How To Get The LOFI Guitar Sound

[@jakestewartmusic]

Love the band jams in the new studio! A simple way to get a 'lofi' vibe is using a tape-style delay pedal or plugin set to 1 repeat, shortest delay time possible, and 100% wet. You're simply replacing your dry signal with the tape emulation in the pedal, and you can use any wow/flutter, tape age, or saturation controls to dial in the level of warped grunge you desire.

[@michaeldoerksen2841]

I've found using a nice warbley chorus/ vibrato before a short delay and into an eq pedal with the highs and lows slammed down and mids slightly boosted. Is a good way to do this with a couple pedals

[@keegansmith-sims]

@@michaeldoerksen2841 rhett help me to Write a song for. My band Thanks. From. Keegan

[@jburdsinfuse]

I’m dialing this up on my Meris ASAP…great tip.

[@maykolllopez1585]

Demedash TS120 Deluxe is great for this!!! Nice VHS type flutter.

[@andybeck2599]

Just spent an hour goofing around with my dd-200 after reading this comment, and now I'm questioning why I even own a chorus pedal. Thanks for the tip!

[@dananthony6258]

I didn’t realize how lite he was hitting the snare until I saw him playing. Great snare sound.

[@jonasholzem2909]

It takes so much restraint to be a great drummer!

[@dananthony6258]

@@jonasholzem2909 Stewart Copland is my all time favorite. I’m a guitar player but he’s one of a few I listen to that makes me feel like playing the drums.

[@taylormoon3561]

I really liked how you straddled the line between studio techniques and guitar specific stuff that could be implemented in any context. Would love to see more videos like that.

[@petethedutch]

Loved the EQ graphics. Such a cool idea.

[@pawlowski6132]

Yes!! Super innovative

[@azuresky1036]

I would just like to say great job on the visual editing on this video. The clean, giant EQ adjustments present on screen during your demonstration made this feel super professional. Even though I'm already employing these teqniches in my recordings, I specially came to hear the way you produce your own lofi guitar sound and it was nice to hear the starting point for your guitar tone. Not just the post edit. Going from point A to point B and everything in between. I'm definitely buying that pedal as well. Sounds great!

[@rabnerrabnerrabner]

Really enjoyed this. You are on to something here Rhett. This is a very unique sound these days - would love to hear more from you like this.

[@snooootch]

Artists who (to my ear anyway) have similar tones are ‘Good Morning’ and ‘Crumb’

[@ChrisCollinsGuitar]

Hats off to the video editing work on this! That EQ layer worked v well!

[@phil.7064]

This smells nice

[@twantheunisz9281]

Like on the last video, let's once again make this random short comment the top comment.

[@Mike-rw2nh]

@@twantheunisz9281 I’m game. Let’s do it. 😂

[@RhettShull]

Im here for it.

[@phil.7064]

​we've got competition fellas

[@twantheunisz9281]

@@phil.7064 i will not allow competition

[@AndrewMasters]

Loving these recent videos! Seeing the different spaces being used is awesome.

[@bolland83]

As a metal head, I'm a big fan of the "clock radio" sound for intros and breaks. It makes the main riffs hit so much harder, and all it takes it some creative eq.

[@justinguitarcia]

Ive been really digging the saturation on the Generation Loss, sounds killer on drums too

[@gobigrey9352]

We used to record on an old karaoke machine since that was all we had at the time. Those old tapes sound just like that. 20 years later I'm finding myself trying to emulate that sound on Logic Pro. Crazy

[@darenanderson1960]

I’m not sure if the lo-fi sound is for me, but this was a tremendously helpful video in understanding what lo-fi sound is and how to get it.

[@aaron6806]

I was thinking the same thing. The combination of all the effects near the end of the video wasn't very pleasing to my ear, but I think it was just that all three were a bit overdone, not very subtle. I'm not a player, so I won't be experimenting, I'll need a pro like Rhett to do it for me.

[@CrazyUncleSam24]

Super well done on the B-roll and alternate shots on this video! Great framing and interesting angles

[@pawlowski6132]

What is b roll

[@jeffburnham4582]

I think your choices of topics is really engaging!

[@dreamcity7514]

for me as a lofi artist, i usually use a tape delay turned way down, to where it adds a slight modulation texture to the guitar with a long modulated trail on the reverb

[@agriff4795]

Tom Scholz used a lofi electric guitar mixed with acoustic guitars and heavily distorted electric guitars to accentuate the "missing" parts of the EQ spectrum. He used a wah in a fixed position into a cranked Marshall!

[@tommystratpaul]

I just LOVE seeing the studio come into the videos. Loved the B-roll and the vibe of this video! Fantastic work Rhett👏👏

[@ClaudeRuelle]

Awesome stuff! That Generation Loss pedal sounds incredible

[@macsarcule]

That opening jam is my favorite thing EVER you have played! So awesome! ✌️😌🎸

[@glyndwr15]

Nobody cared about the 388 for the longest time, now I see them everywhere. I kind of wish people would forget about them again, so I can snag one for a reasonable price.

[@JohannesLabusch]

Some budget versions of the expensive pitch modulation pedals mentioned here: The JHS 3 series chorus has a "vibrato" witch that basically turns off the original signal and only lets the modulated signal through. Sounds wobbly and seasick. If you have a Line 6 M5 pedal, try the "pitch vibrato" setting, which is an emulation of a Boss VB-1. You can only get that one used for a fortune, or as a Waza Craft version, for a slightly smaller fortune. Behringer also makes a cheap clone of that pedal. There's a free plugin called CHOW Tape Model that gives you wonderful wow and flutter for your DAW.

[@patmurphy7266]

The fact some of my wishlist pedals are also on your list - thanks Rhett. This definitely helps me see how much I've learned the last few months ❤🥃🤘

[@aaron6806]

I am quite sure that you explained this in the only way in which I could have understood it. Every time I've heard someone say "lo-fi" I haven't really had a clue what they were talking about. Thanks for the lesson

[@claytondouglasmusic]

Duuuuuuude the timing of this video could not be more perfect - I was just exploring different ways of achieving this vibe with my producer! I'll definitely be experimenting with some of what you talked about

[@calebcadainoo]

Thanks a lot for the tips really helpful 🥳🥳

[@Zoso7227]

All of your videos are crazy inspirational

[@ArchitexMaze75]

Superbly explained short simple but perfectly delivered both visually and sonically, excellent video rhett

[@scottkidwellmusic9175]

I'm really enjoying the Strymon Deco on my pedalboard. I have it after my Black Hole Symmetry and The Ranch pedals from Collision Devices, and in front of the Iridium. Pretty simple board, really.

[@revevague6256]

Wonderful! Love the tones, playing and the lesson here!

[@dougs7920]

Great video, thanks for taking the time to explain some of the cooler tricks at a beginner level. The new studio made for a really cool intro!

[@PedalChainsAddiction]

Love your tone through the Generation Loss. Thanks for sharing the settings on that; I’m still getting to know mine. Absolutely lovely pedal.

[@jdguillot8647]

I'm still relatively new to guitar, and this was some of the best explanation/demonstration of what these descriptions of tone actually mean and where they come from! This could be a whole series. And man, echo what others have said, great work on the graphics on this one!

[@davidkieltyka9]

I still do most of my home recording with a Tascam 424 MkII 4-track Portastudio I bought c. 1996. I like that it’s super straightforward and that I have to get my parts right in as few takes as possible to avoid tape fidelity loss. I use the Beatles’ “reduction mix” technique, which involves a second tape machine, to give myself more than four tracks if needed.

[@sorenkongshoj]

One more aspect of tape recording, that might be worth looking into (probably more so in mixing, than in guitar playing) is the stereo imaging, specially "crosstalk". Basically, various frequencies on one track will "crosstalk" - that is bleed into the next track - making the stereo width a bit narrower. But not in the sense of merely closing in the width of the stereo image as various frequencies behave differently. Lower frequencies tend to bleed more, while higher frequencies will bleed less. This focuses the mid information as being the bass heavy elements, while smoothing the hi-frequency transients and folding them in towards the middle.

[@cbrunhaver]

Love the topic and examples. While I know that they were being used an an analogy, vinyl and analog tape can be incredibly hifi, so you may ruffle a few feathers with the explanation, though there are certainly lofi examples of vinyl and tape setups

[@SimonRefaloGuitaristOfficial]

New studio room looks great Rhett!!

[@THEJADAN200]

I feel like a lot of people label their projects as "Lo-Fi" as an excuse for bad recordings. But this is true Lo-Fi! Using the gear for their imperfections and characteristics.

[@mattdayne2585]

A good chorus/vibrato pedal where you use the vibrato mode with a very slow swirl is excellent for Lo-fi stuff. I had the Zvex Insta Lo-Fi Junky which was absolutely amazing for a Lo-fi sound especially with its built in compression. If you mixed in the Strymon Bluesky Shimmer mode into the Lo-Fi junky, I was able to create some Boards of Canada synthy Lo-fi sounding guitar. Sadly I dont have either of those pedals anymore, but def want to get a new vibrato/chorus like the Artificial Blonde you have. Ps- The Zvex lofi junky was created by Joel before he left zvex to start his own company aka Chase Bliss audio.

[@Aquariumecosystem]

Those are some really tasty tones! Great info!

[@thebruckners]

Another great way to get the LoFi sound is to just buy an old 4-track tape machine rather than a bunch of pedals and plug-ins for your DAW. You can punch in/out for edits or send it to your DAW via an audio interface and output jacks of your 4-track. Love my old Yamaha MT4X!

[@wadewalla1398]

Always liked Rhett but man is he stepping up the professionalism in his videos. Nicely done.

[@ZackSeifMusic]

Great video and explanation Rhett! Those pedals sound really nice.

[@MoreMeRecording]

Great job capturing that vintage vibe with this track.

[@eastontanner6919]

As soon as I saw the 388 on the thumbnail, I got excited

[@MitchellSpille]

The Strymon mobius' Dsstroyer nails this thing too!

[@simonmastromatteo5692]

That intro is like Tame Impala and Khruangbin made a baby.. Great !

[@russellzauner]

There's another guy on YT that makes plug in models off real gear and he modeled a Soviet Cold War era wire recorder and it ended up being the best instant lo fi I've ever heard. The wire recorder tests were already amazing but he did stuff it into a plug in (I'm not an affiliate, just a another modeling/emulation nerd who is also a musician) that works well and also has a great visual/control interface which is straightforward to use for an odd piece of gear.

[@gianttreeproductions3947]

What’s the channel name?

[@akkerdood6149]

Hainbach

[@jansabarth9466]

Great... but as a SoundEngineer we already do all this for you guitarists. So in a mix I would say to you: 'plug your HiFi Axe FX in, I'll do all the rest for you' .. that is: cutting the edges, and put some saturation and modulation on your track(s)..

[@Allthewrongkeys821]

Spotted the Axe FX III behind you. 😁

[@amberyooper]

Well, I still have my old TEAC A-2340SX multitrack open reel recording deck, so I could start by recording into that first, and then send it to the DAW...

[@mikesalmo]

Oh, I miss my buddy’s Tascam 4 track. We had so much fun with that thing.

[@hamueramusic]

if you listen to the beatles while my guitar gently weeps' lead guitar, you can hear that there is a lot of tape saturation. just an example of tape saturation on an old and famous song

[@seanjones_tx]

Would love for you to do a video on your 388 workflow you’ve been using when recording with the studio

[@Marc_Sola]

I think zvex nailed the lofi pedals

[@bruced1429]

when I fiddle the controls on my Bolt 60 with my Tele I get the sounds you have here except the highly modulated sounds. those I can get adding some chorus and flanger to suit. I am not a fan of highly modulated sounds so your simple method is very good to get clean sounds, in then end it is what sounds good to your ears is what counts. Rhett the more I listen and see your videos the more I aprreciate what you do.

[@kdakan]

Modulation effects make me feel seasick. Noise causes a headache. But some forms of saturation is good as it accentuates some interesting musical overtones, and adda gentle compression to smooth out volume peaks.

[@nicok5630]

Great to see him branch out from the standard rock stuff…

[@francomoda]

Bro!! I really need a entire video of the console, please

[@anth-ny]

Excellent Video, thanks for sharing.

[@pietroborgesparri]

Rhett your videos are so well made, I hope you keep going and growing!

[@RhettShull]

Thank you Pietro!

[@martmakesmusic]

Bruh, where did you get that 388? I've been looking for one for ages lol

[@Matthew-e3u7r]

Very insightful.

[@reneaceves8820]

Reel-to-reel tape is actually pretty high fidelity.

[@walkercolson765]

Is Philip a permanent memeber of the team now.

[@sassycat]

The only thing missing from that pedal is a shimmer reverb. The sounds were pleasing.

[@simoneric8183]

My name is Reth Shull and I'm just a normal guy : I'm not tatooed.

[@mennofennema9829]

plug in the acoostic with a spectralu flash b 1 cable and dim the alternator to -4.5 at least when the room temperature is about 100 fahrenheit. If you fret the string midd of the sound hole you might be very able to mic the amp with a clubber B spec new celestian Red back. If you then set the gain to 3 after preamp 4 and the bass to about 12 o clock then you would guess by know I have no idea what I am talking about and I might be drunk x thanks for reading x x

[@noahtwombly8603]

the 388 is the best photo backdrop.

[@norseman61]

Believe me, I really do “get” the appeal of lofi, and I also see the appeal of reliced guitars. But I can’t escape the hilarity of spending THOUSANDS in additional cash to basically “undo” the improvements that have been made to gear over the decades. The next “hot” trends will be instruments that are incredibly uncomfortable to play, and sound equipment that is designed to break on the regular. Now THAT will be cool!

[@mattdayne2585]

Just look at Rhett's Nova guitar. Its ugly as sin and looks incredibly uncomfortable to play. We are already there. And I love offset guitars like jazzmasters but jesus christ Nova's are the ugliest guitars I've ever laid eyes upon. Its like some blind hipster decided they wanted to try and make a jazz/jaguar, resulting in the goofy mess known as Nova guitars.

[@norseman61]

@@mattdayne2585 "Blind hipster". I love it! Yeah, he's got a couple Novos, and they both look like they were cut from an old door he found in the garage. His sparkly one looks like it was painted with materials left over from his daughter's "build-a-unicorn" school project. But dammit, they sure sound good.

[@roscoechance5155]

Mac Demarco has some cool lo-fi sounding stuff

[@marcospintor1333]

This is what i need

[@marcelobaiano]

This guitar is awesome

[@alanscharrer5255]

Best way to get the desirable sound… time travel to 1972 and Muscles Shoals! I have the travel gems to accomplish just that. But I am unable to share without causing the butterfly effect. Damn….

[@Broses247]

Amazing video once again Rhett! Great Jam too

[@scottreynolds6317]

Awesome vid! I’m going to have to try some of these ideas. Thanks!!!!!

[@tompoynton]

“Getting back to the days of analogue recording”. Analogue recoding was absolutely _not_ “low fidelity”. The “lo-fi sound” we know know now is simply the sound of people not looking after tape properly, or just applying a few filters. If you did that in a professional studio anytime from the 50s-90s you’d be fired for god’s sake. “Lo-fi” is sheer artifice, fake nostalgia implanted in the brains of people who were too young or not even alive “back in the days of analogue recording”.

[@JamesVytas]

“I will catch you on the next one.” Nice ending. Simple and natural. Doesn’t sound like a radio presenter anymore. More personal and relatable.

[@sacuna3333]

Did he forget there was no plan B?

[@JamesVytas]

@@sacuna3333 there are so many KZbinr presenting styles that bug me. They sound pretentious. Like long pauses as though they’ve just said something profound. Or rising intonation for the same effect. ‘Plan b’ had that contrived feeling to it. He makes such good videos and plays great guitar. I like watching them. Just without little self conscious bits like that.

[@schooldisco5071]

Hope you got a good deal on the 388!

[@steveoverdrive55]

How’s the new studio progressing ?

[@bbProdd_]

You should sell the guitar tabs for that intro cause it is FIRE

[@alexscott7226]

Fascinating

[@michaela.friestbigmikesbas2508]

Most of my gear is older analog stuff so you basically just described my sound to a t.

[@hellogais2177]

this is fucking great

[@paulvsmith]

Thanks, Rhett. This is just the video I was hoping for. I notice that a lot of the lo-fi pedals have some kind of degradation facility on them - scratches or crackle, that speak to the physical medium. Would you say that this is a "fourth dimension" of the lo-fi guitar sound?

[@bazzathegreat3517]

While I understand why it is called LoFi in this context, I think of this more as Ambient or Downtempo. But that might be an artifact from a lot of the EDM I listen to. LoFi in terms of guitar has always been something with a rough edge around it, like garage rock, grunge had a bit of the feel as well. But usually it is a bit sloppy, played on "lower end" equipment. A kind of use whatever you have approach.

[@DDE_ADDICT]

great vid especially the overlay

[@ZachLGrant]

Really good video production on this one

[@manueltorres9565]

please do a guitar recording and mix

[@ShoKnuff96]

Faithful subscriber..just amazing videos

[@NiknakpattyZach]

Notice any latency on the Gen Loss? I’d like to get the pedal but latency is gonna be a no from me dawg. Hoping it’s not as bad as some have made it out to be.

[@m0j0b0ne]

And you probably don't need to buy stuff; you can get a low-fi guitar sound in the room, just by using your janky old practice amp with the 8" speaker, or dust off your old Tascam Portastudio, use the modulation control your delay already has, sing into a cupped SM57, put a box fan between your amp and microphone, or even just deliberately detune a string; the sky is no limit.

[@naturligfunktion4232]

So how about that mixing desk?

[@Grahambhuyan]

what camera do you use for the juicy cinematic shots?

[@DukGef]

How about recording to tape?

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Why do I want Loki? I want the Thor sound! Man, I really need to play more.

[@TrystanGreyvein]

That guitar is so beautiful! What is it

[@jrn9872]

Rhett, would you put this through the wet or dry channel?

[@MiguelAChavira]

Hey Rhett, great video by the way and I love the educational videos! Great job honestly. I have a question in case you do see this. Why do you build pedal boards without and expression or volume pedal? I’d love to know, thanks!

[@Havanorange]

this video tastes like fresh homemade biscuits

[@Havanorange]

and sweetened lemonade