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If you want to raise your beatboxing skills a notch higher, you will need the best beatboxing gear to let you project the beatboxing sounds you intend to produce. Talented beatboxers are always in agreement as to which essential equipment a beatboxer should have. So, it will help if you check out the list of critical gear you need to avail of to realize your beatboxing dream.
List of Important Equipment and Gear for Beatboxing
Of course, before you showcase your beatboxing skills to your audience, you need to hone your beatboxing skills at home using the essential equipment for beatboxers. You can record your actual beatboxing using the critical equipment to determine if you are improving as a beatboxer. Here is a list of the important equipment you should have:
1) Microphone
One essential piece of equipment you need to have is an excellent microphone. It should not only be a good microphone but should also be suitable for beatboxing. The most recommended microphones for beatboxing, of course, are mostly dynamic microphones. The reason is that dynamic microphones are durable and capture the more powerful parts of the sound you produce.
Condenser microphones, however, are very sensitive and can capture intricate sonic details. Nevertheless, they are fragile and expensive. They also capture many plosives that could create much distortion. When choosing a mic, you should also consider the proximity effect and the mic’s frequency response.
Some of the most recommended mics for beatboxing include the AK D5, Avantone CV-12, Shure SM58-LC, Shure SM7B, and Audix Dynamic microphone. You will often find the Shure SM58 and AKG D5 among the mics preferred by beatboxers because they got the properties best suited for beatboxing. Moreover, they are inexpensive and durable.
When beatboxing, the important thing is that you should have an excellent mic that can best capture the beatbox sounds you would like to produce.
2) Vocal Effects Processors
Another gear that you will need in beatboxing is the vocal effects processors. This equipment serves many functions, though its two main features are processing vocals and adding effects. These two compact components of the vocal effects processor come as a preprogrammed package.
The effects that a vocal effects processor include voice doubling, reverb, and echo. It can also correct your voice pitch and may come with many harmonizers to create harmonies out of one voice.
The best vocal effects processors are easy to use. You don’t need to be an audio engineer to harness its features. With the vocal effects processor, you can quickly enhance your beatboxing skills and raise your skills a notch higher. These processors easily add echo effect to audio.
3) Audio Interface
You will need an audio interface when beatboxing because, more often, you will be using your computer when recording your beatboxing. The audio interface lets you plug your mics and instruments into your computer. In a way, it is the intermediary between your mic and your computer.
The audio interface comes in various designs and brands. So, when you are shopping around for an audio interface, you may end up confused as to which audio interface brand and model to choose. To zero in on the right one, you can consider the features, the types of inputs it has, the types of outputs, and the most recommended audio interfaces for beatboxing.
Some of the most recommended audio interfaces include the GoXLR MIni, the Universal Audio Apollo Twin MKII Duo, Behringer Audio Interface UMC22, Universal Audio Arrow Thunderbolt 3, and Focusrite Scarlett Solo (3rd Gen).
4) Mixer
You will surely need a mixer when beatboxing. A mixer lets you plug your microphone into it. It also provides you with the extra benefits of taking control of your microphone volume and EQ settings. Sans the mixer, you may plug your mic directly into your computer. Yet, you forfeit the chance of having perfect control of the sound of your microphone.
Most mics come with three pins (balanced) or jack plugs. Most mixers also come with XLR inputs. Once you plug your mic into the mixer, you can tinker with your mic’s sound and create the best mixture for its sound.
Mixers mostly come in four types, depending on their applications and the environment where you will use it. Such types include live, recording studio, broadcasting studio, and filming and television. Moreover, mixers can either be digital or analog.
5) Loop Station
Loopstation may also come in handy when you are beatboxing. It lets you create loops or snippets of your beatboxing tracks that you can repeatedly play. You can plug in your mic, guitar, and other instruments on your loop station and enhance your beatboxing with the loops you have already created. Moreover, you can likewise overdub your new performances as you play the loop.
You will also find many loop stations that come with the multitrack capability to let you create multiple loops at a time.
If you watch most modern musical acts, you will discover that live looping is already a mainstay in the music arena. One such product that helped in popularizing the loop station is the BOSS‘ innovative Loop Station equipment. BOSS, of course, has been rolling out a series of loop stations that many famous artists have already used in their performances. So, it’s no longer unusual to see artists using BOSS loop stations to further enhance their performances.
6) Speakers or Amps
You will need a vocal amplifier when you do beatboxing. Since you will rely heavily on your vocal production when beatboxing, you will need to make every sound you create audibly. Aside from the amplifier, you will also need a pair of good PA speakers.
When shopping for an amplifier, it will be useful to select something that gives you the best sound with basic flat frequency response. Your voice will not sound good if the amp you will choose comes with sharp frequency response.
It will help to remember then when choosing an amp, you should choose something that could pick up well the middle range where all the actual vocal frequencies fall. Too much bass will not be necessary because it may distort your voice and cause major feedback issues.
Conclusion
To be an artist, you will need to have your equipment to showcase your artistry. Guitarists, for example, need their guitars to hone and showcase their talents. Painters likewise need their paintbrushes and paints to give life to their paintings. Similarly, beatboxers who rely heavily on their voice to create percussion sounds must have their mics and other equipment mentioned above to showcase their beatboxing skills.
With the right mics, amplifiers, vocal effects processors, audio interface, mixer, and loop station, the beatboxer will almost have an unlimited potential to create and mimic sounds. With unlimited potentials, beatboxers will definitely become doubly creative in rendering never-before, been-tried sounds in their performances.
