Nu-Disco
Disco · 2000 · 110 to 125 BPM · also known as Nudisco
Nu-disco is the unabashed return of disco within 2000s production: part reissues, part edits, part brand new tracks played with today's tools. It keeps the format's core disco elements, sweeping strings, chicken-scratch guitars and round basslines, while adding sequencer precision and modern mastering. The edit scene, running from DJ Harvey through the blogs of the 2010s, drives the sound as much as the labels releasing it. It is disco remade with contemporary ears: the same warmth and swing, but tightened, cleaned up and built for today's soundsystems and dancefloors.
10 reference tracks
- Spiller: Groovejet (2000)
- Lindstrom: I Feel Space (2005)
- Prins Thomas: Wendy Not Walter (2010)
- Todd Terje: Inspector Norse (2012)
- Breakbot: Baby I'm Yours (2012)
- Purple Disco Machine & Sophie and the Giants: Hypnotized (2020)
- L'Impératrice: Peur des filles (2021)
- Purple Disco Machine Feat. Moss Kena & The Knocks: Fireworks (2021)
- Jessie Ware: Free Yourself (2022)
- Calvin Harris, Justin Timberlake, Halsey, Pharrell*: Stay With Me (2022)
At a glance
- Tempo: 110 to 125 BPM
- First appeared: around 2000
- Machines: Guitare électrique, Roland Juno-106, Ableton Live, Fender Rhodes
- The sound: Basse jouée rejouée en MIDI, Guitare cocotte, Filtres et sidechain, DAW et edits de samples disco
- Labels: DFA, Permanent Vacation, Eskimo Recordings, Toy Tonics, Razor-N-Tape, Glitterbox
- Key artists: DJ Harvey, Todd Terje, Aeroplane, Dimitri From Paris, Horse Meat Disco
Producing Nu-Disco
Nu-disco runs 112 to 125 BPM, usually 118 to 122, with 55 to 58 percent swing on the sixteenths inherited from a played disco loop, a solid default being 120 BPM at 56 percent while the kick stays locked to the grid. Layer a chopped, replayed disco break over a clean 909 or 808 kick on all four beats, a modern clap doubling the snare on 2 and 4, open hats on the offbeats, plus congas, shaker and tambourine. The bass, played or sampled and transposed, moves in syncopated sixteenths with octave jumps, its filter opening from intro to drop, sidechained to the kick. Filtered disco samples, a Juno-106 for pads, a Rhodes for chords and a real chicken-scratch guitar complete it, tied together by filtering and a dotted-eighth delay on the stabs.
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 Nu-Disco?
Nu-disco is the unabashed return of disco within 2000s production: part reissues, part edits, part brand new tracks played with today's tools. It keeps the format's core disco elements, sweeping strings, chicken-scratch guitars and round basslines, while adding sequencer precision and modern…
What tempo is Nu-Disco played at?
Between 110 and 125 BPM.
Who are the key Nu-Disco artists?
DJ Harvey, Todd Terje, Aeroplane, Dimitri From Paris, Horse Meat Disco.
