DJ's and Producers
It is a strange thing but it would seem you have to be
a producer within the trance music industry to become successful
as a DJ, before many if not all of the promoters take any
interest in you unless you do. That’s rather like
Michael Schumacher not being able to drive Formula One cars
because he doesn’t design and build them! So it goes
with out saying that the following have at some time made
some big tunes….
Tijs Verwest – Dj Tiesto
I have a lot of respect and admiration for Tiesto, I first
became aware of him through his remix of Delerium’s
track “Silence”.
Renowned now by many as the worlds No 1 DJ, his road to
success was not always an easy one: first of which was not
getting recognised in his home land but Finland. Through
perseverance and determination he finally succeeded.
I personally enjoy listening to his mix albums for both
the content and his smooth mixing style as he blends one
track easily into the next. His trance productions I also
like as they too have the same smoothness and melodic construction,
and they are available on his own Black Hole Label
Ferry Corsten - “King of the synths”
Where would trance music be today without Ferry Corsten’s
productions leading the way through the late 90’s
to date? As a music production engineer I sincerely believe
he is second to none with his own unique style of synth,
string and percussion sounds.
Armin Van Buuren
Starting off showing so much promise with the 12”
“Blue Fear” back in 1997 although it wasn’t
his first track. Later I received a 12” copy of Dido/Willow
Armin Van Buuren's Universal Religion Mix and was overwhelmed
by the almost ghostly build up to the track. I had the same
reaction to Prooemium, proving this guy has more to offer
and is improving all the time.
Armin’s amazing remix of Yahel Devotion still blows
me away every time I hear it.
Darren Tate
With Darren being a trained musician it comes as no surprise
that I can say that I have ever heard a bad production of
his. Operating under numerous disguises, Darren has produced
some of my all time favourite tunes, one being Orion –
See Me Here.
Steve Helstrip - Thrillseekers
From his first hit Synaesthesia to date, Steve has produced
some of the finest trance music, “Dreaming of you”
being one of them. Often operating with a smooth melodic
style to his music, Steve has also done some excellent remixes
such as Ascension – Someone and Aurora Hear you calling
– En-Motion Remix, with En-Motion being one of his
many aliases.
Stuart Langelaar – Lange
His first major hit, a brilliant remix of Dj Sakin’s
“Protect your mind”, has produced some massive
club tracks. Often working behind the scenes as he also
re-mixed Lost Witness, Happiness, and Happening amongst
many others. His own releases “I Believe” and
“Follow me” were just a taster of what was to
come from Lange. Later, the massive “Drifting Away”
hit was engulfing the dance floors everywhere, followed
by “Don’t think it, feel it”. Some of
the other aliases used by Stuart are SuReal, X-Odus, LNG
and Firewall.
Andy Perring – Pulsar
Back in 99 the dance floors were burning to the sound of
“Spiritualised” by the Olmec Heads, and later
another massive tune “Cloud Walking” under his
new disguise, Pulsar. It’s not surprising that so
many tracks are put to this guy for his almost magical re-mixing
talents.
Jono Grant, Tony McGuiness & Paavo
Above and beyond their first offering “Far from in
love” set the stage for many great productions from
this collaboration. Not only that, but also their remixes
of some of the big names such as Delerium etc made the Trance
headlines. I would always pay attention to any tracks that
had an Above and Beyond remix.
Other names used are Tranquility Base and Dirt Devils.
Teaming up with the amazing vocalist Justine Suissa they
created “Ocean Lab”, and with Justine’s
beautiful voice, the releases “Clear blue water”
and “Sky falls down” emerged.
Sloarstone – (Andy Bury and Rich Mowatt colaberation)
Solarcoaster and 3rd Earth with Scott Bond essential music,
a must for your trance collection! |
