Beatbox breathing technique

Why breathing is the difference between twenty seconds and two minutes

The most common reason a beat falls apart is not a lack of talent. It is oxygen. When you beatbox you are both the instrument and the person playing it – and an instrument that runs out of air stops sounding, immediately and audibly.

So this lesson does not teach you a new effect sound. It teaches you something more useful: a beat that lets you breathe while you play it. Conscious breathing is the same thing yoga and martial arts have been working on for centuries – you are training more than music here.

The sound: lip vibration with an “Ü”

It starts with the lip bass. You simply let your lips vibrate, that is all there is to it.

ll:  Brrr - Hi - Brrr - Hi  :ll            60 BPM

Once that sits, add an “Ü” – your lips vibrate at the same time as the tone.

ll:  Brrrü - Hi - Brrrü - Hi  :ll          60 BPM

Then play with the melody: ll: Brrriüü - uuu - uuuu - Hi :ll. This doubles as an excellent warm-up; singers use exactly the same exercise. Say “hello” while your lips vibrate and you have built your first robot.

The beat, in three parts

ll:  Brrrü - Bsch - Hi - Buh    - Bsch - Hi  :ll
ll:  Brrrü - Bsch - Hi - Haa    - Bsch - Hi  :ll
ll:  Brrrü - Bsch - Hi - Ha Ha  - Bsch - Hi  :ll     80 BPM

The “Hi” is not decoration. It is you breathing in, in the middle of the bar. That is the whole point of this lesson: the air no longer comes between the beats, it comes inside the beat.

Before you start: shoulders back, chest out. A slumped torso has no air in it. Practise the breathing on its own too – in through the nose, and on the way out pull your lower lip back so the upper lip sits over it.

The tip: move your hand

You may have noticed the hand moving in time throughout the video. That is not a habit, it is technique. Every track has a tempo as well as a time signature – BPM, beats per minute.

Hip-hop      approx.  80 BPM
Techno       approx. 130 BPM
Dubstep      approx. 140 BPM
Drum & Bass  approx. 170 BPM

Moving with the beat gives you a feel for that tempo and stops you speeding up without noticing. A metronome helps at the start. Later your hand is the metronome.

The metronome app used in the video is The Metronome by Soundbrenner – free for iOS and Android. And if you want to go deeper, we wrote a full article on the subject: why you run out of air and how to fix it.

One more thing: keep a glass of water within reach. Lemon water, if you ask Tom – for the extra fresh beats.

Frequently asked questions

How do you breathe properly when beatboxing?

Not between the beats, but inside them. The “Hi” in the notation is a planned in-breath at a fixed point in the bar, so the rhythm keeps running while you take air.

Why does my beat collapse after a few seconds?

Almost always because the air runs out, not because the sound is wrong. Breathing only between bars costs you either the rhythm or the breath. This beat solves both.

What is a lip bass?

A sound made by letting your lips vibrate. Add an “Ü” and a tone sounds at the same time – the basis for melodies and robot voices.

How many BPM does each genre have?

As a guide: hip-hop around 80, techno 130, dubstep 140, drum & bass 170 BPM. Not fixed rules, but useful reference points when practising.