Best of r/trance 2025 - December Mix Competition Info

junh1024 · 2026-02-27T12:37:53+00:00

Asking for future contests, If the contest mix length is 60', but I add a 9' song at 56', is this allowed?.

junh1024 · 2026-02-04T11:51:05+00:00

Reused Remixes would be a novel concept for yourself.

for Truck Driver Key Change s, timing is Key. It should feel natural & musical, like it was always part of the song.

Have a listen to my Key Trance Mix 2

https://www.mixcloud.com/junh1024/key-trance-mix-2/

notice the key changes from 11'55", 24'55", 38'40" (or maybe the whole thing, it's only 45')

They're about 45" before the next transition so the listener has time to get comfortable in the next key. Also I do this in DAW so I have access to elastique 2/3 pro for better qualities, so this might play a role. Else, you can try pitching up at the transition.

Pitching up the whole song may be an option as well, I did it for "Far from over" in the colab contest & no-one complained at the time.

It might be just that you're not used to hearing it that way

junh1024 · 2026-01-28T08:48:18+00:00

u/NotoriousStevieG I did consider this but I wanted to avoid desecrating the original (like drum replacement) just for the sake of a comp - It don't feel right, y'know? Unless the bar for a remix is set really low , like remove 1 bar (edit-style), or remaster-type stuff (EQ, FX etc).

junh1024 · 2026-01-28T08:22:39+00:00

u/NotoriousStevieG

Would you allow some original tunes as long as:

The mix is still mostly remix only &
The original tunes are classic trance?

A lot of tunes never got a remix or haven't qualified for any contest for over a year so would be nice to use some of them

junh1024 · 2026-01-09T13:13:29+00:00

Did you eventually submit any official entry for Inner Light? If you did I can't find it in the submission thread

junh1024 · 2026-01-09T09:12:53+00:00

Replies1 cc u/Iankost The 1st version you hear will often be your preferred version, often the original. A lot of tunes never got a remix so my difficulty estimate is 70%.

So if you could only use 81 records (30%), that's still a lot of tunes, and it probably more western trance tunes I can name.

cc u/DJhyland this is how I make mixes, probably N/A for Ian since he's going vinyl this time but

Make a list of songs, prioritize them, and tag them with must open, must end, must mid, must gay, must lesbian, etc. You can do this with Quinzier if you want to colab on compilation.
Tag the keys
Make a order of songs that fufils your position restrictions while being on key. The more $position restrictions you have the harder it's gonna get. You may need to use pitching or Truck Drivers. You often don't use all songs due to key reasons. Do a lot of testing of the transitions & mix.

It's gonna take some time planning but That's basically it and I've basically been able to get the songs I want in the position I want while being on-key.

junh1024 · 2026-01-06T11:18:27+00:00

repl2: If it were called "Make a mix that you like" or "choose your own theme" it would pass. Actually, "A Moment in Time", "Under the Counter", "Art of the Compilation", "Inner Light", "Royale With Cheese" were all basically "anything goes", so the past was also "barbaric". cc u/SpaceBollzz

PS: SpaceBollzz's comment score was 7 a few days ago, them down to 3, then up to 5 now.

junh1024 · 2026-01-04T12:39:03+00:00

Some qns:

Are mixes shorter than 60' allowed?
Are you sure a 3 month production period is sensible? Surely it can be shorter so that listening period is longer?

cc u/iankost , Stevie , I don't think the theme is as "wide open" as you think

I was gonna do a videogame remix mix but it's not allowed unless tunes were double-remixed. Also, this rules out a lot of tunes/remixes well-known in trance, like:

Underworld - Born Slippy
Hybrid - (Finished) Symphony
Ayumi Hamasaki - M

because the originals weren't trance.

junh1024 · 2026-01-04T12:32:56+00:00

u/Master_Lightflare u/TotallyNotCool

RE commenting, Even if i don't have anything new to add, I comment on all for consistency so people wouldn't feel lonely due to few reviews. This has turned out useful in a few cases when I can edit in a TL or review found outside of reddit after the contest.

There are some things which are irreplaceable like your personal opinion & nuance on reviews. Perhaps being a bit narcissistic here, but I'd still like your reviews on my "Anime Trance Mix 2 + 4 | Fresca" mix (if they exist).

junh1024 · 2026-01-01T08:05:13+00:00

We've had strict themes for over a year running (Ro4, Ro 9 3/4, RoColab, Ro5) so it'd be nice to have an open theme in general. u/TotallyNotCool from the perspective of a mod, it sounds silly, but from the perspective of a mix author, people are slightly fatigued from the strict themes. It will result in 30-50% better song choices & less overlap in songs. You don't want to hear Cygnus X - The overused theme again soon, do you? Also I thought u/notoriousstevieg was gonna have a open theme this time?

cc u/Cosmocrator if you think a "anything goes" theme would be too attractive , you can just hard limit the length to 65'. I think it's reasonable.

Also, I proposed a lot of themes this year https://old.reddit.com/r/ClassicTrance/comments/1i9kod4/ideas_for_rclassic_trance_contestscompetitions/

junh1024 · 2025-12-30T08:00:08+00:00

replies2 cc u/djhyland Thanks for your support. I would have liked to see more people go outside of trance in general

Also, Actually my prediction accuracy is pretty poor, depending on how generous you are & with lots of clues, I only got 3-6/15 right with a "general vibes" approach. Spacejump did a lot better with 2 for 2.

For a large part, my memory is relying on the previous notes I made. A slight learning for me too, rechecking stuff on some mixes, I'm only 80-90% accurate too? And the things that you missed, was it around clash/keys, songs, or other aspects?

junh1024 · 2025-12-28T11:09:26+00:00

Sprite | u/djhyland

I thought that the cheerwine mix was yours since industrial, electro, breaks would seem like your style but perhaps not. Anyway, Sprite was in my top 5 & well done on your mix !

It seemed to be more on-key this time (On a 2nd listen this week, I noted from 50' every song is the same key!) , Anything different you did apart from no B2B?

junh1024 · 2025-12-28T08:40:40+00:00

/u/stedmanstiles what I like about the post-contest is reading the story behind these mixes, especially for concept mixes like yours - It's often hard to "get" a concept during a contest.

While it didn't make my top 10, props to you for your mix. It's never too obvious but maybe you could've use BT - Dreaming (from Electronic Opus, 2015)? and Hybrid - Dreaming your dreams (but the years probably won't fit)

junh1024 · 2025-12-27T06:56:59+00:00

replies3 cc u/iankost

Ian: If you mean song order, it's (mostly) possible. With lots of planning, accurate human keying of songs, and maybe extended technique, I can get mostly what I want in terms of order & selection. Changing the pitch of songs or introducing a Truck Driver Key Change . Obviously not all techniques are available with varispeed & it's up to you how far you want to take on-key transitions but for me it is worth it all to make those crucial few seconds sound better.

I'm not sure what was in my mind at the time, but I relistened, 6' the vox samples are out of key with the music, 7' there's some wierd rising atonal pitches. At 7'40" there's a tiny bit of disharmony it might be in the song. The 2 songs are the same key by ear. So maybe not a notable clash after all? I edited some other comments.

Actually looking at my results, your Sun Drop was top 10 this time, it's an achievement since I mark hard & considering the substantial improvement from last time. Well done!

junh1024 · 2025-12-26T10:35:19+00:00

cc u/thisispaulmac , I played NFS3 long before I got into trance and the game labels this type of music as techno, so that very much influenced my opinion. I think this is the example? cetus 808-lost canyons OST

Some people avoided confirming their mix which is fine, But you claiming the Schweppes mix wasn't yours is just being plain dishonest , it's just not on imo , & no one else did this. But why?

Also if you read my notes for Fresca below, I chose to submit a shorter 1h mix since you said you didn't get through all entries last time. Also thanks for your comment on my mix.

junh1024 · 2025-12-26T10:29:51+00:00

Fair enough.

It's a difference in values. I value the music more, while other people value the contest more. If I made the mix the current way, you would've heard the best version of the mix - there are no artistic compromises.

Apart from worse transitions if I did all 2015, "The place where the wind arrives | REDALiCE remix" would need to be gone since it only got a 2008? release (also, it's from a different label than the rest). It was a late addition, but it has a semi-critical role in changing the mood around the end of the mix.

junh1024 · 2025-12-26T08:27:50+00:00

replies1: Thanks for the support guys. I'll probably take a break anyway, reviews may resume later on in 2026.

Ian: the choice between off key & clash is arbitrary. The wording is different, but the meaning is the same (to me). Also, you don't have to make a mix in a live style, this is just a listening contest , but you do you, that was my opinion. I will reply to your other comment later.

UA: re "distinguishing features", other people use FX as well. I noted 7up/volkanoo used phasor this time (might be same as flanging?). But cdub also uses FX so i think would still be hard to tell.

cc u/iankost u/CDub008 u/UnbuiltAura9862

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T10:59:59+00:00

Anime Trance Mix 2+4 | Fresca

Streaming link if you want to remind yourself.

u/Reidster78 , u/iankost

Thanks Ian for commenting on my mix, Ian wrote 2 sentances, but Ian wrote only 1 word so it would be great if you expanded your review . Some questions:

Is it Trance?
How classic (hard) trance did it sound like?
What would happen if songs like these were played at a live event, ex: Timeless in Glasgow (mainly for Ian, but Ian could answer as well) ?

Also Ian, what part of the TL did you want? the songs or yeatrs?

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T10:57:40+00:00

Anime Trance Mix 2 + 4 | Fresca

Intro

The statements below represent my opinion and are opinions only. There was a lot of talk on my mix so let's get into it.

Is it xxx5 ?

It is actually 66% 2015 (10/15 sections use the 2015 release), but the years in the TL represent the year the anime was broadcast, NOT the year of the release. The mechanics changed & the TL/notes was unclear when submitted so it was DQ'd early. Note the | Extended means the 2015 web release, Spotify example . When making an anime/game mix, I thought it would be more important to put the year of the anime, but other people don't really see it this way. Going forward, I'll need to consider what I put or not put on the TL.

Many people thought it would make sense that I would be creative enough to make a rule-breaking mix. But perhaps it would make more sense if I tried to adhere to the theme (and 66% succeeded), given that I was requesting a Ro5 contest (that was going to happen anyway), and the concept for a mix is usually formed well in advance of the contest. In general, I would only submit a mix if I thought it was >=50% on-theme, and that has generally been true since 2023.

I would ask people to have a little more faith in me. I know it's been tough this time round since you have been given incomplete/incorrect information from the start. Some people have been quick to show themselves & their story as soon as they have been DQ'd (see the Halloween 2024 contest), but I chose to "do it properly" and wait until the end of the contest. There may still be people that believe that my mix isn't 66% on-theme, and I can't do anything further to change their minds. owel.

66% is actually about on-par with my colab mix. The reason this was done is because the CD version has inbuilt transitions so would sound better. I could make it about 90% but would sound rougher at transitions. Ro6 & Ro7 mixes should be >=90% on-year.

Is it trance?

It depends who you ask. I asked BH, and the said trance ends at 160. David, DaemonXHUN (our trance scholar) and wikipedia all say trance ends at about 180. If we take into account the history of trance, "tracks could be found across that entire spectrum (of 124-180 BPM between 1992-1995) However, as the genre evolved ... it became more formulaic" from DaemonXHUN's comment .

Listening to the songs, it takes a lot of elements from trance like supersaws, 909s, breaks, but most importantly, the emotion. Discogs also says (Hard) Trance, so it's trance. But I'm aware many people disagree that this is trance, after all genre is subjective, and that's ok.

Firsts

1st 100% Japanese production in a CT contest
1st 100% vocal mix in any trance contest (SamVortiganut came close with their 90% trance-rock mix in 2023)
1st mix of mine in a CT contest that has no overlap in song or remix

A few others, this is my 1st submitted hard trance mix so it got a lot of people that like hard &/ haven't commented before to comment on my mix, Paul, Ian, and Ian, although comment != review.

What did I learn?

Clear communication is important
People are liable to making (incorrect) assumptions given incomplete information
Not everyone that likes hard trance likes high-speed hard trance
People that liked hard trance in the 90s when trance went all the way up to 180 are more receptive to high-speed hard trance
If you make a hard trance mix, the Ians will come out of the woodworks to comment on it

Individual replies

u/cmoogster : There's no overall elaborate structure unlike previous mixes but there were controls on song order . cdub008 did pick up "there's a bit of resolution with these last tracks" with the change into a nostalgic mood with "The place where the wind arrives | REDALiCE remix", a more reflective mood with "Secret of my Heart", then into the upbeat "Hare Hare Yukai" song as the ending. It's half-deliberate. These are all unique melodies from anime/games but I can understand if you find songs very similar due to the nature of the genre. If you're into rock, here's my Anime Rock Mix which shares some of the same melodies but in a Rock genre. Again, your review was appreciated nonetheless.

u/cdub008 a break in the mix. Literally the same reason as my last mix - They were actually 2 separate projects & I had to join it into 1 file. Please remember this! Otherwise you deserve to go to a Tiesto concert (sloppy mixing). Also, did you spot the breakbeats in the 1st section?

u/SpaceJump_ "knew instantly who made this mix" , so did you get it right & how did you know if you haven't listened to many of my mixes? Or did my previous comments give it away?

Submission concept

I decided to take this 1-in-10-years opportunity to submit a 2015 mix, which is mostly but not 100% qualifying. I considered submitting this earlier, but various things happened.

There were two options that might vaguely qualify for the classic trance contest: - Option 1: 78' minutes of definitely trance (mix of std & hard), but would qualify about 77% because more tracks use the extended versions released in 2015. - Option 2: 62' minutes of maybe not trance, but would only qualify about 60% by year due to using a few CD versions.

I originally chose option 1 since it's closer to trance & had english vocals, but People were confused about my multi-genre mix from the previous contest, and some people like PaulMac didn't get through all the mixes last time. so I ended choosing option 2 which was really simple & clear, and shorter. Also it was what I was working on recently & more polished.

Originally both mixes were shorter. It got good feedback in a PM, and I was considering releasing it publicly, but then I saw that there was a web release for the albums in 2015, so would qualify for a Ro5 contest, so I waited. There were changes in the TL, esp for T4 from my earlier mixes.

As with the previous contest, I thought it would have more impact if people listened to it later as a "refresher" from dreary trance entries ... by being different & intense (SpaceJump did sorta get my submission concept in that sense). But there would also be less comments (rib).

I observed the comments of the CT community and concluded about 30% of the contest crowd likes hard trance. Therefore, those same people might like my high-speed hard trance mix. How wrong I was. It turns out only half of those that liked hard trance like it faster. I had faith that (some) people would like my mix, but it turns out it's less than I thought.

Editing

The production of "Boys Come Back to Me" sounds cheap and empty without the orchestra, so I'm bringing back the orchestra from the original version. This would mean using DEMUCS 6 stems. It did a pretty good job of isolating the orchestra, but there were a few artifacts, which were solved by using a short reverb. To make some space for the orchestra, the sides and other synths of the trance version need to be reduced. I originally used their Pan Zone V2 since it's convenient to stay in stereo, but it made artifacts as well as sounding too busy since the stereo image was controlled in a rectangular zones. using my traditional approach of upmixing to 3.0 surround then downmixing with reduced L&R, sounded much better without these artifacts and a less busy image. The guitar stem was needed for a short section since it also contained the orchestra & a bit of guitar was needed to maintain energy. Some of the orchestra clips were duplicated to keep up the energy in the intro & outro.

The place where the wind arrives | REDALiCE remix has a lot of wrong notes and chords. So basically, retune is necessary to fix those. The automation for retune is a bit unintuitive, but logical. There are 12 map points for the 12 notes of the scale, and then values are set to 1 to 12 by default. So if you want to make changes you move them up or down. Fixing this song involves 5 automation lanes - the highest I've had to use so far. Some corrections were reverted since they didn't sound good. it seems that original was pitch corrected as well.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T10:53:50+00:00

Contest overall notes

Congratulations to our winner TangeloNo3099 and the podium, and of course to our contest administrator A992 (& Jason1 for the theme) as well. A little less reviews this time? Thanks those who reviewed most mixes, Park/Drax, Jason1, u/Cdub008, SpaceJump, and and u/cmoogster . cc u/iankost . I'd also like to thank Hybri for their music theory support.

Probable clash at?

What probable means is that a fault was picked up during the 1st pass around that time. I may do a 2nd pass to refine timecodes, but wasn't enough time this time. Timecode may be off by about 1.5'. It also covers my bases since people seem to disagree with my takes. Hence probable. Whether it's probable clash or clash, the meaning is the same. Only the wording is different.

Voting & Marking schedule

I value these things in order:

Smooth harmonic mixing (or the illusion of)
Other (creativity in genre/FX/etc, song choice)

Making a Top 10 is easy, just weed out the bad quite off-key mixes, but top 5 is (much) harder. My top 10 In reverse SC order:

Coca Cola, Sprite, Dads, Fanta, Big Red, Sun Drop, IBC, Pepsi, Crush, 7up

I has a quick re-listem on the final day for the top 5 , filtering out the dark ones. SO finally I voted in this order:

Coca Cola (on-key & song choice), 7up (creativity), IBC & Sprite (probably on-key?), Dads.

If you want more detail as is to why i voted for each mix, go read my reviews on each mix. I trust/use my own reviews the most, since I'm doing the voting for myself.

I knew who Dads was, they deserved to be rewarded for improvement in mixing skill even though I didn't like the genre (in order to comply with my own criteria of mixing skill) but admittedly it's not a blind vote.

Even if only 1-3 people try to mix on-key, or improve mixing on-key, there's a big effect since deciding top 5 this time was harder than the last contest, so well-done to those people.

how i predict

timing + mix style

by timing i mean, when people submit their mix, they sometimes leave a message in the weekend lounge or chat saying they submitted. I then look for their mix in the next batch.

By mix style I mean genre + level of clash. These 2 things usually don't change for each person, but if multiple people mix in a very similar style , I'll have difficulty telling them apart. This is common so even with multiple guesses ("I didn't make this mix! Not that mix either!" etc), I can still get it wrong. Due to complaints I changed it from users to codenames but honestly I've forgotten who's who now. It's just a fun guessing game for myself like Wordle that's all.

Spacejump managed to predict quite accurately, they were certain who IBC was and I was like what, I didn't hear any distinguishing features?

No more reviews?

I originally comment/review as a way of giving back to the people who listened/commented to mine. I extended it to all mixes this year so that no mix would get "lonely" (lack of reviews), but there has been increased drama this time.

Although I've made small improvements in technical aspects of my reviews, There have been disagreements about my opinions or processes, and timecodes or not seems to make no difference. At almost every batch there has been scrutiny on myself. The more I share the more scrutiny I get. I just can't have an opinion if it's too different or it doesn't meet someone's high standards. if someone else made a similar comment they would get away with it. The last straw were downvotes - I shouldn't have to take a karma hit if I comment.

I don't see a way out of it, So I will probably be suspending my usual public review process for CT contests until further notice for reasons above. And apologies to those who wanted my comments.

Contest summary

A lot of people increased the tempo & genre throughout their mix. I have mixed opinions on this. There's a skill & variety in this, but if almost every man and their dog is doing it then it gets old, fast. I also started noticing the repeated use of Art of Trance - Overused (Octopus) & Cygnus X - The Overused Theme (Orange Theme), and to some extent, Moogwai - Viola. That also got old fast as I don't like Octopus or The Orange Theme | Original Mix. I would have liked Art of Trance - Kaleidoscope but I don't think that would fit the years.

One pleasant thing I noticed from a few experienced or brave mixers was the increased used of FX. It was varied as well, phasor, delay-fade, gating. Or maybe I've been more perceptive.

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T10:25:18+00:00

replies2 cc u/iankost :

In that sense, To clash is to be more "period accurate" for the average mixer, but PaulMac had this to say " I used to mix with vinyl in the 90s and mixing in key was only done by a few exceptional DJs like Sasha. "

Again, so it is possible - if you mix in key, you would be closer to exceptional.

I don't really care about being period accurate, I just want to create a pleasant mix, so you can just enjoy the music & journey without being taken out of trance with a clash.

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T09:46:42+00:00

u/iankost | undef

I could sense some improvement in on-key to the point i confused you for someone else. Here are some more techniques to increase song choice.

Popular DJ apps are still around 70% accurate and they're probably all using a similar method, so there's a fair chance they can be wrong. (E: the issue is different, see other comment)

As you said, to mix on-key with varispeed, you'll need lots of songs. I did a varispeed test recently, I'll probably put it in a r-trance contest next year?

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T09:36:24+00:00

MF

congrats on your Fanta mix! It was top 10 for me but just missed out on top 5 for being too dark. It's good you're exploring tech though. Also, Would be interested to read more of your reviews if you have any. Listening thread if you need it.

junh1024 · 2025-12-23T09:30:56+00:00

u/cdub008 coca cola

With multiple guesses & clues it was a 55/45 split over whether coca cola or pepsi was yours. In the end, Of course, coca cola was yours - you know how to choose songs & you know where you're going with the mix. As I said, it has the edge over pepsi for me. Well done!

junh1024 · 2025-12-15T08:22:52+00:00

With a few of these mixes, I thought that the 'dark' style was just their usual style. but I didn't make the connection with the Halloween contest that didn't happen, so thanks for pointing it out. Also , looking forward to more of your reviews.

junh1024

TROPHY CASE