Creating a Simple Lo-Fi Beat in FL Studio: A Step-by-Step Guide By Lofi Minutes

Introduction:

Lo-Fi beats have gained significant popularity in recent years for their laid-back and nostalgic vibes. If you're looking to dive into the world of music production and create your own Lo-Fi beats, this article will guide you through the process of crafting a simple Lo-Fi beat in FL Studio without using any pre-existing samples. So, let's get started!

Step 1: Setting up the Project

Launch FL Studio and create a new project. Set the project tempo to around 80-90 BPM (beats per minute) to capture the relaxed feel of Lo-Fi music. Select the C minor scale to establish the desired mood.

Step 2: Creating the Drums

Start by opening the Channel Rack in FL Studio. Create a new channel and load a drum sampler or synthesizer of your choice. You can use FL Studio's built-in plugins like FPC, Drumaxx, or even the basic 3xOsc synthesizer.

Design a simple drum pattern by placing kicks on the first and third beats of each bar, and snares on the second and fourth beats. Add some hi-hats or shakers to fill in the gaps and create a rhythmic groove. Experiment with the velocity and timing of the drum hits to add a human touch and variation to the pattern.

Step 3: Crafting the Chord Progression

Create a new instrument channel and load a synthesizer that allows you to create rich, atmospheric sounds. FL Studio offers various options like Sytrus, Harmless, or Serum.

Start by playing chords in the C minor scale. Here's a simple chord progression to get you started:

Cm chord: C, Eb, G

Abmaj chord: Ab, C, Eb

Ebmaj chord: Eb, G, Bb

Gmaj chord: G, B, D

Experiment with different inversions and voicings to find the sound that appeals to you. Adjust the attack and release settings to achieve a softer and more relaxed sound.

Step 4: Adding Melodic Elements

To enhance your Lo-Fi beat, introduce some melodic elements. Create a new instrument channel and select a mellow instrument like a Rhodes piano, a warm pad, or a plucked guitar sound.

Compose a simple melody using notes from the C minor scale. Here are some possible notes that you can use to create melodies that harmonize with the chord progression:

Cm chord: C, D, Eb, F, G, Ab

Abmaj chord: Ab, Bb, C, Db, Eb, F

Ebmaj chord: Eb, F, G, Ab, Bb, C

Gmaj chord: G, A, B, C, D, E

Experiment with these notes and their placements to create a simple and catchy melody that complements the chord progression. You can vary the rhythm, use slides, vibrato, or legato to add expressiveness and make your melody stand out.

Step 5: Applying Lo-Fi Effects

One of the defining characteristics of Lo-Fi music is the vintage and degraded sound. To achieve this, apply some effects to your individual tracks or the master channel. Here are a few suggestions:

a) Vinyl Crackles: Add vinyl crackle samples or use plugins that simulate vinyl noise to give your beat an authentic Lo-Fi texture.

b) Low-pass Filtering: Apply a low-pass filter to your drum track, chords, and melodies to reduce the high-frequency content and create a warm, muffled sound.

c) Tape Saturation: Use tape saturation plugins to emulate the sound of analog tape, adding warmth and subtle distortion to your mix.

d) Reverb and Delay: Apply reverb and delay effects to create a sense of space and depth in your mix. Experiment with different settings to achieve the desired ambiance.

Resource List:

FL Studio (https://www.image-line.com/flstudio/)

FL Studio Documentation (https://www.image-line.com/support/flstudio_online_manual/)

YouTube tutorials:

SeamlessR (https://www.youtube.com/user/SeamlessR)

In The Mix (https://www.youtube.com/c/inthemix)

Busy Works Beats (https://www.youtube.com/user/busyworksbeats)

Online communities and forums:

r/FL_Studio (https://www.reddit.com/r/FL_Studio/)

Image-Line Forums (https://forum.image-line.com/)

Sample libraries and sound packs:

Splice (https://splice.com/)

Native Instruments (https://www.native-instruments.com/)

Loopmasters (https://www.loopmasters.com/)

Remember, exploring and experimenting with different resources will help you find your unique sound and style within the realm of Lo-Fi beat production. Enjoy the journey and have fun creating your own Lo-Fi beats in FL Studio!

lofi

Do You Create Results with 100% Certainty?

In the last edition of The Infinite Business Newsletter, I talked about the vital importance of innovation (aka continual improvement). 

The commitment to always be striving for new, better and different allows your company to stay relevant and service your clients even better. 

I’m always shocked to discover most businesses fail to use one of the most powerful tools in their tool box when it comes to finding out EXACTLY how to service their clients better (Maybe it’s obvious, therefore it’s often missed)...

And if you aren’t doing this to some degree in your business, it’s never too late to start…  

One of the quickest ways to innovate and take steps to improve your business is by asking the most important person or people in your business.

Who are the most important people in any business?

Your clients. 

Your clients are the BEST people to go to when you seek improvement suggestions, ideas for new products or services, or to discover future wants, needs, and desires. 

How do you really get inside the mind of your future clients? By asking your best clients…As they once were your prospect.

The wealth of invaluable information and insight you can gain just by having a conversation with a client is absolutely priceless. 

Which is why I’m so surprised more business owners don’t utilize this approach.  

One business owner I know created something called a “Client Council”.  He runs a very successful service business that specializes in HVAC.  Each year he selects 10 of his best clients and asks them if they’d like to be a part of his Client Council. As a council member, they agree to give him insight and input on anything he sends them (marketing pieces, offers, new service ideas, etc.) and they give their honest feedback.  

In exchange for their council “work” he gives them 20% off any service in his company for an entire year. He  also extends a new customer one time 20% off coupon to any friends or family that live in the area (brilliant how he wove a referral strategy into this program)!

By having this ongoing council, he gets continual insight and feedback on what he is doing, or would like to do. 

He also attains new customers from these referrals. 

What’s also important to note, is he selects new council members each year, giving him a variety of people to test his marketing on. 

The positioning is perfectly structured for his clients too.  First, it’s not a HUGE commitment (only 1 year). It also makes the client feel special to be a part of an exclusive and unique group. Let’s face it, they have probably never been asked to be a part of something like his council ever before. It also gives them the opportunity to become the hero to any friends or family that need HVAC work done…As they hold the key to getting them 20% off their first service call. 

People like to be the heroes and have solutions to help people, which is why people will go out of their way to recommend any product or service they know could help someone (especially with the added bonus of saving them some money). 

It’s a win-win-win for everyone.  

Another business owner I know takes his clients out for Client Appreciation dinners. He invites 3 or 4 clients and their spouses to a restaurant for dinner on him, as a way of thanking them for their business. In their time together, he is able to ask them as a collective group what they think about new products and services he’s thinking of offering in his business. He gets to find out what’s changing in their lives which gives him even more ideas on how to improve his business as well. He schedules these dinners twice a year, and has for the last 20 years. 

Now you might be thinking, “I don’t have the ability to meet with my clients one-on-one.”  

If you don’t have that ability to meet in person with clients, simply call them. 

Many times with our clients, I’ll randomly hop on a meeting they have scheduled with my team just to check in and ask them how they are doing. If one of these clients is someone I think would be a perfect candidate for a new program we are offering, I’ll ask them if they’d be interested in scheduling a one-on-one with me to discuss in greater detail.

Another EASY way to get insight and input from your clients is by sending them regular surveys on a consistent basis. You can send them by email or direct mail. I highly recommend implementing this strategy in your business no matter what, and in addition to any other thing you do. 

Sending out “How are we doing?” surveys on a regular basis shows your clients you really care about the level of service you provide them (that you are always looking for ways to improve). It also gets you information you need. 

It’s easy for anyone to set something like this up in their business. Remember, people want to share their experiences…They desire to feel heard. 

One last example that I couldn’t resist including because it’s so good… 

I heard about this approach from a mastermind I attended. The business owner ran live events at least twice a year for high school students interested in the field of medicine.

His main marketing vehicle was direct mail. His company established a successful “control” and had tested a few new strategies and vehicles to no avail in beating their existing “control”. 

One day as he was talking to his CMO about what to test next, and she suggested it was time to start testing different messaging. Messaging that really resonated with the parents and the students. 

“How would we know what to test?,” He said. She then said, “We ask them.” A bit confused, he asked, “Who?”she said, “Our prospects”.  

Here’s where it gets interesting…

They brainstormed various ways to attain all the relevant information they would need to guide them to create the perfect messaging. They knew in order to get it right, with 100% certainty (and in the shortest amount of time before the next event), they would need to do something extreme. 

They landed on what they called a “Prospect Tour”. They chose 10 prospects at random that agreed to meet with both of them in person. They then flew around the country to visit each of the prospects and their families.   

Extreme? Yes. 

But what they were able to discover in a few weeks of talking to prospects one-on-one was absolutely eye-opening. Not only did they gain insight on objections they never considered, they achieved their ultimate goal (which was to collect exact verbiage directly from their prospects that they could use in their copy).  Messaging that ended up resonating on such a deeper level with their prospective audience. 

I hope these examples gave you some ideas on how you too can gain insight quite easily from prospective clients and existing clients to help propel your business forward. 

Think about integrating any one of these strategies (or variations of them) in your marketing efforts.  At the very least, get a survey out to your clients every 6 months, even if it's just one question you ask them. It’ll pay dividends in the long run, and quickly elevates your business to new heights if you take what you learn and make necessary changes to continually improve. 

To your success, 

David

Business Nitrogen

Overstepping Walls: A Tour of Walled Gardens in Ad Tech and Advertising

The globe of advertisement technology and also advertising has actually seen rapid advancement over the past couple of years, causing the increase of walled yards. These walled yards are shut ecological communities possessed by significant gamers in the industry, such as Google, Facebook, and also Amazon.com.

While these walled yards offer marketers accessibility to a large audience and also valuable data, they additionally produce barriers for smaller sized players in the market. These obstacles include limited accessibility to information and analytics, high advertising and marketing expenses, and also a demand for even more openness.

Numerous market gamers are looking towards option remedies to overcome these obstacles. One such solution is making use of open-source technology as well as devices that permit greater openness and also partnership in between various players in the sector.

Another service is the growth of independent ad tech companies, which supply a level playing field for smaller sized gamers. These firms can aggregate data from numerous sources and also provide accessibility to a larger data swimming pool while still offering transparency as well as liability.

Finally, the sector is additionally exploring making use of blockchain technology to create a decentralized advertisement network that any type of one gamer in the industry does not regulate. This would permit higher openness as well as fair competitors while supplying advertisers higher control over their data as well as campaigns.

Finally, walled yards offer lots of benefits yet additionally produce obstacles for smaller sized players in the advertisement tech and marketing sector. Conquering these barriers will call for a combination of options, consisting of using open-source modern technology, establishing independent advertisement technology business, and discovering blockchain modern technology.

walled gardens advertising

Ways Personal Development Can Boost Your Professional Growth and Prevent Depression

Personal development has evolved into an essential tool for anyone seeking professional achievement and mental well-being in contemporary fast-paced and highly competitive workplace. An individual may attain their full potential, improve their career opportunities, and fortify their resilience against the onset of depression by actively spending time and effort in personal improvement. In this article, we will examine the ways in which personal growth can enhance a person's opportunities for employment as well as their general well-being and enjoyment.

personal growth and development

How Using Drones Is Changing The Roofing Industry

Drones are revolutionizing the roofing industry by providing numerous benefits and improving various aspects of the roofing process. Here are some ways in which drones are enhancing the roofing industry:

1. Roof Inspections: Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras can quickly and accurately inspect roofs, capturing detailed images and videos. This enables roofing professionals to identify issues such as cracks, leaks, or damaged shingles without physically climbing onto the roof. It saves time, reduces risks, and allows for more thorough inspections.

2. Safety: Roof inspections and maintenance tasks often involve risks for workers, such as falls from heights or exposure to hazardous materials. By using drones, roofing professionals can significantly reduce these risks as they can perform inspections remotely. Workers can operate the drones from the ground, eliminating the need to climb ladders or walk on potentially unsafe roofs.

3. Efficiency and Time-Saving: Drones enable faster roof inspections compared to traditional methods. Instead of manually inspecting each area, a drone can fly over the roof and capture comprehensive images and videos within a short time. This efficiency leads to time savings, allowing roofing professionals to assess more roofs in a day.

4. Accuracy and Documentation: Drones capture high-resolution images and videos that provide precise details of the roof condition. These visuals can be stored and analyzed later, ensuring accurate documentation of roof inspections. The detailed data collected by drones helps roofing professionals to create more precise estimates, identify specific problem areas, and make informed decisions.

5. Accessibility: Some roofs are challenging to access due to their height, steepness, or structural complexities. Drones can access these hard-to-reach areas easily and capture visual data. This accessibility allows roofing professionals to assess the condition of roofs that were previously difficult or dangerous to inspect.

6. Thermal Imaging: Advanced drones equipped with thermal cameras can identify areas of heat loss or water intrusion in roofs. Thermal imaging technology can detect temperature differences and highlight potential leaks or insulation issues. This capability enables early detection of problems that may not be visible to the naked eye, helping to prevent further damage and increase energy efficiency.

7. Marketing and Presentations: Drones can capture impressive aerial footage and images of completed roofing projects. Roofing companies can utilize this visual content for marketing purposes, showcasing their work and expertise to potential clients. Aerial views provide a unique perspective and enhance presentations and proposals, giving customers a better understanding of the scope and quality of the roofing project.

dronefootage