Arrange trance from a reference track

Why use a reference track?

A reference track is a finished record you keep next to your project, to compare against as you work.

Most producers use one for the mix: is my kick as loud, is my top end as bright? It's just as useful for the arrangement. Trance has a strong shape, and DJs rely on it: a long intro to mix in over, a breakdown that strips the kick away, a build, a drop, and an outro to mix out over. If your favourite record has a 32-bar breakdown and a 16-bar build, laying yours out the same way gives you a shape that's known to work on a dance floor.

You're borrowing the plan, not the music. The notes, sounds and hooks are yours to write.

Choosing a reference

• Same style, similar tempo. An uplifting track at 138 BPM is a better plan for your uplifting track than a progressive one at 128.
• The extended or club mix. Radio edits cut the intro and outro short. You want the full DJ-length layout. See Trance track structure for how the two differ.
• The whole track. Clips and previews under a minute are too short to map.
• One you own or have the rights to use, such as a track you've bought.

Step 1: Map the track

You could count bars by ear with a calculator. Phrasemap, our free tool, does it for you. Drop the track on the page and, a few seconds later, you get:

• the sections: intro, groove, breakdown, build, drop and outro, each with its bar count;
• the tempo, and where beat 1 of the first bar falls;
• the key, with its Camelot code and a second choice;
• an energy curve, bar by bar.

It all happens in your browser. The track isn't uploaded anywhere.

Step 2: Check the map by ear

Press Play and listen through, watching the playhead cross each section. Most trance tracks map cleanly, but a track with an unusual structure, such as a fake drop or no clear breakdown, may need a nudge.

• Drag the line between two sections to move it. It snaps to 8 bars, because trance changes on 8-bar phrases. Hold Alt for 4 bars, or Shift for 1.
• Click a section to change its type, split it or merge it with the next one.
• Undo my changes takes you back to the map Phrasemap found.

Phrasemap expects a steady tempo, as almost all trance has. It follows a track that drifts slightly, but a track that really speeds up or slows down partway through won't map.

Step 3: Take it into your DAW

Ableton Live 12

Click Ableton Live set (.als). The set opens at the track's tempo with, if you leave them ticked:

• a locator at the start of each section, named with its bar count, such as Breakdown (32);
• a Sections track with an empty clip per section, coloured by type, so you can see the shape at a glance;
• a loop on the first drop, ready to write your main hook.

Sets from Live 12 don't open in Live 11 or earlier. In an older Live, set the tempo by hand and add a locator at the first bar of each section, using the bar numbers on Phrasemap's section cards. It only takes a minute.

Other DAWs

Click MIDI with markers (.mid): a MIDI file with the tempo and a marker at each section. Import it into any DAW that reads MIDI markers. A Bitwig Studio export is coming next.

Keep the reference handy

The set and the MIDI file don't contain the audio. To play the reference alongside your work, put it on an audio track and line up its first downbeat with bar 1. Phrasemap shows when that downbeat falls on the Tempo tile, for example beat 1 at 0.42 s. If the track has a lead-in before its first downbeat, the clip will start just before bar 1. Keep the track muted while you write, and solo it now and then to compare.

The set has one steady tempo. If the reference drifts slightly, it will slowly slip out of line with the bars; warp it in Live to keep it locked.

Step 4: Write into the layout

Now the empty bars are a plan, not a blank page. A way in that works for a lot of producers:

1. Start with the drop. Loop it and write the main idea there: the kick and bass, the chords and the hook. It's the part everything else leads to.
2. Strip it back for the breakdown. Take away the kick and bass, slow the chords down, and let the melody breathe. More in The trance breakdown.
3. Build the tension. Snare rolls, risers and filter sweeps fill the build. More in How to make a trance build-up.
4. Intro and outro last. Start from the drums and bass and add a part every 8 or 16 bars, so a DJ has something to mix over.

Use the energy curve as a guide, too: where the reference dips and climbs, yours probably should as well.

Other ways in

• No reference in mind? The Arrangement Planner lets you lay out a trance track from scratch.
• Want the chords as well as the layout? The Track Analyser finds a track's chords, and turns its bassline or melody into MIDI to study.