How to make tech trance
Tech trance swaps big melodies for drive: pounding percussion, stabs, acid and tension that builds over the whole track. It's trance with techno's muscle. Here's what goes into it.
The numbers
Keys and chords
Tech trance stays in minor keys and often uses one or two chords, played as short stabs rather than held pads. Tension matters more than melody: a stab that repeats and changes with the filter, or a dissonant note held over the bass.
Bass
The bass drives: a hard offbeat or rolling pattern, often with some distortion, and sidechained tightly to the kick so the two punch together.
Leads and stabs
Instead of a long supersaw melody, expect stabs, short acid riffs and hoover-style sounds, with filters and effects automated across the phrase. A melody can appear in the breakdown, but the track is carried by its riffs.
Drums
Drums are the star. A hard kick, rides on the offbeats, busy 16th hats, claps, toms and percussion loops that change every phrase. Drum fills and rolls lead into each section.
Arrangement
Tech trance keeps the energy up, with short breakdowns and long driving sections that add tension through filters, percussion and effects. Builds are often snare rolls and noise risers rather than melodic. DJs love it for peak time, so 32-bar beat intros are standard.
Artists to listen to
Marco V, Mark Sherry and Sean Tyas are names to start with. Listen for how much of the track is drums and riffs, and how little is melody.
Try it
The TranceTools app has a Tech genre preset that sets the tempo, scale, progression, chord colour and every part's style for this sound in one click, then plays it on your own synths. The rest of the styles are compared in trance subgenres explained.
Questions
What BPM is tech trance?
Usually 135 to 145 BPM, often around 138 to 140.
What's the difference between tech trance and techno?
Tech trance keeps trance's structure, with breakdowns and builds, and often a short melodic moment. Techno usually avoids breakdowns and melodies altogether.
Does tech trance have melodies?
Some do, often in the breakdown, but most of the track runs on stabs, riffs and acid lines.
More guides
Getting started with the TranceTools app
Install it, open it in your DAW and write your first trance idea in five minutes.
How to make uplifting trance
Chords to drop in order: 138 BPM, minor keys, supersaws, gates, breakdown and build.
How to write trance chord progressions
Numerals, why trance lives in minor keys, the raised V and voice leading.
How to write a trance melody
Call and answer, chord tones on the beat, rhythm, range and the peak note.
Trance basslines
Offbeat, octave, galloping and rolling: the four patterns and the sound.
Trance arps and plucks
Arp patterns and rates, the pluck sound, the dotted delay and layering.
How to make an uplifting trance lead
Unison, the octave layer, filtering, delay and the mix tricks that make a lead huge.
How to make a trance pad
Slow attack, long release, width, chorus, reverb and movement.
Trancegate settings explained
Patterns, smoothing and where the reverb goes, for gates that chop cleanly.
Acid in trance
The 303 sound, accents and slides, and the filter movement that makes it talk.
Programming trance drums
Four to the floor, the offbeat hat, velocity, swing, fills and sounds.
Trance track structure
Section lengths, timings at your tempo, and why DJs need the first and last 32 bars.
The trance breakdown
What to strip away, revealing the melody, and keeping it moving without a kick.
How to make a trance build-up
Snare rolls, risers, filter sweeps and the gap before the drop.
Arrange trance from a reference track
Map a track you love into sections and bar counts, then write your own into the same layout.
Mixing kick and bass in trance
Tuning, timing and frequency: a low end that hits hard without fighting.
Sidechain settings for trance
Depth, release and what to duck, for a pump that breathes with the kick.
Mastering trance for the club
Loudness targets, true peak, the mastering chain and streaming.
Trance subgenres explained
Uplifting, progressive, psy, tech, vocal and hard trance compared at a glance.
How to make progressive trance
Rolling bass, plucks, evolving pads and builds that take their time.
How to make psytrance
The rolling kick and bass, acid and FM leads, low keys and 16-bar changes.
How to make tech trance
Driving bass, stabs and acid, heavy percussion and short breakdowns.
How to make vocal trance
Song structure, chords that leave room for the voice, and the doubled hook.
How to make hard trance
Hard kicks, faster tempos, acid and hoovers, and fast builds.
Mixing trance in key
The Camelot wheel, energy boosts, small tempo changes, phrasing and the bass swap.
Getting your trance track signed
Picking labels, sending demos, premasters and what happens when a label says yes.
Trance MIDI generator plugins compared
TranceEngine, Scaler 3, Cthulhu, Captain Plugins and TranceTools: what each writes and costs.