The Question...

Well, now, im working on FL Studio 5 with a lot of VST's - I'm very interested to know how can i make a powerful trance beat (hihats, snares, kicks, etc) with a bassline and a lead of MELODY, i have now problems in making a Melody, some friends tell me that i need read Piano basics, i was reading the basics but i dont know how can do it in my sequencer. What you think Dave?

-Chris

Creating a Trance Beat From Scratch

Well, I'm actually not much of a trance producer, but I have produced a few trance tracks myself, so I can at least give you the basics. As you know from listening to the music, trance is deeply rooted around the 4 - 4 bass / hi hat beat, with a syncopated bass line. Overlaying this strong, repetitive rhythmic structure are usually flowing, synthetic melodies based on an arpeggiating scale. This is the roughly the sound you hear when you hit every-other white key on the piano - probably one of the easier styles to play if you are not formally familiar with music theory.

The importance of a controller keyboard

Now another thing I must say is that I've never attempted trance music with a sequencer alone. I'm not saying that it can't be done, but interesting melodies are very hard to achieve using a sequencer alone. They require strong control over both the attacks and releases of your notes, which is tough to do with just a sequencer. It is also much easier to create a melody with a keyboard because you will start to recognize the patterns on the keyboard that sound good. Just keep hitting notes while looping your beat and you will eventually find a group of notes that work together well. This trial-and-error process is sped up drastically when you can just hit a few keys on your synth, rather than placing and re-placing notes individually.

MIDI Keyboard Recommendation

I'd recommend the radium49 or 61 midi controller keyboard to serve as an input device for your melodies. Also please note that this keyboard does not make sounds on it's own, it only can trigger sounds on your computer or sampler, so you will also need other software which can handle the sound making and processing side of things. I am pretty sure the fruity loops VSTs can handle this.

The Creative Process

My approach to trance has always been something similar to the following:

  1. Lay down a heavy hitting bass drum on the 1st beat, every 4 beats.
  2. Sequence up a quick open hi-hat in between those beats, and mess with the last hi hat to switch it up a bit.
  3. Find a short clap / snare sound and put that on every other bass drum hit, starting with the second one.
  4. Find a fairly quick bass and have it hit with the hi-hats, switching from higher to lower ever 8 beats or so. (So overall your bass line will have 2 to 4 different notes)
  5. Sequence out a fast, quiet "ticker-hat" every 2 beats, and every other 3rd beat to build tension.
  6. Mess around with your VSTs until you find some good trancy-sounding synths.
  7. Find a few note groups that work with your bass line
  8. Try different combinations of these notes until one of the combos strike you are really cool, then record and loop it.

Now just keep building on your melody by adding and dropping layers every 16 measures or so. Also try dropping out various parts of the beat as the melody goes on for a nice breakdown. The best thing you can do, is listen to other trance tracks critically, and figure out what they are doing that works so well. Focus on each sound and figure out how it behaves, then you can emulate this in your own music while adding your creative input.

In Closing

It sounds like you've got everything you need other than the controller keyboard. I think once you start mashing those notes with the right sounds on top of a nice solid beat, the melody will reveal itself naturally. Just focus on finding groups of notes that sound good together, and play different combinations of them until you find a really great melody, record that, and repeat!