Is This Really The Most Overused Music Production Technique Of 2023?
Classic production tricks are ubiquitous in dance music: the side kick and bass line , the filter arm and the textured lead synth line are all instantly recognizable tricks that appear on countless tracks.
YouTuber Zen World has identified another musical trope that he believes is the most overused technique in dance music this year: trance gate. This is an effect that can be applied to synths and vocals in genres such as trance, house, techno and EDM, where the noise gate opens quickly, punctuated by a sustained sound, creating a rhythmic pattern.
The Trance Gate technique takes its name from its origins in trance music. While the effect was popularized by artists like Tiësto in the 1990s and 2000s, Zen World says it's making a comeback and can now be heard everywhere in modern dance, citing the likes of Mau P, Medusa and Fred. Synthesizers and voices.
While we can think of plenty of contemporary artists who have also taken advantage of the trance gate effect (Bicep, Ross From Friends and Moderat come to mind), we're not sure we'd be so quick to label it as "abuse". “It's a nice technique that can sound great when used in the right context, giving loops and samples a special kick and percussiveness – we're not tired of it yet.
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Audiomodern's Gatelab is a free VST/AU portal plugin that can open up new creative possibilities.
Zen World shows many ways producers can achieve this sound, including an ingenious method that uses Ableton's warp mode to slice the sample and reduce the decay of each slice.
The downside of this method is that it makes it difficult to apply additional effects (such as reverb or delay) to the pre-gate signal path, which Zen World later demonstrated by showing the audience how to use the Axis Motion plugin. Autopan. by Ableton. creating a bricked sound. By adding a long tail echo to the signal path before applying the gate, the overall effect starts to sound more impressive.
Zen World will also take us through various third-party plugins that can be used to create a trance portal, including LFOtool by Xfer and Trance Portal by Kilohearts. He also shows viewers how to program gates directly into their own synth patches in Xfer's Serum synth plugin.
There are many plugins that can be used to create this sound. In addition to the Trance Gate mentioned above, we recommend three free plugins that allow you to quickly and easily create headstock effects: A1TriggerGate by Alex Hilton and Gatelab by Audiomodern and HY-Plugins HY-ESG by Euclidean Sequence, which use it, should be downloaded. confusing. things. to control the gate effect.
If you need some free music samples to get you into your trance portal, why not download the Trance Essentials sample pack?
Subscribe to Zen World's YouTube channel or visit their website.
