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How to Make Your Own Trance Music Online

If you dream of becoming the next trance music superstar, you need look no further than your computer. With today’s technology, you no longer require advanced synthesizers, drum machines, and sequencers to make your own trance music. You can craft original electronic dance tracks using a variety of free online platforms that allow you to build, mix, and edit until your music is ready for all the hottest nightclubs.

Things You'll Need

  • Computer
  • Internet access
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Instructions

    • 1

      Choose a music mixing website that offers a multitrack interface. Multitracking simply means that you can layer different parts of a song, such as keyboards, drums, and bass, on different "tracks," or individual layers. Popular online services such as Loop Labs, and JamStudio allow you to perform these operations free of charge.

    • 2

      Choose a tempo for your song by adjusting the "Tempo" bar on your mixer, or by changing the number manually. Tempo, indicated by beats per minute, refers to the speed at which your song plays. The appropriate tempo for trance music usually falls between 130 and 150 beats per minute.

    • 3

      Explore the different audio loops, or prerecorded music samples, provided by the website. These loops typically appear in lists on the mixer. Click the name of a loop to hear how it sounds.

    • 4

      Choose a kick drum loop to place on your first track. For trance music, you should choose a repetitive, electronic bass drum with a very low frequency. In other words, it should sound very deep and bass-oriented, like typical dance music percussion. When you find a loop you like, click it, and drag it onto the first track, at the top of your mixer. Click the right edge of the loop, and drag it to the right to repeat the loop as many times as necessary.

    • 5

      Add hi-hat and snare loops to subsequent tracks to add dimension to your percussion. If your kick drum loop already contains snare and hi-hat, you may not need to add additional percussion.

    • 6

      Add bass. Trance bass is deep and bouncy, so find electronic bass lines where every note plays very quickly, with a slight echo or reverb.

    • 7

      Add synthesizer leads. Bright, high-frequency synth leads are perhaps the most noticeable and dominant aspects of any trance mix, so find catchy synth lead loops to place in your song. These loops sound like punchy electronic keyboard sequences, and sometimes will have names like "Synth Lead," "Trance Lead," or "Bright Synth."

    • 8

      Add synth pads. Unlike synth leads, pads are soft and dreamlike, sometimes resembling electronic violins, and usually blend into the background for atmosphere. Look for loops that include the word "pad."

    • 9

      Pan your tracks to the left and right. Any three-dimensional piece of music, trance included, will have certain sounds dominating the right channel and others dominating the left channel. You can move your tracks to the left and right by moving the "Pan" slider corresponding to each track. Always keep your bass and kick drum in the center, though, to keep your mix balanced.

    • 10

      Add effects. A good trance mix contains plenty of echo and reverb, and you can add these effects using the "Effects" settings on each track. Try adding reverb to your leads and pads, and experiment with echo on your leads.

    • 11

      Balance the volume of each track. When you play back the finished product, you will likely notice that certain tracks dominate the mix, while others blend into the background. You can fix this by adjusting the volume fader accordingly for each track.

    • 12

      Save your work to your hard drive by clicking the "Save" option.

Digital Music

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