CHAPTER
23
TUTORIAL
REQUIRED MATERIALS:
(Download Folder)
SUGGESTED MATERIALS:
Computer with Mixcraft
Headphones or Monitors
Microphone / USB Microphone
Copies of Beat Boxing Student Guide
Audio/Computer Interface
Further Reading Materials
BEATBOXING PROJECT
TEACHER’S GUIDE
NSME: 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9
MIDDLE SCHOOL – HIGH SCHOOL
CLASS TIME: 3-6 ONE-HOUR PERIODS
OVERVIEW: Beatboxing is a performance art that involves creating drum, percussion, and other rhythmic sounds with one’s mouth. The term was coined after the development of drum
machines—which were commonly referred to as “beat boxes” at the time—and is usually associated with hip-hop culture and music. However, beatboxing has a rich history that precedes the advent
of the drum machine and can be found in rural folk, cappella, avant-garde, and pop-rock music. Educators can look at the development of beatboxing, or hold a general lesson about unorthodox ways of creating sound—specifically with one’s body.
LESSON: As it is a large endeavor to become a proficient beatboxer, students, in this lesson, will record various beatbox sounds into Mixcraft and use Mixcraft to piece together a custom
beatbox beat using Mixcraft’s step sequencer. A step sequencer is a powerful feature of Mixcraft that makes it easy to program and build custom drum beats from scratch. Educators can also use the sequenced beatboxed beats as a rhythm section for another lesson, such as an a cappella arrangement or the rap improvisation lesson.
SKILLS GAINED
Audio Recording / Editing
Sampling
Sequencing
Sound Design
ACTIVITY
Encourage students to brainstorm different ways of creating drum and percussion sounds with their body. Think of the components of a drum kit: what would make a good
kick drum sound? How about a hi-hat sound? A snare sound? Offer suggestions if necessary. (Beatboxing generally relies on the mouth to produce sounds, but other non vocal sounds, such as snapping, clapping, whistling, thumping, could be very germane to this project).
Students will need to record their beatboxing sounds into Mixcraft and then sequence them using Mixcraft’s built-in step sequencer. Open Mixcraft and use the New Project window to load a template with one audio track and one virtual instrument track.
Once the New Project window has loaded, set the audio tracks field to one and the instrument-tracks field to one.
Recording Audio. Before educators and students record their beatbox sounds, it is necessary to prepare for the recording of these sounds by ensuring that the microphone and audio/ computer interface are set up properly. Equipment setup review:
To prevent feedback, turn off any speakers or monitors. Instead, if possible, students should use headphones to follow the live recording without creating a feedback loop Connect headphones to the headphone jack on your audio interface, or computer.
Connect the microphone to the audio/computer interface with a microphone cord. To make sure Mixcraft is monitoring the audio/computer interface, check the File Preferences > Sound Device tab and check to confirm that the interface is selected.
Now that the equipment is set up, it is time to record some sounds!
Arm the first audio track in the workspace by clicking “arm.” The downward arrow next to the arm button will enable users to select the source of the “incoming audio signal” (often a microphone). Make sure the correct interface is selected. To check the configuration, try speaking into the microphone – the volume meter should
jump. Also check that the headphones are working.
For clean recordings, monitor the incoming audio on the audio track’s volume meter. Record in the “yellow” zone results in recordings that will be audible but not so loud that added artifacts (unwanted, accidental sounds) “dirty” the recording.
If the meter reaches the “red” area, try dialing back the gain on your audio/computer interface or move farther away from the microphone.
Careful! Recording in the “red” zone could be harmful to your equipment or ears and could distort the recorded audio.
When you have finished recording your beatbox sounds, edit the recording into individual audio regions by right-clicking on the audio region and select “split”. It’s best to edit down larger audio into single hits, or “one-shots.”
Right-click the audio region the beatbox sounds to split the recording into smaller regions.
Next, launch the Omni Sampler by clicking the musical instrument icon on the free virtual instrument track that we originally loaded when creating our template and selecting the Omni Sampler from the VSTi Instrument category. The Omni Sampler will help compile our audio regions into a custom beat-boxing drum kit!
The Omni Sampler interface automatically opens upon selection in the instrument window.
Now drag and drop one-shots from the Timeline onto the available pads. Audio regions can be played by clicking on the pads, or using the musical typing keyboard (i.e. your
computer’s QWERTY keyboard) or with a standard MIDI keyboard.
panels
A one-shot sound from the beatbox recording was dragged onto the C4 panel. Pressing C4 on the musical typing or a MIDI keyboard plays the sample. Try to fill at least three or four
with individual beatbox sounds.
Next, double-click on the virtual instrument track’s Timeline area to create a new MIDI region. Double-click the MIDI region, and select “Step” in the top-left hand corner. This will bring up the sequencer which will enable us to quickly sequence a drum beat!
Click the “Add/Edit” drop down button and add the rest of your one-shots that were loaded into the Omni Sampler.
Clicking the “Add/Edit” menu brings down a menu where you can add samples from the Omni Sampler or specific notes if you were to sequence a melody (e.g. a bass line using a virtual bass synth plugin).
Change the step setting to a 16th note. This will make it easy to program our beatbox beat.
Click the Step setting on the step sequencer and select “1/16.”
Use the pencil tool, located in the upper left-hand corner of the step sequencer, to program a beat. Each row corresponds to a specific sound that’s loaded into the Omni Sampler. The sampler is divided into “steps” across a beat. Try drawing different patterns and hit play to hear the beat.
In this example, different patterns were used to emulate a kick drum, snare, hi-hat, and tambourine part. Try experimenting with different patterns.
When you’re finished sequencing your beatbox beat, mix down the performance to a file on the computer. Go to the Menu and select File > Mix down to… > .MP3. Name and save your beatbox on the desktop!
ADDITIONAL LESSON PLANS
Educators could expand this lesson by conflating the beatboxing lesson with the classroom rap improvisation. First, have students create a beatbox beat by following the aforementioned
steps. Then, have students use their beatbox beat instead of Mixcraft loops in the classroom rap improvisation lesson . The step sequencer can also be used to sequence Mixcraft’s other virtual instruments, such as the synthesizers, drum kits, and more, making it a great tool for lessons on songwriting, compositional, and anything requiring drums.