Steve PMHI seem to repeatedly come face to face with upbeat, high-pitched songs on Youtube with eye-catching anime thumbnails. I listened to the music and thought it was pretty cool, not realizing that these types of songs are called nightcore and have a huge fanbase.
But what is nightcore music anyway, and what makes it so satisfying to listen to?
In this guide, we’ll explore the characteristics of this musical style, how it originated, and how it’s made. So, let’s dive right in!
A Short Introduction to Nightcore Music
To put it in a few short words, nightcore describes a song in which a DJ or remixer has sped up the tempo and raised the pitch. Therefore, nightcore music isn’t a standalone style of music. It’s an editing style that’s applied to pre-existing electronic and dance tracks.
If you’re wondering what nightcore sounds like, we’re about to address this in the following section.
The Defining Features of Nightcore Music
DJs like to nightcore electronic music so that it’s even faster, catchier, and makes you want to dance even more. Some like to work with trance or eurodance songs, too.
Other producers use rock or pop songs for this purpose, turning them into fast-paced and high-pitched creations. Yet, the majority of dedicated nightcore DJs don’t like to edit non-electronic tracks.
When a song is sped up to a nightcore version, it’s usually by 10 to 35% of the original material. As you’ve probably concluded, this sounds a lot like playing a 33.3 RPM vinyl record at a higher speed, say 45 RPM.
In nightcore music, the vocals are usually female and they reach higher octaves than humanly possible. Nightcore will sometimes include mashups as well. These versions are usually called “Switching Vocals Nightcore.’’
Another major characteristic of nightcore music is that it always accompanies anime-styled backgrounds. This musical style is almost exclusively on Youtube, in videos that have anime characters and sometimes lyrics on the screen.
The lyrics can also appear in the video description.
I was pretty curious why music producers favored anime graphics to use with their nightcore songs. The reason behind this could be that anime has a huge fan base all over the world. Therefore, nightcore creators like to get the immediate attention of anime and manga fans.
As a result, their videos will have more views in almost no time thanks to the global popularity of anime.
What many people love about nightcore is that it allows them to listen to some of their favorite songs from a new perspective. Besides, this music is fun to listen to if you’re on a walk or at the gym.
How Was Nightcore Music First Created?
It all started in 2001 as a school project by two Norwegian students. The DJ duo Thomas S. Nilsen and Steffen Ojala Søderholm experimented with different eurodance and trance songs. They raised the speed to 25 to 30% of these songs, making them happier and more energetic.
The DJ duo called themselves Nightcore, which meant that they saw themselves as the core of the night. Therefore, people who listened to their edited music should dance all night long.
Nightcore created five entire albums of sped-up electronic songs, and these versions were mostly sold to close friends. Soon enough, the duo’s creations reached LimeWire in 2003, and they finally made it to Youtube in 2006.
The first-ever Nightcore track to be uploaded to Youtube had the name “Dam Dadi Doo.” Then, more and more songs were added by the duo to the website from 2008 and 2009. The unique musical style started getting more attention from Youtube users around that time.
From 2009 to 2010, music fanatics found out that they could easily make their own versions of nightcore music. They discovered the secret ingredients and started getting creative. It was all possible with the help of simple audio editing programs.
Nightcore music’s popularity peaked in the years following 2010. This was after the production of a nightcore version of Rockefeller Street. This song, which was originally performed in Eurovision 2011 by Getter Jaani, soon became an internet meme.
After that, people started editing other songs besides dance tracks to nightcore-style versions. They experimented with pop, country, and more, making the popularity of this musical style skyrocket to new heights.
How Do Producers Make Nightcore Music?
After diving into the secrets of nightcore, I discovered that making this catchy style of music isn’t hard at all. Today’s technology and the existence of numerous music editing programs enable anyone to create nightcore music.
Let me tell you how it happens from A to Z.
Step 1: Source Material Selection
Even though you can turn any type of song into nightcore, DJs insist that you should focus on certain genres only. These genres include eurodance, trance, eurotrance, vocal trance, and dance.
While working on a pop or country song is still possible, die-hard nightcore fans wouldn’t accept the results as real nightcore. In fact, some might go so far as to call these versions fake nightcore or speed edits.
Once a producer settles on a promising track, they start the editing process.
Step 2: Using the Help of a Straightforward Software
There are many music editing software options on the market varying in complexity and features. Yet, the best thing about nightcore is that people only need a few basic commands to make it happen.
Some like to use Audacity for this purpose. Being entirely free and one of the easiest programs to work with, the software is popular amongst nightcore music creators.
Step 3: Editing the Song
The first thing a producer will do once they’ve done the previous two steps is to import the original track to Audacity. Next, they’ll press Effect to change the pitch of the song. As we’ve already mentioned, the perfect percentage to change the pitch to ranges from 20 to 30%.
After that, the music editor will select Effect one more time to increase the tempo. For true nightcore vibes, the tempo has to be somewhere between 20 to 30% as well.
Of course, people can experiment with these values, going higher or lower until they end up with desirable results.
Step 4: Exporting and Sharing the New Nightcore Song
Simply enough, a DJ will have to press File to export the modified song in the format that they prefer. If he or she wants to go the extra mile, they’ll use video-editing software to add pre-existing anime graphics to the track.
Someone who’s more tech-savvy may like to include lyrics, too, to the benefit of Youtube viewers. With loads of easy-to-use apps and computer programs on hand, a DJ has endless options to make his nightcore music even more appealing.
Is Nightcore Considered a Music Genre?
No. Some people mistakenly believe that nightcore can be labeled as a music genre. Yet, it’s more precise to say that nightcore is more of a remixing style that many DJs prefer.
However, nightcore still falls into several genres including dance, electronic, trance, and eurotrance. It all depends on the original genre of the source material.
What Are Some Popular Nightcore Channels on Youtube?
As aforementioned, the largest percentage of nightcore tracks are on Youtube. Artists come and go, but some channels have become quite famous throughout the years. Here they are:
Each channel has at least one million subscribers, which clearly shows you how many people appreciate this style of music until this day.
Is Making Nightcore Music Legal?
Despite the huge popularity of this musical style, creating nightcore versions of existing songs is illegal. To use a song and edit it to your liking, you must have permission from the copyright owner. Obviously, a regular Youtube user doesn’t have this kind of luxury.
Even if Youtube channels don’t make any money out of creating nightcore tracks, it’s still illegal.
For that reason, music experts and people in the industry often refer to nightcore music as straight out plagiarism.
Let’s not forget that using anime art with nightcore music can also be illegal if the artist doesn’t allow it. Unless the art and music are open-source, you may not use either of them to make nightcore.
Thankfully, a lot of music and art pieces online allow derivative works. In that case, you could try your luck with nightcore and give more life to an established musical track.
What Is Daycore Music?
To my surprise, I stumbled upon the term “Daycore,” which is the opposite of nightcore in each way possible. Daycore music is also made by editing a pre-existing dance or trance track.
However, in this case, the DJ will decrease the tempo and pitch of the music. As a result, the song becomes slower and the pitch gets deeper to match the general mood of the daytime.
Unlike nightcore music, daycore is a lesser-known subcategory. Because daycore is less lively and more broody than nightcore, you’ll find a smaller selection of daycore songs on Youtube.
