La trance est un genre de musique électronique dont l'origine remonte aux sources de la techno et de la house. Elle se caractérise par une recherche systématique de lignes mélodiques répétitives et planantes.

L'esprit de cette musique vient du fait que la musique et la danse peuvent altérer la perception sensorielle (comme dans le cas des derviches tourneurs de la religion islamique) et transporter l'auditeur dans un état d'extase hypnotique et méditative, la transe (sens premier de trance en anglais).

La trance voit le jour au début des années 1990 à Francfort-sur-le-Main (Allemagne). Comme témoins du Frankfurter Trance Sound, on trouve notamment Sven Väth ou encore DJ Dag qui collabore avec Jam El Mar sur le projet Dance 2 Trance.

A Francfort, le Frankfurter Trance Sound se trouve au Dorian Gray, un club attitré. Avec Thorsten Fenslau, elle trouve une voie vers la commercialisation. Mais la trance n'est pas exclusive à une ville. À la même époque, un autre mouvement de trance se développe à Berlin autour d'artistes tels que Paul van Dyk.

Après quelques années de gestation en Allemagne, la trance évoluera au Royaume-Uni et aux Pays-Bas avant de s'étendre à toute l'Europe. Parmi ses illustres DJ, on citera DJ Tiësto et Paul Oakenfold. Si les plus célèbres DJ de trance sont allemands ou hollandais, c'est pourtant en Grande-Bretagne que la trance retrouve une seconde jeunesse en devenant progressive et underground.

Voici quelques grands noms actuel de la scène trance mondiale : Paul van Dyk, DJ Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Nu Nrg, Johan Gielen, Ferry Corsten, etc.

Selon certains, la trance serait morte cinq fois de suite, mais aurait émergé à nouveau à chaque fois…

Acid Trance:

L'acid trance est un genre de musique électronique dérivé de l'acid house et de la techno, historiquement l'un des premiers sous-genres de la trance, apparu au tout début des années 1990. Il se caractérise par le son acid typique du synthétiseur Roland TB-303, et présente les traits caractéristiques des débuts allemands de la trance : des thèmes répétitifs et planants, un rythme proche de celui de la techno, mais une mélodie plus présente, en vue de créer un effet hypnotique.

Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. Trance music is generally characterized by a tempo of between 124 and 148 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 techno 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.

Origins

Early electronic art music artists such as Klaus Schulze have proven to be a significant influence on trance music. Throughout the 1970s Schulze recorded numerous albums of atmospheric, sequencer-driven electronic music. Also, several of his albums from the 1980s include the word "trance" in their titles, such as the 1981 Trancefer and 1987 En=Trance.

Elements of what became modern club music also known as trance music were also explored by industrial artists in the late 1980s. Most notable was Psychic TV's 1989 album Towards Thee Infinite Beat, which featuring drawn out and monotonous patterns with short looping voice samples and is considered by some to be the first trance record. The intent was to make sound that was hypnotic to its listeners, this would also lead to a strain of trance known as Euphoria being developed which caused an uplifting sensation among its listeners who became somewhat euphoric during listening.

These industrial artists were largely dissociated from rave culture, although many were interested in the developments happening in Goa trance which is a much 'heavier' sound than what is now known as trance. Many of the trance albums produced by industrial artists were generally experiments, not an attempt to start a new genre with an associated culture — they remained firmly rooted culturally in industrial and avant-garde music. As trance began to take off in rave culture, most of these artists abandoned the club style.

Trance begins as a genre

The earliest identifiable trance recordings came not from within the trance scene itself, but from the UK acid house movement, and were made by The KLF. The most notable of these were the original 1988 / 1989 versions of "What Time Is Love?" and "3 a.m. Eternal" (the former indeed laying out the entire blueprint for the trance sound - as well as helping to inspire the sounds of hardcore and rave) and the 1988 track "Kylie Said Trance". Their use of the term 'pure trance' to describe these recordings reinforces this case strongly. These early recordings were markedly different from the releases and re-releases to huge commercial success around the period of the The White Room album (1991) and are significantly more minimalist, nightclub-oriented and 'underground' in sound.

The trance sound beyond this acid-era genesis is said to have begun as an off-shoot of techno in German clubs during the very early 1990s. Frankfurt is often cited as a birthplace of Trance. Some of the earliest pioneers of the genre included DJ Dag (Dag Lerner), Oliver Lieb, Sven Väth and Torsten Stenzel, who all produced numerous tracks under multiple aliases. Trance labels like Eye Q, Harthouse, Superstition, Rising High, FAX +49-69/450464 and MFS Records were Frankfurt based. Arguably a fusion of techno and house, early trance shared much with techno in terms of the tempo and rhythmic structures but also added more melodic overtones which were appropriated from the style of house popular in Europe's club scene at that time. This early music tended to be characterized by hypnotic and melodic qualities and typically involved repeating rhythmic patterns added over an appropriate length of time as a track progressed.

Of worth to note, the album that is generally accepted as THE definition of the frankfurt trance sound, and which subsequently influenced all of the early pioneers mentioned above, was the Pete Namlook "4Voice" album. Of note, one of the studio engineers who worked on this pioneering effort was one Maik Maurice, otherwise known as ½ of Resistance D, the famed Hard Trance duo. If you are a fan of the frankfurt sound, this album is the beginning.

At about the same period of time in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a musical revolution was happening in Goa, India. Electronic body music (EBM) bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 came to Goa and began influencing artists like Goa Gil, Eat Static, Doof, and Man With No Name who heard the psychedelic elements of EBM, expanded on them minus the vocals and guitars to create Goa trance. Goa music is heavily influenced by Indian culture and psychedelic drugs, as seen in numerous references to both in track and album titles.

The sound of modern trance

By the mid-1990s, trance, specifically progressive trance, which emerged from acid trance much as progressive house had emerged from acid house, had emerged commercially as one of the dominant genres of dance music. Progressive trance set in stone the basic formula of modern trance by becoming even more focused on the anthemic basslines and lead melodies, moving away from hypnotic, repetitive, arpeggiated analog synth patterns and spacey pads. Popular elements and anthemic pads became more widespread. Compositions leaned towards incremental changes (aka progressive structures), sometimes composed in thirds (as BT frequently does). Buildups and breakdowns became longer and more exaggerated. The sound became more and more excessive and overblown. This sound came to be known as anthem trance.

Immensely popular, trance found itself filling a niche as 'edgier' than house, more soothing than drum and bass, and more melodic than techno, something that makes it accessible to many people. Artists like Paul van Dyk, DJ Tiesto, Ferry Corsten, and Armin van Buuren came to the forefront as premier producers and remixers, bringing with them the emotional, "epic" feel of the style. Many of these producers also DJ'd in clubs playing their own productions as well as those by other trance DJs. By the end of the 1990s, trance remained commercially huge, but had fractured into an extremely diverse genre. Some of the artists that had helped create the trance sound in the early and mid-1990s had, by the end of the decade, abandoned trance completely (artists of particular note here are Pascal F.E.O.S. and Oliver Lieb).

In the mid 2000s, other new bands like Tony Reed and Synthetik FM began to fuse rave styles of music with synthpop and new wave and use the new medium of the internet to distribute their music.

Trance in the mainstream

As trance has entered the mainstream it has alienated many of its original fans. As the industry became bigger, companies (especially Ministry of Sound) and DJs began to alter their sound to that of a more pop based one, so as to make the sound more accessible to an even wider, and younger, audience. Vocals in particular are now extremely common in mainstream trance, adding to their popular sound.

Trance and drugs

Trance developed alongside the increasing use of the drug ecstasy in the club scene. Ecstasy invokes a feeling of intense optimism and goodwill, and when taken while listening to loud trance music the feeling can become euphoric and highly energetic. The structure of trance music came to develop, deliberately or not, so that it became ever more effective at provoking these euphoric feelings. The metronomic beat, simple distorted waveforms drenched in large amounts of reverb, and long build-ups with snare rolls leading out of a breakdown all trigger a huge predictable response from ecstacy users. At the end of the 1990s, it is likely that a majority of clubbers in clubs such as Gatecrasher in Sheffield and Passion in Coalville (both in the UK) were using ecstasy.

Drug use in the trance scene is rarer today than it was at the turn of the millennium. Ecstasy use has become part of a subculture within the scene rather than one of the major aspects of it, and many trance fans do not regularly use ecstasy or have never tried it.

Trance production

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, a snare or clap on each second beat, and a regular open hi-hat on the off-beat. Some simple extra percussive elements are usually added, but, unusually in dance music, tracks do not usually derive their main rhythm from the percussion. The 909 drum machine is widely used to create the drum sounds.

Synthesizers form the central elements of most trance tracks, with simple saw 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. Much, but by no means all, trance music contains minimalist vocals.

The unwavering drum mechanism may be constantly tweaked with for effect, with the Attack, Decay, Sustain, Release (ADSR) all given liberal treatment. Trance is produced with keyboards, computerized synthesizers, drum machines, and music sequencer software connected via MIDI.

Trance records are almost invariably heavily loaded with reverb and delay effects on the synth 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 high settings - in trance there is no need for sounds to seem in any way authentic, so producers have free rein.

Like much dance music, trance tracks are usually built with sparser beginnings and ends to the tracks in order to enable mixing more readily. As trance is more melodic and harmonic than much dance music, this is particularly important in order to avoid dissonance between tracks.

Acid trance

A style of trance music emerged in the late '80s early '90s and focuses on utilising the acid sound. The trademark sound of "acid" is produced with a Roland TB-303 by playing a sequenced melody while altering the instrument's filter cutoff frequency, resonance, envelope modulation, and accent controls. This real-time tone adjustment was not part of the instrument's original intended operation.

A descendant of acid house, since the genre of trance had not yet been invented during the advent of acid house (or acidhouse).

The first volumes of Trancemaster compilations contains a few tracks in acid trance style, just as classic trance tracks. The difference is, while acid trance tracks focus more on the changing TB-303 lines, classic trance (e.g. Dance 2 Trance, Cosmic Baby, Age of Love & Jam & Spoon) tracks are more atmospheric, they use "softer" synth-lines, oftenly stings and other ambient music elements. The line between these two styles is quiet blurred, they also emerged about the same time.

Uplifting trance

Uplifting trance, also known as anthem trance, is a subgenre of trance music that emerged in the wake of progressive trance in the late 1990s. Characterized by extended chord progression in all elements (lead synth, bass chords, treble chords), extended breakdowns, and relegation of arpeggiation to the background while bringing wash effects to the fore.

Genre

Uplifting trance, while commonly referred to as "anthem trance" or "epic trance", is a subgenre of trance electronica forming in the late 90's. Uplifting trance is derived partially from progressive trance, but is characterized by its own unique chord progressions. Uplifting trance songs usually have longer breakdowns than progressive trance, and contain melodies that are similar to that of happy hardcore, giving it the nickname "happy trance". They tend to keep a steady beat around 140 Beats per minute throughout the song (excluding occasional breakdown breakbeats). Many uplifting trance DJs seek to be independent of epic and anthem trance, relying solely on the more joyous progressions of underground trance songs. Since the uplifting trance scene was mostly popular in the late 1990s-early 2000s, today's uplifting DJs have little club exposure especially in the western hemisphere, and thus uplifting trance has become more and more underground in recent years. This has led to a strong decrease in the number of famous uplifting DJs, though some still exist. The crossover of uplifting trance with Goa trance is named Nitzhonot.

Euro-Trance

Euro-Trance is a hybrid of Hard Trance and Eurodance music incorporating Hardstyle bass drums and trance elements. It is made with a much more commercial sound, using lots of major chords and generally very happy sounding melodies. The trance synths at times sound like techno hoovers with trancey effects and strings backing it up, and more recent Euro Trance has also developed a synth sound of its own. The vocals are often pitched up for the most part, but sometimes they can be heard in normal pitch range. This is often confused with vocal trance because of its use of vocals. The lyrical content is usually simple, containing an introduction to the song with usually no or little drums, and sometimes includes renderings of classic Happy Hardcore anthems or melodies.

It is also referred to as "Hands Up" by DJs and producers who play and make this genre, and by many fans of the style in Europe, due to the fact that when it is played, many club-goers tend to throw their hands in the air when the euro-trance melodies are playing.

Also, contradictary to popular beliefs, especially on the internet, Euro-Trance is not a subgenre of Trance. It is only a style that has been inspired by Trance and also has Trance elements within it.

Goa trance

Goa trance is a form of electronic music and is a style of trance music. It originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the Indian state of Goa and is distinctive, as most forms of trance music were developed in Europe. Goa trance enjoyed the greater part of its success from around 1994 - 1998, and since then has dwindled significantly both in production and consumption, largely being replaced by its successor, psychedelic trance or psytrance.

Goa trance is closely related to the emergence of psytrance during the latter half of the 1990s and early 2000s, where the two genres mixed together. In popular culture, the distinction between the two genres remains largely a matter of opinion (they are considered by some to be synonymous; others say that psytrance is more "metallic" and that Goa trance is more "organic", and still others maintain that there is a clear difference between the two.) These two are however quite sonically distinct from other forms of trance in both tonal quality, structure and feel. In many countries they are generally more underground and less commercial than other forms of trance. Goa trance, while not played very often today, is more likely to be heard at outdoor parties and festivals than in clubs.

Among the first compilations or albums where Goa trance could be heard, as opposed to "normal" trance music, are Dragonfly Records "Project II Trance" and its successor "Order Odonata".

Hard trance

Hard trance is an aggressive sounding subgenre of trance music. Originating in Frankfurt, hard trance incorporates influences from hardcore techno and euro house.

Characteristics

The hard trance sound varies from classic trance with its emphasis on harder, often acid sounds. The beat is very strong, and the lead synths or pads are more simplistic, yet still retain their melodic, "trance-like" nature. The "hoover" sound, so named, due to its "vacuum-like" drone, made famous by Human Resource in the early techno classic "Dominator" is used infrequently as of late, giving way to harsher lead melodies through synths or pads. Recently, a difference in production styles between the two stables of hard trance has developed, splitting the genre into what is commonly known as European hard trance, which shares common production techniques with hardstyle such as the familar off beat bassline and snappy snarerolls, and UK hard trance, which sets its roots in trance's heyday, with wide, epic synths and rolling, often "bubbling" basslines. Tempo varies from 140 to 145 beats per minute.

Origins

The pumped up sound of UK Hard house, popular at the turn of the millennium, spread to the trance and gradually the two came closer together through the evolution of hard trance. It features the dreamy vocals and dancing treble range characteristic to trance with a faster driving bassline and distinctive "Hoover" that gives it its "Hard" sound. As Hard House DJs incorporated more trancy buildups in their sets the style grew to have its own distinct sound. Many tracks are released on record labels such as Nukleuz and Tidy Trax. Today the Netherlands are best known for their numerous well known DJs in the Hard trance / Hardcore music production within the scene.

Hardstyle

Hardstyle, sometimes referred to as hardbass, is a sub-genre of trance music that is closely related to nu style gabber and hard trance. Its sound is usually characterized by a four to the floor kick beat and an off-beat gabber style bass line, trance like synth stabs and sweeps and miscellaneous samples. Tracks often feature excessive reverb and/or other effects, breakdowns and occasionally small breakbeat sections. The average tempo is between 140 and 150 bpm, around 30 slower than nu style gabber. Many hardcore artists produce hardstyle songs, which sound very similar but are more accessible. Hardstyle is generally played along side Nu-NRG and gabber in the UK and aside hard trance or hardcore in the rest of Europe.

Current status

Hardstyle is mainly produced by artists from The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland and Germany, yet other producers from around the world are starting to pick up the sound.

Currently, the scene is booming in various countries around the world besides these founding countries. Notable scenes worth mentioning include those in the United States, Israel, Belgium, Spain, Poland, Estonia, Denmark, Australia, South Africa and the UK.

Progressive electronic music

Progressive in the context of modern dance music (occasionally progressive electronic dance music or prog) is a term that includes a collection of electronic dance music genres which draw upon the use of progressive performing techniques and includes the styles of progressive trance, progressive house, progressive techno and progressive breaks.

Most electronic dance music tracks released are produced with certain features that are favourable for DJs to beatmatch records together seamlessly. Unlike the song structures of genres like hard house or Hi-NRG, the peaks and troughs in a progressive dance track tend to be more subtle. Layering different sounds on top of each other and slowly bringing them in and out of the mix is a key idea behind the progressive movement.

The term "progressive" typically refers to the structure of a track which occur incrementally. An exception is progressive trance. The term Progressive trance usually refers to a type of trance music that features a less prominent lead melody and focuses more on atmosphere. In the case of progressive house, the term "progressive" can also refer to the style's open mindedness to bring in new elements to the genre. These elements can be a variety of sounds, such as a guitar loop, computer generated noises, or other elements typical of other genres. Progressive electronic is also a term for a sub-genre in new age music and contains elements of progressive rock, classical music and ambient music and electronic music. It has been used to describe artists such as Vangelis and Jean Michel Jarre.

Progressive house

Progressive house has its origins in Great Britain in the early 1990s, with the output of Guerrilla Records and Leftfield's first singles (particularly "Song of Life"). Mixmag editor Dom Phillips coin the term to describe this type of music. In 1992, the dance club Renaissance opened in Mansfield. Its DJs - particularly Sasha and John Digweed - were instrumental in popularizing its early sound. The music itself consisted of the 4-to-4 beat of house music with deeper, dub-influenced basslines and a more melancholic, emotional edge. Often, it featured elements from many different genres mixed together. "Song of Life", for instance, has a trip-hop like down-pitched breakbeat and a high-energy Roland TB-303 riff at various stages.

There have been many shifts in style in progressive house. After the release of BT's debut album Ima, for instance, many of the genre's subsequent records featured an ethereal, melodic style. As trance became more popular and melodic, progressive house darkened and acted as an underground counterpoint, merging with tribal house to produce many very minimal percussive tracks.

Meanwhile, the Melbourne-centered Australian progressive scene, whose luminaries include Phil K and Luke Chable pioneered a distinctive sound of their own - marked by melodic pads and delicate melodies. This style was pushed heavily in Britain and elsewhere by DJ Dave Seaman and Australian Anthony Pappa. Its influence even fed back into trance, with many sub-genre trademarks finding their way into the so called "Anjuna sound" centred on Above & Beyond's record label Anjunabeats. Since 2005, progressive house's popularity has lessened in dance music, with most of the scene's major DJs playing electro-, tech-house, and minimal.

Progressive trance

Progressive trance is a popular sub-genre in trance music and contains elements of house, techno, and ambient music. Trance became more focused on the anthemic qualities and melodies, moving away from arpeggiated analog synth patterns. Acoustic elements and spacey pads became popular with compositions leaned towards incremental changes a la progressive structures). Progressive trance contains distinctive sounds in many tracks, such as unusual basslines or original synthesized sounds, which generally makes it more "catchy". Phrases are usually a power of two number of bars in most typical progressive trance tracks. Phrases usually begin with the introduction of a new or different melody or rhythm.

Popular artists in this electronic music genre include Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren, Paul Van Dyk, Josh Gabriel & Dave Dresden and Deepsky.

Progressive psytrance

Progressive psytrance is the progressive form of psychedelic trance. Contrary to most progressive trance, progressive psytrance is usually darker and focuses more on psychedelia rather than melody. Influential artists in the genre include Atmos, Son Kite, Vibrasphere, Jaia, Phony Orphants, Ticon and Igneous Sauria.

Progressive breaks

Progressive breaks essentially grew out of Australian nu skool breaks and progressive house. Due to its origins in those genres, progressive breakbeat typically features atmospheric pads and melodies. Most artists working in this genre also work in other closely related genres such as breakbeats and progressive house. Hybrid is one of the few popular artists who exclusively works in this genre. Other popular breaks artists include Digital Witchcraft, Momu, and Way Out West.

Progressive drum & bass

There are a few forms of drum & bass which are considered progressive. Neurofunk, a variant of the techstep subgenre incorporates elements of jazz and funk along with multiple electronic influences including techno and trance. The style also follows the progressive form as found in other genres. Drumfunk, a relatively new subgenre, can also be considered progressive. Contemporary atmospheric drum'n'bass have also been described as progressive.

Similarities in progressive genres

Since about 2000, progressive house and progressive trance have mostly converged. While the faster (130-140bpm) records are usually described as progressive trance, most producers from both styles have moved towards a slower (110-130bpm) tempo and are thus typically classified as progressive house. Many psychedelic trance artists have also moved to a slower (125-138bpm) range branding their style as progressive trance or progressive psytrance.

Psychedelic trance

Psychedelic trance, often referred to as psytrance, is a form of electronic music that developed from Goa trance in the early 1990s when it first began hitting the mainstream. In some psychedelic trance circles and online communities, 'Psychedelic' is the preferred name for the genre as it provides an umbrella term for the many divergent styles including Goa, melodic, dark, progressive and suomi. Referring to it as "psychedelic" also distinguishes the style from the 'clubbier' type of trance music and reinforces the roots of Goa trance in the psychedelic community. Psychedelic trance generally has a fast tempo, in the range 135 to 150 BPM but has developed into numerous different styles within the genre all with their own range of tempos. The emphasis in psychedelic trance is placed strongly on purely synthesized timbres in terms of programming and lead melodies. The original Goa trance was often made with popular Modular synthesizers and hardware samplers, but the preference in Psychedelic trance has moved to sample manipulation and storage in VST and AU software sampler applications. The use of analog synthesizers for sound synthesis has given way to digital "virtual analog" instruments like the Nord Lead, Access Virus, Korg MS-2000, Roland JP-8000 and computer VST and AU plugins like Native Instruments Reaktor. These are usually controlled by MIDI sequencers within Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) applications.

Psychedelic trance is most popular in Greece, UK, Israel, Portugal, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Belgium, Serbia, Republic of Macedonia, Netherlands, Croatia, the Nordic countries and India. The genre is not as well known outside its scene as uplifting or progressive is.

Vocal trance

Vocal trance is a subgenre of trance music, and contains highly melodic sessions, intro/outros which are similar to those of hard trance and tracks of usually about 6 to 8 minutes long.

A typical track consists of three elements. At the beginning of the track there is an intro of progressive beats, which lasts about 1-3 minutes. The melodic part (2-5min) starts incrementally, combining vocals, usually female, and melodic sound (for the most part high pitched and fast) with the bass pattern to give a great melody cycle. Finally when the outro is approaching, the melody fades out and we get the same rhythm as the intro, usually with some minor changes.

The most important defining element of vocal trance is the vocals (as implied by the name). Most of the time the vocals are high pitched, usually from a female vocalist, and is intended to create a chilling sound. In some tracks there are male vocals, but are usually confined to speaking and responding to the female vocals. It is not uncommon for vocals to repeat themselves many times, to be constant with the "loop" idea present in most techno music.

Vocal trance is popular listening in Europe, notably Germany, Sweden and Great Britain. The term "vocal trance" is closely related to uplifting trance as opposed to Eurodance and it's sub-genre style Euro-Trance.

Uplifting trance

Uplifting trance, also known as anthem trance, is a subgenre of trance music that emerged in the wake of progressive trance in the late 1990s. Characterized by extended chord progression in all elements (lead synth, bass chords, treble chords), extended breakdowns, and relegation of arpeggiation to the background while bringing wash effects to the fore.

Genre

Uplifting trance, while commonly referred to as "anthem trance" or "epic trance", is a subgenre of trance electronica forming in the late 90's. Uplifting trance is derived partially from progressive trance, but is characterized by its own unique chord progressions. Uplifting trance songs usually have longer breakdowns than progressive trance, and contain melodies that are similar to that of happy hardcore, giving it the nickname "happy trance". They tend to keep a steady beat around 140 Beats per minute throughout the song (excluding occasional breakdown breakbeats). Many uplifting trance DJs seek to be independent of epic and anthem trance, relying solely on the more joyous progressions of underground trance songs. Since the uplifting trance scene was mostly popular in the late 1990s-early 2000s, today's uplifting DJs have little club exposure especially in the western hemisphere, and thus uplifting trance has become more and more underground in recent years. This has led to a strong decrease in the number of famous uplifting DJs, though some still exist. The crossover of uplifting trance with Goa trance is named Nitzhonot.

Electro trance

Electro Trance is a type of electronic music. It blends uplifting trance with some forms of electro. It originated around the early 2000s.