track then make melodic lines less busy by not putting melody lines on each hit,adding  more of an attack  and release   ,etc you basically  want to slow down the melodic  lines ,so there both not fighting to be heard they each need space. On that same subject of keeping certain  sections of your busy or not  If your making a soulful  deeep house you obviously  want a laidback vibe going so having a real busy horn sectio...

Creating  tension is essential , because if your music  just goes on with no contrast in a linear motion it will be real boring  and cold. So create some tension  by taking out a few bars of some music elements before  some changes  happen A few bars of bassline,add a few percussion  hits ,or take out a small bar of all music elements then re introduce a brand new section Or bring back a main riff with main chorus but maybe this time play the main riff with different  instrument, in new key ,and new melody pattern. The possibilities  are endless  and remember  there is no right or wrong  in music so if it sounds good do it!

Keep the rhythm going Another way to add some excitement and energy into your mix is using rolling basslines they are easy to make. You basically just make them with a tonic for example whatever chord your in if its bflat or cmaj you just take that one note and go up an octave. Then you put them around the sub bass if  your sub bass falls on 3 5 7 9 11 and 13 etc then your rolling basslines will hit around 1,2,4,6,8,10 and 12. To get that true trance rolling bassline what you want to do is have some interplay with both notes the one up ,higher up an octave,and the lower one. and play around with it with your sub bass and your kick until you get it just right. dont forget to add some distortion ! Incase you need some help look here . What i done here is find an octave and go up one octave in this case its a2 and a3 and alternate the notes. in my case i chose bflat and bflat. You can choose whatever note you want just use two of the same notes. To get more creative mak...

I see  lot of people still struggle with making the supersaw  eventhough its outdated as its not the 90s anymore.It still is popular and useful  today but ,more of in a limited role as in the 90s when it was the main anthem throughout the whole song now the supersaw is still useful. If you want to know how to make a supersaw keep in mind you dont need to always have to use a saw you could mix it with a square or triangle or use two triangles its all up to the sound your trying to create. Try to experiment with it. on to the super saw tutorial 1 power up one of your soft synths that is a analog soft synth dont use any emulation soft synths or rompler synths most rompler synths just play the sound of the saw but ,your not really creating the sound,and emulation synths already have the sound of a famous synth again your not really doing much creation in the process of the supersaw. So my suggestion is to only use a analog soft synth for this like v-station or synth1...