make music now Trance tutorial

Trance masterclass
Part 1 Enter the hypnotic world of trance as we show
you how to create truly tripped-out tunes…

On the DVD
D
espite an alleged crisis in the It is of course fair to say that trance Reason. This month we’ll be looking at
TUTORIAL FILES
Take a trip to the Tutorial trance scene a couple of years does suffer from more than it’s fair the primary underpinnings of a good
files folder, where you'll ago, this hardiest of genres share of over-used clichés. But drawing trance tune: drums, bass and acid riffs
find all the necessaries for remains one of the most popular forms the line between common practice – it makes sense to get these essential
creating your own trance of dance music today. And the within a genre and cliché isn’t elements sorted before moving on to
opus, plus our attempt. And
if you don’t already own popularity of internet radio stations such necessarily an easy task, and is look at anything else. Next month, we’ll
Reason, the demo is in the as Digitally Imported perhaps more down to personal opinion look at the more melodic elements of
Demo software folder too. (www.digitallyimported.com) prove that than anything else. our track, before concentrating in the
for many people, trance is much more In this three-part masterclass, we’re following issue on track structure;
than merely an accessory to a good going to show you how to put together putting it all together and creating a
night out. a trance track using Propellerhead good mix. cm

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 Trance tutorial make music now

STEP BY STEP To the beat of the drum

1 2 3
Since it’s never a good idea to write or mix with Flip around to the back of the rack and route the newly Return to the front of the rack and load the 909 bass
mastering tools switched on, turn off Reason’s MClass added mixer’s outputs to the main mixer’s first input drum sample provided on the cover DVD into the first
Mastering Suite (assuming it’s on) using the Bypass channel – this will act as a submixer just for drum channel of ReDrum. In order to prevent the bass drum
switch on the left hand side. Set the global tempo to sounds. Hold down Shift, add an instance of ReDrum to the taking over the low end of the mix and lowering the pace of
134bpm, which is a moderate tempo for a trance track. Hold rack and label it 909 Drums. >> the track, we’ll shorten its decay; reduce the Length
down Shift (to disable auto-routing), add a second Mixer to parameter to 68. Now program a stock four-to-the-floor
the rack and label it Drums. >> pattern in the pattern sequencer, as shown. >>

4 5 6
Return to the back of the rack and wire in a new Load the snare drum sample into the second channel To enhance the ‘snap’ of the snare drum (and thus help
instance of the MClass compressor between ReDrum’s of ReDrum. Again, reduce the sample’s decay time by it cut through the mix) we’ll also compress it individually.
first output and the drum submixer (you only need to lowering the Length parameter to 52. Reduce the Tone Wire another instance of the MClass compressor
connect the left channels). Rename it Bass drum and set the setting to -18, and Level to 83. >> between ReDrum’s second output and the drum submixer.
parameters up as follows: Input Gain: 8.2dB, Threshold: Label the compressor Snare drum and set it up as follows:
22.4dB, Ratio: 2.23:1, Attack: 52ms, Release: 266ms, Input Gain: 3.4dB, Threshold: -36.4dB, Ratio: 40.3:1, Attack:
Output gain: -3.8dB. >> 89ms, Release: 93ms, Output gain: -3.8dB. >>

7 8 9
Load the clap sample into ReDrum’s third channel, set Select the compressor added in the previous step, right- To stop the clap tail from cluttering up the mid
the Length parameter to 64 and place hits on beats 2 click on it and Create an instance of the RV7000 reverb frequencies in the mix, let’s gate it. This will also add to
and 4 as shown. Wire in another MClass compressor, unit – we’ll use this to thicken the tail for that the rhythmic drive of the piece. Click the Edit mode
labelled Clap, with the following configuration: Input Gain: trademark trance clap sound. Set the Wet/Dry balance to 38, button at the bottom left of the RV7000 Programmer twice to
11.8dB, Threshold: -24.1dB, Ratio: 2.46:1, Attack: 7ms, open the Programmer and set the algorithm to Plate. >> switch to gate editing mode. Set the Level/Threshold slider to
Release: 320ms, Output Gain: 2.6dB. >> -3.7dB and enable the gate on the main RV7000 panel. >>

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make music now Trance tutorial

STEP BY STEP To the beat of the drum (continued)

10 11 12
Load the crash and reverse-crash samples on the Load the closed hi-hat sample into channel 8, Finally, load the open hi-hat sample into ReDrum
DVD into ReDrum’s channels 6 and 7 respectively. before routing the output direct to the drums channel 9. Again, route the channel output to the
We need a longer, lower reverse crash, so reduce submixer. Set the Pitch parameter to 8, the Level drums submixer before programming the open hat
the Pitch value of channel 7 to -26. Wire the outputs of to 35, and the Length to 71, and program in the sequence sequence shown. Decrease the channel level to 80 before
channels 6 and 7 into the drums submixer as before. >> shown above. >> turning activating Channel 8&9 Exclusive button.

STEP BY STEP Bass to rock the place

1 2 3
Select the main mixer and add a Subtractor synth – this Select Subtractor and Create an MClass compressor Select the bass synth and add a Matrix to the rack –
will generate our bass sound, triggered by the Matrix (auto-routing should wire it between the Subtractor and again, auto-routing should correctly route Gate and CV
Pattern sequencer. Call up the AcBass MW Mute patch, the main mixer). Label it Bass. Set the compressor up connections for you. Name the unit Bass Ctrl, right-click
which we’ll transform into a trance bass. Set Osc on both thusly: Input Gain: 2.6dB, Threshold: -29.2dB, Soft Knee: On, and select Clear pattern before programming the bassline
oscillators to 2 and the amp envelope Release to 36. >> Ratio: 1.95:1, Attack: 68ms, Release: 93ms. >> shown above.

Drum processing: a balancing act

You might be thinking that all the main drum hits need to robbing it of body and impact. A compressor can then be
sound huge in order for a trance track to work on the used to emphasise the initial click and help it cut right
dancefloor. In reality, though, this isn’t the case – not only through the mix.
would such an arrangement be extremely difficult to mix (from A touch of distortion can also be used to take the clean
a technical point of view), but the end result would sound slow edge off drum sounds, and Reason’s Scream 4 Device is great
and heavy, regardless of the tempo. On the other hand, for this sort of thing, although we’ve opted not to go with it for
featherweight drums are clearly not a recipe for a banging
track either.
the purposes of this tutorial.
If your computer struggles under the load of processing Info
So the secret lies in finding a good balance between each drum sound individually, you could consider pre-
weight, impact and agility. For example, a weighty bass drum processing each sample in a sample editor, prior to loading. Choice samples
sample can often be brought under control by taming its The downside to this approach, though, is that it reduces Although we're using Roland
decay – enough to prevent excessive bass boom without flexibility later on in the production process. TR-909 drum samples in our
track, as they’re so typical of
7 The drum sounds we’re using here 5 Novation DrumStation sounds are the genre, you certainly
come from Roland’s timeless TR-909 standard issue in the trance genre shouldn’t feel constrained to
drum machine
this particular kit. Many
conventional synths can be
programmed to produce
great trance kick and
snare drums.

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 Trance tutorial make music
Q&A focus
now

Working together
One of the most technically demanding aspects of putting a spectrum, with much of the energy falling below 200Hz. One
trance track together is getting all of the parts to work popular approach involves keeping the two parts separate in
together and sit well in the mix. The drum and bass parts can time – ie, alternating between the bass drum on the beat
be particularly problematic in this respect, so it pays to and bass notes off the beat. We’ve gone with a variation on
spend extra time and attention on them at an early stage. this theme for the purposes of this tutorial, but many trance
The bass should be under- tracks put certain bass notes
pinning and driving the pulse on the beat. So how do they
of the whole track, yet should avoid clashing? It can be
also be kept fairly simple, both done by choosing the right
in terms of rhythm and bass sound – one with a less
melody, in order to avoid bassy sound perhaps – but
detracting from more often more advanced
important elements (eg, the
melody in the case of melodic
techniques are required. One
possible approach involves
Info
trance). compressing the bass and Soft and simple
So why is it so difficult to bass drum tracks together, Keep it simple and effective;
get these two parts working so that the bass drum generally trance drum loops
together? The fundamental pumps the bass part. are not particularly complex.
problem here is that the bass Most of the groove is derived
and bass drum parts are very from the interaction between
likely to be occupying a similar 7Virus PowerCore: the quintessential
trance synth in software
bass drum and bassline.
area of the frequency

STEP BY STEP Programming an acid riff

1 2 3
Select the main mixer and Create a Subtractor, which Next we're going to change how Subtractor responds to We need to work on the filter and amplitude envelopes,
we’ll use to recreate the sound of the classic Roland incoming note velocity values. First, increase the which control how the sound changes over time. Set
TB-303 synth. Set the first oscillator’s octave (Oct) Velocity Amp setting to 25, decrease the F. Env (filter the filter envelope Decay to 88, Release to 72 and
setting to 3, reduce the first filter’s cutoff frequency (Freq) to envelope) to 14 and the F. Dec (filter decay) to -16. Now set Amt (amount) to 26. Finally, reduce the amp envelope
50 and increase the resonance (Res) to 83. >> Polyphony to 1, Mode to Legato and raise the Portamento Decay to 82. >>
setting to 50 (for 303-style glides between notes). >>

4 5 6
In order to get a regular filter sweep going through the Make sure the TB-303 Subtractor is selected and Press the Matrix’s play button to hear your riff. You
riff, turn on Sync for LFO1. Set the Rate to minimum Create a Matrix Pattern Sequencer, which we’ll use to should be able to hear the filter opening and closing.
(16/4) and Amount to 28, before routing the LFO’s create our acid riff. Make sure pattern A1 is selected Stop the pattern playing, right-click on the Matrix and
destination to the filter frequency (F. Freq). >> and program the pattern shown. (Hold down Shift when select Copy pattern – we’re going to create a second version
changing velocity values to create tied notes.) >> of the riff and alternate between them. >>

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STEP BY STEP Programming an acid riff (continued)

7 8 9
Select pattern A2, right-click and Paste to create a copy As DIY 303 emulations go, it sounds fairly convincing, To tame the distortion and prevent it taking over the top
of the pattern we just created. Use the octave selector but we need some effects to get that authentic trance end of the mix, select the D-11 and add an ECF-42
to switch the matrix display to the fourth octave and 303 sound. Select the TB-303 Subtractor and Create a Envelope Controlled Filter. Set the Frequency to 98 and
move the last note before the fourth beat to E, as shown D-11 Foldback Distortion unit. Set the Amount parameter to the Resonance to 0. >>
(leave the rest of the riff unchanged for now). Hit play to hear 26 and Foldback to 72. >>
the result. >>

10 11 12
Next we’ll add an echo to the 303 part, to stop it Set the Algorithm to Echo and turn on Tempo Make sure the Matrix is selected and that A2 is
sounding so dry. Select the ECF-42 and Create a sync. Set Diffusion to 25 and Spread to 127, but set to play first. Check the song is at the start,
RV7000 reverb unit. Set the Dry/Wet balance to leave Echo time set to 3/16. Now we can go back then hit record, followed by play. Half way through
23 and open the Remote Programmer panel. >> and program the Matrix to alternate between the two patterns bar 3, switch to A1 for bar 4, then back to A2 for bars 5-7,
we programmed earlier. >> then A1 for bar 8 (creating a riff with an AAABAAAB pattern).

TB303 programming
Although ReBirth (the original TB-303/TR-808/TR-909 emulation
from Propellerhead) is no longer being maintained – it never
moved across to Mac OS X, for example – it is possible to get a
decent 303 sound going in Reason using Subtractor. The original
TB-303 could generate both sawtooth and square waves, so you’ll
need to choose the right one for the sound you're after. If you
want to reproduce the more hollow sound from the 303’s
vocabulary, use a square wave, otherwise you're best off sticking
with the sawtooth.
To accurately emulate the sound of the TB-303’s filter,
you want to use an LP12 filter (a low-pass filter with a
12dB per octave roll-off). You can use any resonance
setting you like here, really, but medium to high
values are generally favoured for trance
production.
Since the TB-303 was monophonic, you
should always use a Polyphony value of 1 (so
that only one note at a time can be played). Use Info
a moderate Portamento setting to create those
characteristic slides between notes. Finally, when it NEXT MONTH
comes to the notes themselves, start with a 16th- Join us for Part 2 next month,
note grid and create tied notes where you want slides when we’ll be adding
1 The 303 still stands its ground melody and a hook to our
– we’ve demonstrated this technique using the Matrix as one of the greatest synths of
Pattern Sequencer in the walkthrough. all time. Oh yes it does… trance track

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