The polyphonic me
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0:02 - 0:03I'd like you all
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0:03 - 0:06to ask yourselves a question
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0:06 - 0:09which you may never have
asked yourselves before: -
0:09 - 0:14What is possible with the human voice?
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0:14 - 0:22What is possible with the human voice?
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0:22 - 0:31(Beatboxing)
-
0:45 - 0:49♪ Ooh baby ♪
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0:49 - 0:51♪ baby ♪
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0:51 - 0:53♪ baby ♪
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0:53 - 0:56♪ baby ♪ (Baby crying)
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0:56 - 0:58♪ baby ♪ (Baby crying)
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0:58 - 1:04♪ baby ♪ (Cat meowing)
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1:04 - 1:09(Dog barking)
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1:11 - 1:12Yeah.
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1:12 - 1:20(Applause)
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1:20 - 1:27(Boomerang noises)
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1:27 - 1:31It was coming straight for me.
I had to. It was, yeah. -
1:31 - 1:34As you can probably well imagine,
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1:34 - 1:37I was a strange child.
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1:37 - 1:43(Laughter)
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1:43 - 1:46Because the thing is,
I was constantly trying -
1:46 - 1:50to extend my repertoire of noises to be
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1:50 - 1:53the very maximum that it could be.
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1:53 - 1:55I was constantly experimenting
with these noises. -
1:55 - 1:57And I'm still on that mission.
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1:57 - 1:59I'm still trying to find every noise
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1:59 - 2:01that I can possibly make.
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2:01 - 2:04And the thing is, I'm a bit
older and wiser now, -
2:04 - 2:05and I know that there's some noises
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2:05 - 2:08I'll never be able to make
because I'm hemmed in -
2:08 - 2:11by my physical body,
and there's things it can't do. -
2:11 - 2:13And there's things that no
one's voice can do. -
2:13 - 2:17For example, no one can do
two notes at the same time. -
2:17 - 2:18You can do two-tone singing,
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2:18 - 2:22which monks can do, which is like...
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2:22 - 2:32(Two-tone singing)
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2:32 - 2:34But that's cheating.
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2:34 - 2:36And it hurts your throat.
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2:36 - 2:40So there's things you can't
do, and these limitations -
2:40 - 2:43on the human voice have
always really annoyed me, -
2:43 - 2:46because beatbox is the best way of getting
-
2:46 - 2:50musical ideas out of your head
and into the world, -
2:50 - 2:51but they're sketches at best,
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2:51 - 2:53which is what's annoyed me.
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2:53 - 2:56If only, if only there was a way
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2:56 - 2:58for these ideas to come out unimpeded
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2:58 - 3:03by the restrictions
which my body gives it. -
3:03 - 3:05So I've been working with these guys,
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3:05 - 3:09and we've made a machine.
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3:09 - 3:12We've made a system which is basically
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3:12 - 3:15a live production machine,
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3:15 - 3:19a real-time music production machine,
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3:19 - 3:23and it enables me to, using
nothing but my voice, -
3:23 - 3:27create music in real time
as I hear it in my head -
3:27 - 3:29unimpeded by any physical restrictions
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3:29 - 3:32that my body might place on me.
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3:32 - 3:35And I'm going to show you what it can do.
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3:35 - 3:39And before I start making noises with it,
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3:39 - 3:42and using it to manipulate my voice,
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3:42 - 3:45I want to reiterate that everything
that you're about to hear -
3:45 - 3:48is being made by my voice.
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3:48 - 3:51This system has --
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3:51 - 3:54thank you, beautiful assistant --
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3:54 - 3:59this system has no sounds in it itself
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3:59 - 4:01until I start putting sounds in it,
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4:01 - 4:04so there's no prerecorded
samples of any kind. -
4:04 - 4:07So once this thing really gets going,
-
4:07 - 4:10and it really starts to mangle
the audio I'm putting into it, -
4:10 - 4:13it becomes not obvious
that it is the human voice, -
4:13 - 4:15but it is, so I'm going to take
you through it bit by bit -
4:15 - 4:17and start nice and simple.
-
4:17 - 4:19So the polyphony problem:
I've only got one voice. -
4:20 - 4:22How do I get around the problem
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4:22 - 4:24of really wanting to have
as many different voices -
4:24 - 4:25going on at the same time.
-
4:25 - 4:28The simplest way to do it
is something like this. -
4:28 - 4:33(Beatboxing)
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4:33 - 4:35By dancing. It's like this.
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4:35 - 4:40(Music)
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5:07 - 5:09Thanks.
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5:09 - 5:11(Applause)
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5:11 - 5:14So that's probably the easiest way.
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5:14 - 5:18But if you want to do something
a little bit more immediate, -
5:18 - 5:19something that you can't
achieve with live looping, -
5:19 - 5:21there's other ways to layer your voice up.
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5:21 - 5:23There's things like pitch-shifting,
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5:23 - 5:25which are awesome,
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5:25 - 5:27and I'm going to show you
now what that sounds like. -
5:27 - 5:29So I'm going to start
another beat for you, like this. -
5:29 - 5:37(Beatboxing)
-
5:37 - 5:39There's always got to be a bit
of a dance at the start, -
5:39 - 5:40because it's just fun, so
-
5:40 - 5:43you can clap along if you want.
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5:43 - 5:45You don't have to. It's fine.
Check it out. -
5:45 - 5:50I'm going to lay down a bass sound now.
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5:50 - 5:56(Music)
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6:00 - 6:04And now, a rockabilly guitar.
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6:15 - 6:19Which is nice. But what if I want
to make, say, a -- (Applause) -- -
6:19 - 6:22Thanks. What if I want
to make, say, a rock organ? -
6:22 - 6:25Is that possible? Yes, it is,
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6:25 - 6:27by recording myself like this.
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6:27 - 6:30(Organ sound)
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6:30 - 6:34And now I have that, I have that recorded.
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6:34 - 6:36Assign it to a keyboard.
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6:36 - 6:40(Music)
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6:40 - 6:41So that's cool.
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6:41 - 6:43(Applause)
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6:43 - 6:49But what if I wanted to sound
like the whole of Pink Floyd? -
6:49 - 6:52Impossible, you say. No.
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6:52 - 6:55It is possible, and you
can do it very simply -
6:55 - 6:59using this machine. It's really fantastic.
Check it out. -
6:59 - 7:16(Music)
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7:33 - 7:36So every noise you can
hear there is my voice. -
7:36 - 7:40I didn't just trigger something
which sounds like that. -
7:40 - 7:42There's no samples.
There's no synthesizers. -
7:42 - 7:45That is literally all my voice
being manipulated, -
7:45 - 7:49and when you get to that point,
you have to ask, don't you, -
7:49 - 7:51what's the point?
-
7:51 - 7:55Why do this? (Laughter)
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7:55 - 7:58Because it's cheaper than hiring
the whole of Pink Floyd, -
7:58 - 7:59I suppose, is the easy answer.
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7:59 - 8:03But in actual fact,
I haven't made this machine -
8:03 - 8:06so that I can emulate
things that already exist. -
8:06 - 8:08I've made this so that I can make
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8:08 - 8:10any noise that I can imagine.
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8:10 - 8:13So with your permission, I'm going to do
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8:13 - 8:15some things that are in my mind,
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8:15 - 8:16and I hope you enjoy them,
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8:16 - 8:19because they're rather unusual,
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8:19 - 8:22especially when you're
doing things which are -
8:22 - 8:25as unusual as this, it
can be hard to believe -
8:25 - 8:27that it is all my voice, you see.
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8:27 - 8:36(Voice effects)
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8:40 - 8:51(Music)
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9:01 - 9:03Like this.
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9:03 - 9:09(Music)
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10:35 - 10:39So, loosely defined,
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10:39 - 10:42that is what's possible
with the human voice. -
10:43 - 10:45Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.
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10:45 - 10:50(Applause)
- Title:
- The polyphonic me
- Speaker:
- Beardyman
- Description:
-
Frustrated by not being able to sing two notes at the same time, musical inventor Beardyman built a machine to allow him to create loops and layers from just the sounds he makes with his voice. Given that he can effortlessly conjure the sound of everything from crying babies to buzzing flies, not to mention mimic pretty much any musical instrument imaginable, that's a lot of different sounds. Sit back and let the wall of sound of this dazzling performance wash over you.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 11:10
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Jenny Zurawell edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for The polyphonic me |