ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James Burchfield - Human beatbox
James Burchfield is a human beatbox. Using only his mouth, tongue, throat and vocal cords, he performs heavy, layered, club-style jams that seem to come from real drum machines and lusciously scratched turntables.

Why you should listen

Outside of the hip-hop world, the art of "human beatboxing" was mostly overlooked until the droves came to YouTube. For that trend -- from obscure fad to open mic-night fixture to full-scale Internet meme -- some credit is due to James Burchfield. Known by the handle AudioPoet, the young artist was a main figure in Seattle beatboxing competitions and open-mics in the early 2000s, and then on larger stages like San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

For a musician whose goal is "enlightenment of the mind," Burchfield has a fairly concrete tack: studying the mathematical formulas that are the foundation of music. He brings that knowledge -- and an instinct for dance-friendly grooves that simulate seemingly impossible-to-mimic machine sounds -- onto every stage.

More profile about the speaker
James Burchfield | Speaker | TED.com
TED2003

James Burchfield: Playing invisible turntables

James Burchfield 玩「隱形」唱盤

Filmed:
860,132 views

節奏口技界的「音遊詩人」詹姆士.伯奇菲爾德 (James Burchfield) 帶來三分鐘精緻細巧的表演。性感激情的嘻哈節奏和唱盤音效,全靠他「出一張嘴」。
- Human beatbox
James Burchfield is a human beatbox. Using only his mouth, tongue, throat and vocal cords, he performs heavy, layered, club-style jams that seem to come from real drum machines and lusciously scratched turntables. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:13
Let's just get started開始 here.
0
739
3594
讓我們開始吧
00:22
Okay, just a moment時刻.
1
9712
3238
OK 等我一下
00:25
(Whirring呼呼)
2
12950
5315
(機器聲)
00:31
All right.
3
18265
2128
好吧
00:33
(Laughter笑聲)
4
20393
1941
(笑聲)
00:45
Oh, sorry.
5
32923
3175
噢 抱歉
00:48
(Music音樂) (Beatboxing口技)
6
36098
10611
(音樂) (節奏口技)
04:34
Thank you.
7
261272
1894
謝謝
04:35
(Applause掌聲)
8
263166
2772
(掌聲)
Translated by Ryan Wang
Reviewed by Yingxue Sun

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
James Burchfield - Human beatbox
James Burchfield is a human beatbox. Using only his mouth, tongue, throat and vocal cords, he performs heavy, layered, club-style jams that seem to come from real drum machines and lusciously scratched turntables.

Why you should listen

Outside of the hip-hop world, the art of "human beatboxing" was mostly overlooked until the droves came to YouTube. For that trend -- from obscure fad to open mic-night fixture to full-scale Internet meme -- some credit is due to James Burchfield. Known by the handle AudioPoet, the young artist was a main figure in Seattle beatboxing competitions and open-mics in the early 2000s, and then on larger stages like San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts Theatre.

For a musician whose goal is "enlightenment of the mind," Burchfield has a fairly concrete tack: studying the mathematical formulas that are the foundation of music. He brings that knowledge -- and an instinct for dance-friendly grooves that simulate seemingly impossible-to-mimic machine sounds -- onto every stage.

More profile about the speaker
James Burchfield | Speaker | TED.com