Music Genres

What the hell is trance music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

dj, electronic music, electronic music genres, paul van dyk, tiesto, trance music, uplifting trance

HI! Aaron here again, still investigating genres. This time I thought we’d check out trance music. Here’s an example of a pretty typical (although creative for the genre) trance song:

First thing I notice – a spiritual transcendent energy. Sawtooth synths that are more melodic than techno or house. You’re in the same ballpark, with BPM’s at 120-140bpm, 4/4 time signatures and of course, the 808 kick on every beat. The snare is even more de-emphasized, but it’s still there. Usually an 808 or a 909 clap sound (I’ll talk about what an 808 and 909 is tomorrow, how about?). There’s usually another 808 snare that does some filling too. And, at times, the snare is out.

But I think the most important defining factor about trance is the sawtooth synth with the super transcendent melodies. Trance is DEFINITELY for taking you to another place, which of course is often enhanced with drugs. Trance songs don’t usually have an A-B-A-B verse-chorus-verse-chorus structure – trance tracks just sort of build and build, and go and go and go. There will usually be a drop or two where the track goes down to nearly nothing. You can literally do this repeating for hours and hours and if you’re mixing it live, all you have to do is follow the feeling (or drop when you need to catch your breath 😉 ).

Let’s see what Wikipedia has to say:

Trance is a genre of electronic music that developed during the 1990s in Germany.[5] It is characterized by a tempo lying between 125 to mid 140 beats per minute (BPM),[5] repeating melodic phrases,[5] and a musical form that distinctly builds tension and elements throughout a track often culminating in 1 to 2 “peaks” or “drops.”[5] Although trance is a genre of its own, it liberally incorporates influences from other electronic music styles such as techno,[3] house,[1] pop,[3] chill-out[3] classical music,[3][4] tech house, ambient and film music.[4]

I just said that! 😉

Let’s take a look at some “early” trance type stuff – Paul Van Dyke is often credited as being one of the first…

Ahh – yes – you can hear the connection between that mix and the newer Tiesto stuff. But as usually happens, things become bigger and more aggressive as they evolve…

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia that definitely connects Third Option to trance:

Rapid arpeggios and minor keys are common features of Trance, the latter being almost universal.

We’ve never used a major key in any Third Option production – ever. 🙂 And as I go through tracks, I do hear trance elements in Third Option stuff…observe:

[sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://www.nquit.com/sounds/ThirdOption/CultOfNice/03ThirdOptionPossibility.mp3″] Possibility – wait until 2:38…

I love Urban Dictionary’s first definition:

A euphoric electronic dance music genre that’s the love child of classical music, house & techno. In essence classical music for the dancefloor or ‘the next generation of classical music’.

And wait for it…another quote from Wikipedia:

Uplifting trance is also known as “anthem trance”, “epic trance”,[3] “stadium trance”, or “euphoric trance”,[5] and has been strongly influenced by classical music both in the 1990s[3] and at present…

Remember when I said Third Option has always been referred to as “techno/classical fusion”? That’s because what we do is use classical style melody and structure (classical music doesn’t adhere to pop song structure, as you probably know)…so…are we…”uplifting trance?”…or just simply trance because we try to do euphoric classical music using new technology?

The thing is, again, even though that fits us very well…I don’t think you can put us in the “trance” category really… and that’s part of the point of this series of genre investigations, I think. Like I said in “what the hell is techno music“, there’s an un languagable thing, which eventually just comes down to listening and knowing, it either is or it isn’t…

Ok…I need to keep this short…but I hope you’re enjoying these investigations. I’ll explain what the hell a TR808 and TR909 is tomorrow, I think, and then we can get into some other more esoteric genres. We’ll never get done with electronic music, but hopefully we’ll get somewhere.

If you want our free downloads, they’re up at thirdoptionmusic.com/free-music and of course, email me at thirdoption @ nquit . com to discuss anything! 🙂

— Aaron

What the hell is house music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

deep house, dj, electro house, house, house music, techno

Aaron again – I’m back researching genres. Today I thought I’d look into House music. One thing to note is that all genres that are considered “electronic”, and also hip-hop for the most part, come out of limitation. What I mean is, electronic genres generally developed as responses to NOT having the resources (financial, equipment or human) to present live music on stage with “real” instruments. While the inventors of synthesizers were making weirdo music because they were interested in what new sounds and methods could create, in the trenches, people were making music any way they could, and synthesizers and sampling (including cutting and beat matching with vinyl records) were ways a person could creatively create music without a band at their disposal. Pause loop tapes are another example of this kind of ingenuity.

A pause loop tape is simply a beat made by dubbing a section from a cassette another another cassette, then pausing the new cassette just at the right spot, then rewinding the other cassette to play back the section, thus extending a section, for example if a popular song has just drums for a few bars. This is the same concept as vinyl cutting, only pause loop beats can’t really be done in real time. But for the generation JUST after the first generation of DJs, this was what made sense (I happen to be in that generation – and I made TONS of pause-loop hip-hop.)

So – because the methods, the reason for the methods, and the group of people are generally the same, *I* consider EVERY electronic genre hip-hop. Many would disagree though, because hip-hop is really a culture, not a kind of music. But, since the culture really is connected, it’s really all the same stuff. However, hip-hop and EDM grew from the same place and separated…one did not grow from the other.

What made me think of this is that one of the first things Wikipedia had to say about House is that it was similar to disco. Ah ha! The first hip-hop also grew from disco and funk (in fact the first hip-hop bands were actually bands – eg: Sugar Hill Gang). And really, each of those genres grew into basically the synthesized equivalent of its predecessor. (That could be why in my solo act, I keep going more toward live instrumentation).

So – house music.

Quoting Wikipedia again:

House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in Chicago, circa 1984. House music quickly spread to other American cities like Detroit, New York City, and Newark – all of which developed their own regional scenes. In the mid-to-late 1980s, house music became popular in Europe as well as major cities in South America, and Australia.[17]

If you remember in my techno post, I quoted Wikipedia as saying “In Detroit techno resulted from the melding of African American music including Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with electronic music by artists such as…”…and I also mentioned it came about in the mid to late 80’s.

That’s interesting, because I would have thought of house as a subset of techno. Turns out no. Although I also long thought of “techno” as a catchall term.

Ok – so what does it sound like?

Wikipedia claims this song:

“On And On”, by Jesse Saunders is “often cited as the first Chicago house record”. First thing I notice is that bass sound. That sound, which is often the “synth bass 1” or “synth bass 2″ sound in synthesizer setups (in general MIDI it’s patch 40, Synth Bass 2), sounds very characteristic of house to me. We use a version of it in The Instant:

[sc_embed_player fileurl=”http://www.nquit.com/sounds/ThirdOption/TheFourHardEdgesOfWar/samples/08TheInstantSample.mp3”] (you’ll have to get about a minute in to hear it)

Here it is again in the classic hit, Pump Up The Volume, by Marrs:

The other thing you hear a lot of in house is the use of the TR-909 or TR-808 snare drum sample. That’s that cheesy 8 bit snare sound you hear in Pump Up The Volume. Third Option doesn’t tend to use that sound.

The other common thing in house is it’s super repetitive, a little bit minimal compared to disco or techno, and a lot of times, again, is instrumental. The time signature, again, is always 4/4, and the tempos are typically between 120-140 (or so), like techno. In other words it’s music for dancing. Specifically for being in a club and dancing and going into a trance (although trance music is something else 😉 ).

So, like techno and almost all EDM (unless it’s downtempo or chill), house is usually heavy on bass, has the kick drum hitting on every beat (ooon tss oon tss oon tss oon tss) and any creativity in rhythm is generally left to the hats or clavs – high small sounds. Notice though, that a GOOD club mix is actually not too bass heavy in the way it’s mixed – that’s because a club will have massive woofers – you don’t want to overdo it. But you do want it to thump. So electronic dance music, house included, doesn’t generally consist of, say an acoustic guitar and a singer without drums 🙂

I would say that’s the first and most basic qualifier for hip-hop music, too. DRUMS are the most important element (aside from the rapper…clearly rappers are gods and should be respected as such – and rapper/singers…well…. 😉 😉 ).

Ok now that I’m done talking smack… let me know what genre we should explore next – or if you haven’t done it, grab the latest Third Option free download at thirdoptionmusic.com/free-music and see if you can figure out what the hell Third Option is 🙂

Until the next time!

— Aaron from Third Option

***EDIT
I had to go back and include this: Chris Lake/Chris Lorenzo, “The Calling” this is where house is now. SO different. I’d call this deep house which is a sub-genre…although some might argue there. 🙂

What the hell is techno music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

juan atkins, kraftwerk, techno, techno music, techno music history

Aaron here. We’ve been researching genres lately. It may be obvious, but it helps to be able to “pigeonhole” your music as much as possible so you can find the people who will really be into you. With us it’s not easy! Everything we come across sounds nothing like us, even though if we look at the elements, it looks like we match. But the whole is more than the sum of its parts in music.

So we thought we’d go through some genres and post a little about them, as a way to help us find our niche, and to share the info we gain, and to make new friends in the process…

So – Third Option has long been called “techno/classical/poetry fusion”. So let’s look at “techno”.

The Wikipedia definition of techno begins like this:

Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan, in the United States during the mid-to-late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno in reference to a specific genre of music was in 1988. Many styles of techno now exist, but Detroit techno is seen as the foundation upon which a number of subgenres have been built.

In Detroit techno resulted from the melding of African American music including Chicago house, funk, electro, and electric jazz with electronic music by artists such as Kraftwerk, Giorgio Moroder, and Yellow Magic Orchestra.[6] Added to this is the influence of futuristic and fictional themes[7] relevant to life in American late capitalist society, with Alvin Toffler’s book The Third Wave being a notable point of reference.

Sounds about right. But what does it really sound like? Well Wikipedia’s got an example of very early Juan Atkins techno:

That sounds right to me, but it actually sounds like some of the old hip-hop/breakdance music I used to jam to as a kid…like this one:

Whodini’s “The Freaks Come Out At Night”, which is classified as “hip-hop/electro”.

Omg that’s nothing like Third Option! Hmm…perhaps the instruments used don’t define the genre? Because indeed, we use very similar techniques…

Ok well techno didn’t just come from Detroit – it also came from Germany, and everybody who talks about techno talks about Kraftwerk. Here’s some early Kraftwerk:

I used to LOVE this jam! It was on the SAME mix tape as The Freaks Come Out At Night. 🙂 Wikipedia calls this song “electronic”.

But that still doesn’t sound like Third Option…but you know what, it doesn’t sound like modern techno either. Here’s somebody’s mix set of what sounds more like modern techno to me:

Hmm. That’s closer. But still…let’s see – Wisegeek says techno “emphasizes rhythm and utilizes advancements in music technology and production”…they say more of course, but if that was all you had to go on, this would define EVERY SINGLE GENRE OF MUSIC.

AYE YAI YAI! Let’s cut to the chase here. Music genre, like many things, is something that is very easy to see and hear. We can say “that sounds like that” and “that is not like that” very easily. And if we’re trained we can describe things. For example, we can say that techno music is pretty much always in the 120 BPM to 140 BPM tempo range, whereas hip-hop is almost always between 80-100. We can say that pretty much every kick drum in techno is some version of a TR-808 sample. We can say that techno usually consists of the use of synthesizer patches like sawtooth and square waves. We can say that it usually consists (nowadays) of “transcendant, rising melody” and almost never consists of a whole lot of vocals outside of sample snippets. But exceptions to these rules exist everywhere, and really, you can’t successfully describe what it is. You just know. It either is or it isn’t.

Is “techno” a catchall term? According to a lot of folks, no, it isn’t. I think of it as a catchall..but perhaps it’s not. Certainly the few examples here fit together pretty well. It either is or it isn’t…

So…is we or isn’t we? If you want to help us figure it out, travel over to thirdoptionmusic.com, grab the free download there, and email us at thirdoption @ nquit . com – and suggest a genre! 🙂

We’ll continue this genre journey later…

— Aaron

What The Hell Is Electronic Music?

February 8, 2016 by Aaron

dj, electronic music, electronic music genres, house, max matthews, moby, synthesizers, techno, trance, turntablism

Hi! Ok so we’re mirroring some stuff that was on Third Option’s site here – because if it’s relevant both places, why not have it both places? 🙂

I probably should have started this “series” with this question – what the hell is electronic music? It seems like an obvious answer – it’s – uhm – electronic? And it’s music?

But it’s actually a deep thing and one of those esoteric things if you think a little on it. It’s like asking “what is technology?” – mostly we think of technology like smart phones or other electronical new fangled gadgets. But technology really just means “a capability given by the practical application of knowledge” (Merriam-Webster). That means an ape using a stick to capture termites to eat is technology.

Similarly with electronic music, how do you define it? Well Wikipedia says “Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production”. Yes. But actually, EVERY SINGLE RECORDING YOU EVER HEARD employs “electronics” in its production. So when you start out and you want to become an “electronic musician” you’re really just setting out to learn to record. All the technologies are the same as in rock, hip-hop, or even flat out acoustic music (when you make recordings of it). Even deeper than that, acoustics are the same science, sound is sound, and so on.

But – you have to admit, although TECHNICALLY “electronic music” means basically any damn thing other than a live performance with only acoustic instruments and vocals – in practice it means something else. No one refers to a rock band with a live drum set and guitars as “electronic music”. And no one really refers to hip-hop as “electronic music” although it REALLY actually is.

What is it then? Is it dance music? Not necessarily. Is it bloops and bleeps? Also, not necessarily. What it is is, music that is created with mostly synthesizers or computers, and even when performed live, utilizes mostly synthesizers and/or computers. Would turntablism count as “electronic music”? No not really, but turntablism and electronic music go hand in hand, because really what “electronic music” means is playing machines as instruments. That’s not even fully right…it’s more like…playing music with stuff that’s not the traditional thing…so it’s not playing guitars or drums or violins or pianos…it’s making turntables create a beat by sampling pieces of stuff…or programming a computer to create sounds that are musical…or…wait…playing synthesizer keyboards? Or…guitars live? Wait…it’s all jumbled up!

That’s because music is music, kid. Still – just like with techno or house or trance – you know when something is “electronic music”, even when you can’t accurately describe it with words. Pearl Jam is NOT electronic music. Limp Biskit and Bon Jovi, although both chock full of the use of synthesizers are NOT electronic music. Moby IS electronic music, even though he plays a live damn bass on stage.

Confusing. But not. Here’s an incredible, overwhelmingly long list of electronic music genres. My god!

I’ve been going through some of them, to try and more accurately describe (and target) Third Option. There’s a long list, and maybe one will fit! Or not. The reason there are SO many genres is because people come along and do something that doesn’t fit. A few people will usually copy the trendsetters, and then somebody names that style. That happens really quickly now.

Still, if you go back in time, you start to see that the pioneers of “electronic music” are also the pioneers of “recording” and really there’s not as big a separation between them and “traditional” musicians as you might think. I’ve had the privilege of hearing Max Matthews play quite a mean violin! (Check out that link – Max Matthews was one of the originals – basically invented digital audio. You can thank him for the CD – and he was an accomplished musician.)

So what the hell is electronic music? I couldn’t tell ya, but I think you’ll know it when you hear it 😉

Maybe Third Option will just invent its own genre. What do you think? Why don’t you send us an idea or two at thirdoption @ nquit.com 🙂

More to come…

— Aaron

DJ Eklypse

What the hell is trance music?

What the hell is house music?

What the hell is techno music?

What The Hell Is Electronic Music?