Most of the people who know me are aware of the fact that I have gotten into Deep/tech house and techno , which is good while being into trance music.
Here's the thing though, I noticed from the tracks that I get and hear over online music stores that deep/tech house & techno are much more detailed than trance music. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm no professional producer (or even an amateur one for that matter), but I truly think that house music is more engineered unlike trance music which is more layered.
You get all these funky bleep-bloops all over the place in a house track (specifically the same ones I listed above, not ALL house music). Sure trance music has that. Which is why I feel that house music producers can get more creative than trance music ones. Their focus is not necessarily based on a certain aspect such as structure or melody.
From the way I see it, for instance, trance music has a few basic structures that producers follow or focus on. It's like they build the backbone of the track around the structure and the basics. While in house, it's somewhat different. There's no basic structure or "rule" to follow. Which is why if you noticed, the lower the BPM of a trance track nowadays, the more creative the and sophisticated that track is. Again, correct me if I am wrong but, don't you think that uplifting trance has become truly generic and noisy with less creativity? There are only a few producers out there that come up with new approaches to the tracks and tried to express their styles in a different way or another while keeping the same structure or idea.
It's almost as if trance is more like a trendy genre and where its producers follow a certain procedure based on big names in order to fit in to the system and be heard leaving only a few out there who can express themselves through their new interpretations and slight changes in their styles. I'm not saying it is a bad thing. I'm only voicing (or rather typing out) my opinion and perception in comparison to house music. And no I'm not talking about the clash of genres that trance is currently going through (which is not really a big deal btw).
I will not neglect, however, the ridiculously weird rise of a trend called "minimal".
On the other hand, you've got house music and it's sub-genres which are deeply underground. There are so many (and I mean SO MANY) names out there with great music. You would be surprised how much these people get paid when they get booked as DJs in 300-people-capacity clubs in comparison to trance producers who make it to the big stages and clubs.
Then again, this was only an observation about how underground house music is. It sort of branches out from the whole "house is more technically produced or composed" tree. Actually more like a twig.
I walked into a friend's studio the other day and he opened one of his many projects. Now I have seen a few trance projects out there on different music composing software, but I have not seen anything like house music. Not necessarily related to layers or whatever, but more about how he actually picks what he wants to be heard and how it will actually affect the style of track. It's like there's so much room for fooling around when it comes to house music even when you take that track out on stage where you can jam in so many effects and loops. It actually also makes trance music a very easy genre to mix. I don't know about you guys and girls, but there's a reason why Allen & Heath manufacture these Xone mixers and controllers or why Pioneer built their effects pads. Or why Ableton came to existence. In other words, the rise of the hole Producer + DJ hybrid happened for a reason. Or many reasons. And one of them is for the amount of space a producer has when he/she DJs their music. I'm not saying trance producers and producers-turned-DJs do not have this opportunity. I'm saying this has not happened yet. Or rather, they have not given this a try that's hard enough. Sure there are a few out there who are doing what I am talking about, but nothing major.
I really think, and I believe, that house music is far more technical than trance music and that artists in that field can get more creative. Sure it might not appeal to you (yet), but when you get into it, you'll understand EXACTLY what I am bringing out on the table here.
For some reason, I enjoy playing deep/tech house tracks now more than trance. Not that I don't like trance anymore, but when I spin let's say a track like Minou (Sam Farsio Remix) by Namito (which is an absolute crowd pumper), I feel fuckin powerful. I don't necessarily have to wait for a breakdown or a few 16 bars to drop in effects here and there. I just drop some effects here and there and edit the track on the fly. In fact, I can use loops in so many ways that I pretty much have my own version of the track itself. Not to mention that the track is already loaded with all these effects, beat drops, synths... whatever.
Let me put it this way (in a way that my hungry belly actually came up with):
House: Steak. Juicy, freshly cut and cooked. can be cooked in different ways. Though, after it is served, you can add different sorts of sauce, herbs, fillings and so on. But even if you don't add anything, it's still a fucking tasty steak and you as a hungry person will be satisfied. You will eventually get full anyway. You might fuck it up if you don't know what you're adding, but a steak is a steak. The people who could go wrong with it and it's additions are a few. When was the last time you fucked up your steak?
Trance: Casserole (if you don't know what a Casserole is, google it). It's got everything. And it tastes fucking awesome! You can eat it any time around the clock. It's fresh. It's hot. But it's filled with everything and anything. But there's no room for you to actually add anything to it after it has been served. And if you, you fuck the taste up. Unless you're a master of taste. A gourmet (the metaphor for the few good guys out there).
Here's an interesting sub-genre of trance that somehow stands-out until today and somehow relates to what I speak of in the above post more towards house: Psychedelic Trance. Then again, I did not expose myself to that subgenre properly. So, enlighten me here. I could be missing out on something related to this subgenre or any other the subgenres of trance and house. This is merely a discussion.
There. My opinion/perception.
Oh and guys and girls, please bare in mind the following:
- I am not referring to mainstream house music producers such as Guetta.
- I am not implying that trance has become a shit genre.
- I am not saying that house music has smarter producers than trance music (this one's for all the peeps who are in love with their producers more than their music or trance to them is a lifestyle i.e. peeps who would get personally offended)
- If you haven't listened properly and attentively to the genres I talk about in my post above, then please keep your one-sided response to yourself. It's okay to respond with "I'm not too knowledgeable when it comes to bla bla bla BUT my opinion is bla bla bla". No one's going to be judging you.
- Keep the bashing to yourself. I am looking for a clean and proper discussion.
- Please don't post crap like "i love the artist bla bla bla". We're talking about a wide range of artists and specifically genres. Not necessarily one or two people. No more "oh yeah? well this guy produced this track and it is shit!". Surprise! Surprise asshole! That particular artist does not represent the whole fucking genre!
- Stick to the topic
I just listen to both genres.
