Beatox: Producing An Album With Dubler 2

In this Artist Feature we interview Beatox, who just released his new album, Been A Long Time. The album features no less than six tracks made using Dubler 2 and Voice-to-MIDI!

Yeah, for sure. I'm Beatox - real name Adam Fainman - and I'm a beatboxer, producer. vocalist, rapper, multimedia artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. I lean into the more groovy, funky, jazz-inspired kind of hip-hop. And lately I've been drawing a lot of inspiration from artists in the UK like Tom Misch, Jordan Rakei, and even some Canadian upbeat stuff like Connor Price. I'd say, the core is sort of more '90s, like Tribe Called Quest-inspired groovy backbeat music with a touch of Jamiroquai.

I started making this record quite a while ago, like the very beginning of COVID days. I found Dubler played an integral role as a tool, especially when I was isolated, for creating ideas for melodies and beats. Sometimes I’d have an idea in my head and then I would set up Dubler and hit record, sometimes without even tempo, and just hum melodies while beatboxing. Other times, I would maybe get a sample sent to me and I would do the same thing - beatbox over top of it until I heard something, go back and then find those golden moments and build the song around that foundation.

Dubler played an integral part in laying the foundation for: "Been A Long Time," "Beep Beep," "Learning How To Live," "Never Hold Back," "Help You Get By," and "Don't Be Afraid." Then usually, I would then send those basslines to a bass player and get them to expand on it. So I’m not only using the triggers, I’m using the pitch side of Dubler simultaneously as well.

There's something really magical about being able to hum and beatbox simultaneously, and trigger melodic instruments and electronic drum kits, all with your voice at once. It’s cool hearing and seeing what notes I'm hitting on the Dubler software, 'cause sometimes I don't even know what notes I’m humming, and I just freestyle. Other times, Dubler will suggest a scale and then I’ll lock that in.

So yeah, I'll usually set up a melody track (humming), a mouth track, and sometimes I’ll set up a third track with a kick on my throat. So I'll have three Dubler controlled MIDI tracks, plus the acoustic audio from the Dubler mic to capture the sounds I’m making, too. And then I blend them all together. So four tracks all together when laying a foundation, then adding more afterwards. 

Yeah definitely, because the audio would be really hard to add in after recording! In terms of live performance, for me using Dubler began with live looping. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be awesome to live loop with Dubler in general with my shows.' I had used loopers in concerts before and found that it was a really special experience. And so we did a video in Toronto, where it was a bass player, a keys player and me with Dubler, live-looping for the first eight bars, and then me adding vocals over it as well. It was a very special moment, but it was also weird because it was the day before COVID and the day before I moved away forever from Toronto. So that was like, 'Okay, bye, guys. Let's do this one really cool thing' and then five years later it’s on the album and it's a special song. But it was just so cool to also figure out how to use Ableton Live looping with Dubler.

Definitely! We’re creatives and make music, but then there's always a technical hurdle and we need to know how to figure it out. It’s very fun and satisfying. So I was really excited about figuring out the technical side on how to execute, using beatboxing and Dubler live looped, and then doing this in a live setting.

I find it really fascinating. And I think it's a cool, unique challenge to be able to beatbox in general, but then also triggering electronic sounds opens up a whole new world of sound-scaping live. I think the most notable show was when I got to perform using Dubler at the International Winnipeg Jazz Festival last year.  That was the very first time, you know, on a really big stage to be able to use Dubler triggering multiple triggers. With a band, headphones on, and just locked in. 

And yeah, I just think it just allows for a really unique experience for me as a beatboxer and as a performer. I keep thinking, 'Wow, this is a whole new set of sounds. I get the human expression, and I get the unique sounds.' And then listeners think, 'Oh, that's all being controlled by a voice! That’s a completely new instrument!' And it is a new instrument, right? It's such a new experience. So I think that's really exciting and I think I'm just still tinkering and figuring out the best ways for that to come across and be executed in a live environment.

It was a Kickstarter ad that intrigued me. I think that was like 2019, maybe even 2018. And I think I just saw the idea of beatboxing and triggering a drum kit, more specifically an electronic drum kit. That just made sense. I have all these ideas, I have all the sounds that aren't always maybe loud enough or texturally what I'm wanting, but I could express them. So it just made sense to me as a producer and as a songwriter. And then yeah, I guess I got the first early bird Kickstarter mic, and then hit the ground running with it.

It would be really great to have the software more portable and even in a mobile setting. Just as something I could take on the road. Even just the mic, physical mic, just being able to record into that directly. Yeah, I think that would be really ideal. If I'm on the train, or I'm on a plane or out in the park, just like by myself, whatever. It would be cool to use Dubler’s features more portably.

Yeah, so for plugins, I mostly use them for mixing. Ableton is my main tool for tracking and producing nowadays. I used to use Logic Pro and Pro Tools. I'm still a traditionalist, so I do a lot of live tracking. I don't use a lot of instrument plugins. I lay down the foundational parts and then use plugins for mixing and then iZotope Ozone for mastering. And then for tasks like de-noising I use NS1. One more crucial one has been Soothe2 - once I got it, I just slapped it on everything! That’s all that comes to mind, but I’m always open to people’s suggestions.  

For more Beatox and Dubler content be sure to check it out his live masterclass in London from last year:

You can also listen to his new album Been A Long Time here!

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