So in trawling the Net for production tips over the years, I kept running into the name "Vengeance", which belonged to Manuel Schleis' sample pack company that apparently had a reputation for being overused by amateurs. I didn't pay that much mind, but a while back I managed to track down a torrent of their Essential Clubsounds Vols 1-5, which were apparently discontinued from their web store. I thought I'd barely use what was in there, if at all (since I already have way too many samples in my Ableton library), but it was only after I started scrolling through it did I realize what I was dealing with: basically every trance producer for the last twenty years has used these sounds.
I'm just gonna give you three of MANY examples that I immediately recognized from a lot of my favourite tracks:
VEC2 Loops 070 - I instantly recognized this as being used in Hensha - The Curtain, as well as numerous tracks by Alex M.O.R.P.H., Temple One, Ferry Tayle and others. If you've listened to as much trance as I have you've almost certainly heard this loop more than once; it seems to be really common from 2008 onwards.
I can't tell you how many tracks I've heard VEC5 Downlifter 015 in, and once you hear it I'm sure you'll agree. It's a very lush, multilayered noise sweep that fits the vibe of a LOT of uplifting trance - here's a remix from Temple One that uses both this and the above percussion loop.
One particularly big offender (I don't actually take offense; see below
) is @delphion - I think basically all of his work from 2007-2009 (my favourite era of his) uses these samples. Compare VEC1 Loops140 037 with the intro of Miikka Leinonen pres. Lush - Discover Me; that has to be one of at least ten matches I found just from him.
If you download the torrent and scan through any of those thousands of samples (the percussion loops and FX in particular) I'm sure you'll hear many more matches with some of your favourite tracks, some of which were lifted by Manuel Schleis from older music (VEC1 Loops140 333 is literally just Daft Punk - Revolution 909 through a highpass filter, and I'm pretty sure VEC1 Loops140 107 is the same from Vimana - We Came). Pretty sure that's why these specific packs were discontinued.
Now I'm sure many will automatically say that using these sounds counts as being lazy/cheating/rip-off or what have you. And in some cases I would definitely agree. I feel like one of the big problems with EDM as a whole (not just trance, though it's a big offender) is that it's become too easy to be lazy as a producer and still get good results. You can just buy a bunch of crisp, "professional" sounding presets and samples, or even entire track arrangements, put them together and have something release-ready lightning fast, only to realize that you sound the exact same as everyone else because everyone's using the exact same sounds, and they still sell enough to create demand for more of them. I'm all for democratizing music production for the masses, but this is the inevitable downside - some people will be too lazy.
That being said - I feel like there's nothing wrong with a little laziness, especially if it's a way of rounding out a track that you've already done a lot of sound design work in. My recent track Frozen Fire uses several Vengeance noise sweeps to add texture to the mix, because at that point I was close enough to finishing it that I didn't want to put the time into making my own noise sweeps. Sometimes it's nice to use shortcuts to add layers to a track, especially if they're gonna be buried deep enough in the mix that they won't be noticed by most ears. And then of course sampling can be its own art form - look at this old video from Craig Connelly where he wholesale lifts drum loops from other tracks to layer them together for his own - something I have done myself with no shame, because everyone is doing this and as a producer I know why. The trick to being a good producer is neither shunning all samples or presets to sound TOTALLY ORIGINAL (which is impossible, especially in this genre), nor being lazy enough to make forgettable cookie cutter tripe. It's balancing laziness with effort, putting in the work when it comes to skills like arrangement, synth programming and sound design, and making the music for yourself first and foremost, before anyone else.
But what do all of you think?
I'm just gonna give you three of MANY examples that I immediately recognized from a lot of my favourite tracks:
VEC2 Loops 070 - I instantly recognized this as being used in Hensha - The Curtain, as well as numerous tracks by Alex M.O.R.P.H., Temple One, Ferry Tayle and others. If you've listened to as much trance as I have you've almost certainly heard this loop more than once; it seems to be really common from 2008 onwards.
I can't tell you how many tracks I've heard VEC5 Downlifter 015 in, and once you hear it I'm sure you'll agree. It's a very lush, multilayered noise sweep that fits the vibe of a LOT of uplifting trance - here's a remix from Temple One that uses both this and the above percussion loop.
One particularly big offender (I don't actually take offense; see below
) is @delphion - I think basically all of his work from 2007-2009 (my favourite era of his) uses these samples. Compare VEC1 Loops140 037 with the intro of Miikka Leinonen pres. Lush - Discover Me; that has to be one of at least ten matches I found just from him.If you download the torrent and scan through any of those thousands of samples (the percussion loops and FX in particular) I'm sure you'll hear many more matches with some of your favourite tracks, some of which were lifted by Manuel Schleis from older music (VEC1 Loops140 333 is literally just Daft Punk - Revolution 909 through a highpass filter, and I'm pretty sure VEC1 Loops140 107 is the same from Vimana - We Came). Pretty sure that's why these specific packs were discontinued.
Now I'm sure many will automatically say that using these sounds counts as being lazy/cheating/rip-off or what have you. And in some cases I would definitely agree. I feel like one of the big problems with EDM as a whole (not just trance, though it's a big offender) is that it's become too easy to be lazy as a producer and still get good results. You can just buy a bunch of crisp, "professional" sounding presets and samples, or even entire track arrangements, put them together and have something release-ready lightning fast, only to realize that you sound the exact same as everyone else because everyone's using the exact same sounds, and they still sell enough to create demand for more of them. I'm all for democratizing music production for the masses, but this is the inevitable downside - some people will be too lazy.
That being said - I feel like there's nothing wrong with a little laziness, especially if it's a way of rounding out a track that you've already done a lot of sound design work in. My recent track Frozen Fire uses several Vengeance noise sweeps to add texture to the mix, because at that point I was close enough to finishing it that I didn't want to put the time into making my own noise sweeps. Sometimes it's nice to use shortcuts to add layers to a track, especially if they're gonna be buried deep enough in the mix that they won't be noticed by most ears. And then of course sampling can be its own art form - look at this old video from Craig Connelly where he wholesale lifts drum loops from other tracks to layer them together for his own - something I have done myself with no shame, because everyone is doing this and as a producer I know why. The trick to being a good producer is neither shunning all samples or presets to sound TOTALLY ORIGINAL (which is impossible, especially in this genre), nor being lazy enough to make forgettable cookie cutter tripe. It's balancing laziness with effort, putting in the work when it comes to skills like arrangement, synth programming and sound design, and making the music for yourself first and foremost, before anyone else.
But what do all of you think?
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