vinyl turntable system]] Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables or digital turntables and a DJ mixer. The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer to manipulate sound. The new term co-occurred with a resurgence of the art of hip hop style DJing in the 1990s.

John Oswald described the art: "A phonograph in the hands of a 'hiphop/scratch' artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced -- the record player becomes a musical instrument."

Hip-hop turntablist DJs use turntable techniques like beat mixing/matching, scratching, and beat juggling. Some turntablists seek to have themselves recognized as legitimate musicians capable of interacting and improvising with other performers. Some focus on turntable technique while others craft intricate compositions by focusing on mixing.

History

''This is the history of turntablism, a term most often used for contemporary DJs. The passages on their old school hip hop predecessors only focus on the relevant artistic contributions.

Precursors

The history of the turntable being used as a musical instrument has its roots dating back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s when musique concrète and other experimental composers (such as John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer), used them in a manner similar to that of today's producers and DJs, by essentially sampling and creating music that was entirely produced by the turntable. Cage's Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939) is composed for 2 variable speed turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano & cymbal.

Even earlier, Edgard Varèse experimented with turntables in 1930, though he never formally produced any works using them. This school of thought and practice is not directly linked to the current definition of hip hop-related turntablism, though it has had an influence on modern experimental sound artists such as Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Philip Jeck and Janek Schaefer. These artists are the direct descendants of people like John Cage and Pierre Schaeffer and are often credited as a variant to the modern turntablist DJ and producer.

Examples of turntable effects can also be found on popular records produced in the 1960s and 1970's. Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 self-titled debut album features a backspin effect in the song "Walk on the Water". However, turntablism as we know it now did not surface until the introduction of hip hop in the late 1970s.

Hip hop

Turntablism as a modern art form and musical practice has its roots within hip hop and hip hop culture of the early 1970s. Scratching was already widespread within hip hop by DJs and producers by the time turntablists started to appear.

Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having cemented the now established role of DJ as hip hop's foremost instrumentalist. Kool Herc's invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in hip hop history, as it gave rise to all other elements of the genre. His influence on the concept of "DJ as turntablist" is equally profound. To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the "break." Briefly, the "break" of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an "interlude" in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. The break is roughly equivalent to the song's "climax," as it is meant to be the most exciting part of a song before returning once more to its finale (usually a return to the main chorus). In addition to raising the audience's adrenaline level, the percussion-heavy nature of the break makes it the most danceable as well, if only for seconds at a time. Kool Herc introduces the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. This is done by buying two of the same record and switching from one to the other on the DJ mixer: e.g., as record A plays, the DJ quickly backtracks to the same break on record B, which will again take the place of A at a specific moment in which the audience will not notice that the DJ has switched records.

Kool Herc's revolutionary technique set the course for the development of turntablism as an art form in significant ways. Most important, however, he developed a new form of DJing that did not consist of playing and mixing records one after the other. The type of DJ that specializes in mixing is well-respected for his own set of unique skills, but playlist mixing is still DJing in the traditional sense. Kool Herc instead originated the idea of creating a sequence for his own purposes, introducing the idea of the DJ as the "feature" of parties, whose performance on any given night would be examined critically by the crowd on both a technical and entertainment level.

However it was Grand Wizard Theodore, an apprentice of Flash, who accidentally isolated the most recognizable technique of turntablism: scratching. He put his hand on a record one day, to silence the music on the turntable while his mother was calling out to him and thus accidentally discovered the sound of scratching by moving the record back and forth under the stylus. Though Theodore discovered scratching, it was Flash who helped push the early concept and showcase it to the public, in his live shows and on recordings.

DJ Grand Mixer DXT is also credited with furthering the concept of scratching by practicing the rhythmic scratching of a record on one or more (usually two) turntables, using different velocities to alter the pitch of the note or sound on the recording (Alberts 2002). DXT appeared (as DST) on Herbie Hancock's hit song "Rockit".

See also

Phonograph

List of turntablists

Beatmatching

Battle records

Scratching

Sound effect

Turntablist transcription methodology

Vinyl Emulation Software

Wave Twisters

SL-1200

Plunderphonics

Controllerism

DJ software

Bibliography

Eshun, Kodwo More Brilliant than the Sun. Adventures in Sonic Fiction. London: Quartet Books, 1998. ISBN 0-7043-8025-0

Katz, Mark. “The Turntable as Weapon: Understanding the DJ Battle.” Capturing Sound: How Technology has Changed Music. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004, pp. 114–36. ISBN 0-520-24380-3

Pray, Doug. Scratch. A documentary about the History and Culture of Turntablism.

Poschardt, Ulf: DJ Culture. London: Quartet Books, 1998. ISBN 0-7043-8098-6

Toop, David. “Hip Hop: Iron Needles of Death And A Piece of Wax.” Modulations, Chapter 6.

References

Scratch and the Hip-Hop Book of Grand Mixer DXT by Randy Alberts, Oct. 2002

The Phonograph Turntable and Performance Practice in Hip Hop Music by Miles White, EOL, Vol.2, 1996.

Rough Guide to Hip-Hop (Penguin Books, First Edition, 2001) Pg. 96:

External links

Background and general information

BBC Blast video downloads - Learn to scratch with DJ Cooper

Spin Science: Online Turntable Music Resource

Tablist.net Tablist news & information

What is New York Rap? Australian Broadcasting Corporation. A 1979 radio report on the “new” phenomenon of turntablism.

Projects using turntables

Hansen, Mike. “The Turntable is Dead, Long Live the Record Player.” eContact! 12.3 — Instrument—Interface (June 2010). Montréal: CEC.

Schick, Ignaz. The International Turntable Orchestra.

Category:DJing Category:Musical techniques Category:Turntables

Name	DJ Babu
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Chris Oroc
Born	September 17, 1974
Origin	Washington, D.C.
Instrument	Turntables
Alias	Babu The TurntablistThe Dilated JunkieBabs
Genre	Hip hop
Years active	1992–present
Label	Stones Throw RecordsNature Sounds
Associated acts	Beat JunkiesDilated PeoplesLikwit Junkies
Url	Dilated Peoples

DJ Babu (born Chris Oroc) is a Filipino-American DJ. One-third of the hip hop group Dilated Peoples (alongside Rakaa Iriscience and Evidence), Babu is also a member of the Beat Junkies DJ crew, and together with rapper Defari forms the duo the Likwit Junkies. DJ Babu, Evidence and Pharoahe Monch also feature in the song H! Vltg3 on Linkin Park's Reanimation album. He lived in Oxnard, California for 1 year, and later moved to the neighbor city of Camarillo.

Babu has won multiple competition titles Including the Vestax World Championships and multiple ITF titles. As a revered battle DJ he has appeared in and hosted numerable videos. Babu is famous for redefining the art of Beat juggling during the 1997 ITF/Beat juggling category competition, when he first performed his "Blind Alley" Routene. Under the name "The Turntablist", produced perhaps the genre's most popular battle record, 1996's Super Duck Breaks, which sold over 10,000 copies.

DJ Babu has also featured on numerous acts alongside groups such as Jurassic 5, Swollen Members and The Visionaries. Individually Babu has featured in many other groups.

Discography

Albums

Super Duck Breaks (1996)

Super Duper Duck Breaks (2000)

Duck Season Vol. 1 (2002)

Duck Season Vol. 2 (2003)

The Beat Tape Vol. 1 (2007)

Duck Season Vol. 3 (2008)

The Beat Tape Vol. 2 (2010)

Singles

"Pay Attention" (2001)

"Duck Season" (2002)

"Fan Mail" (2007)

Production

"International" Chali 2na (2005)

External links

DJ Babu interview

Beat Junkie Sound

Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:American musicians of Filipino descent Category:Hip hop DJs Category:People from Oxnard, California Category:People from Ventura County, California Category:People from Washington, D.C. Category:Stones Throw Records artists Category:American hip hop record producers

Name	Skratch Bastid
Background	non_performing_personnel
Birth name	Paul Murphy
Born	September 02, 1982
Origin	Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada
Genre	Hip Hop, Turntablism
Occupation	DJ, Producer
Years active	1998-Present
Label	First Things First
Associated acts	Buck 65
Url	www.SkratchBastid.com

Paul Murphy (born September 2, 1982), known primarily by his stage name Skratch Bastid, is a Canadian hip hop DJ and Juno nominated record producer. His rise to prominence began with his 2003 Scribble Jam win, and his world class status was solidified with subsequent victories in 2004 and 2007. He released his debut album, Taking Care of Business on his own label First Things First Records in 2005,

Discography

Mixtapes

Albums

References

External links

Skratch Bastid Official Website

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian hip hop record producers Category:Canadian DJs

Rob Swift (born Robert Aguilar) is an American hip hop DJ and turntablist. Swift is a former member of the turntablist group The X-Ecutioners as of late 2005 and as of 2006; with Mike Patton’s project Peeping Tom.

Early life

Born and raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, Swift (born Robert Aguilar) initially got into DJing by watching his father and brother. “My dad was a salsa and merengue DJ. My brother learned how to scratch and do all the hip hop deejaying stuff on my dad’s equipment (without his permission) and I’d sit there and watch him. When I entered the sixth grade, I decided I wanted to learn.” So unlike those who got influenced through hip hop records, DMC and NMS tapes, or movies, Swift educated himself with the classic turntable beats of the early '80s New York playground pioneers while listening to funk and jazz at home. “My older brother exposed me to all that,” he says. “All the stuff I create as a DJ is rooted in the songs that I heard from Bob James, Herbie Hancock and James Brown to Quincy Jones and old DJs like Grandmaster Flash and Grand Wizard Theodore. That’s where my roots are.” In 1990, Swift enrolled as a student at Baruch College in New York and in 1995, graduated with a degree in psychology. “While I was deejaying I pursued college. Speech class and English serve a purpose, you know?” Some say that his education also translates into his cerebral style of scratching, juggling and making music.

Discography

Albums

1997 Soulful Fruit (Original Release on Stones Throw Records)

1999 The Ablist

2001 Airwave Invasion

2002 Sound Event

2003 Under the Influence

2003 Who Sampled This?

2004 ''OuMuPo 2

2005 Wargames

2006 Back to the Beat

2006 Pure Moods

2008 Dust to Dust

2010 The Architect

Films

2001 Scratch

References

External links

DJ Rob Swift

Video Interview with Rob Swift

Platform8470 interview - Feb 2009

Dj Rob Swift interview at Allaboutjazz.com

Category:Baruch College alumni Category:American DJs Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:People from Jackson Heights, Queens

Name	Grandmaster Flash
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Joseph Saddler
Born	January 01, 1958
Origin	South Bronx, New York
Genre	Hip hopOld school hip-hopFunk
Years active	1970–present
Label	Sugar Hill Records, Enjoy Records, Elektra Records
Associated acts	Grandmaster Flash and the Furious FiveThe Sugarhill Gang

Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958 in Bridgetown, Barbados) better known as Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop/rap artists to be so honored.

Biography

Joseph Saddler's family migrated to the United States from Barbados, in the Caribbean, and he grew up in the Bronx, New York. He attended Samuel Gompers High School, a public vocational school, where he learned how to repair electronic equipment. Saddler's parents played an important role in his interest in music. His parents came from Barbados and his father was a big fan of Caribbean and black American records. As a child, Saddler was fascinated by his father's record collection. In an interview, he reflected: "My father was a very heavy record collector. He still thinks that he has the stronger collection. I used to open his closets and just watch all the records he had. I used to get into trouble for touching his records, but I'd go right back and bother them." Saddler's early interest in DJing came from this fascination with his father's record collection as well as his mother's desire for him to educate himself in electronics. After high school, he became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries.

He is also a nephew to the late Former Feather Weight Champion of the World Sandy Saddler.

Innovations

Grandmaster Flash carefully studied the DJing styles and techniques of his forebears, particularly Pete Jones, Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Flowers. As a teenager, he began experimenting with DJ gear in his bedroom, eventually developing and mastering three innovations that are still considered standard DJing techniques today.

Backspin Technique ("Quick-Mix Theory"): Early New York party DJs came to understand that short drum breaks were popular with party audiences. Aiming to isolate these breaks and extend them for longer durations, Grandmaster Flash learned that by using duplicate copies of the same record, he could play the break on one record while searching for the same fragment of music on the other (using his headphones). When the break finished on one turntable, he used his mixer to switch quickly to the other turntable, where the same beat was queued up and ready to play. Using the backspin technique, the same short phrase of music could be looped indefinitely.

Punch Phrasing ("Clock Theory"): This technique involved isolating very short segments of music, typically horn hits, and rhythmically punching them over the sustained beat using the mixer.

Scratching: Although the invention of record scratching is generally credited to Grand Wizard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash perfected the technique and brought it to new audiences. Scratching, along with punch phrasing, exhibited a unique performative aspect of party DJing: instead of passively spinning records, he actively manipulated them to create new music.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

Grandmaster Flash played parties and worked with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. In the mid 1970s, he formed his own group. The original lineup consisted of Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) and Kid(d) Creole (Nathaniel Glover), and the ensemble went by the name "Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs" (Melle Mel was the first rapper ever to call himself an "MC"). Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams, previously in the Funky Four) and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, a.k.a Mr. Ness) to make Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Quickly gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five pioneered MCing and freestyle battles. Some of the staple phrases in MCing have their origins in the early shows and recordings of the group. In 1977, the new group began performing regularly at Disco Fever in the Bronx, one of the first times a hip-hop group was given a weekly gig at a well-known venue. In fact, it is claimed that Cowboy created the term "Hip hop" while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were signed to Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records and in 1979 released their first single, "Superrappin'." The following year they signed to Sugar Hill Records and began touring and releasing numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for "Freedom." The seminal "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", released in 1981, is a 7-minute solo showcase of Grandmaster Flash's virtuosic turntable skills, combining elements of Blondie's "Rapture," Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache," Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," Chic's "Good Times," and the group's own "Freedom." It is also the first documented appearance of record scratching on a record. That year, the group opened for The Clash and were poorly received by an audience unaccustomed to the new style. The group's most significant hit was "The Message" (1982), which was produced by in-house Sugar Hill producer Clifton "Jiggs" Chase and featured session musician Duke Bootee. Unlike earlier rap tunes, "The Message" featured a grim narrative about inner city violence, drugs, and poverty. Critics praised the song's social awareness, calling the chorus "a slow chant seething with desperation and fury." "The Message" went platinum in less than a month. Other than Melle Mel, however, no members of the group actually appear in the song. Rahiem lip-synced Duke Bootee's vocal in the music video. The same year, Grandmaster Flash appeared in the movie "Wild Style" and sued Sugar Hill over the non-payment of royalties. Tensions mounted as "The Message" gained in popularity, eventually leading to a rupture between Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash. Soon the group disintegrated entirely. Grandmaster Flash, Kid Creole, and Rahiem left Sugar Hill, signed with Elektra Records, and continued on as simply "Grandmaster Flash" while Melle Mel and the others continued on as "Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five"

Although frequently credited on the records, Grandmaster Flash doesn't actually appear on "The Message," "Freedom," or many of the other Furious Five songs. In 2008 he released a memoir, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats. He hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio (Friday Night Fire with Grandmaster Flash) and was presented with the BET "I Am Hip Hop Icon" award in 2006.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first hip-hop/rap group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007 by Jay-Z. In 2008, he remixed the single "Into the Galaxy" by the Australian group, Midnight Juggernauts.

It has been said that "his pioneering mixing skills transformed the turntable into a true 'instrument', and his ability to get a crowd moving has made his DJ sets legendary."

Grandmaster Flash appears in the video game DJ Hero as a playable character along with original mixes created for the game.

On his last album, The Bridge, appears the Spanish hip hop group Violadores del Verso.

Awards

Urban Music Awards

2009, Lifetime Achievement Award

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

2007, Inductee

BET Hip Hop Awards

2006, I Am Hip Hop Icon Award

Discography

Albums

Singles

1980 - Freedom (Sugar Hill SH-549) Side A - vocal; Side B - instrumental

1981 - The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (Sugar Hill SH-557)

1982 - Flash To The Beat (Sugar Hill SH 574)

1996 - If U Wanna Party (feat. Carl Murray) (JAM 1002-8)

References

External links

Grandmaster Flash Official Page

Official website of 2009 album The Bridge

Grandmaster Flash Biography

Grandmaster Mele Mel Official page

Grandmaster Cuts Faster

Grandmaster Flash interview from Chaos Control Digizine

Davey D of Hard Knock Radio Interviews Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash interview on Fresh Air

Grandmaster Flash interview April 2009

Interview

Article

Pop Matters: interview

Brian S Redd Interview

Category:1958 births Category:Living people Category:American hip hop record producers Category:Hip hop DJs Category:American people of Barbadian descent Category:Barbadian musicians Category:People from Bridgetown Category:African American rappers Category:Musicians from New York City Category:People from the Bronx Category:Fury Records artists Category:Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five members