Goa Trance, Psychedelic Trance, Minimal, Techtrance, Scando sound, Full-on : quite a long list (though not complete…) to name a musical genre. All these terms mirror the evolution of the Psy sound throughout the past decade. Actually, according to the Wikipedia Encyclopaedia, the whole Trance style is "the most ambiguous genre in the realm of electronic dance music. [It] could be described as a melodic, more-or-less freeform style of music derived from techno or house." Ambiguous, free-form : no wonder then that the Psy production is so diverse and hard to put specific features on. But let's attempt the impossible…


Musical inspiration

As we've already seen it, the music played in Goa was made of the most mind-blowing and hypnotic pieces of sound you could find on the planet. In 1987, DJ Rey "brought the Hindu God Shiva to the dance floor" by playing the first Acid House cassettes brought over from England. It was a cultural shock, which would be reflected in the forthcoming Goa Trance style : "the movement embraced the somewhat contradictory ideals of New Age ascetism and drug hedonism" (New York Times). Hippies and LSD meeting Ravers and Ecstasy, an association labelled "Zippies" by Fraser Clark. Incidentally, this combination was promoted by Mark Harrison and his Spiral Tribe in England at the same period : "As a legend would have it, said Harrison, there's a musical note that will free people, there are rhythms that can induce trances and take you nearer to the spirit world." Sounds like a Goa Gil sentence, doesn't it ? There is little doubt that some followers of the Spiral Tribe eventually ended up on the shores of Goa, promoting this philosophy.
So, the first Goa Trance tracks appeared from a mix between the first Acid House tracks, the weirdest musics found in the world, especially borrowed from the Industrial sound, and of course classical Indian music, notably in the tonal and melodic devices. To this connection, it is worth noticing that, contrary to what is sometimes said, Goa Trance is not a direct offspring of the Trance genre, even if mutual influences are obvious.


1. Some major tendencies in compositions

We can find several common points between a significant numbers of so-called Goa Trance tracks. It goes without saying that these features are neither necessary nor sufficient to label a musical piece "Psy Trance".


1. Structure

1.1 A sonic voyage

The structure of a Goa Trance track generally reflects the idea of a journey. The track starts with subtle undulations of sound, slowly intensifying, with constant timbral evolution and accretion. Periodic breaks in the trance flow occur, often containing some mysterious text quotations (Terence McKenna, Timothy Leary…) or movie samples (Matrix, Star Trek, Contact…). The tracks are mostly around eight to ten minutes in duration. At the fifth or sixth minute the climax of the track has been reached, and from that point on the journey, as it moves towards its end, it mirrors the build up to the climax.

1.2 A form influenced by softwares

The form of Goa Trance tracks follow a fairly rigid framework, based on 8 or 16 bar building blocks. The changes in texture invariably coincide with the 8 bar divisions, although sometimes an additional part will fade in through an 8 bar cycle. This track construction process is influenced by computer sequencer design, encouraging a building block approach to composition.

 

2. Rhythm

The beat is generally a steady 4/4 kick. This monotonous rhythm is a key to the "Trance" aspect of this music. As well, it explains the discrepancy between Psy Trance and black, polyrhythmic dance music.

16th notes are the basic rhythmic division. The bpm (beats per minute) of Goa Trance tracks is quite medium, between 135 and 155, with an average at 145. Initially, the tempo was more moderate, a little bit more than 130, then it increased until 199, before another decrescendo following the influence of other musical genres.

In passing, we can mention that a link is often made between the alpha waves frequencies of the human brain, associated with the state of trance, between 8 and 12 Hz, and a constant stream of 16th notes which, when played at the suggested average of 145 bpm, yields a flow of musical events at an average of 10 Hz. Coincidence or more ?

 

3. Specific Goa sounds

3.1 Kick drum : TR 909

Like in many other EDM, the main element is the kick drum. Yet, in Goa Trance, it is quite dominant. The sounds used are mainly coming from the Roland TR 909 drum machine. This machine, released in 1984, was the last of the Roland drum machines to incorporate analogue synthesised drum sounds. It was possible to shape the sound using rotary knobs on the front of the machine to adjust parameters. As these machines are now hard to acquire, most Goa trance artists use samples of the TR909 or similar vintage drum machines in their work.

3.2 Acid sounds : TB 303

Extensively used in house and commercial club dance music over the years, the Roland TB 303 is responsible for many of the acid bleeps, squelches, squishes and whooshes found in traditional psychedelic trance. Today, these sounds are mostly obtained thanks to the use of sampled sources manipulated using the filter section of the sampler. Though, the influence of the TB303 sound can still be heard in many Goa trance tracks.

3.3 Sounds treatment

With a view to obtaining the psychedelic touch, sounds are manipulated in every possible way, even more than in other forms of electronic music : distortion, ever-changing filtering, harmonic filter sweeps, chaotic harmonic shifts reverberation, multiple delay effects, long sustained sounds or samples… The list is endless, especially since the introduction of specific computer programs in the field.

 

4. Tonal and melodic devices

4.1 Tonality

The pitch organisational basis of Goa Trance, as with many other dance music genres, is the centering on a single tone. This idea is related, perhaps coincidentally, to the modal centering of Indian classical music. Yet, there is sometimes a shift down to the centre defined by the flat seventh of the main centre.

4.2 Modes

The most frequent modes are the minor harmonic and the phrygian modes.

Minor harmonic mode

 

Phrygian mode
Fast arpeggios of 16th or 32nd notes are often found. Melodic design generally takes the form of short repeated fragments which often morph timbrally over time, using the envelope on the filter to mute or open the high frequency component of the sound


The Goa Trance aesthetics briefly described above mostly applied until 1997.

 

2. Musical gears

The instruments used by Psy Tance composers are the same as those used in other EDM forms. Though, some are particularly appreciated :

Concerning the synthesizers, the best choice is supposed to be the analog ones, or virtual analog, since they allow the insertions of effects in real time. Two great classics : the Roland TB 303, already mentioned, or one of its clones (Syntechno TB-303, TBS-303), overused in the past, or the Roland SH-101. We can also mention the Roland Juno 106 or the Roland Jupiter 6.

Virtual synthesizers appeared along the computer era. One very popular is Reaktor by Native Instruments.

Reaktor Interface
The sequencers used are generally softwares. Two acclaimed sequencers among the Psy Trance community are Cubase by Steinberg or Logic by Emagic.

Cubase Interface
You can even find softwares which are true virtual studios : Fruity Loops, or Reason by Propellerhead. Interesting for beginners, these programs are generally considered to be far too limited to make professional Psy Trance tracks.

Reason Interface