Hi guys, I’m doing an EDM course with Point Blank at the minute (Trance & Progressive) and I need a bit of a hand from some of you Trance blokes. I’m a lot more orientated towards Progressive and Mainroom House tune’s, I saw the ‘Pro Producer’ and ‘Progressive’ bits of the course title and got a boner, and slammed £380 in Mike Koglins pocket. Like a d**k. I’ve watched the Peak Time Trance tutorial (a few times) but, thats just one tune. I was just wondering, stuff like, is there a rule of thumb when it comes to the amount of main parts in a trance tune, and what they should be. I’m talking lead elements, like, the way I see it there’s a pluck which takes you through the intro into the break, where your big saw sound comes in. Do the pluck and the saw sound play the same melody normally? Like a continuation thing. Also, things like music theory behind the choice of chord progressions in Trance, there’s a reason why a trance chord progression wouldn’t fit in a house track, it’s, well… Trancey (if you know what I mean) Also, just any other awesome Trancey tips would be great, the peak time trance tut is spot on but the more I can find out the better. Cheers lads hope I haven’t confused you all 
Also, the part about the Peak Time Trance tut the sends me a bit is the fact that there is vocals in it. I dont know why it does, but it does. I think I’m one of these people who you have to explain things very slowly to and nothing that I dont need to know, like vocals because I don’t have the facilities. And I’m thick. So any help is great lads cheers
There are very few rules in music… and genres stretch and pull across each other.
theres a lot of trance riffs in Main room house and vice versa.
I would get 5 songs you like from each genre and stuy there composition.
Try to pick out the tracks… where different riffs start and stop what sort of transitions are there etc.
once you have do that and are starting to pick up the intricacies of the tracks you like you can start to look through the tutorials for videos that are relevant to the sounds and ideas you want to create.
Its a 2 way street… we can only show you how to learn all the different techniques… you have to know what it is you want to learn for your own style
Sounds like your having arrangement issues. Wouldnt it be better to ask the point blank people for help? Im sure one of the things you get when you buy a course with them is that you get direct 1-1 help or is that a lie?
Best thing to do is take a track you like and copy there arrangement. By that I mean you listen to where their melodies come in and how many bars their break is etc etc just copy theirs, lotsa people do it like this.
[quote]phil johnston (25/06/2011)[hr]There are very few rules in music… and genres stretch and pull across each other.
theres a lot of trance riffs in Main room house and vice versa.
I would get 5 songs you like from each genre and stuy there composition.
Try to pick out the tracks… where different riffs start and stop what sort of transitions are there etc.
once you have do that and are starting to pick up the intricacies of the tracks you like you can start to look through the tutorials for videos that are relevant to the sounds and ideas you want to create.
Its a 2 way street… we can only show you how to learn all the different techniques… you have to know what it is you want to learn for your own style[/quote]
Someone told me that we will all have are own digital finger print when it comes to mixing and song creation . So learning here warms you up the rest is up to you . Right ?
PS: can you link me one of your videos teaching how to Side chain Reverb in Cubase ? Or if you know of one on Youtube . Still trying to figure this out .
insert your compressor on the reverb return channel & hit the side-chain activator on compressors header cool?
ok now pop over to the kick channel & call up the channel settings window now we want to reveal the sends for this track (kick track) .
Now mouse click into one of the send slots (you should have 8 send slots available) & you will see that cubase has now given you the option to send this signal to the compressor, turn up your send & your almost done.
Pop back over to the compressor & reduce the threshold adjust the attack & release for fine tuning the pump action.
cool ? 
[quote]phil johnston (25/06/2011)[hr]There are very few rules in music… and genres stretch and pull across each other.
theres a lot of trance riffs in Main room house and vice versa.
I would get 5 songs you like from each genre and stuy there composition.
Try to pick out the tracks… where different riffs start and stop what sort of transitions are there etc.
once you have do that and are starting to pick up the intricacies of the tracks you like you can start to look through the tutorials for videos that are relevant to the sounds and ideas you want to create.
Its a 2 way street… we can only show you how to learn all the different techniques… you have to know what it is you want to learn for your own style[/quote]
Cheers Phil, I’ll give that a go 
[quote]jjdejong0 (25/06/2011)[hr]Sounds like your having arrangement issues. Wouldnt it be better to ask the point blank people for help? Im sure one of the things you get when you buy a course with them is that you get direct 1-1 help or is that a lie?
Best thing to do is take a track you like and copy there arrangement. By that I mean you listen to where their melodies come in and how many bars their break is etc etc just copy theirs, lotsa people do it like this.[/quote]
Yeah, you do get it, but it’s only one hour a week, like a chat room type thing and you have about 8 other people firing questions at him left right and centre (feel sorry for the bloke) and then it always ends up somebody just chatting st and then it goes down the road of people kissing his a for the rest of the hour. Really does my head in. I really don’t recommend the course mate, the sonic academy stuff is 10 times better and more in depth and I’m not just saying that. Anyway, where was I… Ha. Yeah, think I’m gonna get one of Sean Tyas’ tracks and copy that arrangement. Thanks for the tip mate
Check out in the Studio with Sean Tyas presented by Future Music. He shows off a few things in a W&W remix.
Watched it mate, he is awesome. Thanks for that. How simple does he make it all look though, I would never have thought of having a bank of just heavily reverb’d sounds, but they make a massive difference. Cheers mate