“I put a pitch-shifter on the master bus!”: In the era of lo-fi beats and bedroom recording, does sound quality even matter anymore?

Bedroom producer.

For most of the history of recorded music, the accepted wisdom has been that cleaner recordings equal better quality.

Think expensive, high-end studios with lavish budgets and the latest technology. If your song wasn’t recorded downtown with the best desk and outboard gear, you had no chance of making it onto the charts. Now, of course, we live in a different world. Thanks to streaming, the leveling of the music industry and the rise of affordable recording equipment, home-recorded songs have as much chance of becoming a hit as something crafted in a top studio. And, for many people, the bedroom track is actually the one they prefer.