A couple of times in the past I’ve linked to snippets of multi-part vocal harmony [MP3, 770kB] here. Thanks to digital audio workstations like the marvellous Sonar and audio interfaces like this, I can record myself singing the various parts of the arrangement, overlay the harmonies, set them in an artificial space, and create my own Gospel choir. This kind of texture is part of the sound of the music I make with Richard Brincklow.

Unfortunately, without an actual Gospel choir, it’s impossible for me to recreate these harmonies live. Last week I wandered over to the Website of the company that makes part of my recording set-up to see if there might be some way to synthesize the rest of me live. There I watched this video [requires Quicktime] of some of the most amazing beatboxing I’ve ever heard. Stick with it past the murky but brief introduction. Fortunately for my envy levels, Kid Beyond isn’t much of a singer—but that’s a bit like saying Mark Knopfler isn’t much of a singer.