Producing Psy Trance That Gets Noticed Globally with Bubbleguns

Producing Psy Trance That Gets Noticed Globally with Bubbleguns

Join Bubbleguns as he takes you through a complete journey of Psytrance music production, covering everything from sound fundamentals to advanced arrangement techniques. Using a combination of powerful synths like Surge, Retrologue, Omnisphere, Arturia Microfreak, and Access Virus, along with modular tools like VCV Rack, this course teaches you how to craft immersive atmospheres, driving basslines, hypnotic leads, and dynamic buildups that define the Psytrance genre. Discover how to layer sounds, use effects creatively, and structure tracks with energy and precision—developing the skills to create festival-ready music with your own unique style.

What will you learn in this course?

• Sound Design Fundamentals: Understanding frequency, amplitude, and waveform to create clear and powerful sounds.
• Kick + Bassline: Designing hard-hitting kicks with Kick 3 and sculpting rolling basslines using Retrologue for rhythm and depth.
• Leads & Atmospheres: Using Surge and Omnisphere to design signature leads and lush, evolving textures that give tracks their trance-like feel.
• Drum Grooves & Percussion: Building intricate grooves with Groove Agent and layering percussion for movement and complexity.
• Sound Design with Hardware: Exploring Arturia Microfreak and Access Virus to shape rich tones and record expressive performances.
• Modular Synthesis: Breaking creative barriers using VCV Rack to experiment with patches, sequences, and sound explorations.
• Transitions & FX: Crafting smooth transitions, buildups, and breakdowns using effects to create tension, space, and dynamic shifts.
• Arrangement & Mixdown: Structuring full-length tracks, balancing levels, and mixing with precision to produce polished, professional results.

With 28 in-depth lessons, this course empowers you to turn your ideas into complete Psytrance tracks, equipping you with techniques that blend creativity, technical expertise, and industry-standard workflows.

Full Curriculum Breakdown:

Lesson 1: Introduction to Sound

In this lesson, I talk about my roots in psychedelic trance, my journey of interest to production to touring and more, and then I move on to talk about principles of audio such as frequency, wavelength, amplitude and more.

Lesson 2: Introduction to Cubase

In this lesson, I introduce you to the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) or in other words, music production software that I work on. I take you through the layout and functions of the software that will allow you to produce the music that you want.

Lesson 3: Synthesizers Explained

In this lesson, I take you through the various functions and workings of a synthesizer. I use the free software synthesizer Surge by Vember Audio. I take you through the layout of this synth, walking you through what it contains and how to use it.

Lesson 4: Making a Kick

In this lesson, I teach you how to make a Kick drum sound for psychedelic trance. I use the software synthesizer Kick 3 by Sonic Academy to make the Kick. I take you through the functions of the instrument and show you how to get the Kick sound that you desire.

Lesson 5: Kick & Bassline

In this lesson, we finalize the Kick and then make a Bassline. To make the Bassline, we use the stock plugin (stock means which comes included with the music production software) Retrologue. I take you through the functions of the synth to help you achieve the result that you desire.

Lessons 6, 7, 8: Percussion Grooves Pt. 1, 2 & 3

In these lessons, we explore how we can make drum and percussion grooves to your liking. We use the stock instrument Groove Agent. I take you through the instrument, we get into sequencing and MIDI patterns, and eventually we get the results that we desire.

Lesson 9: Making Atmospheres Using Drums

In this lesson, we use drum sounds to make atmospheric sounds. This is a technique I use very often which involves using effects on drums and I walk you through it.

Lesson 10: Making Leads

In this lesson, we use Surge by Vember Audio to create leads for psytrance. I walk you through the various functions of the synthesizer that I use to create the sounds that people refer to as my ‘signature sound’. Eventually, we do what’s needed and achieve the sound that we desire.

Lessons 11 & 12: Arturia Microfreak

In these lessons, we use the popular hardware synthesizer Arturia Microfreak to create sounds that we can use in our track. I walk you through the functions of this synthesizer, eventually showing you how to create it in order to achieve a result of your liking. After that, we record sounds in real time from the synth and incorporate those sounds in our track.

Lesson 13 (1): Intro to Organizing & Cleaning Up

In this lesson, we take some time to organize our session before moving forward. At this point, since we have quite a few elements, organizing them helps us create the right foundation for expanding on the track.

Lesson 13 (2): Making Leads Talk

In this lesson, we use the lead elements that we created earlier and we use processing to make these elements talk to one another and create harmony.

Lesson 14: Basics of Levels

In this lesson, we discuss levels of elements – what levels are, what levels we need, how to keep elements at the right levels so that we can have good results when our track is done.

Lesson 15: Advanced Synthesis & Introduction to Arrangement

In this lesson, we learn advanced synthesis on Surge – we learn to sequence on the synth, apart from other things that take our synthesis skills a level higher. Once that’s done, we begin to arrange our track for the best storytelling and impact.

Lesson 16: Introduction to Atmospheres

In this lesson, we learn to make atmospheres. For this purpose, we use the software synthesizer Omnisphere by Spectrasonics. We learn about effects and filters that help create the perfect atmospheres to our liking.

Lessons 17 & 18: Sound Design with Access Virus & Arturia Microfreak

In these lessons, we learn to use the very renowned synthesizer – Access Virus. I take you through the functions of the synth and teach you how to create the sound that you desire on it. After that, we combine sounds made on the Virus and Microfreak, make them talk, and use them appropriately in our track.

Lessons 19 & 20: Sound Design with VCV Rack

In these lessons, we begin to learn about modular synthesizers with VCV Rack. I take you through the functions of VCV Rack and show you how to make sounds with it as well as how you can break creative blocks with this fantastic instrument.

Lesson 21: Track Progression, Buildups & Breakdown

In this lesson, we learn about track progression – how the track progresses from start to finish, and how we can build that arrangement. We also learn about buildups and breakdowns which create dramatic moments in our track.

Lesson 22: Making Granular Atmospheres with Vember Audio Surge

In this lesson, we use certain functions and tricks in Vember Audio Surge to make atmospheres that sound grainy.

Lesson 23: Create Atmospheres from Noise

In this lesson, we use noise to create atmospheric sounds.

Lessons 24 & 25: Sampling

In these lessons, we learn how to use a sampler track. We use a sound that we created on a synth and sample it to create a melodic pad element. We then use the element in the track.

Lesson 26: Using Effects on Drums to Create Interesting Transitions & Fillers

In this lesson, we learn how to make interesting transitions using effects on drum grooves. We use the sounds that we get as fillers as well.

Lesson 27: Arrangement

In this lesson, we get into the final arrangement – we check all the elements we have so far, we choose what to keep and what to discard, and then we use and arrange the elements appropriately to create a storyline that’s impactful.

Lesson 28: Mixdown

In this lesson, we mix all the elements we have to create a body of work that’s pleasing to the ear. We use various processing techniques to tweak the elements so they fit together and sound good to the human ear.