Nu Disco House Question

[birdhouse19]

I never really tried to screw around with this genre but I hear more and more tracks, that claim this genre. Tracks from people like Geisha Twins and Codes for example. Are these whole tracks splices of old disco samples that are side-chained to a house break. Are their baselines even sampled? I hear some many old horns, guitars riffs in between there, are those two even just chopped in there? I've seen how "Barbara Streisand" track was put together and it's ridiculously easy.
Would like to have opinion from someone who writes disco house tracks. Just wanna see how the structure of these tracks are put together.

[donmich]

Well I am not a "nu" disco house producer, but i've been involved in disco/house productions. Really, house is or at least was disco on machines when it started out which is where the standard kick and hat pattern comes from. Many of the greats in house music are disco and soul connoiseurs like MAW, Kenny Dope, Dimitri frm Paris and so on. They would go as far as to hire people like Roy Ayers and Tito Puente to solo on their tracks like the authentic disco producers would do. When I first started mixing disco samples into house tracks I did it mainly for dJ'ing myself. It wasnt something I would have wanted to do as "proper" music under my name. I made no attempt to conceal what i was sampling and I did it for crowd pleasing and would mix it in and out and between tracks. Back then a label (or production team, I cant remember) called Super Discount was kind of setting the stage and it was often called "filter disco" (the 90''s). You may already know all this background but I threw it in just in case. But the point is, the heavyweights take (or took - I dont really follow house anymore) their disco pretty seriously and have stellar collections, a sophisticated ear and a sensitivity to the various trends and developments that took place throughout the disco years. But like any genre there is a spectrum of expertise.

What I noticed in a Geisha Twins track I just listened to on itunes to check it out was that the beats had a UK Garage or Chicago jack kind of swing and aside from the samples they added their own synths to compliment or support the melodies which the non-"nu" didnt do as much. So there's that. And the swing knob is your friend.

Beyond that I wouldnt worry about the "genre" as much as maximizing your existing talents and tendencies within your house production style and just listen to some solid disco to get a feel for the structure. Do your own thing according to your own instincts or it wont sound legit. Sometimes just a wah wah guitar or string riff and a disco bassline is all you need to nail the vibe. The bassline can be pretty important so listen to some real disco and even try to play the lines you hear just to get the feel. Lots of octave switching within a single phrase. But then some of the stuff doesnt really use much of a bassline per se. Just frequencies and the samples take the weight.

For disco comps, Dimitry from Paris has a great disco compilation. i cant remember what its caled but it has a girls waist with a bikini. Also get very familiar with Tom Moultin who pretty much invented the "extended mix" and some say even the remix by turning 3 minute songs into 10 minute songs. Dude had the Midas touch. There is some of his stuff on iTunes - i seem to remember a Philly Soul comp, but there are others.

Lastly, (and possibly most helpful for your purposes) Im not going to dig it up but there is a promo video on the Propellerhead website for a disco loop refill they have. The guy in the vid, if I recall breaks it down quite a bit. And if you use reason, its there served up on a platter for you. Check it out

Hope this helps.

[birdhouse19]

Thanks alot mate. Alot of the stuff explained I already realize thanks for your history lesson. I grew up in NY I realize how the house flavor is based on. The Bucketheads Dope and Vega were the first really house productions I heard, sampling that 70s disco. I just needed your opinion on the new artists out there are doing like Geisha Twins, Soldisco etc. I feel its very different from people in the past like Lil Louis or DJ Tonka for example. I guess what ever basslines and melodies in those songs are really on point. I feel they are an actual part of the song from the 70s. Confuses me at some point, they are so good.

[donmich]

It may not have been in your case, but "Thanks for the history lesson" is usually sarcastic. I can't read your mind, but meant no offence. As I said, you may have already knew the background stuff. But half the young ableton users making house these days were little kids when that stuff was happening. I wasn't sure where you were in the experience spectrum. The reason why I added it was that when I was starting out I had to figure so much out on my own that years of obsessive trial and error went by. I had no mentors, there was no Youtube and so on. This is only my experience, but if I can't tell what a producer is doing - especially where samples are concerned, its a musical issue and not a technical one - I don't know enough about the history. This happened to me mainly when I first started hearing dancehall that used samples by producers like Fattis. It wasn't until I started hearing a lot of Studio 1 that I realized exactly what was going on.

Again. No offence intended. Maybe this helps someone else.

[matthews]

This Nu-Disco trend/genre we're seeing right now doesn't necessarily have anything to do with using samples from the disco era (although you very well could if you wanted to). It's just house music that's a little slower (think anything from 100bpm - 118bpm) that has that funky, old disco vibe to it. That's how I see it anyways...

[willdahbe]

To be honest the genre is so vast that there really isn't a set formula for it. There are acts that only play live instruments with no sequencers, artists that synthesize/ sequence their own original music, others that synthesize/sample and others that base most of their production on samples, remixes and other people that just do edits on old classics to make them more dj friendly. Most Nu Disco is around 100bpm to 120, but there are tracks that get up to 140bpm.

While it does pull influences from all over the dance world there are a few acts that I think really nail the "nu disco" sound right on the head - all with their own styles. I highly suggest listening to all of these tracks as they are fucking tits!

Tiger and Woods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyZ6LnQI ... re=related

Tensnake
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaBKb3NId4U

Holy Ghost!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_zTamb69bU

Moon Boots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UHcQjPIBpY

[tecgen]

Do you know the YouTube video Disco Strings?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzmgl8wifDI

It helped my a lot to understand how disco music can be created from scratch.