Classic Trance Database [100%] & Classic Trance Curated Database [10%] - Last updated on August 5th

[TheTranceHistorian]

Update #9 (2024. April 17th):

- Visual changes to achieve unified design accross all pages
- Changed some tracks' Curator's Rating
- Minor wording changes
- Added information to the Home page regarding icons and the evaluation of tunes
- Added all 2540 tracks from Trance Classics and 2trancecentral YouTube channels to the Alternate curation
- Added 5 new tracks (these are listed below)

Tracks added:

1. Jens Lissat - The Future
2. Mo-Tune - Infinite Climax (Remix)
3. Paul Van Dyk - A Love Letter
4. Micro Cosmos - Cosmic Trax
5. Lotus Eye - Enchanted (Komatex Remix)

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Update #10 (2024. April 30th):

With the release of the 10th update to the database, I can now say that I listened to all classic trance tunes from 1993 and from 1994. This represents around 15,000 tracks, or roughly 10% of all the tracks I have to listen to (150,000).

---

This is a big update. I overhauled the whole Weighted Rating system, and I believe that after countless of iterations, I finally managed to find something that presents a reliable framework to properly rate and evaluate music, and also gives results based on the inserted values that are in line with my objective and subjective expectations.

For the more curious, this means the following:

• No track in the curated selection goes below 70% (broadly speaking, this is similar to iMDB pre-2010: only the best movies reached a score of 7.0 or above, thanks to their weighted rating system)
• A track's emotional and melodic components play a significant role in the weighted rating formula
• Tunes that represent the artistic peak of trance music can reach a score exceeding 95%
• For the most part, the Curator's Rating (which is also a part of the Weighted Rating) provides a very similar value compared to the average of the other subratings
• Ideally, each subratings' dominance is the equation is well balanced, and roughly equal to their real world importance (so to what extent they matter when listening to a piece of music)
• All of the above things happen in paralell

---

Of course, it's not just the equation that was changed, but also what is used in the equation. Melody & Emotion got seperated into two distinct categories: Melody & Memorability and Emotional Impact. Furthermore, Harmony & Depth got renamed to Diversity & Depth and I clarified it a little bit to make it clear how it differs compared to Structure & Arrangement, which I also tweaked a little bit. All the other stuff is there as before, including Technical Quality, but right now, it's not taken into account when calculating a tune's overall rating.

The final formula looks like this:

• Curator's Rating = 50%
• YouTube Rating = 25%
• Discogs Rating = 7.5%
• Impact & Recognition = 1.25%
• Originality & Innovation = 1.25%
• Melody & Memorability = 5%
• Emotional Intensity = 5%
• Diversity & Depth = 2.5%
• Structure & Arrangement = 2.5%
• Technical Quality = 0% currently

---

With these percentages, every goal I pointed out above gets met, but if you want to understand this formula even better, here's some additional information.

I wanted the Curator's Rating to be a really dominant part in the equation. The Curator's Rating primarily represents the overall enjoyment level of the track based on my own taste, knowledge, and experience with the genre. This is one of the key ways how this database can become more than just a simple popularity list that can change day by day. A list that can give the same level of attention and recognition to tunes, practically regardless of their popularity. Hence, 50% dominance makes sense.

At the same time, I also wanted to involve the community in some way and give room to their opinions, hence, I tried to utilize every worthwhile data that is available to me from the community's side. Obviously, that's why I used data from YouTube and Discogs, where there's lots of music-related data in the form of star ratings or likes and dislikes. YouTube Ratings account for half (so 25%) of my Curator's Rating, while Discogs Rating is 7.5%. On Discogs, you can't rate individual tracks, only whole singles/albums, and typically, a vinyl album houses 3.3 tracks on average. So it makes sense that Discogs Rating's dominance is only around 1/3 of YouTube Rating (which is for an individual track).

As for the other subratings: I wanted to rate tracks on a more granular level. This granularity can help to:

• Understand tunes better
• Recognize which tunes excel in which parts
• Slightly differentiate otherwise equally rated tunes (e.g. two 3.5-star tunes), which will be useful in creating a score-based toplist

Obviously, a tune's originality or impact has little to do with how good it actually is, so these criteria (Impact & Recognition, Originality & Innovation) only account for a fraction of the total score (1.25% each). At the same time, they still help to make the rating more granular and possibly more precise, without getting ahead of tunes that for example have better structure or better complexity - things that arguably matter more in a track. This means that Diversity & Depth and Structure & Arrangement each account for 2.5% of a tune's score. Finally, what matters the most is Melody & Memorability and Emotional Intensity that each account for 5% of the total score.

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Of course, aside from overhauling the entire rating system, new tunes have been added as well which you can see here:

1. Ultimate - Automatic (Original Mix)
2. Spacewalker - Tenerife Dream
3. Odyssey Of Noises - Firedance (The Sunrise)
4. Trance Team - Wake Up (Trance Mix)
5. Trance Team - Breath Of Life (The Force)
6. Scooter - Back In Time
7. B-Flame - Tochluaney

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I'm still trying to finalize 1994 (including tune selections and filling up the remaining ratings) and I still have to listen to all the compilation albums from this year. Furthermore, I need to create the Community curation and change some things in the Adjacent database. So the next update will more than likely still focus on 1993 and 1994.

 

[Jetflag]

Hell of a lot of effort there m8,

kudos

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Update #11 (2024. May 6th):

1. The Year column has been replaced with the Date column. When possible, it shows the exact date when the given tune was first released, instead of just its release year. Some dates are precise, as they are based on Discogs, Wikipedia, Beatport, and other sources, while some are less so as they are estimates based on information gathered from labels and compilation albums.

2. The Impact & Recognition subrating got finalized and all tracks have been rescored accordingly. This criteria primarily measures how influential and popular a track was among the trance community and the general audience at the time of its release, and whether it has a lasting legacy or a cult following. Similar to YouTube Ratings and Discogs Ratings, Impact & Recognition is also completely based on data and tries to provide an objective measurement of each track's overall success. This is based on the average of two things: how many views a track collectively has on YouTube (based on all/nearly all uploaded videos) and on how many times it was picked up for compilation albums (with duplicate/alternate releases excluded, of course).

Tunes that have total views between 0k-30k, 30k-90k, 90k-270k, 270k-810k, and above 810k, get 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 stars for their views, respectively. As for the number of releases on compilation albums, the scoring looks like this: 1 star for 0-2 releases, 2 stars for 3-6, 3 stars for 7-18, 4 stars for 19-54, and 5 stars for more than 54 releases. This basically means there's a 3x multiplier that divides each star rating in each category, and based on the currently available data, the mentioned breaking points and multipliers work very well (so most of the tunes are rated at 1 star, a little less at 2 stars, etc.). For example, Amorph - Meryn has 32000 views on YouTube, so it gets 2 stars for views. It has only been released on one compilation album, so it gets a 1 for this category. (2+1)/2 equals 1.5, so the overall Impact & Recognition score will be 1.5.

3. The Weighted Rating and the Curator's Rating (under the Main Ratings section) are now color-coded with the same colors used in the DJ/Mix section. The color changes between every 2.5 percentages, or every 0.25 stars.

4. Some descriptions and ratings have been corrected and/or adjusted.

5. It looks like the subratings still need some improvement so I tweaked them further. Some subratings are final now (both their type/description and their score) and some are not. Expect further changes in the future.

 

[nightslapper]

I can smell some ocd here, hope I'm wrong and it's just strong passion for classic trance

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

I can smell some ocd here, hope I'm wrong and it's just strong passion for classic trance

First of all:
OCD stands for Obsessive-compulsive disorder, in which a person experiences uncontrollable and recurring thoughts (obsessions), engages in repetitive behaviors (compulsions), or both.

I don't know in what way this terminology/disorder could be applied to my involvment with this database, it literally makes zero sense to me. This database is clearly a passion-driven project with lots of variety involved (in terms of content, design, structure, etc.). Repetition can't even be a goal here, only an occasionally byproduct of the process of making the database, when I'm perhaps going through too many bad music, or have to calculate a lot.

OCD would be if I would feel the need to touch objects a certain amount of times, or put my shoes to somewhere the same way as others, etc. By the way, most living people around the world have some level of OCD, possibly including you.

Second:
I assume you have some basic common sense, thus, I assume you quickly/easily realised based on the amount of information provided in each database, that it must have taken a huge amount of work/effort. You don't have to thank me, congratulate/compliment me, or anything, it's just a passion project and a cultural mission of mine (with the curated database). However, I find it incredibly disgusting and repelling that the only reason you came to this thread is to call a person you don't even know sick, AND on a PUBLIC forum.

You have some deep ethical/moral shortcomings/problems that you clearly need to sort out. This is just not the kind of thing you should write to people. I've had cancer not too long ago and the way you acted reminds me of how this disease works. You just appear out of nowhere and seek to destroy.

 

[nightslapper]

yeah it seems I was totally and completely wrong, how you take it just makes it so obvious now. whatever keeps you sane mate

 

[afterhourpower]

I really like this project. I once tried to make a top 1000 list for myself, but lacked the perseverance to go beyond 30

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

I really like this project. I once tried to make a top 1000 list for myself, but lacked the perseverance to go beyond 30

Don't let that work go to waste, I'm curious about your top 30.

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Update #12

By filling out every subrating cell, the database now essentially has a ranking of the best 100+ trance tracks from the early years of the genre. The subratings are nearly final, but I may tweak them a little bit in the future upon further checking and cross-comparing them.

- Improved and unified color codes (KEY, CAM, BPM, Weighted Rating, Curator's Rating)
- Refined subratings and the weighted formula
- Clarified the definition of a 4.5-star tune
- Other minor changes
- Changed some ratings and filled every subrating cell
- Combined the first two rows so now it's possible to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on data in the second row (where ratings and subratings are located)
- Added 3 new tracks (these are listed below)

Tracks added:

Andromeda - Dream Frequencies
Nexus 6 - Trés Chic
Paul Van Dyk - My World (Florin Mix)

This is how the database looks with the new update. Feel free to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on the Weighted Rating column too see the ranking of the selected tracks.

 

[Bobby Summa]

Update #12

By filling out every subrating cell, the database now essentially has a ranking of the best 100+ trance tracks from the early years of the genre. The subratings are nearly final, but I may tweak them a little bit in the future upon further checking and cross-comparing them.

- Improved and unified color codes (KEY, CAM, BPM, Weighted Rating, Curator's Rating)
- Refined subratings and the weighted formula
- Clarified the definition of a 4.5-star tune
- Other minor changes
- Changed some ratings and filled every subrating cell
- Combined the first two rows so now it's possible to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on data in the second row (where ratings and subratings are located)
- Added 3 new tracks (these are listed below)

Tracks added:

Andromeda - Dream Frequencies
Nexus 6 - Trés Chic
Paul Van Dyk - My World (Florin Mix)

This is how the database looks with the new update. Feel free to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on the Weighted Rating column too see the ranking of the selected tracks.

View attachment 2143

Looking good man! Awesome stuff.

 

[Bobby Summa]

Update #12

By filling out every subrating cell, the database now essentially has a ranking of the best 100+ trance tracks from the early years of the genre. The subratings are nearly final, but I may tweak them a little bit in the future upon further checking and cross-comparing them.

- Improved and unified color codes (KEY, CAM, BPM, Weighted Rating, Curator's Rating)
- Refined subratings and the weighted formula
- Clarified the definition of a 4.5-star tune
- Other minor changes
- Changed some ratings and filled every subrating cell
- Combined the first two rows so now it's possible to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on data in the second row (where ratings and subratings are located)
- Added 3 new tracks (these are listed below)

Tracks added:

Andromeda - Dream Frequencies
Nexus 6 - Trés Chic
Paul Van Dyk - My World (Florin Mix)

This is how the database looks with the new update. Feel free to sort using A-Z/Z-A based on the Weighted Rating column too see the ranking of the selected tracks.

View attachment 2143

Just now listening to paul van dyk - My world (florin remix). Never heard it before. Wow, what a sweet track.

i have a few ideas.
I wonder if the trancefix members will be up for listing their top 20 trance tracks or top 10 or 16.
16 feels best, its the number of standard midi channels for producing music, synthesisers, drum machine’s, sequencers and DAW’s used in writing electronic music are based around these midi channels in many aspects. So in many ways Trance music will be constructed round them. MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is the communication form between equipment used in probably 90% -95%of all electronic music)
perhaps a trancefix top 16 could be put into the database? @Hensmon @Archon. It could be averaged out according to how many times a track appears on members lists

Infact i remember a similar list here once on trancefix but for top 10 i think.

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Looking good man! Awesome stuff.

Thank you very much!

Just now listening to paul van dyk - My world (florin remix). Never heard it before. Wow, what a sweet track.

The Florin Mix of My World (also known as simply My World or Florjn Mix) is one of the earliest trance tunes that received a dedicated video clip (one year later, in 1995). Well, technically the version that can be heard in the clip is called Visual Valley Mix, but it's exactly the same as the Florin Mix, just shorter.

I wonder if the trancefix members will be up for listing their top 20 trance tracks or top 10 or 16.

I definitely want to get the community involved and include tunes based on their recommendations. I already came up with a solid way for this.

So according to two general observations that tend to hold true across all art forms and products (namely Sturgeon's Law and the Rule of 1%), 90% of everything is crap, while the remaining 10% ranges from competent to outstanding quality. There's only 1% that falls into the latter category, while people constantly argue about what are the ones from that previously mentioned 10% deserving of such high ratings.

In other words, 9 times more music is competent than outstanding, and 9 times more music is bad than competent... and my findings confirm this after I have already listened to around 12-15k tunes. I handpicked roughly 1% that I consider to be among the best, but I also understand that some people may think differently (and would perhaps choose other tunes from that 10% pool), and I also recognize if someone draws the line somewhere else when it comes to the definition of trance.

So here's what I came up with.

There is a secondary curation (Alternate tab) that focuses on tunes selected by such respected and well-known channels as Trance Classics and 2trancecentral. Plus, there will be a third curation that I'm currently making that will primarily focus on tunes that fulfill the criteria of trance music in my view and have at least 10 thousand views on YouTube - which suggests that they resonate with trance-lovers on some level - but they are not featured on my list because they not quite hit my quality standards, and they are not present in the Alternate curation either. With this method, and with 10k views set as a baseline, I think it will be possible to cover roughly the top 5% of trance tunes with very good accuracy, without really missing anything worthwhile. As for the Trancefix members, I think they should either have a fourth tab/curation dedicated to their picks, or their picks should be elevated in the community-driven list.

 

[Bobby Summa]

Thank you very much!


The Florin Mix of My World (also known as simply My World or Florjn Mix) is one of the earliest trance tunes that received a dedicated video clip (one year later, in 1995). Well, technically the version that can be heard in the clip is called Visual Valley Mix, but it's exactly the same as the Florin Mix, just shorter.



I definitely want to get the community involved and include tunes based on their recommendations. I already came up with a solid way for this.

So according to two general observations that tend to hold true across all art forms and products (namely Sturgeon's Law and the Rule of 1%), 90% of everything is crap, while the remaining 10% ranges from competent to outstanding quality. There's only 1% that falls into the latter category, while people constantly argue about what are the ones from that previously mentioned 10% deserving of such high ratings.

In other words, 9 times more music is competent than outstanding, and 9 times more music is bad than competent... and my findings confirm this after I have already listened to around 12-15k tunes. I handpicked roughly 1% that I consider to be among the best, but I also understand that some people may think differently (and would perhaps choose other tunes from that 10% pool), and I also recognize if someone draws the line somewhere else when it comes to the definition of trance.

So here's what I came up with.

There is a secondary curation (Alternate tab) that focuses on tunes selected by such respected and well-known channels as Trance Classics and 2trancecentral. Plus, there will be a third curation that I'm currently making that will primarily focus on tunes that fulfill the criteria of trance music in my view and have at least 10 thousand views on YouTube - which suggests that they resonate with trance-lovers on some level - but they are not featured on my list because they not quite hit my quality standards, and they are not present in the Alternate curation either. With this method, and with 10k views set as a baseline, I think it will be possible to cover roughly the top 5% of trance tunes with very good accuracy, without really missing anything worthwhile. As for the Trancefix members, I think they should either have a fourth tab/curation dedicated to their picks, or their picks should be elevated in the community-driven list.

Sounds good.

interesting take on the quality of records. Sturgeons law. I think its probably quite accurate. Maybe shockingly accurate.

A reason i dont finish many tracks is because i always aim for that 10%. Cant see the point in aiming for anything below it. (Im sure ive not reached it, far from it, but its a target) ( infact the 1% is my target lol. But a dreamer is always a dreamer, whether they engage in reality regarding that dream is hard to say) Although i do sometimes finish a track just to achieve a finished track.

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

1% is my target lol. But a dreamer is always a dreamer, whether they engage in reality regarding that dream is hard to say) Although i do sometimes finish a track just to achieve a finished track.

Do you mean when you are listening to music? Or are you producing tracks?

 

[Bobby Summa]

Do you mean when you are listening to music? Or are you producing tracks?

When producing tracks.
i seem to set myself a rather high unachievable target.

 

[nx1]

Very nice work!

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

I wanted to wait with this update until I finalized all picks from 1990-1993 (including the tracks' ratings) and also recalculated their weighted ratings, as I don't really want to publish updates that make the database feel unfinished/incomplete. But because there hasn't been a new update for so long, I decided otherwise.

Update #13 (2024. August 5th)

- The Discogs ratings now use 5 sources (at max) instead of 1 for each track, providing a more accurate rating
- Revised the subratings (these can reach 0 now instead of just 1)
- Other changes
- Added a lot of new tracks

Tracks added:

Alaska - Lost In Alaska (The Eurotrancey Mix)
Alici - Somebody Scream
Alici - Dessert Trip
Art Of Trance - Gloria (Transparent Remix)
Basscult - Paradise Place (Paradise Trance Mix)
Blue Amazon - Hyper Sleep
Blue Planet Corporation - Overbloody Flood
Brainchild - Synfonica
Brainchild - Hypnotic Shuffle
Brainwave - Feel It (Clap Mix)
Centricon - Marscape
Centricon - Ultima
Code 6 - Third Aura
Cologne Summer - Sunshower
Critical Fluids - Fluxing Four
Cryptic Diffusion - Spring Tools
Cryptic Diffusion - Epiphany
Cryptic Diffusion - Adhesiveness
Cyberia - Mr. Chill's Back (Door 1)
Cygnus X - Superstring
Eden Transmission - I'm So High (Ubud Mix)
Fix To Fax - Synatic Dream
General Base - Poison (Chemical Rush Remix)
Global Trance Mission - Dream Mission
Honey C - Desire (Trance Mix)
Instinctive Spirit - Omen 01
Interactive - Koma
Jim Clarke - Daytona
John Sferos - Trance Form
Komakino - Outface (G60-Mix)
Komakino - Beyond Your Dreams (Microbots Remix)
Lemon Sol - Aquamarine (Deep Blue Mix)
Leroy - The First Flight
Man With No Name - Floor-Essence (Dayglo Mix)
Mystic Force - Symphonik
NIP Collective - Brainstorm (Original Mix)
Nostrum - Polaris
Oxytoxin - Conclusion Elevator
Poltergeist - Vicious Circles (Spirit Level Mix)
Pulsation - Transpulsation
Ramin Naghachian - Magic Keys
Rebel Youth - What Is Soul? (Trance-Mix)
Redeye - Guinea Pigs Agree
Resistance D - Human
Sonicity - Solaris 5
Space Frog - Phase 2 - Close Encounters
Spacewalker - Fly To Sky
Spiritualist - Flight Over Jerusalem
State Of House - Ceratopsia (Triceratops Mix)
Sunday Club - Paladian Dawn
Suspicious - Lovewaves (Marusha Remix)
Tenth Chapter - Wired (The Stonk Remix)
The Mackenzie Featuring Jessy - Arpegia (Without You) (Long Trance Mix)
The Montini Experience - Astrosyn
Tronic - Co-Axial
Union Jack - Red Herring
Velocity - Future
Velocity - Lust
Virtual Symmetry - Discovered Theme
Virus Inc. - Transfer To Vacuum
Virus Inc. - Temple Of Colours
Westbam - Wizards Of The Sonic (Westbam Vs. Red Jerry Mix)
X-Cabs - Neuro
Y Traxx - Mystery Land
Mediteria - Dreamer - Trance (General Base Mix)
Microbots - Vibrations
Metal Master - Spectrum
Influid - Mastermind
Tranceporter - Base
Zyon - Raindrops (Red Rain Mix)
4Voice - Catching The Scent Of Mystery

 

[Nerio]

Would it be possible to make a hard-trance normal and then a curated database? From the songs you have there? You should just put "hard trance" next to them. Or it would already be a lot of work?
If you're going to actually listen to a few thousand trance songs then hats off to you, I don't even know how that's possible, I've listened to like 4,000 and my head was about to explode.

 

[TheTranceHistorian]

Would it be possible to make a hard-trance normal and then a curated database? From the songs you have there? You should just put "hard trance" next to them. Or it would already be a lot of work?
If you're going to actually listen to a few thousand trance songs then hats off to you, I don't even know how that's possible, I've listened to like 4,000 and my head was about to explode.

So far I'm at around 20 thousand. The next version of the database will have a few new things. I may put subgenre tags into the database later.

Edit: if you are looking for non-curated tunes, the Master Database (which is also linked here) already has subgenre tags, including Hard Trance, and it basically lists all of them.