Here’s a beginner’s guide on How to Make Lofi Hip Hop Beats. We cover the basic instruments to use, Lofi audio effects, and video tutorials for creating Lofi Music.
Free Samples: Free Lo-Fi Sample Pack | Free Lofi Hip Hop Music
How to Make Lofi Hip Hop Beats
Here is a breakdown of common instruments, effects, and song structure.
1. Lofi Music Instruments
Most Lofi Hip Hop beats feature pianos, electric pianos, and ambient synth sounds.
Jazzy-sounding guitars are a great choice for the melody.
Depending on what plugins you have and want to use it’s a great idea to search for presets using these keywords.
Popular Free VST Plugins:
- 90 Free Piano VST Plugins
- Free Piano Samples
- 40 Best Organ VST Plugins
- 13 Free Ambient VST Plugins
- 100 Free Synth VST Plugins
This video showcases a great VST plugin called Tape Piano made for Lofi music production.
2. Lofi Hip Hop Drums
Most Lofi drums tend to follow the basic boom bap hip hop structure.
Make sure you listen to and learn about Boom Bap. It’s a great source of inspiration.
Be creative with your samples and sounds. Use acoustic drum kits and even electronic kits to make your beats.
A great trick is to mix an acoustic drum kit with lots of room reverb with a more focused electronic kit to make it more powerful.
Related: Free Drum Kits
Check out this video about creating drums for lofi music, specifically lofi Hip Hop.
Related: 30 Best Websites to Make Beats Online For Free
3. Lofi Music Effects
One of the most important things about Lofi Hip Hop is the effects to make your music sound lofi.
Use saturators, compressors, and plugins designed for making things sound lofi.
With the drums, a common practice is to make it sound crushed with very aggressive compression.
Include a vinyl crackle loop in your song to make it sound vintage.
4. Bassline
A muffled bass guitar sound is often ideal.
A lot of Lofi Hip Hop music producers use upright bass sounds. There are a lot of free plugins that simulate this instrument.
You can also try using sub-bass synthesizers with slightly distorted harmonics.
Related: 40 Best Free Bass VST Plugins
5. Harmony
Harmonies in Lofi Hip Hop are often done using lofi sounding pianos and electric pianos.
On the more technical side, make sure to include a lot of Jazz chords such as 7th and 9th chords. These are the fundamentals of most LoFi music.
Check out the video below for an in-depth tutorial about making microtonal chords for Lofi music and Lofi Hip Hop.
6. Melodies
In Lofi music, melodies are often blended together with harmony using the chords’ notes.
Try to slightly detune your instrument via your DAW, it will make your melody instantly sound Lofi.
Make sure to keep it simple when creating Lofi music melodies. Don’t use huge gaps or steer too far from the main idea.
You can also use instruments such as guitars for the melody.
Let your creativity run free.
7. Lofi Song Structure
You don’t want to make any subtle or dramatic changes.
It’s best to let the music build slowly.
Typically, Lofi Hip Hop music in its most calm form doesn’t have a chorus.
This is the typical structure in this case:
Intro – Verse – Bridge – Verse
If your Lofi song is more on the uplifting side, you can try fitting a chorus between the verse and the bridge.
Lofi Hip Hop Beat Tutorials
How to Make Lofi Hip Hop in FL Studio
Here you will get a brief history of Lofi music, and steps to follow to make a Lofi beat in FL Studio.
How to Make Lo-Fi Hip Hop Beats
Covers how to make a Lofi beat without samples in FL Studio.
Lofi Emo Trap Beat Tutorial
Step-by-step tutorial on making a Lofi Trap beat.
Lofi Music Common Questions
How Do I Make a Lofi Hip Hop Beat?
a melody with a piano, electric piano, or ambient synths.
2. Add a vintage boom-bap drum pattern over the melody.
3. Add a vinyl crackle to give the beat a vintage feel.
4. Add a smooth and simple bassline melody.
What is Lofi Music?
Lofi or Lo-Fi stands for “Low Fidelity”. Lofi Music has seen a huge rise in popularity on the internet in the last few years with calming instruments and melodies. This music genre is popular especially on Youtube radio and is in constant demand.
It is commonly used to help people focus, study, and exercise.
Related: What Is Lo-Fi Music?
Lofi Music Examples
Here are a few examples of Lofi Hip Hop beats to help give you a better understanding of the calmness of the music genre.
Video Example: A.M Study Session – Lofi Hip Hop & Chill Beats
Do you have tips on how to make Lofi Hip Hop beats?
Please share with us in the comments section below.
Related: How to Make Beats
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