Make a lo-fi beat for your vocals
To make a lo-fi beat for your vocals, upload or record the vocal in Lyro Music, choose Lo-fi as the style and press Generate. Lyro reads the tempo and key of your voice in the browser, and its studio tools write soft late drums, mellow electric piano and vinyl crackle around your phrasing, returned as an instruments-only track. Your vocal stays untouched on its own track, and the two open together in the mixer.
It costs one credit per started minute, with a minimum of 2 credits, on every plan.
What should the beat sound like?
Sign up and Lyro builds on your vocal.
Write a lo-fi beat around this vocalNo file at hand? Start from a description, or generate a prompt.
At a glanceLo-fi
| Tempo (BPM) | 60 to 90, most often 70 to 85 |
|---|---|
| Keys | minor or major with seventh and ninth chords, often D minor or C major |
| Feel | swung, slightly late drums with a soft kick and a muffled snare or rimshot |
| Signature sounds | soft swung drums that land slightly late, mellow electric piano or guitar chords with sevenths and ninths, vinyl crackle, tape wobble and rolled-off highs |
| Song form | usually a loop: a few seconds of crackle or filtered chords, then the drums, and a four or eight bar progression that repeats with small changes before a fade or a tape-stop ending |
Lyro follows your vocal’s own tempo and key, so the usual lo-fi range is a guide to how it will feel, not a setting.
How it goesThree steps
- Upload or record your vocalUse a WAV, MP3 or M4A file, or record from your microphone in the browser. Record it dry: no reverb and no music in the room.
- Pick Lo-fi and describe the soundCheck the tempo and key Lyro reads, choose Lo-fi, and add style words, for example: Lo-fi beat: dusty drum loop, electric piano, felt piano, muted guitar, soft sub bass.
- Get the beat, then mixThe instruments come back as their own track beside your vocal. Balance them in the studio, master and export WAV.
Style words to pasteIn English, as the Style box reads them
Lo-fi beat: dusty drum loop, electric piano, felt piano, muted guitar, soft sub bass
Tips for this genre
Lo-fi is recognised by soft swung drums that land slightly late, mellow electric piano or guitar chords with sevenths and ninths, vinyl crackle, tape wobble and rolled-off highs. Describe it the way you would brief a producer:
- Ask for imperfections by name, such as vinyl crackle, tape wobble, soft saturation and rolled-off highs, because they are the sound.
- Describe the drums as soft, dusty and laid-back with a lazy swing, never punchy.
- Avoid: Asking for a clean, bright or punchy mix removes the character, and the result is ordinary instrumental hip-hop.
Where the limits are
- Free-tempo singing, with no steady pulse, is hard to build a beat around; sing to a click or a simple loop.
- Tempo detection can land on half or double the real value, and key detection on the relative key: check both before you generate.
- Background music, room echo or noise in the recording confuses the detection and the model.
- The instruments are new and written for your vocal; Lyro does not copy an existing beat or an artist’s sound.
Questions
Will Lyro change my vocal when it makes the lo-fi beat?
No. Your recording is the input, and it stays on its own track, untouched. The beat comes back as a separate, instruments-only track, and the two meet only in the mixer, where you set the balance.
What tempo is a lo-fi beat?
The usual tempo of lo-fi, in BPM: 60 to 90, most often 70 to 85. Its keys: minor or major with seventh and ninth chords, often D minor or C major. Lyro builds the beat on your vocal’s own tempo and key, which it reads in the browser and you can correct, so sing at the tempo you want the song to have.
What should I write in the style box for lo-fi?
Name the sounds, not an artist. For example: “Lo-fi beat: dusty drum loop, electric piano, felt piano, muted guitar, soft sub bass”. Lyro does not take a real artist’s name as a style, and describing the drums, bass and one lead instrument gets you closer than a name would.
What does a lo-fi beat for my vocal cost?
One credit per started minute of your vocal, with a minimum of 2 credits, so a three-minute vocal costs 3 credits. It is on every plan, and mixing and mastering in the studio cost no credits. Failed generations are refunded in credits automatically.
What if lo-fi is not quite the sound?
The neighbouring genres differ in clear ways:
- Hip-hop: the same swung drums and samples at 80 to 100 BPM, with a rapped vocal on top
- Jazz: the source of its chords, played live and with improvisation
- Ambient: drops the drums and the loop altogether for slow, beatless texture
Related
More for this genre: A vocal for your beat, Remix your song, Mix and master
Other genres: Pop, R&B, Hip-hop, Trap, Drill, Afrobeats, Reggaeton, Amapiano, Rock, Acoustic folk, K-pop