Author Topic: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??  (Read 18018 times)

Zundara

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Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« on: November 23, 2016, 09:55:23 am »
What even is it? Like what is the general design of it??? I know nothing of it & would like to incorporate some of it's style into a more modern scene but without obstructing it's essence, does it just have a high cut filter slapped on everything or?? I'm i'm not mistaken Uppermost used it's style in one of his tracks?

(Uppermost) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AfNzhLMZAQ

(this is low-life hip-hop if you're unaware of the style)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLEOwgm7OUQ
« Last Edit: November 23, 2016, 09:58:27 am by Zundara »

Tieme Typhonic

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2016, 12:00:05 pm »
As far as I know Lo-Fi Hip Hop tracks uses distortion and background ambience like vinyl crackle or white noise/rain. So it sounds "old". Things like a high cut filter and heavy EQ (think of really dipping the high ends) can also do the trick.

2 years back I created this song, it has a couple Lo-Fi (Hip Hop) elements in it.



Hope this helps :)

eidolon

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2016, 03:16:26 pm »
either sampling from vinyl and getting all of the weird artifacts that can come with it, or emulating them like tieme typhonic said. try listening for individual elements in some lo-fi sounding tracks (drums, bass, sample) and look at them under an EQ with a spectrograph, see where things get cut off and come in at.

also 90% of the "lo-fi hip hop" scene on soundcloud is very reminiscent of the stuff j dilla and nujabes did. if youre not familiar with them, you're in for a treat!!
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bst148

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2016, 09:18:39 am »
I used few instances of waves kramer tape to reduce the High End of this track . Im not sure if this is exactly what you looking for but it might help you to get that lo-fi whatever sound =D

https://soundcloud.com/neonprinceone/kramer-tape/s-tfZUb

hotels // keajn from darklit

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #4 on: December 07, 2016, 04:15:32 am »
wanna start by saying if you're interested in making boom bap/beats music/etc (i guess youcould call it "lo-fi hiphop" if u really wanted to), check out Quasimoto's album The Unseen. it'll change your life, really really spacey and head-noddy beats w/ the weirdest but dopest vocals ever. super inventive music and probably the best thing in the style. also listen to literally anything produced by J Dilla, dude was the best fucking producer to ever make hip hop

ok basically the whole genre you're talking about is taking the idea of hip-hop instrumentals a step further by making intentionally warped, woozy, tripped-out loops out of old samples, throwing some crunchy, off-kilter drums into the mix, and building a warm, hazy little universe of sound that u could listen to for hours over and over. so you're gonna wanna sample stuff directly from records or cassettes (or just process sounds you've made thru tape for that extra crunch). you wanna make everything dirty without being muddy. experiment w/ unconventional sounds and processing ideas--the best stuff often sounds saturated to the point of cracking apart, but it's always tasteful enough to hold back from just cranking the knob all the way and letting the distortion go overboard. this "genre" is such a personal, to-each-their-own type thing that it's really hard to slap a label on it and provide a few specific tips on how to make it. try just building a simple groove that doesn't play perfectly on-time, and mess with a few sample chops until you find something that loops so perfectly that you don't wanna stop listening to it.

mostly i think it's important to keep in mind that the world doesn't need another album full of mediocre loops posted on bandcamp/soundcloud w/ cover art from the simpsons or an anime screenshot lmao. make something inventive out of the idea of lo-fi loops and beats, make something your own, don't be afraid to experiment and make some weird off-kilter shit. the more free-thinking the better!

hope this was helpful in some way :)

recommended listening:
https://knxwledge.bandcamp.com/album/kauliflowr
https://sleepyeyes.bandcamp.com/
https://mndsgn.bandcamp.com/album/nomaps

also--check this album out because it's a great example of being extremely creative and original with the whole basic hip-hop blueprint. flying lotus is technically making "beats" but this shit is so inventive that it really deserves its own genre. untouchable lol. https://youtu.be/OPcFtrQfsJw?list=PLmTetWenDEjYdsdAUIDoyTYNLwCXNFgjV

Tieme Typhonic

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2016, 09:51:58 pm »
@keajn, that Quasimoto sounds interesting. Will check out his album. Those bandcamps aren't my thing though. But thanks for pointing out Quasimoto - The Unseen, will probably add this to my playlist :)

Cooper

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #6 on: January 25, 2017, 07:32:47 pm »
Creating the "lofi" sound is actually not as hard as people make it out to be. If you've ever heard a song off of Views by Drake, all of the songs are produced by Noah "40" Shebibe and have this sound to them. He's kind of infamous for this lo-fi underwater-ish sound, and his processing techniques are not that advanced.

In an interview, he states about how his drums are not highpassed, they are downsampled. So instead of a filter turning down frequencies, the high end frequencies on the drums don't even exist.

I've messed around with this technique in Ableton using a high pass filter and redux, and it actually creates a very cool effect. The biggest part of creating good lo-fi drums though in my opinion is good sample selection.

Hope this could give some insight!

eidolon

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2017, 12:59:42 am »
Cooper, that's really interesting about 40's production. i adore "If You're Reading This It's Too Late" for that grittiness, but had never really listened to it close enough to notice. do you have a link to that or any other interviews with 40?
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bst148

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #8 on: January 30, 2017, 07:11:23 pm »
+1 40 productions are really good . I think that decimort2 is a great plugin for this . You could take a look in to that .

Cooper

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2017, 03:37:25 am »
Here is the link to the interview.
https://youtu.be/cl23qnQQ3J0?t=2m29s

I don't have any other interview's of him talking about his production in specific, but I'm sure they're out there.


Mussar

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Re: Lo-Fi Hip-hop??
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2017, 03:54:56 pm »
Instead of using a bitcrushing or downsampling plugin with a low pass filter, I actually discovered something pretty interesting when trying to recreate that OVO40 sound: Actually export a bounce of the file at a lower sample rate, then re-import it. I know 40 uses Pro Tools, so one day I loaded up PT12 and started throwing drum samples and loops into a project and exporting them at all the different sample rates below 44.1 kHz. This gave me that "underwater" sound without all of the harshness you get from virtual downsampling. 22.05 kHz worked the best from my memory, but experiment with different sample rates and see what you get!