Searching the site…
Try a search
Site search
Search covers page content as well as titles.
Nothing found. Try another word.
Sixth track already - save favourites and download without limits
Sign upThe core of Disco Magic - Italo Disco of the 80s: history, formula, artists.
224 articles newest first
Eurodisco - live strings, 110-128 BPM and smooth dynamics. Eurodance - Roland TR-909, 130-150 BPM, rapper + singer and sectional radio form. Comparing the two European dance genres.
Mid-80s, Barcelona and Madrid. Blanco y Negro and Max Music license Italian hits, while local projects release their own Italo-disco. A map of the Spanish scene.
1983, Italy. Doctor's Cat releases “Feel the Drive” - a track collectors still open mixes with. Who hid behind this anonymous studio team and why the song outlived the era.
1976, Milan. Claudio Cecchetto launches Radio Deejay, then produces Jovanotti, Sabrina and Sandy Marton. How a DJ became the architect of Italy’s 80s pop factory.
Celso Valli - Italian arranger and producer who worked with Azoto, Raf, Matia Bazar and at Fonoprint studio. From "San Salvador" to "Self Control": how his classical training shaped the Italo Disco sound.
AMS RMX16 - the first microprocessor-controlled digital reverb; the NonLin preset became the sonic signature of the 1980s. How it worked, who used it and why it matters for Italo Disco and retro electronics.
MIDI, Roland TR-808/909, Yamaha DX7, Roland Juno: how synthesizers and drum machines became a single orchestra and defined the sound of Italo Disco, synth-pop, house and techno.
Both genres grew from Giorgio Moroder's electronic disco, use octave bass and synthesizers, but Hi-NRG is American-British energy and theatre while Italo Disco is European melody and robots. Technical, vocal and cultural differences.
In 2003 Senator released the album "Посмотри в глаза" on Beilix; the opening track "Девчонки" became source material for a Disco Magic & valex77 cover. How Russian Europop of the 2000s is refitted into Italo disco: tempo, bass, rhythm and vocals.
1986: K.B. Caps releases "Do You Really Need Me" on ZYX 5516. Cay Hume, Christoph Leis-Bendorff and Karsten Pohle created German Euro-Disco with a British vocal. Recording credits, single chronology and why "Change Your Mind" remains a lesser-known K.B. Caps track.
1983: ZYX releases “The Best of Italo Disco”. Discomagic presses thousands of singles but only a handful of albums. Italo Disco lived on 12-inch maxi-singles and compilations. The “Italo Boot Mix”, “Italo Maxi-Hits”, “I Love ZYX” series. How to tell an album from a compilation.
Germany was not a substitute Italy. It licensed singles, packaged compilations and developed its own Eurodisco. This guide separates imports, local production and later playlist labels.
Aldo Martinelli - a composer with a diploma from the Alessandria Conservatory. Simona Zanini - lyricist and vocalist. Projects: Martinelli, Moon Ray, Doctor's Cat, Topo and Roby. “Cenerentola” - a genre benchmark. Return in 2011.
16 December 1954: Ivana Spagna is born. In 1971 - “Mamy Blue”. In the early 80s - vocals and songs for Fun Fun, where she was the ghost voice. In 1986 - “Easy Lady”, in 1987 - “Call Me”, UK #2. 10 million sold over a 46-year career.
1966: Ken Townsend invents ADT at Abbey Road for John Lennon. From tape delay to the Eventide H910 (1975) and H3000 (1986, Voc Doubler preset #423). Manual double, ADT, split harmonizer - three methods. Five typical doubling mistakes.
The Mirage made keyboard sampling attainable through a $1,695 price and strict limits: 128 KB, two banks, a two-character display and a physical disk library for working musicians.
1980: the Linn LM-1 - the first drum machine with samples. That same year the Roland TR-808 - analog drum synthesis. Fairlight CMI, Emulator II, Akai S900 and MPC - four instruments, four relationships between sound and rhythm. A difference table and practice in Italo Disco, hip-hop and synth-pop.
Favourites, the live chat and requests come with the account.
Free of charge. Favourites, the live chat and playlists come with the account.
Enter the email your account is registered with - we will send a reset link. It is valid for 1 hour.
Enter the 6-digit code from the email and the account is ready.
The link from the email works too - it is valid for 24 hours.
Loading your saved tracks…
