Hard trance
| Hard trance | |
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| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | Early 1990s, Germany |
| Typical instruments | |
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Hard trance is a subgenre of trance music that originated in Western Europe (Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands) in the early 1990s as the breakbeat hardcore production community began to diversify into new and different styles of electronic music, all influenced by UK hard house, happy hardcore and jungle. The popularity of hard trance peaked during the late 1990s, and has since then faded in scope of newer forms of trance.
Hard trance is often characterized by strong, hard (or even downpitch) kicks, fully resonant basses and an increased amount of reverberation applied to the main beat. Melodies vary from 140 to 180 in tempo, and can feature plain instrumental sound in early compositions, with the latter ones tending to implement side-chaining techniques of progressive on digital synthesizers.
Hard trance was the final form of progressive to hit the mainstream. It eventually morphed into jumpstyle and hardstyle. Although hard trance is still made and listened to by many people, its social appeal has undoubtedly waned considerably since the mid-2000s.
The hard trance sound developed out of the hardcore breakbeat era which itself developed from Belgian New Beat industrial style of Techno. When the hardcore breakbeat production community split into its separate subgenres, hard trance began to develop within the breakbeat hardcore production community. Hard trance went on to become one of the dominant and most successful electronic music styles throughout the 1990s in mainland Europe and around the world. The British electronic music scene split off into other styles such as jungle/drum and bass, hardcore, techno and house.
Remaining popular around 1993–1997 in mainland Europe, hard trance was associated with mega-raves of many thousands of ravers. Many series of compilation CDs came initially from the originators of the sound and the clubs that promoted it. It ultimately went overground and reached commercial status becoming known commercially as "maximaal".
Throughout the 1990s the popularity of the sound caused a flurry of popular and financially successful tracks to be licensed by major record labels, the sound eventually becoming aggressively marketed through commercial compilations on TV, radio and across the different forms of media.
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