Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 130 and 160 bpm, featuring repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and down throughout a track, often crescendoing or featuring a breakdown. Sometimes vocals are also utilized. The style is arguably derived from a combination of largely electronic music and house. 'Trance' received its name from the repetitious morphing beats, and the throbbing melodies which would presumably put the listener into a trance-like state. As this music is almost always played in nightclubs at popular vacation spots and in inner cities, trance can be understood as a form of club music.


Trance employs a 4/4 time signature, and has a BPM of 130-160 beats per minute, somewhat faster than house music. Early tracks were sometimes slower. A kick drum is placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the off-beat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often forshadowed by lengthy 'snare rolls' - a quick succession of equally spaced snare drum hits that builds in volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.

Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple sawtooth-based sounds used both for short pizzicato elements and for long, sweeping string sounds. Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook" melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars. While many trance tracks contain no vocals at all, other tracks rely heavily on vocals, and thus a sub-genre has developed. The sound and quality of the production relies to a large degree upon the technology available. Vintage analog equipment still holds a place in the hearts of many producers and enthusiasts, with names such as Moog, Roland and Oberheim staples in the trance sound palate. However, the mainstream availability of digital technology has allowed a whole new group of producers to emerge, and although top shelf digital (analog modeling) synthesizers are quite expensive, they are nothing compared to the relatively high cost of early analog synthesizers.

Trance records are often heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synthesizer sounds, vocals and often parts of the percussion section. This provides the tracks with the sense of vast space that trance producers tend to look for in order to achieve the genre's epic quality. Flangers, phasers and other effects are also commonly used at extreme settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to resemble any real-world instrument, and so producers have free rein.

As is the case with many dance music tracks, trance tracks are usually built with sparser intros and outros in order to enable DJs to blend them together more readily. As trance is more melodic and harmonic than much dance music, the construction of trance tracks in such a way is particularly important in order to avoid dissonant (or "key clashing", ie out of tune with one another)mixes by DJs who do not mix harmonically.


Trance Festivals
The best known Trance Festivals in the world are held in the Netherlands. They are mainly organized by three companies ID&T, UDC (http://www.udc.nl) and Q-Dance :

Trance Energy, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht (30 000 visitors) : The only festival which features only trance music, and very popular for diehard fans of trance. Many well-received DJs have played sets at this event, helping to create its fame. Organized by ID&T.
Sensation (event), Amsterdam Arena (80 000 visitors on two nights). Not a trance-only festival, many genres such as house and hardstyle coexist. Famous for the venue (a football stadium) and the lightshow. Organized by ID&T.
Armin Only, Ahoy, Rotterdam : The only DJ to mix at this event is the very popular Armin Van Buuren. Organized by UDC.
Qlimax, Gelredome, Amhem (20 000 visitors) : A hardstyle, hardtrance event which has been gaining in popularity recently. Renowned for its impressive laser show. Organized by Q-Dance.
Dance Valley, Netherlands : An outdoor festival organized by UDC.
Those festivals typically attract visitors from many European countries due to easy connections from rail and air of Dutch cities.

Many other countries lack such festivals due to legal restrictions. Public prosecution departments in many countries — notably France — have been reluctant to give permits for techno and trance events, due to perceived drug issues.[citation needed] Recently however, ID&T has been expanding operations and begun to organize festivals in Belgium and Germany.

One other noticeable exception is the Global Gathering festival brand promoted by the Angel Music Group. The weekend long Global Gathering held every summer in the UK features the Godskitchen arena as its centrepiece, showcasing the best trance and techno acts in the world and attracting 45,000 between a Friday afternoon and a Sunday morning. The organisation promotes other stadium trance events under the Godskitchen brand, the largest being Godskitchen: A Gift From The Gods which brought 12,000 revellers to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham UK back in April 2003. Cream's annual Creamfields festival has also showcased an 8,000 capacity trance arena for the last 8 years at various venues across the United Kingdom.