Hip-hopMr Phormula

Ed Holden, or Mr Phormula, is from north Wales. He specialises in the beat-boxing element of hip-hop and composes bilingual music in Welsh and English. In 2018, he became the Welsh Looping Champion and he also represented Wales at the Beatbox Battle World Championship.

Cwestiynau

Cwestiynau (which means ‘questions’ in Welsh) is a well-known piece of music created by Mr Phormula. During its creation, he drew on personal experiences in order to compose a piece of music with a powerful message. The piece was composed in several stages:

1. A vocalised beat was performed using beat-boxing techniques and was recorded using computer software.
2. The bass line was recorded next, with the composer singing in a low register.
3. This bass line was then manipulated, using a plug-in to create a sub bass effect and resulting in the production of a big sound.
4. The bass line was copied, and distortion was added in order to create an atmospheric sound.
5. Next, the composer recorded vocal lines that he layered on top of the bass line in order to create a choral effect. Different plug-ins – delay, reverb and a phaser - were used to create the atmospheric sound that can be heard in the introduction.
6. Lastly, the lyrics were written, with the composer listening to the music over and over again as inspiration for the words.

Several times in the song, a high-pitched smooth, melodic line is introduced to add contrast to the lower-pitched rhythmic part.

Towards the end of the song, there is a contrasting section where the composer removes many of the accompanying elements, eg the beat-boxing rhythm and the choral effects, leaving just the lyrics to come through clearly on the words ‘Dw i’n defnyddio fy llais fel offeryn’ (I am using my voice as an instrument).