The best trance ever was made before 2000...

[GagaISM]

Well, the "new oldschool" has the problem that it's very derivative and formulaic, clinging to an idea of what goa should sound like (i.e. certain type of melodies, certain synths, etc etc). It's a copy of a copy of a copy. Although this seems the logical approach to take when you want recapture the feelings that an old track you love evokes, music just doesn't work like that. The resulting copy always seems to regress towards the mean, so the result is less memorable and distinctive than the original was.

 

The best and most memorable music imho comes when a more spontaneous approach is taken.

 

I know this discussion is on a totally different track now. But I really think Auryn's analysis of retro-music deserves a second thought. This is why I always try embrace whatever new wave is greeting my ears. I can see that some people today (and back then) viewed the Progressive wave as a treacherous assassination on GOA Trance. I didn't experience the evolution like that at all. I remember accepting the fact that what could be done within the boundaries of traditional GOA Trance simply had been done. I remember X-Dream saying that as well. I was super bored with all the clones flooding the scene and I just needed something new. I view albums like "Headcleaner" and "Minimal Animal" just as much as classics as the old GOA trance mastodons I love.

 

To me it's not this OR that. It's this AND that.

[Rotwang]

It is a well know fact that mixing between records was a common technique in parties in the Bronx. Jumping from one record to another something that people called "hip-hopping". I know this music has nothing to do with psy-trance, but people did mix records well before trance DJs came along.

 

Yes, I KNOW. This still doesn't contradict Abasio's statement.

[TranceVisuals]

Sometimes I think that the music sounded better in my mind back then because I used to be on "better drugs" back then.

 

However I did have it proved to my satisfaction, that the music being produce today, at least as far as psychedelic

trance/chill goes does have a far superior level of production, and far more layers, nuances and technical proficency.

 

Maybe I am nostalgic to some degree, or more likely, I just don't get out as much as I used to.

[Elysium]

However I did have it proved to my satisfaction, that the music being produce today, at least as far as psychedelic

trance/chill goes does have a far superior level of production, and far more layers, nuances and technical proficency.

 

More layers makes the music less hypnotic IMO. Simplicity (in a good way) is what makes you get into a state of trance. Not 12 different (as an example melodic) layers making things chaotic. IMO of course.

[GagaISM]

More layers makes the music less hypnotic IMO. Simplicity (in a good way) is what makes you get into a state of trance. Not 12 different (as an example melodic) layers making things chaotic. IMO of course.

 

Hail minimalism!

[djmaxfactor1995]

Your absolutely right. I did contradict myself. Good catch. I needed to be more specific. This whole site is geared toward psytrance, correct? And, we are discussing DJing. So, I am referring to the type of DJ that plays this music. That DJ would be the club DJ. You wouldn't go to a party and have a radio dj perform this music, right. Maybe, if it were a Roller Rink. But, that would be more like a mobile DJ. All the semantics aside, any DJ performing, would never train wreck, intentionally. And, as Elysium, so poignantly remarked, it would ruin the trance. So, I am not sure if you are defending the trance wreckers, or just trying to correct me?

 

Well, if you remember the original statement you made:

"I really love how the author uses the words, "DJ and without beat-matching," in the same sentence. THAT IS NOT A DJ. THE FIRST THING A DJ LEARNS IS TO BEAT-MATCH. SO, THESE HIPPIES WERE LIKE DRAG QUEENS, EXCEPT, MANY THOUGHT THEY WERE ACTUALLY WOMAN."

To which I replied that DJs did not always beat match. My statement holds true even if there were beat-matchers around at the time I stated (although I am sure it was still a minority in the 60's & 70's). In this post here you have managed to contradict yourself referring to the radio DJ who doesn't beat-match even though you previously implied that DJ & "without beat-matching" in the same sentence is wrong to do.

 

[Rotwang]

Personally I agree that trainwrecking with trance is bad, but I think it's a bit silly to suggest that GG's doing so killed psytrance (not least because psytrance is not dead).

 

BTW, djmaxfactor1995: may I suggest not top-posting? Your replies would be easier to follow if you wrote them below the quoted material to which you are replying.

[Drosophila]

Your absolutely right. I did contradict myself. Good catch. I needed to be more specific. This whole site is geared toward psytrance, correct? And, we are discussing DJing. So, I am referring to the type of DJ that plays this music. That DJ would be the club DJ. You wouldn't go to a party and have a radio dj perform this music, right. Maybe, if it were a Roller Rink. But, that would be more like a mobile DJ. All the semantics aside, any DJ performing, would never train wreck, intentionally. And, as Elysium, so poignantly remarked, it would ruin the trance. So, I am not sure if you are defending the trance wreckers, or just trying to correct me?

 

 

 

Well first of all people here are discussing more than just trance (ambient, psy-chill ect.) a quick look around the forum will confirm that, so I basically think a statement like the one you made (referred to by abasio in his last post) is bound to have reactions like the ones you got. So being specific always help a discussion to stay on track (well.. also depend on the reader of course ). And as far as I see nobody is defending trainwrecking, I mean who would?! Well yeah maybe GG .

[Guest nectarios]

Yes, I KNOW. This still doesn't contradict Abasio's statement.

 

Abazio said two things.

You must not know much about the history of the DJ then. Beat-matching is relatively new and in the old parties in the 60's and 70's a DJ would often just let one track finish before putting on another

 

Yes a DJ would just let one track finish before putting another one. No beat-matching is not relatively new.

Unless there is another statement I haven't read, I am answering to the beat-matching is relatively new, statement.

 

Peace out.

[Elysium]

Well first of all people here are discussing more than just trance (ambient, psy-chill ect.).

 

Nope mate we are basically debating train-wreck mixing which is connected to Trance (in this debate). I know some brought in ambient, chill ect. but that's going a bit off-topic

 

hmmm I guess train-wreck debating is also off-topic looking at the title ha ha

[Drosophila]

Nope mate we are basically debating train-wreck mixing which is connected to Trance. I know some brought in ambient, chill ect. but that's going a bit off-topic

 

OK, I sort of proved my own point about specificity , I meant the whole site, as maxfactor was referring to in his post (yes the one I was quoting).

[djmaxfactor1995]

Nope mate we are basically debating train-wreck mixing which is connected to Trance (in this debate). I know some brought in ambient, chill ect. but that's going a bit off-topic

 

hmmm I guess train-wreck debating is also off-topic looking at the title ha ha

 

"I wanted to tell you what is a good party, also. When there’s no problem, and everything’s set up right, and the music just flows, then it can come to the point where you go into the trance, and everybody’s going in a trance. And it builds and builds. When it’s just perfect, and it’s a perfect song for the moment, perfection opens up in that moment, and it keeps sustaining itself. Then it becomes so perfect in the moment, with the trance, Magic starts to happen. Everybody all at once will start to get tingling up their spinal column, and outside of their skin, like you hair’s standing on end. Every- body will be getting it all at once. It will be so perfect in the moment that that feeling just sustains. It’s kind of like a cosmic orgasm." -- Goa Gil (Radio Interview).

 

So when he is trainwrecking, is that when the cosmic orgasm happens? We need Simon Cowell to tell him how Millions of tons of metal bashing into each other is not perfection.

[djmaxfactor1995]

Nope mate we are basically debating train-wreck mixing which is connected to Trance (in this debate). I know some brought in ambient, chill ect. but that's going a bit off-topic

 

hmmm I guess train-wreck debating is also off-topic looking at the title ha ha

 

"I sometimes laugh at people telling me that I do great goa trance... I have never been to Goa so how can I make goa trance - why not Copenhagen trance then....???? Goa is to me a place in India - not a music style... For me it was a natural evolution from the early electronic music I made and it could just as well have been acid jazz, trip hop or house. It all depended on the time and place and my love to music.... I had been living in the UK for a while when I discovered the early techno/azid boom and I loved the parties in barns across the country..... When I returned to Denmark I meet a old girlfriend of mine and she took me to a "trance party" in Christiania in Copenhagen... This was 1993 and the music here was extrememly psychedelic and deep and I just feel in love with the sound immedialtely... After a year of intense dancing I went to the studio and recorded my first release with R&S Records (Belgium) and released the project "Tundra". I was offered a better deal with Nova Zembla Records and signed the deal with them in 1994 and changed the name to "Elysium" the rest is history...."

Quote from Elysium Interview on this Website.

Elysium: I guess I should have read this interview first. I love how you dismiss Goa. Thank you for setting it straight. KoxBox just said the same thing in their interview. I think that I keep beating this topic like a dead horse because I want people -- especially newcomers -- to understand that Goa is not affiliated with the Psytrance movement from a DJ or Artist perspective. The affiliation lies with so called "shamanic" and hippie parties, IMO.

[Sideffect...]

or is it just that we tend to cling to that feeling we had when first discovering this kind of music?

 

Yep, it's is pure individual conditioned!

 

If Pleiadians released their debut album now, People would like it but that's it.

 

Metallica's Black Album is considered one of the best, but they were just the first with that type of mastering and riffs!

 

You should check this documentary!

 

The seven ages of rock.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/sevenages/

 

A very interesting doc about the evolution of music (rock). There are similar patterns.

 

 

But in evolution the bad things die, and the good things will survive, so I am sure we are going back to the good things

 

+1 I've been waiting for like 3 years now for the Psy-Hype, to many criticism and overdose releases to fade away.

 

Don't get me wrong. It had to happen, I don't want to be superior towards others.

 

But people who love Goatrance/Psytrance can now do their thing, without being disturbed by a certain multitude imo!

[djmaxfactor1995]

Goa Gil trainwrecking:

 

http://soundcloud.com/max-hd/goa-gil-train-wrecking-at

 

Sorry this is a dead link. I couldn't waste precious cyber-space with that demon-ic-stration of DJing...

 

I am sorry that I am not sorry.

[djmaxfactor1995]

Second thing: people saying the best trance was made before 2000 are people that "only" dig old school goa-trance. I am one of those lovers as well, but after 2000 I was so fulfilled with love for music because of fantastic ambient and great super psychedelic organic forest trance... Which means some types of trance had their height for sure after 2000... And I am happy about it

 

 

So what did destroy the trance-scene? Evolution I guess... It's a logical thing, as otherwise things will stay the same... But in evolution the bad things die, and the good things will survive, so I am sure we are going back to the good things

 

Last but not least... The dj-ing thing... I agree with Elysium! Beat mixing is essentiel for a trance-feeling... and not doing that these days is rubbish.

 

I concur with the essence of your message. Except about evolution. Evolution is a natural process. And, we humans deny nature like we are not part of it. By doing this we fuck with nature. We manipulate evolution, we allow hype and advertising to manipulate our emotions. With most humans being ruled by their emotions, they don't make rational decisions. I.E. Look at what we have done to Earth. Look at our rampant consumerism and waste. Look at the fact that Goa Gil is a false prophet. He claims to be a DJ/Shaman. WTF? That means that he uses psychoactive chemicals and music to induce a trance that is life altering. THAT WOULD BE THE WORST TRIP EVER.

 

My point is this: We need to stop lying to ourselves...we need to demand quality, we need to listen to our instincts and nature. Don't listen to some one else. If you are questioning me. You are wasting your time. Questions can only be answered by yourself. Other people can help or hinder your access to the answer. I know this is corny but, remember "The Matrix?" The Spoon Boy?

"Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Spoon boy: There is no spoon.

Neo: There is no spoon?

Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself."

 

We control our reality. So who picked this one?

[Time_Trap]

I agree with you except for the Earth part. We cannot destroy the planet, we can destroy our lives though. George Carlin elaborates on it better than me :

 

 

[djmaxfactor1995]

I agree with you except for the Earth part. We cannot destroy the planet, we can destroy our lives though. George Carlin elaborates on it better than me :

 

I am sorry...you are right...I wasn't very clear. I totally believe the Earth could take us out in a nanosecond. But, I meant that we would destroy our ability to use the earth to survive. That the Earth would become unlivable. That's what I meant by destroying the earth. I believe the answer is BALANCE. If you look at the human body, it automatically controls the functions for homeostasis. The Earth is a master at homeostasis. Do you know why we have weather? Because of unequal heating of the Earth. The earth produces weather to make the heating equal. However, we are way out of balance with the Earth and I know that the earth will be fine...but we will continue to suffer. I know we are here to advance the quality of life for all humans and that all humans have equal access to do the best they can to increase their quality of life. So life is invaluable. But, society has put a value on life and in the western world that value is related to money. The more money you have, the more you are worth. That is even the language the economists use. But money has no real value. So we are fucked. Thanks for reading.

[djmaxfactor1995]

Thanks, again Steve and Fred... I will post the flyer from that party, when I can. That was late 1996.

 

Here it is:

 

[djmaxfactor1995]

My thoughts:

 

1. Pre 2000 most artists used analog synths, now they use computer software and maybe a digital synth. You can't get the juno-106, tb-303 or sh-101 sound correctly emulated with digital software. The end product will be clean, precise and digital, as opposed to dirty, some what random and analog.

 

2. Since artists pre 2000 relied on physical hardware they had to spend a lot of money to be able to make music, so people that got into making music probably already knew they had some talent and were therefor prepared to spend money on equipment. Today you can be an "artist" if you own a decent computer.

 

3. To release an album back in the days must have been more expensive then it is today, I'm thinking that costs for mastering and manufacturing of cd's and lp's were higher. So labels had to release high quality music to cover their expenses. Today you can be an online label and release digitally created music, with no mastering and no manufacturing costs.

 

4. Pre 2000 the idea of what the psytrance sound is wasn't as clear as it is today. When artists today try to make psytrance they already have a clear vision: "I want to make music like Astral Projection". Back in the days I think (kind of nostalgic) that the aim was to make trippy music. Fewer rules tend to favor creativity.

 

I don't think that the new artists understand how to innovate the music. I mean psytrance is really about selectively taking the best of different genres and making new patterns that are familiar but not heard and you either get it right away and it's a revelation or you don't and you stick to whatever your into. The pioneers of Psytrance were architects of this breakthrough music. The DJ's and the artists were still in the indie label mindset of the early 90's. That, if you want to sell records, you need to create your own label. If you were a DJ, you knew you had to produce and distribute your Mix Tape. Any one that really wanted to be behind the tables knew that the only way to become known was by self-promotion and hard work. And, all expenses were from your pocket. We didn't totally care about the money. Except that it symbolized the difference between an amateur and a pro. When I got a bookings in L.A. from my Demo, that made it worth something, no amount of money could buy that sense of "making it." All the money was reinvested in equipment or records...and drugs. I know why professional entertainers do drugs. It's because of the unforseen nightmares that happen. Everyone wants to be a DJ. Nobody told you that DJing is one of the most stressful. disaster filled jobs in the world. Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. I have had a pipe burst and rain down on the amp stack during my set. I have waited 24 hours Sober --to go on. I didn't know when my slot was and I don't dare perform high. And it was over 100 Faireinheight. My records were really starting to melt. That 15min set earned me $800.00. Then, my business partner and I would use our earnings to buy keyboard and pro-audio equipment. I had to leave the production aspect, mostly because all I could do was mix. No music ability and high tech equipment. No thanks. But my partner is now pretty renowned as Glitchmachines. Plus, I could see that psytrance would not be celebrated properly. It would be another room like DnB or Ambient, at best. That was not where it belonged. I think that is why many artists pulled away from psytrance in the USA. And, even stopped making tracks or went a different direction like the genius, Simon Posford changed from Hallucinogen to Shpongle. Simon said psyonara. You knew that it was over when Hallucinogen retired.

Now, you can make a track with a computer, but how much artistry is involved. You can just put loops together without any musical ability. That still doesn't help the final product. Sure Virtual DJ is way easier to mix with than Technics, That doesn't change the fact that you need to know how to mix. I bet nowadays the mixes are not that good because their is more shit to sift through. I really don't know how the scene is today. But, there is no way that it could be better. Sorry, Kids. Don't give up. Just do what psytrance is -- take the best of all and make something better. If anyone needs the help of an old psy-dj, or someone to relate, I am available. I may be old, but I am not dead.

[Penzoline]

Talk about a complete u-turn. You went from posting like someone on acid to actually posting something that is interesting and mannerly written with even offering some help to others. I personally do enjoy reading stories from back then since I never experienced the old scene and it is nice to have some that share their stories. Cheers.

[djmaxfactor1995]

So what you say is that "true trance" is dead and has been for a very long time (early 90ties?). I can follow your point, I don't agree, but I guess we all approach this subject differently. I might have a less sensitive "out of trance" thresh-hold than you?! What I do agree on is that trance is totally overused and often used out of content, but I guess that goes for a lot of terminologies, words loosing their original sense...

 

 

Trance music can be any music that is symmetrically rhythmic and repetitive to where it is hypnotic. And causes a trance-like state. So really, almost all EDM is a type of trance. However, a DJ that causes the rhythm to be asymmetrical and non-repetitive. Which is exactly what train wrecking does. It causes that galloping, shoe-in- the-dryer sound. Which throws off the original design of the music. And it no longer is trance music. Of course, a DJ will fuck up and train wreck, accidentally and very rarely. But, if he consistently train wrecks, he takes the trance out of trance music. Don't you agree?

[Walkabout]

Speaking for myself as a dancer, I don't find repetitive rhythms alone to be all that trance inducing. What brings a trance state are those rhythms along with complexity; many shifting layers of sound that evolve through filtering/modulation over time. Music that's just hypnotic, the way that some progressive is, is great to think to but not something I can lose myself to at a party. Maybe I just have an overactive mind and need a certain amount of overload. IDK.

 

I wish DJs would play a wider mix of tempos and styles more often. DJing shouldn't just be about bashing people with one beat. It should be spinning tracks so groovy that you can't resist dancing, about surprising the audience (in a good way) and leading them somewhere they didn't expect, while keeping a logical flow to the music. I started going to parties in 98/99, and I found the music surprisingly monotonous even then. I eventually found the weird, unpredictable vibe that I loved in the music I listened to at home on the dance floor, but it took me a while. And I found it more often in good friends and small names who were willing to have fun and experiment, rather than the big artists who were contractually obligated to deliver a pre-packaged 'psychedelic' experience. I remember talking to IM when I was new to this scene, and their saying to me that you could tell a psychedelic track from the kick drum and bassline. How is that different from disco? I'm sure a hard kick and a bassline alone sound great when you're on the right drugs, but I didn't take any drugs for years and when I did it wasn't for the purpose of making music sound better.

 

One of my favorite mixes is Ray Castle's tribute to 1989: http://soundcloud.com/genkigroove/goa-vibe-89 As far as I can tell the mixing consists solely of well timed drops, but it's psychedelic, it creates a mood, and IMHO it's far more hypnotizing than a constant 140. There is more than one way to DJ. Larry Levan, who used every method of mixing under the sun, used to overlay percussion tracks, mix different lyrics for a call-and-response, and sometimes, yes, play two records of different tempos to create conflict, tension and resolution on the dance floor. At the peak hours of the night, what I want is to have that feeling of 'holy shit, I don't know what this is but it's awesome'.

 

Going back to the original topic: I think the modern style of production, with lots of compression and massive amounts of bass put on the kick drum, crowds the music and prevents it from breathing. A lot of post-1998, new school goa doesn't have the same charm to me because the production is just too hard. Also, most of the appeal of goa specifically (as opposed to regular trance or techno) was in the various 'colors' created by the synths, and with the standardization of studio equipment and production methods a lot of that color was lost. Everyone started using the same synths (and same synth sounds) for their music, and for the most part those sounds were thinner and brighter than the old analog and wavetable synths. There was also a more precise separation of the low and high frequencies in the mix, and a general neglecting of the mid-range tones that gave the music a lot of its depth. At least that's what I was hearing.

 

All this came together on the floor and it hurt the music. It was in 2003 at a Space Tribe party where I first began to notice that I could predict everything that was going to happen in a track. I hadn't heard any of the music before, I just *knew* that there would be a drop here, a build there and so on, all night long and it felt like puppetry rather than an artist making magic on the dance floor.

 

This isn't just a psy/goa problem, techno has lost a lot too. In the last fifteen years it's gone from the R&S/Warp sound to unmelodious thunka-thunk music, with great production but little else. I enjoy banging minimal once in a while, but few people seem to remember that there was such a thing as techno with melodies. That's my issue with tech-trance/psytechno; I love psy and I love techno, but psytechno isn't the kind of techno I grew up with. When was the last time a psytechno record took the 'techno' part of its inspiration from a Ken Ishii, a Dave Angel, a Kenny Larkin or a Model 500?

 

And I dislike darkpsy for constantly using a monotonous bassline. Not everyone is going to be on enough drugs to appreciate eight hours of the same groove and the same one or two bass notes. But I LOVED Nabi's "Run Motherfucker Run", "Psychiatric Hospital Ahead" and "Deep Mental Trauma" compilations, and I thought the Noise Gust and Derango albums kicked ass. Forest/scando music occasionally really shocks me, too. I would put Tamlin's "Spectrogram" up there with the classics of 1994-98 as far as wicked, complex, innovative and emotionally moving psychedelic trance.

 

Also, I've started to get into the kind of proto-trance synth music that was being spun in Goa in the eighties, so there's plenty of 'Goa Trance' left to dig through.

 

tl;dr: what I hear in old records is an innocence. Artists weren't concerned with fitting into a given style or satisfying a very narrow set of expectations, they were doing what they felt like, and that translated to a vibrant scene. The two cents of a Goa dork. ^^

[djmaxfactor1995]

Also, I've started to get into the kind of proto-trance synth music that was being spun in Goa in the eighties, so there's plenty of 'Goa Trance' left to dig through.

 

tl;dr: what I hear in old records is an innocence. Artists weren't concerned with fitting into a given style or satisfying a very narrow set of expectations, they were doing what they felt like, and that translated to a vibrant scene. The two cents of a Goa dork. ^^

 

 

 

I am just attempting to simplify the language. We, humans are not very good with language. We use words that don't describe the world. We create paradoxes. We have created a world where incorrect inferances and ineffective communication dominates our behavior. So, if we can all agree on what the term "trance" means. We can make it easier to get our point across. I have been going to psychedelic events since I was an infant. My dad was a dead head and I lived on a commune since until I was five. I understand what psychedelic means. I know what trance means. And, I could easily, and mistakenly call The Grateful Dead Psychedelic Trance. I saw the parents of the same hippies that I saw at psytrance parties dancing the same way to Hallucinogen as their parents danced to the dead. Talk about a nightmare. I love psytrance but I don't love the scene. And, if that scene is because I am at a Goa Trance party, Not a psytrance party, then I am at the wrong party. The constant interchanging of Goa and Psy has defeated me. If you tell me that this is Goa Trance and that it is also Psytrance, you are confusing the fuck out of me. I can easily understand why it is called Psytrance. I have to do some serious research and then explaining to call it Goa Trance.

Psytrance is an evolution of Techno-Trance, Industrial, House, Ambient, and other sub-genres. The music has consistently been created by artists from the UK, Germany, Australia, Israel, and Japan. I don't know of any track from a Goa resident. For example, KoxBox was on Harthouse, a Techno-Trance Label from Germany and KoxBox is from Denmark. WTF is GOA? I would never call the Grateful dead San Francisco Rock.

 

I totally agree with your statements about the content of psytrance music. That is why I gave up DJing it in 1998. And if I do, I use the music from 1995-1998. There are some exceptions like KoxBox's FUCKING DOPE LP, The Great Unknown. But, I did download some new "Goa Trance" in an attempt to see if mixing it would blow me away like those in my 1995 mix tape promo. But, I found that they are like house music. Predictable and repetitive with no great surprises, musically. I did a random search of current popular artists. So, I am not sure if they were just average.

 

Also, the way that IM described how you can identify psytrance, is a perfect example of bad communication. Your response, about Disco was perfect. That is exactly the way Goa Trance does nothing to describe psytrance and it needs to GO Away. Get it? That was awesome. GOAway!!!!! Perfect. You want to know how you identify psytrance. You either do or you don't. It is either obvious or it is not Psytrance. It is after all Psychedelic Trance. And that means that it relates to the effects of psychedelic drugs. So, it is music that blows your mind. It is complex and layered but simple and melodic. It makes you see things differently. That is why it is psychedelic. When you do psychedelic drugs, your perception of the world is changed. Psytrance does not require psychedelic drug use. It causes you to see music differently, it causes that revelation feeling. Just like psychedelic drugs do. And that is why it is called Psytrance. To the pioneers of this music, there is no debate, there is no Goa Trance. However, There still remains this invalid description of EDM. If you need help connecting the dots. Listen to L.S.D. by master Psytrance artist, Hallucinogen. It is all there. I am starting to feel the brain shower of dopamine in my brain already. And I am not on any psychedelic drug.

 

God Damn, I love Psytrance.

 

Psyncerely,

 

Max Factor (Psytrance DJ, S.F./L.A.1995-1998)

[djmaxfactor1995]

Speaking for myself as a dancer, I don't find repetitive rhythms alone to be all that trance inducing.I remember talking to IM when I was new to this scene, and their saying to me that you could tell a psychedelic track from the kick drum and bassline. How is that different from disco? I'm sure a hard kick and a bassline alone sound great when you're on the right drugs, but I didn't take any drugs for years and when I did it wasn't for the purpose of making music sound better.

 

One of my favorite mixes is Ray Castle's tribute to 1989: http://soundcloud.co...ove/goa-vibe-89 As far as I can tell the mixing consists solely of well timed drops, but it's psychedelic, it creates a mood, and IMHO it's far more hypnotizing than a constant 140. There is more than one way to DJ.

 

Walkabout:

 

I forgot to mention there is another reason for the "140-145" BPM. When a certain pitch is played at a simple 4/4 time and is phase-locked. Meaning the peaks and troughs of the pitch is symmetrical. Especially when a temporal effect, like a rhythmic gate, is introduced, it induces neurons to fire in synchrony. These neurons produce gamma wave activity in the brain. The same frequencies involved in higher-brain activity, such as self-awareness, cognitive thinking, Tibetan Meditation, and psychedelic-like activity; i.e. hallucinations and ego-loss. You know that gating effect that Simon Posford does so well? I don't think it was accidental. This is why it is psytrance. Now I understand, Gamma Goblins!!!

 

Psyncerely,

 

Max Factor