Balearic Trance
Trance · 1991 · 125 to 135 BPM · also known as Belearic House, Balearic Beat, Balearic Music
Trance music with its eyes on the sea: languid guitars, open piano chords, and held-back tempos carrying the spirit of Ibiza over rave song structures. Chicane fixed its image in 1996 with Offshore, turning a sunset into a genre of its own. This is the trance of the small hours and hotel terraces, closer to a holiday memory than a strobe light, gentler and more song-like than its club-facing cousins.
6 reference tracks
- Alien Nation: Lovers Of The World (Radioactive Mix 1) (1991)
- Electrotete: I Love You (Cubic 22 mix) (1992)
- Jam & Spoon: Stella (1992)
- Sunscreem: Love U More (1992)
- Energy 52: Cafe Del Mar (1993)
- Chicane: One Foot In The Past, One Foot In The Future (2021)
At a glance
- Tempo: 125 to 135 BPM
- First appeared: around 1991
- Machines: Guitare électrique, Roland Juno-106, Korg M1, Akai S1000
- The sound: Guitares en écho, Piano ouvert, Nappes chaudes, Percussions douces
- Labels: Xtravaganza Recordings, Platipus, Anjunadeep, Balearia
- Key artists: Chicane, Energy 52, Salt Tank, York
Producing Balearic Trance
Keep the tempo relaxed, between 120 and 130 BPM, often around 126, the one trance style where a little swing, 8 to 12 percent on hats and shakers, belongs. The kick stays straight, but think in eight-bar phrases that breathe, with a silent bar or a beat where the kick drops away. Soften the 909 kick with a lowpass around 8 kHz, add a light rimshot on 2 and 4, and build the groove from congas with ghost notes and a swung shaker rather than aggressive drums, drums that could back a song. The bassline is round and singing, closer to pop than to trance's off-beat pulse: a Juno-106 saw and square with the cutoff near 400 Hz following the chord roots, held with gentle compression rather than pumping sidechain.
The full production course, in French: tempo, drums, bass, sounds, arrangement, mix, plugins and machines, and a step by step start.
Frequently asked
What is Balearic Trance?
Trance music with its eyes on the sea: languid guitars, open piano chords, and held-back tempos carrying the spirit of Ibiza over rave song structures. Chicane fixed its image in 1996 with Offshore, turning a sunset into a genre of its own. This is the trance of the small hours and hotel terraces,…
What tempo is Balearic Trance played at?
Between 125 and 135 BPM.
Who are the key Balearic Trance artists?
Chicane, Energy 52, Salt Tank, York.
In the same family
- Trance
- Acid Trance
- Dream Trance
- Ibiza Trance
- Progressive Trance
- Tech Trance
- Uplifting Trance
- Vocal Trance
- Euro Trance
- Anthem Trance
- Orchestral Trance
- German Trance
Listen to Balearic Trance in the atlas · Cette page en français
