A new music genre has emerged in the last few years, mainly thanks to streaming playlists: LoFi beats are chilled instrumental hip-hop tracks whose hazy, hissing aesthetic makes them sound as if they’ve been lifted from well-worn cassette tapes. LA-based producer L.Dre is a true master of this style, but in making his album LoFi Symphony for Deutsche Grammophon he rose to a completely new challenge by blending LoFi beats with high-quality orchestral recordings of classical music. His bold combination of two musical worlds, involving a conscious clash of styles, has led to impressive results on an album that’s more than just the sum of its parts.
While growing up in Los Angeles, L.Dre learned to play various instruments, including guitar and drums, but back then, skateboarding and hip-hop dominated his life. Although he studied music production in college, YouTube became his most important teacher. Inspired by his early heroes, hip-hop producers such as J Dilla or Kaytranada, he started uploading instrumental tracks to streaming platforms when he was still a teenager. His chill beats were influenced by the classic 90s boom bap style and fitted a trend that was beginning to appear in certain playlists at the time. His generation were using LoFi beats primarily as background sounds – music to study to, for example.
As a digital native, L.Dre has used social media to build his own brand right from the start. Through Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, he regularly shares music software tips and hacks with his followers, as well as giving them behind-the-scenes glimpses into the day-to-day life and working routines of a music producer. This educational side of his content makes L.Dre stand out from a crowd of faceless LoFi producers. His strong work ethic, combined with his laidback, approachable personality, has earned him an ever-growing following on all channels.
Always open to a challenge, when Deutsche Grammophon approached L.Dre and suggested the idea of mixing LoFi beats with classical music, he leapt at the opportunity. The first step was to select the right music from the historic label’s vast catalogue. Debussy’s Clair de lune and Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata were already among the producer’s personal favourites, and he decided to expand his soundscape by adding Satie’s Gymnopédies and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. As well as choosing peaceful, melancholic pieces which obviously lent themselves to a LoFi treatment, L.Dre also deliberately went for some more upbeat works to add variety to the new album.
His main aim was “to pick a few truly iconic pieces and re-tell their story in a new way, my very own way”. He adds, with a laugh, “And I wanted all my producer friends to ask themselves how I actually got clearance for these tracks!”
Producing LoFi Symphony turned out to be a more complex process than it would be for a standard LoFi project. L.Dre began by sampling his choice of music to get a raw version of the beat, then the “new” composition was transcribed and handed over to a carefully chosen ensemble of orchestral musicians to re-perform. The producer then finalised each track with meticulous attention to every last detail. What makes LoFi Symphony so innovative, so full of colour and interest, is the finely balanced tension between the LoFi aesthetic and HiFi recordings. In L.Dre’s hands, strings are mixed with the vintage sounds of an original 1920s Steinway and with the genre-typical vinyl crackle and muted drum sounds.
To get that mix and balance right, L.Dre had to put all his musical instinct and intuition to work. Instead of slicing up his sample sources beyond recognition, he embraced the big melodies of the classical originals. Both concept and execution have worked to perfection: LoFi Symphony not only has a gloriously timeless sound, it takes LoFi music beyond its customary background-music status by encouraging active listening.
In working outside his comfort zone for this project, L.Dre has become an even better musician. “This is definitely different from everything I ever did before”, he says, before summing up the unique nature of this album. “Actually, I don’t think something like this has ever been done before.”
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