Low fidelity

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A home studio with equipment from the 1990s and early 2000s

Low Fidelity or Lo-Fi [ loʊˈfaɪ̯ ] or Lofi describes music that was recorded with simple technical equipment or that sounds as if the recording was made with such equipment . The antonym for this is high fidelity or hi-fi.

Furthermore (from 2017 onwards) a sub-genre of hip-hop or electronic music is referred to, which is stylistically in the area of easy listening and contains calm, slow and relaxing music, which is also known as "learning music" for listening in the background is advertised on numerous YouTube channels as "beats to relax / study to". The connection to the aspect of the simple technical equipment consists in numerous titles in a rather noisy sound image and with the impression of analog technology also for sound generation. In addition to the noise, the pitch may change in the manner of a magnetic tape with the feed rate not moving at a constant rate.

The musical quality of the actual songs is not affected by the type of recording, which is why Lo-Fi does not mean inferior music. The studio equipment and electronic musical instruments used do not correspond to the current technical development due to a deliberately “ retro ” sound (based on historical models).

In most cases, the intent is that the sound of the recordings will not conform to popular standards in order to stand out from the crowd of mainstream releases. An example of this would be the releases of the band Guided by Voices , who, in addition to studio recordings, also put roaring four-track sounds on their albums.

Well-known bands that can be classified as lo-fi include The Raveonettes and Sonic Youth . The best-known artists of the lo-fi genre are the singers Daniel Johnston or Jandek , who only absorb their high artistic output with very limited resources. An example of this would be Hi, How Are You by Daniel Johnston (1983).

In the figurative sense, one speaks of lo-fi sound, "when the entire sound image of a production is consciously dirty and antiquated or historical."

LofiDogma

The Zurich Cultural Foundation Sound Development has on 27 March 2007 under the heading LofiDogma a manifesto called The Recording manifesto published, are listed in the nine points in the music production to "recapture of risk and chance to observe the production of music" be. The manifest includes the following points:

  1. A song must be recorded in one day .
  2. All musicians and instruments have to be in one room .
  3. Backline and miking must be identical for all recordings.
  4. A maximum of ten mixer channels can be used.
  5. All channels must be mixed down to two channels during recording .
  6. Only equalizers and compressors may be used to influence the sound .
  7. Only one effects device may be used in the mix .
  8. Nothing may be cut, added or corrected afterwards .
  9. A result has to be published .

45 bands in Switzerland each recorded a song accordingly. In 2012 five bands recorded songs in London and in 2013 five in the Hamburg Clouds Hill Studio . The songs were released through Sound Development .

The publication of the manifesto is reminiscent of Dogma 95 , a manifesto published by Danish filmmakers in 1995.

literature

  • LoFi. In: Peter Wicke , Wieland Ziegenrücker, Kai-Erik Ziegenrücker: Handbook of popular music. History, styles, practice, industry. Extended new edition. Schott, Mainz 2007, ISBN 978-3-7957-0571-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ i. S. v. Background music while studying
  2. ↑ Lo-Fi. In: Urban Dictionary . Retrieved March 5, 2019 .
  3. ↑ YouTube phenomenon "Lo-fi study beats". What's behind the learning soundtrack hype? Bayerischer Rundfunk , March 7, 2018, accessed on March 5, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Wicke among other things: Handbook of popular music. 2007, p. 404.
  5. ↑ a b c Interaction and Spontanity , article from November 16, 2013 in Deutschlandfunk - Corso radio broadcast , accessed on November 22, 2013
  6. ^ The Recording Manifesto , preamble at lofidogma.com, accessed November 22, 2013
  7. ↑ # 1 A Song ... , LofiDogma Points at lofidogma.com, accessed November 22, 2013
  8. ↑ Buy ... at lofidogma.com, accessed November 22, 2013