Turntablists use a record player to play records in ways they weren’t meant to be played. By speeding up, slowing down and reversing the record under the needle, a whole universe of new sounds becomes possible. This new tool is still in its early stages of development. DJs already invented the instrumental sound of hip-hop. I wonder what else they have coming.
DJ Kool Herc was one of the first DJs to remix tracks on the fly using turntables and a mixer. Rather than play songs from beginning to end, he isolated and repeated the hooks, distinctive samples, and especially breaks. The break in a dance song is the section where all of the instruments drop out except the drums, percussion and maybe the bass. Usually the break is the energetic peak moment of the song, when the dancers really get down. So, Herc would have two copies of “Apache” by the Incredible Bongo Band on his two turntables. While the break played from the left turntable, he cued it up on the right one. At the end of the break, he quickly crossfaded to the other turntable. While the second copy played, he lined up the first copy up at the beginning of the break. In theory he could loop the break indefinitely.
Herc’s generation of DJs also included Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Flash pretty much wrote the template for all future sample-based music with “The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel.”
Turntablism didn’t break into the wider consciousness until Grand Mixer DST appeared with Herbie Hancock in “Rockit.” The first turntablist I had a relationship with was Jam Master Jay, from his work with Run-DMC in tracks like “Peter Piper.”
More recently I got hip to DJ Premier, who produced my favorite Nas track, “Nas Is Like.” Hear Primo in Gang Starr’s “DJ Premier in Deep Concentration.”
DJ Rob Swift is part of the virtuoso school of turntablists, more of an abstract improviser than a sequencer of samples. Hear him scratching a bunch of records, starting with the Funky Drummer bonus beat reprise.
Here he demonstrates a new turntablist notation system (thanks Nick Seaver):
See more scratch notation courtesy of Wayne Marshall.
Speaking of the Funky Drummer, see an amazing freestyle by Mos Def, Black Thought and Eminem over a DJ scratching the Bonus Beat reprise.
DJs have been slower to work with traditional instrumentalists – there’s a lot of new musical vocabulary that has to be learned on both sides. It’s happening slowly. Youtube loves this video of a violinist getting down over a few different records, including the instrumental of “Check The Rhime” by A Tribe Called Quest.
Vinyl and the gear to play it are heavy, bulky and expensive. If I ever start DJing more seriously, I’ll probably opt for vinyl emulation software. It doesn’t necessarily have the same touch as vinyl, but it is pretty awesome to be able to scratch anything in my iTunes library.
Using a turntable, you can simulate unearthly speech sounds by rapidly scratching the record to and fro. The circle becomes complete when beatboxers emulate the sound of DJ scratching with their mouths. Enjoy Rahzel beatboxing a set of Wu-Tang songs.
Any more videos, links or other turntable-related goodness I’m missing? Hit me up in the comments.
Tags: a tribe called quest, afrika bambaataa, apache, cold tech hot beats, dj, dj premier, funky drummer, grand mixer dst, grandmaster flash, herbie hancock, hip-hop, improvisation, looping, mashups, music notation, peter piper, rahzel, rhythm, rockit, run-dmc, sampling, scratch, turntablism, visualization, wu-tang
I have tried turntablism using actual turntables briefly, always with the same crappy results. It takes a certain touch, ingenuity and ability with this instrument to achieve the great range of sounds that someone like Kid Koala and others can get. On the other hand, software emulation allows you to use every sound you can come up with without going through the hassle /pleasure of digging through vinyl records or pressing vinyl. But you have to make sure your computer/sound card can handle this.
Actual turntablism is the job of an artisan, though.
It makes me sad when “real” musicians look down their noses at DJs. I’m with you, the turntable is a delicate and finicky instrument that takes very intense concentration and touch. It’s one of those things like classical violin or pipe organ or pedal steel guitar – not a good hobby, you need to go all the way in or not at all.
Great-freaking-write up!
Thanks man.