By 
Let’s be honest, this article is not designed for ignorant people who think that trance dance music is, as Paul van Dyk satirizes, “The dumbest music since country and western.” The entire dilemma that comes with overcoming cognitive dissonance is well beyond the scope of this article. Instead, if you are someone who has ever listened to mainstream “trance” or “techno” or “rave” music and thought it was interesting and intriguing, this article will show you some of the ways to develop your inner love for Trance. Music avoiding the most common mistakes of fans when starting out in this musical genre.
1. Keep an open mind – This is by far one of the most idiotic mistakes we all unconsciously make if we are not careful. Remember that any music that you are not enjoying very much can be attributed to many things, but most importantly: remember that a bad song does not define the genre or sub-genre.
2. Don’t listen to cheese – Yes this means YOU, yes YOU sitting there wondering if you really have to give up your DJ Sammy, your Ian Van Dahl, your DJ Encore, your Darude – Sandstorm, the list goes on. I’m not going to sit here and tell you which artist to listen to or not to, but there is DEFINITELY a world of difference between eating McDonalds every day and having a rotation of quality food like Kobe Beef Filet Mignon, grown in Japan, every day. night. Both may be loosely labeled “beef” but there is a world of difference in the difference in texture, taste, flavors, aromas and such that the person who has never tried either will not be able to appreciate immediately at first glance. taste. Do you remember my first fundamental point? Don’t be one of those people who thinks it’s cool to go against mainstream music just because it’s mainstream. Have your own thoughts and opinions. Don’t fall victim and prey to social conditioning. I personally love DJs like Armin van Buuren, Above & Beyond, Ferry Corsten etc. are doing for the EDM and Trance world. Are they conventional? Yes. Are they absolutely good at what they do to promote the genre, contribute POSITIVELY to it and, at the end of the day, make millions of people around the world put their problems and burdens aside for the brief time they listen to them? That is the ultimate delimiting and deciding factor in a question on this scale. To conclude this point, I think a quote from one of the greatest and most talented producers of our age, Brian Transeau (aka BT), says it all:
“I love what guys like Oliver Lieb and Paul van Dyk do. I hate that ATB and those kinds of people prostituted this stuff. You listen to an ATB track and then you hear Sasha, and the difference is as obvious as listening to Led Zeppelin and Rachmaninov”. -Brian Transeau
3. Don’t listen to low bitrate music – Now we are starting to get to the heart of how to really enjoy music once we have put aside little nuances like ignorance and stereotypes of a music genre. Please do yourself a favor and refuse to listen to anything that’s at least 128kbps when you start, and then 192kbps when you find that your brain and ears can hear the difference in them. The jump from 192kbps to 320kbps takes a bit longer, but I absolutely encourage anyone with the ability to get a 320 copy of any song to do so. If you have no idea what bitrate means, simply put, the numbers indicate how much information is coming through when you’re listening. The less information coming in, the muffled, low-quality, and ultimately unrealistic the sound will sound.
4. The equipment you use to listen to music is important – BREAKING NEWS! All listening equipment is not created equal. Do you know what is one of the main reasons why many people cannot tell the difference between bitrates? It is the equipment you are using to listen to them. Those iPod/iPhone earbuds you’re wearing? Throw them out. That overly high voltage sub and bump system you have that has no depth or frequency response? Get rid of them. Trust me, you will thank me. Get yourself a good pair of studio monitors (the KRK Rokit RPG5s are amazing monitors on a budget), or if you can’t afford them, at least go for accurate sound reproduction over booming bass. I like to think of subwoofers and the stereotypical sound system that shakes the blocks like wasabi on sushi. As sound quality goes up, having that crap muffled and depriving your auditory senses of the range of sounds they should be hearing is like dumping a bunch of wasabi on top of a freshly cut slice of toro sashimi. You only use wasabi as a spell hunter with low quality sushi. In the same way, you don’t need that crap when you listen to high-quality music through a high-quality medium. Oh yeah, those standard headphones you have? If you switch or listen to music on the go, invest in a good pair of sound isolating headphones. Shure and Etymotic Research are amazing, even on the lowest budget. (ER6i or EC3 start around 70-110 depending on where/when you can get them.) If you’re thinking to yourself that it’s ridiculous to pay that much money for headphones, I bought a pair of er6i’s when I was a poor college student looking for Wendy’s dollar menu for dinner. Even then I felt that they were one of the best investments he had ever made. They block outside sound so that the true essence of sound reproduction can be heard in the ear canals. Oh, and did I mention that you only have to play your iPod at maybe 1/4-1/2 volume for optimal results? They are wonderful for your hearing. What are you waiting for? Get off your ass and go to your local Guitar Center, Sam Ash, or equivalent that sells high quality audio equipment and HEAR the difference for yourself.
5. Find radio shows and podcasts from your favorite and respected artists – DI.fm’s typical free streams are max 128kbps, 192 streams cost a minimal amount of money. As per point 3 above, don’t compromise on a superior audio experience. Some more notable shows, like Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance (Thursday afternoons, 2-4 p.m.) True to his own beliefs, Armin doesn’t usually overload his radio shows with all the Armada releases or pre-releases ( On the other hand, Trance Around the World with Above & Beyond has become a promotional show for all things Anjunabeats. Almost every artist worth their salt (and many who aren’t) has their own show. or podcast on a regular schedule Andy Moor has a usually monthly Moor Music radio show DJ Shah has Música para Baleares Ferry Corsten has Corsten Countdown Paul van Dyk has Vonyc sessions Tiesto has Club Life Paul Oakenfold has Groove Radio Markus Schulz has Global DJ Broadcast. John O’Callaghan has Subculture. Aly & Fila have Future Sound of Egypt. Even up-and-coming artists like Sean Tyas have Essential Mix. In truth, you can usually find s Enough shows to overwhelm even the most seasoned trance junkie. Do you remember point 1? Yes, that’s right: it still applies here. Don’t fall victim to going along with popular culture or counterculture. Just because he’s not feeling Above & Beyond’s overly promotional flair for his show these days doesn’t mean you won’t either. So remember that your opinion is the most important thing. Always remember that and go out and find some radio shows that you will love.
6. For God’s sake, don’t fast-forward through the music. – Especially not to “get to the good part” when you hear the song for the first time. The utter stupidity of showing my friends a song where they fast forward a 9 minute track in 15 seconds and judging it leaves me speechless. You don’t read a book for pleasure by reading the first page, the middle page, and the last page. Why the hell would you do that with EDM? Most of the tracks aren’t designed for the crack club like the hip hop equivalent of Soulja Boy idiocy. Trance and most other forms of EDM take you on a journey. Is it surprising that the effectiveness of a live DJ is based on his track selection and his ability to mix songs to minimize the immersion of the listener and take him on a journey (some DJs, in fact, specialize in this journey like Tiesto) ? Even the best songs that I love if they go fast they lose at least 50% of their effectiveness. In philosophy, a common saying asks how we as humans could ever appreciate joy without pain, light without darkness, and other extremes. Similarly, I ask how one can enjoy an experience by watching only a short montage of it. Do not fool yourself. Take your hand off that fast forward button.
7. Go to a live DJ at your local club – This is by far one of the most effective ways to develop a love for music. It brings the community together by meeting other people with similar interests, (hopefully) an amazing place that has a really high quality sound system, and the whole experience and journey of Trance and Dance Music. If you live in a high volume metropolitan area, be prepared for large, crowded clubs when international superstars like Armin van Buuren, Paul van Dyk, DJ Tiesto, etc. come to your city While the author of this article does not condone illegal activity and cannot go into the scope of the specifics of illegal substances, from personal experience they have worked to have a synergistic effect of making the experience of a club and the love of the music explodes 100 times or more. . Do you remember point 1? Hopefully by now you get the hang of it and not listen to government scare tactics designed to take advantage of how little the average consumer thinks. Educate yourself and make an informed decision. I did and never looked back.
8. DO NOT play your music at a low volume – This is probably the rookie mistake that beats all the others. Regardless of bitrate, regardless of gear, regardless of song, if your ears have a hard time audibly discerning the song, it’s not going to sound right no matter what you do. Part of the experience that makes a blockbuster like The Dark Knight so good, especially in an IMAX theater, is the immersion and visual and sound quality. Likewise, if you don’t have the same level of this while listening to music that takes you on a journey, you’ll find that it ends rather abruptly.