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

Precursors

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

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

Bibliography

References

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

Singles

Production

External links

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

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

Mix Master Mike (born April 4, 1970) is an American turntablist and contributing member of the Beastie Boys.

Life and career

Mix Master Mike and DJ Qbert subsequently founded the turntablist group, The Invisibl Skratch Piklz with DJ Apollo.

Mix Master Mike's most high-profile work has been with hip-hop group the Beastie Boys, working on the albums Hello Nasty (1998) and To The 5 Boroughs (2004). He also appears on the non-album Beastie Boys single "Alive", which was released in 1999 in support of The Sounds of Science retrospective anthology. Mix Master Mike is now effectively the Beastie Boys' resident DJ, replacing DJ Hurricane, who was preceded by Doctor Dre (not to be confused with Dr. Dre) who replaced Rick Rubin known as DJ Double R.

In 1994, after winning three consecutive DMC World Championships, it was rumored that Mix Master Mike and Q-Bert were asked to retire from further competition, so as to avoid monopolizing the title. This claim is disputed by the DMC World Championship Website. After retiring from the world of competition turntablism, Mix Master Mike and Qbert became judges for the 1995 DMC Championships.

Mike has also helped fellow DJs produce their own albums, most notably, Wave Twisters, by DJ Q-bert.

Mix Master Mike is known for his heavy-hitting bass and intricate scratch routines. Mike's solo album Eye of the Cyklops won best electronic album in 2000 at the California music awards.

In 1995, he was honored with The Grandwizard Theodore lifetime achievement award from the International Turntablist Federation. He has collaborated with artists such as Ozzy Osbourne, Tommy Lee, Rob Zombie, Fela Kuti and Joss Stone, among others.

In 2002, Mix Master Mike contributed two tracks to the critically acclaimed Red Hot + Riot, a compilation CD created by the Red Hot Organization in tribute to the music and work of Nigerian musician, Fela Kuti, that raised money for various charities devoted to raising AIDS awareness and fighting the disease and featured many other contemporary hip-hop and R&B; artists. He remade classic Fela Kuti songs, "Interlude: Gimme Shit" and "Water No Get Enemy."

Mix Master Mike is often credited with inventing the Tweak Scratch. The scratch is performed by moving the record back and forth while the platter is stopped. The inertia of the platter causes the sounds to slow and drop in pitch in an unusual manner. He is also well known for the unusual technique of using a wah-wah pedal, an effect most commonly used by guitarists, with his turntables.

Mix Master Mike is featured as a secret character that can be obtained through a cheat code in the 2002 snowboarding game SSX Tricky. He also contributed the song "Patrol Knob" to the soundtrack of the NTSC and PAL versions of the 2000 game Jet Grind Radio.

Mix Master Mike is one of 9 artists who participated in thetruth.com’s Remix Project, in which he remixed the Sunny Side song “Tough Love”.

On March 9, 2010 Mix Master Mike was a guest on the Cool Tricks segment of Yo Gabba Gabba.

Discography

Albums

EPs, singles, and Mixtapes

Mixtapes

References

External links

Category:1970 births Category:American hip hop musicians Category:Hip hop DJs Category:Living people Category:People from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Beastie Boys members