Uplifting Trance
Last but not least is my other favourite Trance sub genre, Uplifting trance. This genre is the frisson inducing, tear jerking and arm raising emotional trance that makes the soul soar.
(VitalTunezMusic, 2016)
"Beauty, sweetness, & serenity surround... & generate a blissful sense of well-being.... there's no other genre other than trance music that could make you feel like that!" - Unknown
(Ori Uplift, 2017)
History:
Uplifting trance (also known as epic trance, energetic trance, anthem trance, emotional trance, or euphoric trance) is a one of the biggest sub genre's of trance music. Coined in in 1996 this genre is named after the feeling of elation one feels while listening to it. Born in Germany this massively popular has been championed by Armin Van Buuren [see below]. Diverging from Psy-Trance the two different styles heavily influenced each other with uplifting utilising a Classical music style structure focusing on epic melodies and synths rather than the psychedelic sounds of psy-trance.
(Moodbook, 2017)
Producers:
John O'Callaghan
(Music First, 2017)
Irish born Uplifting trance superstar J.O.C has had a string of releases and has been a mainstay of all the major Trance music festivals worldwide. He is one of my personal favourites and recently has launch a new joint venture with Bryan Kearney, KEY4050 who have stunned the trance world with their amazing debut at Dreamstate SoCal his unique style and melodies are always forward thinking pieces which makes sure he stays at the cutting edge of the Trance universe.
(Armada Music, 2009)
Aly & Fila
(Aly & Fila, 2017)
Egyptian duo are the undisputed kings of Uplifting Trance with sold out shows across the world and their Future Sounds of Egypt podcast reaching 500 plus episodes they need no introduction. I highly recommend you check out their work.
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to set up the sound for these masters and it was one hell of a night check out my post here. It was an awesome night and I even got a chance to chat with Aly himself.
(Armada Music, 2011)
Armin Van Buuren
Dutch DJ,Produce and record boss (Armada) Armin Van Buuren is the undisputed king of Trance music. Winning the DJmag Top 100 DJ competition a record 5 times ("DJ Magazine", 2017) and his weekly podcast having over 816 episodes (A State of Trance, 2017) he
knows a thing or two about the genre I love.
[Quoted from my post What Brought Me Here]
His podcast A State of Trance has had over 800 episode and is one of the biggest podcasts in the world.
Speaking from Untold Festival, Romania, 2015 this is his definition.
(Van Buuren, 2017)
Elements:
Uplifting Trance can be defined by the following characteristics:
Usually between 132 and 140 BPM
Huge synth lines with massive reverb and many layers
Strings feature heavily
Uplifting vocals usually heavily reverberant
Gated vocal stabs creating rhythm in the vocals
Long drawn out breakdowns building in harmonic content
Classical call and response used widely
Theme and variation is the dominant song structure
Here is an awesome tutorial on making Uplifting Trance.
Set of the year (for me)
(musicfirsagency, 2017)
Jump to another genre:
References
Aly & Fila. (2017). Aly & Fila. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2lav8rqK4Y
Armada Music. (2009, June 30). John O'Callaghan feat. Sarah Howells - Find Yourself (Official Music Video) [High Quality] [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2lav8rqK4Y
Armada Music. (2011, September 15). Aly & Fila feat. Jwaydan - We Control The Sunlight (Official Music Video) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ad_eViMKuF8
Moodbook. (2017). Trance music. A definition of genre. Trance, goa, psy, house, progressive and more... Retrieved from http://www.moodbook.com/music/trance.html
Music First. (2017). John O'Callaghan. Retrieved from http://musicfirstagency.net/john-ocallaghan/
Ori Uplift. (2017). Ori Uplift: Beautiful Uplifting Trance, Vocal Trance, Progressive, Balearic Trance, & Chill-out. Retrieved from http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/uri/
RA. (2017). RA: John O'Callaghan. Retrieved from https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/johnocallaghan/biography