Lee Scratch Perry in the context of Clive Chin

Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style. Generally, dub consists of remixes of existing recordings created by significantly manipulating the original, usually through the removal of vocal parts, emphasis of the rhythm section (the stripped-down drum-and-bass track is sometimes referred to as a riddim), the application of studio effects such as echo and reverb, and the occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works.

Dub was pioneered by recording engineers and producers such as Osbourne "King Tubby" Ruddock, Hopeton "Scientist" Brown, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Errol Thompson and others beginning in the late 1960s. Augustus Pablo, who collaborated with many of these producers, is credited with bringing the distinct-sounding melodica to dub, and is also among the pioneers and creators of the genre. Similar experiments with recordings at the mixing desk outside the dancehall scene were also done by producers Clive Chin and Herman Chin Loy. These producers, especially Ruddock and Perry, looked upon the mixing console as an instrument, manipulating tracks to come up with something new and different. The Roland Space Echo was widely used by dub producers in the 1970s to produce echo and delay effects.

Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic choice. The standards of sound quality (fidelity) and music production have evolved over the decades, meaning that some older examples of lo-fi may not have been originally recognized as such. Lo-fi began to be recognized as a style of popular music in the 1990s, when it became alternately referred to as DIY music (from "do it yourself"). Some subsets of lo-fi music have become popular for their perceived nostalgic or relaxing qualities, which originate from the imperfections that define the genre.

Traditionally, lo-fi has been characterized by the inclusion of elements normally viewed as undesirable in most professional contexts, such as misplayed notes, environmental interference, or phonographic imperfections (degraded audio signals, tape hiss, and so on). Pioneering, influential, or otherwise significant artists and bands include the Beach Boys (Smiley Smile and Wild Honey), R. Stevie Moore (often called "the godfather of home recording"), Paul McCartney (McCartney), Todd Rundgren, Lee Scratch Perry, Peter Ivers, Jandek, Daniel Johnston, Neutral Milk Hotel, Guided by Voices, Sebadoh, Beck, Pavement, and Ariel Pink.