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(Transcribed by Sonix.ai - Remove this message by upgrading your Sonix account)
My GPA went from a 3.0 to a 3.9 for the year.

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I started listening to Lo-Fi to figure out if 
there's any causation behind that

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correlation. I tried to teach an AI to 
generate the ideal study music.

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I feel like you could listen to it if the 
volume was at like one,

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and then you walked away and you listened to 
different music.

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Please don't release it.

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Let me explain. Thank you to The Great 
Courses Plus for sponsoring this video.

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When it comes down to focus, 
I have two modes.

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I either start a task, 
blink, and suddenly it's six hours later and

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I skip two meals, or I surround myself with a 
controlled level of distraction.

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What are you doing? I'm focusing.

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That was until I found lo-fi hip-hop chill 
beats to study/relax to sparkle emoji.

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The titles are a bit much, 
but you know what? I'm talking about,

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this girl. Anyway, I started listening to it 
back in 2018 and I saw my GPA just [explosion

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sound] and sure, there are several reasons as 
to why that could have happened,

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but Lo-Fi music definitely makes me feel like 
I'm better at focusing.

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Not every song, some slap a little too hard 
and pull me right out of the zone,

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but there is a sweet spot.

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So today in this video, 
you and I are going to figure out why Lo-Fi

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Hip Hop might help you focus.

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And if we can teach an AI to generate the 
perfect mix.

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So I started my research by looking into the 
history of Lo-Fi Hip hop.

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After that, I got a bit more familiar with 
other experiments people have done with

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machine learning to generate new music, 
and I've got two big takeaways from my

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initial readings. The first has to do with 
the structure of Lo-Fi Hip Hop.

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Its iconic sound is composed of three parts.

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The first, a jazzy instrumental, 
the second,

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a drum beat combo of bass and snares called 
Boom BAP.

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It's played intentionally off kilter in a 
style pioneered by the producer and rapper J

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Dilla. And finally, intentional environmental 
noise that leans even further into the

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imperfections that define the genre.

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It usually plays at around 70 to 95 beats per 
minute and falls within this range of

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frequencies. And that gives me a few key 
characteristics to look into when trying to

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figure out why Lo-Fi can help people focus, 
but it also leads to a second thing.

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It's an ingredient list and recipe for the 
things I need to teach my machine.

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Here's the plan. Okay, 
here's how I'm gonna make music with a

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machine. Step one I need a bunch of 
instrumental and drum midis.

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These are basically files that contain 
information about the note that's played, how

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long it's played, a bunch of other stuff.

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I don't know much about it.

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I'm an amateur. Step two.

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I'm gonna sacrifice it to the machine. I'm 
going to be using an LSTM.

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So basically you have a sequence of notes. 
And then the next step in the sequence you

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tell the machine, "hey, 
get really good at guessing what the next

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step is going to be," and then it gets really 
good at it.

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Finally, I'm going to smash that drum and 
instrumental track together with some ambient

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music, and I put two step twos.

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This is step three. And then profit.

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Sounds easy right? It was not easy.

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I spent the next week swinging between 
wanting to throw my computer out a window and

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wanting to throw myself out a window.

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Oh my God. Oh, jeez. Oh my God.

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Oh, Jesus. So it's been like three days.

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My code has run fully without error for the 
first time.

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So as long as there's any sound, 
I'm gonna be happy.

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Okay, let's just play this.

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I'm not happy. Okay, let's fix this.

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Okay, so I think I've stopped it from just 
repeating the same note.

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Basically, we get caught up in this loop 
where it was just like "the last note was a

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C. The next note probably going to be a C," 
but then if it thinks that the if the last

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note C, then the next, 
it just gets caught up in this loop.

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Instead it has like this short list of likely 
next notes.

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And then it randomly samples from that short 
list.

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Anyway, here's how it sounds.

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That hurt my forehead.

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Isn't al.

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All right? That was headed to a dark place, 
so I'm going on a walk to calm down.

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I'm also going to do a bit of reading as to 
why,

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like, those specific characteristics of Lo-Fi 
music might help with studying and focus.

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I'm also going to collect a bit of 
environmental noise for the final track.

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The more I read, the more I realized that the 
characteristics that make lo fi,

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lo fi, that steady drumbeat, 
that frequency range,

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that faux vinyl crackle, 
all those things work together to create a

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sonic environment tuned for focus.

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It's really interesting. I should warn you 
that music's impact on your mind isn't

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universal. It depends on the task at hand and 
the type of person you are.

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So if what you're doing requires a lot of 
thinking,

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or you're currently in a place where you're 
going to get easily distracted, you should

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probably hit mute. We have a limited capacity 
for attention,

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and music uses up some of that essential 
resource.

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In reality, if you want to focus, 
silence is almost always the better option.

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However, background music can provide two key 
benefits.

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So here's how Lo-Fi can help you focus.

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First, it can block out more intrusive noises 
by forming an aural cocoon that tunes out or

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reduces distractions, 
by anchoring them to a predictable rhythm.

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Second, it can serve as a stimulant.

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Songs that vibe in the fine line between 
putting you to sleep and popping off can

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improve your productivity without being too 
distracting.

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And that is where Lo-Fi Hip Hop comes in.

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The jazzy instrumentals and drum loops are 
refreshing and fun,

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but slow and repetitive enough that they 
become subconsciously predictable.

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In addition, the dampened frequencies and 
environmental noise act as a blanket that

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blends the music together and pushes it into 
the background using spatialization.

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This makes the music sound less like a 
recording,

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playing directly in your ears, 
and more like something in a physical space.

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Finally, the genre's obsession with 
comfortable,

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nostalgic elements like vinyl crackle in 
rainy days can help bring listeners peace and

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improve their mood. All of this combines to 
make certain lo fi hip hop tracks easy to

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process and ideal for focus.

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And with all of that in mind, 
I now think that I know which parts of lo fi

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I should lean into while making new tracks 
and which ones I should avoid.

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Now I just need to get the steaming pile of 
garbage I call my code to actually function.

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Let's do this. It took another two days and 
just endless emotional turmoil,

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but I eventually was ready for my album 
release.

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This might have been a bad idea.

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Do you all know why you're here?

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I have no idea what I'm doing here.

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Apparently, this is the listening party.

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Before we get to the songs, 
I do have a question for you guys.

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Okay. You know me pretty well.

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On a scale of 1 to 10, 
how musical do you think I am?

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Like a three.

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Which one's bad?

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Zero.

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Zero.

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On a scale of 1 to 10.

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Zero.

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You didn't know who Alicia Keys was?

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I was just gonna bring that up.

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So I would like to present to you the music.

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Which track would you guys like to listen to?

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The worst one.

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Yeah. Let's work our way up.

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This is an anxiety machine.

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This sounds like, Now, 
I'm not going to compare it to any music.

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That would be a disrespect to music.

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So you're telling me that isn't the lo fi hip 
hop beat to chill and relax to?

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A little far from that.

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The next one. Are you ready?

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Which one would you like?

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Wait. Maybe this is the worst one.

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Okay.

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Okay. Wait for this drop.

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There is no drop.

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No. Is this gonna be available in our 
newsletter?

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It will be.

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Where can I subscribe to the newsletter?

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Sabrina.

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You can go to 
answerinprogress.com/newsletter.

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To sign up. All right. Let's go with the only 
good track.

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So to set the expectations this is the best I 
was able to do.

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Okay.

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I'm nervous again actually.

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Yeah that waveform is really aggressive.

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Kind of minecrafty.

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Very elevator music. Like I'm waiting for my 
floor just past the seventh floor.

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Yeah.

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Now we're at the 24th floor.

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That was really funny.

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Damn, that elevator's real fast.

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I'm gonna close my eyes.

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It's getting creepier. I think the more that 
I listen to it,

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I'm like, I should not listen to this 
anymore.

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It's unsettling.

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It is slightly unsettling.

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However, you know, it's just like, 
I don't know if it's a chill,

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lo fi beat, but from listening to this, 
compared to the first lo fi beat singular

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that you created, this is this is a lot.

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This is a lot of improvement here.

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Here's what it sounds like. If I just use 
like an actual drum loop designed by a human

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being.

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This one's good. The big question, 
Taha, could you study to this?

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I would definitely study to this.

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I feel like I have studied to this.

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How do you guys think I did?

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I think you did Badly.

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[Laughs]

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I think that the drum loop that you got did a 
lot of the heavy lifting here.

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Melissa?

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[Laughs]

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Damn, dude. Speechless.

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In fairness, it's it's pretty impressive that 
you got,

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like, some semblance of, 
like, vibes.

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Yeah. We've created a new genre of music 
beats to be anxious to.

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To beats to be anxious to.

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Okay, so while that wasn't the hardest video 
I've ever had to make,

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I definitely felt like I bit off more than I 
could chew.

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Way more than once. It was the first time in 
a while that I truly didn't know how to even

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start. Every step I just felt out of my 
element and I felt like there was just so

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much more I needed to learn.

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But even though it took way longer than 
expected,

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it was really nice to go from this.

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To this.

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This one's good.

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Knowing all of the hard work that went behind 
it,

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and by the end, we were able to figure out 
why lofi hip hop and ambient music can help

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you study and also make a few decent beats of 
our own.

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Kind of. Okay, I'll admit it was far from 
perfect,

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but if we gave up because our first attempt 
or our first dozen attempts weren't perfect,

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we wouldn't get very far.

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You know, that's just a lesson in lo fi and 
in life.

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I know that was a bad one, 
bye.

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Hey there, I hope you liked that video.

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If you did, please consider sharing it with a 
few friends. It is easily the biggest way you

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can help this channel grow.

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00:11:53,150 --> 00:11:57,350
Another way is to stick around as I thank the 
Great Courses Plus for sponsoring this video

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while I turn myself into a lo fi hip hop 
girl.

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So I found that learning things gets a lot 
harder after you leave,

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like the guided learning environment of 
university.

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00:12:06,150 --> 00:12:09,430
And unfortunately I don't have the time or 
money to head back.

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Luckily I use the Great Courses Plus.

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00:12:12,550 --> 00:12:16,310
It's a subscription on demand video learning 
service with these amazing lectures and

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00:12:16,310 --> 00:12:20,860
courses from top from top professors from Ivy 
League universities and experts from major

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00:12:20,860 --> 00:12:25,020
institutions. Your subscription gets you 
access to over 11,000 videos covering

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everything from music theory to math and 
more.

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I recommend music and the brain.

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00:12:29,420 --> 00:12:33,740
It explores the neuroscience of music and 
what happens when melody meets the mind.

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It helped me better understand the concepts 
that tie Lo-Fi and focus together.

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You can learn at your own pace, 
at any time or any place without worrying

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about tests, which is the greatest feeling in 
the world.

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You can get started with The Great Courses 
Plus today if you head on over to

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00:12:47,420 --> 00:12:51,100
thegreatcoursesplus.com/answerinprogress.

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00:12:51,100 --> 00:12:53,980
Or you can click the first link in the 
description. So get started with the Great

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00:12:53,980 --> 00:12:57,580
Courses Plus today. But either way, 
have a lovely day.

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It's done.

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(Transcribed by Sonix.ai - Remove this message by upgrading your Sonix account)
[Music]