Trance artists with their own unique sound and style

Aug 26, 2023
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Grum is varied but has a recognizable sound. Art of Trance. Man With No Name. Three Drives on a Vinyl. Silvio Ecomo. Classified Project. X-Cabs.
 

Progrez

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Jun 17, 2022
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Im surprised so many people are mentioning modern producers - thats been the downfall of the scene for me in the last 15 years or so,most producers dont have a unique sound or style. Its either that or so generic you dont have a clue who made the track.

The obvious ones for me,back in their heyday :

Dumonde
Ferry Corsten
Push
Airwave
Matt Darey
Lange
PVD
Signum
Darren Tate
Marco V
4 Strings
Above & Beyond
Hemstock & Jennings
JS16/Darude (1999 - 2003)


You forgot.
 
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SleepyBuddah

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Imo when you look back to the old days there was a lot of pioneering, so a lot of artists (like the one's @Magdelayna mentioned) developed their own unique style.
Nowadays there's little to none pioneering. Artists don't even bother anymore since it's easier and faster to copy and paste.
 

Julian Del Agranda

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Jul 3, 2020
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Without being disrespectful to 'the new guy', I think it is indeed a little bit funny to name people like Allen Watts.

What I find difficult in the debate, is that music labels don't seem to hunt for uniqeness, so it stimulates the 'watts' to just come up with another generic template 'are you affraid of 138' trancer with yet another 16th note arpeggio in the same synth that everyone used for a decade. The chance of having a bit of a career in trance is simply a lot bigger when you copy what all the others do... That's quite sad.

When an artist comes up with something that's not made all the time, labels reject it (think of Narel's tune).
 

SleepyBuddah

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Without being disrespectful to 'the new guy', I think it is indeed a little bit funny to name people like Allen Watts.

What I find difficult in the debate, is that music labels don't seem to hunt for uniqeness, so it stimulates the 'watts' to just come up with another generic template 'are you affraid of 138' trancer with yet another 16th note arpeggio in the same synth that everyone used for a decade. The chance of having a bit of a career in trance is simply a lot bigger when you copy what all the others do... That's quite sad.

When an artist comes up with something that's not made all the time, labels reject it (think of Narel's tune).
I agree.

Tempo is indeed also a thing, It's either 132, 138 or 140 bpm.
 

Jetflag

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Jul 17, 2020
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Im surprised so many people are mentioning modern producers - thats been the downfall of the scene for me in the last 15 years or so,most producers dont have a unique sound or style.
Yeah that’s why I bring them up m8.

precisely because there has been an uptick in (new) producers who do have their own sound and don’t rely on template trance.
 

Magdelayna

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Yeah that’s why I bring them up m8.

precisely because there has been an uptick in (new) producers who do have their own sound and don’t rely on template trance.

Who? I cant think of any modern producer who started in the last 10 years with their own style...not someone if you were in a club and you can say 'oh yeah,here is XYZ's track coming in' like you could with push/ferry/dumonde etc.

I suppose a modern one for me would be Stoneface and Terminal,but even they have that style since the late 2000's. They do indeed still use it though.
 
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Bobby Summa

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Without being disrespectful to 'the new guy', I think it is indeed a little bit funny to name people like Allen Watts.

What I find difficult in the debate, is that music labels don't seem to hunt for uniqeness, so it stimulates the 'watts' to just come up with another generic template 'are you affraid of 138' trancer with yet another 16th note arpeggio in the same synth that everyone used for a decade. The chance of having a bit of a career in trance is simply a lot bigger when you copy what all the others do... That's quite sad.

When an artist comes up with something that's not made all the time, labels reject it (think of Narel's tune).
💯
 

Magdelayna

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And a special mention for The Digital Blonde...who i dont think would change from his unique sound hes had for 25+ years if someone put a gun to his head hahaha. I admire him for sticking to it,its being an artist and its his 'identity'.

There is a counter arguement here,in that is it GOOD to stick to the same sound,or constantly change it up? For example,how David Bowie totally changed his sound in every decade. I know that Trance is a lot more limited,where you cant wildly change it. But people like Michael Woods made anything from ambient Trance,to uplifting Trance and even House...i admire that aswell. Its not being put in a box.
 

Jetflag

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Who? I cant think of any modern producer who started in the last 10 years with their own style...not someone if you were in a club and you can say 'oh yeah,here is XYZ's track coming in' like you could with push/ferry/dumonde etc.

I suppose a modern one for me would be Stoneface and Terminal,but even they have that style since the late 2000's. They do indeed still use it though.
Hoopoe, enigmastate, Julian del agranda.

that’s 3

edit; make that 4. You have a distinct recognisable sound also
 
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SleepyBuddah

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Just a little thing that came up.....Nowadays, how can you establish your own unique sound and style outside of the generic templated who's afraid of 138 same old supersaw tracks or even maintain your uniqueness?

I quess maintaining would be the easier part, but it also took years and a lot of effort.

Coming up with something truly unique in this endless pool of "been there, done that" comes to the point (or already reach it) that is almost impossible. because:
1- People just don't bother anymore?
2- People can't think outside the box anymore?
3- This new generation of listeners can't process truly new and unique stuff?

Just correct me if you think I'm wrong.
 
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Recharge

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I was scrolling in YouTube and came across this tutorial. Now Alex is one of the people that I learned producing from so huge respect to him. Well he more or less 'accidently' recreated the ATB sound. And trust me as one of ATB biggest fans this could easily be mistaken for one of his songs.

Just to mention so there is no confusion, that's the ATB post 2010...

 

Dan Holden

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Feb 20, 2024
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Who? I cant think of any modern producer who started in the last 10 years with their own style...not someone if you were in a club and you can say 'oh yeah,here is XYZ's track coming in' like you could with push/ferry/dumonde etc.

I suppose a modern one for me would be Stoneface and Terminal,but even they have that style since the late 2000's. They do indeed still use it though.

I named a few mate. I follow the modern trance scene and there are plenty of top artists that have their own distinct sound. I can recognise them clearly.

For some strange reason Allen Watts was joked about but I can only assume that the guy doesn't know who he is.
 

Magdelayna

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I named a few mate. I follow the modern trance scene and there are plenty of top artists that have their own distinct sound. I can recognise them clearly.

For some strange reason Allen Watts was joked about but I can only assume that the guy doesn't know who he is.

I questioned Watts,for me most of the modern producers listed here dont have any unique style...its very generic for me,i couldnt tell who made what...i wouldnt stand in a club and say 'ah theres an Alan Watts track coming in' - you could do that all the time in a club back in the day - by the artists i listen previously. Just my opinion.
 

Daysleeper

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Jul 13, 2020
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The problem is they are not distinct enough. If you follow all these bigger uplifting/vocat/tech/steroid producers you could prolly tell some of them apart but alot of them also kinda overlap with eachother from release to release. The copy eachother. Sometimes you find one made a certain tune and the other time its another guy within the same style. And even if they could be told apart they operate within this generic/formualic trance arena imo. They use sounds from the same sources/vsts/soundbanks etc and their drums/foundation is often very similar aswell as the structure of the tracks.

I get that newcomers will like these but 35+ or 40+ uear old people who has been into trance for decades is a total mystery for me how they still embrace the mainstream uplifting sound.
 

Magdelayna

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The problem is they are not distinct enough. If you follow all these bigger uplifting/vocat/tech/steroid producers you could prolly tell some of them apart but alot of them also kinda overlap with eachother from release to release. The copy eachother. Sometimes you find one made a certain tune and the other time its another guy within the same style. And even if they could be told apart they operate within this generic/formualic trance arena imo. They use sounds from the same sources/vsts/soundbanks etc and their drums/foundation is often very similar aswell as the structure of the tracks.

I get that newcomers will like these but 35+ or 40+ uear old people who has been into trance for decades is a total mystery for me how they still embrace the mainstream uplifting sound.

Exactly,they copy each other as theres a certain production and sound formula to get signed by the same old labels and get into the BP charts and have a ASOT play.

I pesonally think its largely to do with the producer sample packs youve been able to get for the last decade or so...no producer has to create sounds from scratch anymore.