Hit the play button and let’s get started on what lo-fi music is. In fact, what you hear now is lo-fi music. To my point of view at least. But allow me to go a bit (much) deeper in this article.
Lo-fi – lofi – low-fi – low fidelity
And I could go all the way with the synonyms. They all refer to the same: the sound quality that from one side defines lo-fi music as a genre. With regards to lo-fi (without music) as a phenomenon, I had a short article a couple of weeks ago. I would suggest having a quick glimpse of that as well to broaden your view on the topic.
Lo-fi Music
According to Wikipedia lo-fi music is: “a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections of a recording or performance are audible, sometimes as a deliberate aesthetic choice.”
As per the same article above lo-fi music has been around with us since the ’80s along with Hi-Fi (high fidelity) and has been connected to cassettes and tape hiss. That imperfect way of sound had a taste compared to nowadays ultra sterile music. The so-called “analog preference” started to dominate as a counterpart of better quality records.
On the other hand as the definition above states, it is not necessarily the hiss that makes it lo-fi but generally how it is produced.
Embracing imperfection
I used this phrase as part of my first full album composed with PO-33 KO. Compared to professional artists, many lo-fi beatmakers are more hobby artists. It also means that they do not have million USD studios but often use one analog hardware or a budget midi keyboard with a laptop. DYI music became very popular in the ’00s. Many artists realized that entering the world of musicians is easier than it was before. Continuous development of computers and digital tools offered cheaper setups for music production.
This changed the music market to its essence. And here I am not only talking about lo-fi music but many others. Bedroom producers popped out around the world fascinating listeners literally every day.
On the downside that also meant that one may compose songs with less knowledge or tools than would be necessary. Practically you can create songs with a simple smartphone app.
Just to make it clear: there is no downside that more people can do it. It is a bit cheesy as the quality also became worse. And here I am not covering sound quality, but I often find songs half-ready and with disharmonics.
Anyways, if you are into lo-fi music, you may find some weird ones out there on YouTube or any stream platforms.
Latte Chill’s note on lo-fi music
Personally, I believe it is not worth going back any further in the history of lo-fi music. I shared all the articles above you need, if you are interested. On the other hand, I believe the genre formed and changed a lot over the years. It is worth checking the last 2 decades to broaden our view. Especially because of the change in music production and the era of bedroom producers.
For me, lo-fi music is more about a warm vibe often achieved with VSTs such as Izotope Vinyl offering my music a vinyl vibe. Another tool I like is flipping samples with physical or digital solutions such as Serato Sample. The Internet offers us thousands of free samples we (artists) can use as part of our music.
An example of vinyl vibe with samples used. I also added some vocal chops here. I am not a fan of singers in this genre, only add chops from time-to-time. On the other hand, I am a true fan of simplicity. Especially in beats. I love 4/4 and the even split of kicks and snare. Truth to be told it is also necessary for many who wants to focus.
Lo-fi music = focus music?
Not necessarily but there is another trend emerging in the past years. Many people (especially white-collar workers) tend to listen to music while working. Whereas it is still a matter of taste, I see a gradual shift from the upbeat Ibiza disco to a slower genre. And that is lo-fi. More and more lo-fi music mixes can be found on YouTube and Spotify encouraging the listeners to choose them for focusing. It can be phrased as:
- Focus music
- Background music
- Study music
- Office music
Due to the pandemic, more people have become accustomed to home offices. Als,o companies are more supportive of this and the hybrid way of working. It has probably accelerated the need and demand for these types of mixes.
I find it personally a good shift. While I love disco beats, I find them a bit more disturbing when I want to focus. Lo-fi music on the other hand intends to slow you down. And probably this is why I personally rarely use vocal chops as well. I could not stop myself not focusing on the lyrics instead of my work. Maybe it is only me…
So lo-fi music is all about sound quality?
Well, no. Even though I could go all way long about the topic I guess there is another aspect we all know and that is anime.
Whereas the Wiki page has yet to update itself to keep the tempo, this article is closer to the reality of today’s lo-fi music. Similar to Vaporwave lo-fi in the last decade started to use anime-inspired pictures and animation to boost their visualisers as well as the covers.
I guess it has a lot of influence on why the genre ended up like this. First, definitely Samurai Champloo to mention. If you haven’t seen this anime, I have your weekend program ready. It is not insanely long (such as Naruto or Detective Conan), yet has an amazing OST thanks to Nujabes, who is often named the “Godfather of lo-fi hip-hop”.
On the other hand, Lofi Girl is also to be mentioned. A French YouTube channel started originally as ChilledCow back in 2017 and now functions as one of the biggest labels in the genre uploading beats literally every day.
Whether it is good or not, I had my rant already in lo-fi trends for the 2022 article. Let me not deep-dive in this matter for now. Anyways the lofi girl avatar creator is fun, check out the link in the trends article above.
Chill-out music vs lo-fi music – what is the difference?
Lo-fi music focuses on the sound quality in essence and anime aesthetics, while chill-out music is more of a mood. It offers a chill-out moment between the fast-paced disco tracks on the dance floor. That also means chill-out is more close to dance music on the other hand lo-fi music is not something we expect to hear on the dance floor. It is our ear candy at home on a cozy eve or during work time.
On the other hand and let it be my final thought: the two genres live next to each other quite OK. I mean artists might fancy with each other on the definition and so on (similarly to metal artists) but in the end both to convey a mood and vibe to chill the listeners. Check my mix below and tell me which one is lo-fi music and which beats are more chill-out.
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