A Brief History of Trance Music

Music production by-in-large has always been a coupling of arrangement and mixing of tracks once the arrangement was complete. With the emergence of synthesizers; or "synthes", throughout the 1970's and 80's sounds once thought unattainable using physical instruments became possible. Despite this innovation, early producers used synthes to manipulate pre-recorded tracks rather than basing their music on the sounds they could produce on their own. In the late 1970's French composer Jean Michel Jarre changed this practice when he used tracks for his album Oxygene created solely by a synth and thus the "electronica" sound was born. The new sound which had garnered great praise from the European musicians would gain U.S. popularity and yet another incarnation with the "new wave" movement of the 1980's. Artist like Gary Numan, and Devo brought their own styles the genre.

While the sound had evolved steadily over two decades there was still a co-dependency between man and machine made music. This would transition in the early 90's when "trance" music explode onto the world stage via the Germany club scene. A hybrid of house and techno, trance provided bands like The Disco Biscuits an audience for their music thought to be a fad. However, the success of the genre, now vastly instrumental, limited production to a heavily equip studio. The new millennium would see this problem expelled, as music once again met technology. The innovations of the home computer; and music creation software, took production out of the studio.

With all of the software available the pioneer has to be Ableton. Started in 1999; based in Trance birthplace Germany, Ableton released their first version Ableton Live in 2001. The software is unique as it works for traditional studio production but has Ableton live templates the can be utilized during a live show as well. Ableton live templates create the flexibility for DJ's and artist to adjust their playlist to the venue and the minimal equipment needed favours mobility. Now on version 8, the company continues to flourish.

From the synthesizer to the Ableton live templates it appears trance music is here to stay!