The ULTIMATE Beginners Guide to Sleepy LoFi

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This week I took a deep dive through the production behind my latest release "Cosmic Cushion" which is a sleepy/relaxing lofi beat "to study to" ;). I dropped this track under my sleepy lofi moniker "moat" via the label Cuddly Weeks, so big shout out to them for the help with this release, and for putting together that little reel animation I included at the start of the video. I think this is a great beginners guide to get started producing relaxing lofi beats, but there are also some gems in here even if you've been producing for a while! I don't claim to be the master of lofi, I still actually consider myself very much a beginner, but I've gotten lots of great feedback on this track in particular, so I thought it could be a good one to offer some insight on what to consider when making lofi. I mentioned about a million different video ideas in this video, but let me know what you want to see from me next! Do you want to see a sound design tutorial? Should it just be a focused Serum Tutorial? Do you want both? Neither? Let me know in the comments below!
Shoot me a DM on instagram if you want some of my transition sounds I used in this video ‪@itsmeluked‬
Check out my music!
moat (sleepy lofi) - open.spotify.c...
Middle January (Upbeat Lofi) - open.spotify.c...
Newport Ave (Alt Rock) - open.spotify.c...
Elanen (neoclassical) - open.spotify.c...
Affiliate Links (I get a tiny bit of money if you buy anything with any of these links):
Get 7% off your first year of Distrokid: distrokid.com/...
-LIVE SOUND EQUIPMENT-
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A great beginner mixer - amzn.to/3xIIt5R
Classic live mic - amzn.to/41nahub
The PA I use (acoustic) - amzn.to/3ZiUafj
The mixer I use (acoustic) - amzn.to/41dOkxz
The PA my band uses - amzn.to/41eN51b
The mixer my band uses - amzn.to/3IsIRKy
-RECORDING EQUIPMENT-
Great beginner audio interface - amzn.to/3SpxuaX
The audio interface I use - amzn.to/3XOvNVC
Great beginner microphone - amzn.to/3lQ7rgK
Everyone’s favorite microphone - amzn.to/3IMsCcA
-DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATIONS (DAWs)-
Download Reaper - www.reaper.fm/
Download Waveform - www.tracktion....
Download Cakewalk - www.bandlab.co...
The DAW I use (FL Studio) - www.image-line...
Tags (you can ignore)
Lofi, relaxing lofi, how to make a lofi beat, lofi girl, guitar, guitar lofi, how to make a guitar lofi beat, Serum, Sound Design, FL Studio, Music, Music Production, Beat, Instrumental, song, how to make a song, making a song

[@itsmeluked]

I'll be responding to EVERY comment so let me know if you have any questions or if there's something you want me to cover in a future video!

[@itsmeluked]

see? I even replied to this comment

[@fearthelambprod]

wow, from 1k to 100k monthly listeners in two years is insane... congrats man an consider making a video explaining the journey, you are a beast!

[@happybandana6518]

not only the track is chill...the whole tutorial is chill! Man I could watch you and not get bored! Keep it up it was very helpful, thank you!

[@itsmeluked]

I really appreciate that! I’ve been kind of worried my videos are too boring 😂😅

[@LiamWilson1]

Late to the party but I have to say, I've watched a lot of lofi tutorials in the last 2 months as a complete beginner, and this one was exceptionally helpful. Plus the song is great, so thanks a million.

[@itsmeluked]

I can’t tell you how happy I am to hear that! Thanks for stopping by 😁

[@ScottSquires]

Any additional info is welcome- writing melodies, sound design, mixing, etc.

[@itsmeluked]

Sounds great! I’ll keep the tips coming 😁

[@760MaxJ]

Yes a video on the composition would be great!

[@itsmeluked]

I’d be happy to! I’ve got a few requests lined up already so I think I’ll be uploading a video on the theory and composition for lofi in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned 👀

[@esahm373]

​@@itsmeluked Yeah, especially chord and melodic changes while going from one part to another in the arrangement.

[@itsmeluked]

@@esahm373 great suggestion! I’ll definitely include that in the video, thank you 🙏

[@esahm373]

Dude, great content and you come off as a really likable type of person. Subscribed!

[@itsmeluked]

That’s so kind, thank you! Welcome to the community! 😄

[@funikimusic8175]

This is a deep dive video for beginners like me. Great song!! And im glad to find your page 28:52

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you found it helpful 😁 let me know if there are any specific tips you’re looking for to help you on your music-making-journey 🙏

[@vcodev108]

Please make a video on sleep lofi composition and music theory, cant wait!!!!

[@itsmeluked]

thank you for the request! I'm sorry I've been MIA on YT for a while but I'm hoping to get back to the tutorials ASAP and this will definitely be at the top of my list!

[@vcodev108]

@@itsmeluked Thanks!

[@ryuzakii01]

Funny, great at explaining things, very knowledgeable and good at teaching? Couldn’t ask for more, subbed

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you so much! Means a lot 🙏 always feel free to ask me any questions you think I might be able to help with, and welcome aboard!

[@Andysmusicaljourney]

This is really good stuff. You capture the mood in your song perfectly without fluff. I also love your mellow way of explaining what you do, but what I'd also like to know is how you treat your chord progressions. How do you decide the key, how much repetition do you have with the progressions, and do you change the voicings between song sections? This is somehow the hardest part for me to grasp when building a song. I think many of your viewers would get a lot of help if you covered this topic too.

[@itsmeluked]

That’s a really great idea! I’ll definitely do a video on how I work out my chord progressions, thanks for this!

[@Varthaer]

totally not watching this for community purposes LOL (love ya bro)

[@itsmeluked]

😂😂 that’s what it’s here for lmao

[@evcarlos13]

This was an amazing video, you explained everything very well. It is evident that you have a passion for what you're doing! I am making a short lo-fi album for my gf as a Christmas gift and I happen to stumble across your channel and I am glad I did. This is the first video of yours I watch and I will definitely be checking out a couple more of your videos. If there's any free sounds (drums, hats, snares etc.) loops or plug-ins that you recommend I would love to know! Keep up the great work, I'm happy to see you are way past 100 subscribers, many more will come because you certainly deserve them! 👍👍 Update: Man, come back to KZbin 😢

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you so much! I’m really glad hear it was helpful. I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for a while 😂 I got married and bought a house and things have been about as hectic as you can imagine. I’m planning to start posting again ASAP though, so let me know if you have any requests for videos in the near future! Mondo loops has a few free versions of his sample packs I’d highly recommend checking out if you’re going for the more peaceful/sleepy side. L.Dre has some harder hitting free stuff to get closer to boombap, but if neither of those are what you’re looking for definitely check out r/drumkits on Reddit - there are tons of really high quality drum samples you can find for almost any genre on there. LABS, Vital, and BBC orchestra are probably my favorite free VSTs and they can really do a ton of heavy lifting for most lofi stuff. Hope that’s helpful, and I hope to see you back here when I (finally) start posting again 🙏

[@MindLightRelaxingMusic]

Thank you very much for your videos! 🙂🙏 Very nice sleepy lofi track!

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you 😁 I hope it’s helpful 🙏

[@twoscoops2]

You're funny. For me, you can talk about all the aspects of a song when explaining how to create it. Well done, thanks and subbed.

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you so much! I'm really happy you're finding it helpful 🙌

[@arko_s]

Your track and your voice are very chill! Great video!

[@itsmeluked]

Thanks arko! 😁

[@jsalhia05]

I made a new channel for lofi music, and this video is a big help. Planning to release a sleepy vibe lofi album. Thank you for this, Subscribed!

[@itsmeluked]

Great to have you on board! I’m happy to hear it was helpful 😁 if you’re on discord we’ve got a great community of lofi producers that would love to hear your work 🙏

[@jsalhia05]

@itsmeluked 🙏🙏🙏

[@JerinCjacob]

Great Video !!. Would really love a video on the process of chord progression and sound design and sound selection. Thanks for this chill song by the way😌😌

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you for the suggestions! I’ve actually got a deep dive on chord progressions coming out this afternoon 👀

[@yapalal2505]

Great vid! Would love a video on how you pick your chord progressions!

[@itsmeluked]

Great idea! I’ll give this a go!

[@nicolasnicolas3889]

Happy Sunday dude! Thanks for you video, it's the first thing I saw today and I'm going to be making myself a sleepy lofi track, I'm quite new to all this VST stuff and just getting used to the idea that whatever FX and sounds you have you'll never be able to use it all in one lifetime! Really good tutorial subbed. 🥰

[@itsmeluked]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you were feeling inspired after watching!

[@iamantonato]

Yes it would be awesome à sound design tutorial from you on vital or serum ! 🔥

[@itsmeluked]

I got halfway through making a vital tutorial and ended up buying a new house so it's been sitting on the hard drive for months 😢 I promise I'll get to this ASAP though, thank you for stopping by!

[@buddyfeugo5136]

Keep um coming boss man! Killer stuff

[@itsmeluked]

🫡

[@afi6061]

Really like the vid, very helpful. More insightful than many. Subscribed!👍

[@itsmeluked]

I'm glad to hear you found it helpful! Welcome aboard!

[@ultramash]

Just subscribed. Looking forward to your videos in my production journey 😁much love

[@itsmeluked]

Welcome to the community! I’m glad this one was helpful. Definitely let me know if you ever have any questions or anything you want to discuss! Happy producing 🙏

[@degenhardt_v_A]

Very helpful and chill video. Thank you!

[@degenhardt_v_A]

And yes, please do a sound design video (if you haven't already. Just came here.)

[@itsmeluked]

I’m really glad to hear it was helpful! I’ve been meaning to get to the sound design video for sooo long haha, it’s a pretty huge topic and I can’t decide how in-depth to go. Do you have any suggestions for something specific to cover in a sound design video that would be helpful to you?

[@degenhardt_v_A]

@@itsmeluked I think for me specifically it would be helpful to learn about ambience and foley design, as well as getting that lofi tone - because till now I was just highcutting the shit out of everything. 😅

[@itsmeluked]

Word! That’s super helpful, thank you man!

[@degenhardt_v_A]

@@itsmeluked Also, I know you work in FL Studio, but it would be nice to have some things explained more generally, so people like me - who use Reaper, for example - can still implement them well. Thank you so much, again!

[@starlingsath96]

Twas,Dope

[@itsmeluked]

🙏

[@joybeats2425]

Totally dig the story you put in your chords decision making makes it hopeful 😊 I’m starting to get into serum & seems interesting & cool to see how you used it esp for lofi music. Did you use it to make subs or pads? Any tips on sound design & maybe how to add sub bass to fit your song would be super appreciated. Subbed & excited to start producing again. Much love light & blessings to you ❤

[@itsmeluked]

thank you so much for the kind words! I think I'm going to be making a super simple sound design tutorial very soon so let me know if there's anything specific you want me to cover in that 🙌

[@joybeats2425]

hey there, good hearing from you. lately been using serum for pads, but not confident with making sub bass with it especially for hip hop, trap, lo-fi, rnb, genres. first question, like whats the best way for it to cut through the mix. can we distort subs in serum or do you use another vst separately to add harmonics? and secondly, how do you usually go about using a sub to follow you chords/melody/song. some just use the root note, but im wondering if theres other ways. i see so much tutorials for drum n bass or electronic on these topics but it would be cool to see another perspective. sorry for all the questions but any advice would be so awesome & appreciated =)@@itsmeluked

[@itsmeluked]

all great questions! I can go more into detail on some of this in a video but I figure I'll give a response now in case life gets in the way again lol. As far as cutting through the mix goes, there's 2 big things to think about. The first is making sure your mix and arrangement are set up for the sub to sit where you want it (make sure pads/melodies are EQ'd so you aren't getting competing frequencies with the sub) and the second is definitely using some distortion! Serum does have a pretty decent on-board distortion option, but depending how much you want to dial it in using a separate distortion plug in can usually be more powerful. One thing that will be particularly useful in serum itself would be playing around with the order of the FX chain, which you can do by clicking and dragging each element in the list on the left side of the FX window. One use-case for this would be if you've designed a sub with a lot of unwanted harmonics (think jagged waveforms) that you're filtering out with a low-pass filter on the FX chain, you can put the distortion after (below) the low-pass filter to add more controlled harmonics back into the sound coming directly out of serum. Alternatively, if you've got something without much harmonic content (think sine waves), aggressive distortion early in the FX chain with filters/EQ after can give you more body that you can dial back to where you want. With sub bass its usually best to stick pretty heavily to root notes, but rules are meant to be broken! The easiest notes to play with in a bass line are the roots and the 5th, since they'll always be the same between major and minor chords, but you can definitely get more advanced with composition and use the bass as more of a melodic voice. Drill beats do it a lot with full octave jumps, slides, and leading notes. One thing to watch out for with a "busy" bass line, though, is to make sure you aren't clashing too much with your melody. It's good to aim for all of the movement to be working together. I hope that's helpful!

[@joybeats2425]

@@itsmeluked moat you are "GOAT" for doing this. you just clarified/simplified lots of useful concepts ive picked up along the way but can't seem to be satisfied w/ that element in any of my songs. i'll experiment this sub bass phenomena lol well for me its a mind warping instrument yet can be beautiful & carry a song if nurtured, cared for & basically placed right. hopefully i get there. i'll just have to revisit your comment when i get off track lol =) very much appreciate your insight. cheers, joy

[@itsmeluked]

@@joybeats2425 can't tell you how happy I am to hear it was helpful my friend 🙏 I hope to hear some of your music one day!

[@MannnyLee]

Wow like it

[@itsmeluked]

Thanks! Me too hahaha

[@believeinkarma939]

Ur Channel is a 💎 Please make a Sound design course on Vitals.. It's Free.. I don't own any expensive software..😂😂 Fl studio 21 also is in demo mode..😆😆

[@itsmeluked]

I’ve been meaning to download Vital for a LONG time so I think you finally gave me a reason to give it a try! I’ll take some time to get used to the interface and try to post a video soon with some basic sound design tips. Do you have any genre you’d like me to touch on?

[@nuuality]

Can't check if you made a pad sounddesign video cause I'm caught in this video, but if you don't made one it would be great if you do

[@itsmeluked]

I still haven’t, but I am still planning to 😅

[@nuuality]

@@itsmeluked great that you still think about it. Another thing I'd like you to ask cause I think you're an open minded person. I often run into trouble with my Bass. Even if I use the base tone of the chords I'm playing it sounds wrong (detuned, out of key...). I don't know what is causing this but it's annoying. For example I use a normal piano sound playing 7th chords and there's always chords in my progression where the bass sound doesn't fit. I try different bass sounds but it won't change the end result...it sounds wrong. Maybe you can help me

[@itsmeluked]

This might be a hard problem to help with without hearing any examples, are you on discord? If you joined the server and posted in the “ask-for-help” channel I’d be happy to take a listen to a few snippets and see if I can come up with any suggestions!

[@nuuality]

@@itsmeluked thanks for your offer. I guess it's something which is not a common problem🤔😂 I thought that maybe there's a magic trick no one's explaining. The truth is that maybe only I hear this...I discussed this problem with a musician friend of mine a while ago and showed him a track. First he couldn't hear it till I pointed to it and showed him what I meant. After this he also heard it all the time on this track. I appreciate your help🙌 If I have a tune (cause at the moment I have a creativity blockade) where it happens again I come to discord and show it to you

[@itsmeluked]

If it’s always 7th chords and you’re using the root note for the bass it could be the 7th that’s making it sound a little off, but that dissonance is supposed to be there. Do you think that might be it?

[@Deedrio]

Did you master the song on your own? Or did you send it off to someone else to master? A video on mastering LoFi instrumentals would be helpful. I don’t see enough of those on KZbin. If you do master your own work, what do you like to master to as far as LUFs go?

[@itsmeluked]

I do all of my own mastering but I will admit that I’m not exactly a mastering engineer 😂 these days I’m always shooting for something between -12 to -14LUFs

[@nalarocks101]

Wanted to say thanks! Also I seem to always have a issue with finishing songs/loops. Like you said somewhere in your video I feel demotivated after I put some work in. How can I fix this?

[@itsmeluked]

I think it depends a lot on where in the process you’re losing the motivation. If it’s early in working in a project (still maybe in the “loop phase”), there’s a good chance that you might not love the original idea. If that’s the case, I actually recommend doing what I mention in the video and starting a new project - you can always come back to the one you’re leaving unfinished if you’re looking for inspiration later, but if you aren’t really feeling the loop anymore there’s not a lot of sense in forcing yourself to finish the track! On the other hand, if you’re deeper in the process and maybe have an arrangement with some different parts happening and you start to feel demotivated it could actually be caused by fatigue. Your ears (especially when producing) are a lot like muscles in that they can get tired when doing the same thing for too long. In this case I’d recommend taking a 10-15 minute break, walk around and drink some water or coffee or have a snack and come back with “fresh ears”. A lot of times you’ll hear things from a new angle which might spark some fresh inspiration! Sorry for droning on lol is that helpful at all?

[@nalarocks101]

@@itsmeluked I never considered my ears getting fatigued, I usually mess around for 2 hours+. Thanks!

[@itsmeluked]

@@nalarocks101 oh yeah I highly recommend taking short breaks and just letting your ears listen to something else! You’ll be able to stay focused over longer periods of time that way. Glad it helped!

[@ImJustSaying99]

I swear too much talk

[@itsmeluked]

Thanks, this is one of my older videos so while I’m definitely still new to it I was especially new to making tutorials at the point. I stand by the value of what I was saying, but can’t deny the economy of words isn’t the greatest

[@ImJustSaying99]

@@itsmeluked 110% very valuable