trance[]control, an amateur basement project, was founded during the second half of 1997 by two guys called Alex aka DjC and Andreas aka WennE. At that point none of the two really knew anything about how to arrange or produce a piece of music that was worth listening to for others. As total new bees they started out making their music using a crap computer (PC 386, 40 MHz), a midi keyboard and a Soundblaster AWE 32 soundcard (white noise generator). In order to get some kind of sound from the equipment a software called Commondore Audio was used (the software that was bundled with the midi keyboard). Not much of a setup but the match was perfect when thinking about their skills. Later on they got bored of the 'flat' sound and started to look around for new ways to improve their music. The first solution was to purchase a new soundcard, a soundblaster AWE 64 Gold equipped with 12 Mb RAM to load samples! Of course this expanded their opportunities but it didn't take more than a few months until they realized that they would need some serious hardware to make that computer like boring junk to sound like real tracks. Thought and done, the first real synthesizer was purchased (Yamaha CS1x) and the tracks started to sound like real tracks but still not good enough. When browsing for information about the CS1x they found a page totally dedicated to the Yamaha CS1x called the CS1x Archive. A pretty good place to find out stuff about the synth such as hidden sounds and optimal usage of the synth. The page also had an archive with tracks that where custom made for the CS1x by other users. Without even blinking the two guys mailed their own tracks to the archive and the first step towards the WWW was taken. The response they received from other CS1x users was very positive and encouraging. The kind of feedback that kept these two guys developing new ideas and thereby shaping their sound.

Later on another synthesizer was purchased, a Roland MC-303 and the computer was replaced with a Pentium class PC (166 MHz). Shortly after that one an Alesis Quadrasynth arrived (A kind of expensive period to Alex who paid for all of it but hey, a hobby is a hobby).

One day in August 1998 DjC & WennE where browsing around the net for new music and by a pure coincidence they found mp3.com. After scanning the site for about an hour they decided to put their own tracks on the site and give it a shot. They signed up as the 749'th band on the site, uploaded a few tracks and kicked back for a while. The feedback they got from people that heard their tracks out overwhelmed the two guys and they just couldn't believe that they actually had fans listening and enjoying their music! Just the thought of people downloading and actually listening to their tracks over and over again made these two fellows so happy that you probably can't describe their feelings in words. Somehow one of their tracks hit the No.16 slot on the MP3.com overall Top 40 chart with a track called 'Fragment of Time' after just three weeks on the site. They started to take the music they made more serious.

After using the synths a while and also learning how to handle Steinberg Cubase Audio VST the two fellows decided to send out their first demo. After all, MP3.com was the largest free mp3 site in the world and they where on the 16'th place on that site. A few CD's where made and sent out to a few selected labels and publishers. Obviously the two had a really high confidence in their music and somehow they managed to hit the right label on their first try! The band signed a publishing contract with a a publisher called Frontline Publishing (the publishing company behind Backbeat Music Group) October 18, 1998, a really big event in the history of trance[]control. This was  a kind of confirmation that their tracks really was good and that they really had some strong potentials in their music from the 'label point of view'.

When signing the contract with Backbeat trance[]control had to remove their 'Top Chart hit' called 'Fragment of Time' from mp3.com and start all over again. So they kept constantly releasing new material while buying new equipment to improve the sound and the quality of their productions.

On the night of November 7, 1998 DjC finished a new track called Atomic Dance Explosion [Radio Edit]. At that point neither he or WennE could imagine what that 3 minute piece of music would do to their name. They both kind of thought that the track was a pretty fair one, neither good or bad, just fair. The track gave some really serious feedback from listeners through mp3.com and it was a pure rocket on the MP3.com top charts! It didn't take more than a week before the track entered the MP3.com Overall Top 40 chart!

The band released their first CD through MP3.com called "the.demo.cd" January 10 1999. The CD really is nothing more but a DEMO CD containing 5 tracks that still was free to download. The CD itself wasn't meant to gain any profit, it was more of a funny thing to do. They both where really amazed when they noticed that the CD actually sold and it sold pretty good considering that the tracks on the CD was free to download.

Weeks later Atomic Dance Explosion entered the No.1 position on mp3.com witch now held a database of over 2,000 artists fighting for the top spot! Today (January 23, 2000), Atomic Dance Explosion has been on the Top 40 Chart for over 55 weeks without dropping out, conquering the No.1 spot several times while holding back other famous artists like ICE-T, TLC, Eagles, Beasty Boys, Alanis Morissette and the rest of the 25.000+ artists on mp3.com (About 250,000 songs and still rising)! It has been told that trance[]control songs has been downloaded over 3 million times from the internet in total during a period of only 1 year!

During the summer of 1999 trance[]control signed up to another mp3 site that looked a bit more promising than mp3.com called popwire.com. Popwire was and is a bit more than just another mp3 site, they are a publishing company as well. When signing up with popwire.com trance[]control broke the contract with Frontline and got a new deal with popwire but they kept most of their tracks on mp3.com since they obviously got a lot of attraction from that site. August 16, 1999 a new CD was released on MP3.com called 'beyond.2000', a CD with 10 tracks both released and unreleased. The CD was highly appreciated and it sold just about twice as much as 'the.demo.cd'. It now occurred to DjC & WennE that somehow they could actually make a living out of their hobby, a dream was about to become true.

In the end of 1999 trance[]control was nominated as the most popular artist on MP3.com and also got the nomination for the 'Song of the year' with Atomic Dance Explosion! The band has had their songs played in radio and TV shows all over the world while marking the same as their territory.

Today it can be safely said that trance[]control will go down in the history as one of the most popular internet based bands in the world. This also trying to make a path for all those other unsigned artists on the internet and showing that 'if there is a will there is a way'.

To be continued...

January 22, 2000