Beat-A-Pella

In 2002, UK beatboxer TyTe and DJ D'Marr Ford teamed up to produce the world's first hardhouse beatbox vinyl released under Nukleuz Records purple label. It featured on the cover CD of Mixmag magazine and was played by hardhouse DJs all over the world. The Beat-A-Pella has become a favourite amongst beatboxers for it's raw beatbox style.

D'Marr Ford feat. TyTe

Beatbox EP

A1: Milk Club Mix

A2: Beat-A-Pella

B1: DJ Virus Remix

Listen to the Beat-A-Pella

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Interview with TyTe

How did you meet up with DJ D'Marr Ford?

Yeah, well, I was teaching Music Technology at Farnborough and D'Marr Ford was a student on one of the courses. He was a London-based hardhouse DJ looking to learn more about sound engineering. He suggested we create a beatbox hardhouse anthem and the rest is history!

Isn't beatboxing a hip-hop thing?

Yes, it used to be a hip-hop thing. There are still some beatboxers that think it should stay within hip-hop. I'm afraid if they think that then they've already missed the boat! I wasn't sure how the DJ would mix up the beatbox but I had heard Dale's (DJ D'Marr Ford) stuff and I figured that if anyone could do it, he could.

How did you go about making the recordings?

Dale asked me to record a whole series of beatbox loops at a set BPM (tempo). We use the college studio and I set about recording. I think we used an AKG C3000 to record the loops, then edited them using Wavelab on the PC. I gave Dale a CD-ROM of WAV files that he then layered up to create the tracks.

How do you feel when you listen back to the recordings?

It's strange. Beatboxing has moved on so much since then. 2002 feels like a lifetime ago. My sounds are so much better now! I feel the same way about the video tutorials that were created at about the same time.

Break it Down

Want to learn some of the beats featured on the Beat-A-Pella. Here's how they are done:

{ ng - t - / tch - ng - / t ng t ng / tch - ts -}

{ ng - ch ng / tch - ng - / ch ng ch ng / tch - ts - }

{ ng - che wi / tch - ng - / che wi che wi / tch - ts - }

{ ng - t t / tch - ng - / t t t t / tch - ts - }

{ bm - che wi / tch a bm - / che wi t b / tch ng ts - }

{ bm - BEAT - / ^cl A BEAT - / BOX a bm - / ^cl a bm - }

Discuss?

You can discuss the Beat-A-Pella article on the forum.