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A step filter makes syncing filtered effects to your tune a cinch

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15. ...But don't leave it there! An arrangement with simple drops, mutes and builds does not necessarily make a good trance tune. The incidental effects, like timestretched vocals, piano riffs and sweeping filters, add impact and give your tune character.

16. The breakdown is one thing that you simply have to include. Traditionally, it's the section where you lose pretty much everything apart from a few string sounds and effects and maybe some kind of sultry vocal. The arrangement then teases the listener by introducing new or old bits at the start of every couple of bars (or get crazy and do it half-way through one!) and then, through a series of machine-gun snares (yes, they're still very much de rigeur), frantic leads and a positively D-Day-like panic attack of audio nonsense before the kick drum breezes back in, leads everyone in the room to serotonin overload. And this is a good thing. But there is another way...

17. The alternative breakdown is still a breakdown by all accounts; it just breaks things down by losing non-traditional elements. Leave the kick and some of the bassier elements and bring other big bass sounds in to replace your leads.

Drums and bass

18. Effect that snare! Experimenting here with reverb and phasing effects, as the snare/clap is an important but often overlooked element and can, with the right use of effects, add a completely new character to a tune.

19. The snare or clap (either will do) comes in on the second and fourth kick. That's the rule. But remember what we said about rules back in tip 1! OK, you can try and experiment a bit with it to make yourself feel better, and throw in a few variations along the way, but then, like practically every other trance producer out there, you'll end up coming back to the standard, tried-and-tested rhythm. It's inevitable, you know.

20. You know Kylie's Can't Get You Out Of My Head? The bassline? Can't get it out of your head now? Good, because tons of trance tunes rely on putting their bass notes in exactly the same place: slap-bang between the kicks. It's lazy, it's predictable, it's soooo late last century - but it's also terrific, satisfying and downright easy. Yes, by all means experiment (maaan) with rolling reggae basslines if you like, but, as with the snare, you'll end up coming full circle and back to the winning formula at some point, so why bother resisting?

21. How you treat your bass is as important as how you treat your kick. Use a low-pass filter on the bassline to avoid any clashes with the midrange of the kick. You can also strengthen the bassline with compression or by using a sub-bass sine wave with a short attack and quick release time.

22. Too many percussive elements can ruin a trance track. A simple beat often works best, especially in places where things are really hotting up with a lot of melodic bass and lead action, and you might want to really strip the beat down in those parts.

Other sounds

23. Layering loops is obviously one of the mainstays of trance, gradually building a track until it reaches that hands-in-the-air breakdown. Introduce each layer with an incidental effect like an off-beat snare, the (now cliched) reverse crash cymbal or, as Aksun does so well on Arisen, a break that gradually filters down, with the impact falling on the first beat of the next bar.

24. Doing a trance remix with just one vocal line? Chop it up and timestretch the last few words more and more, then line them up with the kick to get a laboured but powerful incidental effect to introduce your next layered section.

25. Stuck for a lead sound to carry your main riff? Hunted through loads of stabs and searing synths but to no avail? Use a piano! It's been all over trance ever since Robert Miles introduced it, but, amazingly, it still works a treat. And with all sorts of plug-ins, like Steinberg's Hypersonic and Luxonix's Purity, offering a gazillion piano sounds, you can give them a go too. Be sure to add delays, reverb and natural-sounding arpeggios, though.

26. In euphoric trance, filtered leads take the, er, lead over basslines to help build tension and excitement. Where once a resonating bassline might have offered the key rush, it's now an arpeggiated lead, stab or even a pad. No doubt opening and closing your filter and resonance controls will have a corresponding effect on your listeners' pupils.

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