Scratch Tutorials | Scratch Geek https://scratchgeek.com Supporting the turntablism community Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:56:38 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.5 https://i0.wp.com/scratchgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/cropped-IMG-6370-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Scratch Tutorials | Scratch Geek https://scratchgeek.com 32 32 152438501 Your Favorite DJ’s Favorite Scratch Combos and Advice For Beginner and Intermediate DJs https://scratchgeek.com/your-favorite-djs-favorite-scratch-combos-and-advice-for-beginner-and-intermediate-djs/ Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:45:54 +0000 https://scratchgeek.com/?p=900 What’s up Scratch Geeks, Ever wonder what scratch combinations your favorite dj’s are throwing down in their freestyle scratch videos? Can’t quite figure out which scratches these top DJs are doing in their videos? Are you stuck in your development as a DJ and need some inspiration and advice from the best DJ’s out? Well […]

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What’s up Scratch Geeks,

Ever wonder what scratch combinations your favorite dj’s are throwing down in their freestyle scratch videos? Can’t quite figure out which scratches these top DJs are doing in their videos? Are you stuck in your development as a DJ and need some inspiration and advice from the best DJ’s out? Well then this post may have these answers for you.

We’ve reached out and teamed up with some of the Best DJs and Turntablists in the world. We’re talking World DMC Champions, IDA Scratch Champions, Red Bull Threestyle Champions and Finalists. If anyone knows DJing and Scratching it would be these guys. They’ve agreed to open the hood and give us some of their favorite scratch combos along with great advice for beginners and intermediate DJs learning to scratch.

This post will also include some exclusive tutorial videos that these Top DJ’s and Turntablists have graciously provided to Scratch Geek. We hope you enjoy these as some of these combos were secrets until now. .

Hope you enjoy these.

Favorite Scratch Combos and Advice for DJs and Turntablists

Junk ThirtyThree (@junkthirtythree)– Wild Cuts 2018 World Vice-Champion, Cut2Cut Greece 2018 Champion

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “One of my favorite combos is, swing flares to boomerang” (its the last combo in the instagram video from 11/7/2018)

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Celly (@cellypdx)- 2018 IDA USA Scratch Battle Champ, 2016 Wild Cuts Solo Scratch Champ:

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “I don’t necessarily have a ‘favorite combo’. I am one of those people who learned mostly by ear and never really got technical with the scratches past the fundamentals. So I don’t really have one I can name in that way.

I would say that something I think is super important and not often considered these days is the importance of drum scratching for building rhythm consistently and phrasing accuracy.”

On Advice for Beginners and Intermediate DJs: “I guess my main advanced advice would be that hand control is where you will find your won flavor and style. Different tears and modulating pitch can make even the basic scratches really funky and interesting”

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DJ Throdown (@djthrodowndc)- 2018 DMC US Champ, 3x DMC Regional Champ, 2x DMC Online Wolrd Finalist:

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “I got a combo scratch that I’m pretty fond of lately, I suppose I wouldn’t mind sharing it.”

Its a “snake scratch/tear/whatever you wanna call it – Boomerang combo thats pretty cool I feel like that one is worthy of sharing with the heads.”

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DJ Deception (@djdeception)– 2x ITF World Team Champion, 2011 Red Bull 3style USA Finalist, Scratch Geek Tazer Challenge Winner:  

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “I always sucked at the name of cuts especially new ones, I just freestyle most of the time” on a

On advice for Beginner and Intermediate DJs: “Put some stank on it…learn the scratches then try to make variations of it by using drags or record control to make different pitches at any given point”

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Jon Rist (@JonRist)– Monreal based turntablist/ producer; 2018 IDA Canada Scratch Champion.

Jon Rist provided us with an exclusive video and asked us to break down the names of his cuts. Here he is doing a forward drag with two whip/wave Tear back combo. It sounds super crispy in the flow and heavily appreciate the exclusive video. This can be seen on our YouTube channel and IGTV on our Instagram page.

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Jon Rist Exclusive Advanced Scratch Combo For Scratch Geek

Here Jon Rist is doing a forward drag with two whip tear backwards. The fader hand is basically doing an OG Flare scratch motion with the fader opening for the forward drag and then the two whips/wave-tears are getting fadered.

You can find more dope scratch videos and production from him at:

Instagram: @Jonrist

Twitter: @Jon_rist

Bandcamp: www.morbin.bandcamp.com

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DJ Flip Flop (@djflipflop)- 2018 DMC USA Runner-Up

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “Honestly I suck at knowing what combos I do. If you can break one down that I do you’re more than welcome to do so.”

From studying some of his videos it looks like he likes to throw a crab-multiple stabs-baby bahn combo. Though we would love for you DJs to add some of his combos in the comment section, he seems pretty modest in the initial response as he is definitely a very technical scratcher and one of the best out doing it.

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DJ Dopez (@dopez1200)- 2015 DMC USA Finalist:

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “As for favorite scratch combo its gotta be the Whip Tear with two clicks over it. Two Clicks forward whip tear backwards”

We’ve included multiple Dopez tutorials on this site because he has some of the best tutorials for intermediate to advanced scratchers and turntablists on youtube.

Dopez's Super Secret Scratch Tutorial

We’ve linked this tutorial before on the site in our advanced scratch combo series. 

Here Dopez can be seen doing the Whip Scratch he described in many different combos.

You can find more video tutorials from him at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaaxvVQk3HYQ1NxGNNH1Leg 

Instagram: @Dopez1200

Twitter: @Dopez1200

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Nabarret (@nabarret)-  Clash of the Titans Spain 2018 Finalist,  Scratch Geek Tazer Challenge Finalist:

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “One of my favorite combos is Chirp-orbit-chirp-boomerang”

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Miles Medina (@milesmedina) – 2017 Goldie Awards DJ Battle Champion:

On Favorite Scratch Combo/Advice: “I’ve never been too big of a technical scratcher. I respect and love hearing it but I’ve always been more musical with the few techniques I know. Mostly stabs, transforms, crabs every now and then in a rhythmic way to compliment the song I’m scratching over. My main thing is feeling the soul of the dj who’s playing.”

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DJ Myke aka Micionero (@djmyke_micionero_)– 2 x DMC Italy Team Champion, 2x DMC Italy Champion (Solo), 4x DMC World Finalist, 2nd Place ITF Team Eastern Hemisphere 2003

On Favorite Combos: He sent us multiple videos, had us break it down and confirmed. Scribbles into a delayed two click flare as well as  “Chirp Boomerang, 2 Click Tazer, 2 Click Bubble Tears”

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Funk-Ra(@_Funk_Ra)- Bay Area/Zurich Based Turntablist

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “In regards to favorite combo, boomerang to autobahn.”
 
On Advice for Beginner/Intermediate level DJs:
“My advice would be to practice flow. For me the most important part in scratching is self-expression. It is this self expression/style that defines us as individuals.”

DJ Eprom (@djeprom)- 2x IDA World Champion

On Scratch Combos and Advice for Beginners and Intermediate DJs: “Spend as much time on basics as possible: baby, tears, transforms and flares. These 4 elements are key to outstanding combos.”

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DJ Fong Fong (@djfongfong): DMC Online World Champion 2012

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “Chirp-two click-chirp”

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DJ Kutreal (@djkutreal)- Redbull 3 Style Albania Champ 2015, DMC Italy Vice Champ 2015

On Favorite Scratch Combo: “I’m down with swing flare, delayed flare, autobahn combo”

“I’m really down with delayed flare, autobahn, boomerang combo”

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DJ Kut Real Exclusive Boomerang-Delayed Flare (Baby Bahn) Combo

In this exclusive video that Kut Real provided us for our Youtube and IGTV Channels he is doing a Boomerang into a what some call a Delayed Two Click Flare (what he calls a Deleted Flare and what we call a Baby Bahn in our advanced scratch techniques tutorial)

If you followed our advanced scratch technique tutorial in order to perform this scratch you need to know how to do a Boomerang and a Baby Bahn. It is one full boomerang flowing directly into one full Baby Bahn. Its a dope combo to throw into the flow, and from here you can even add Autobahns into the combo. 

DJ Knockers (@djknockers)- 2018 DMC Tampa Champ, 2017 WMC Spin-off Champ, 2017 IDA USA Finalist

On Advice for Beginner and Intermediate Dj’s: “Practicing tears can open a lot of doors. They can be stiff rigid pauses or a quick more bubbly sound. And of course the natural progression to the whip tears already covered in the blog.

Adding fader stuff on top of tears lead to the “wet” sound we associate with some of the dopest cutters.

Learning Prizms and Whips played a big part in molding my style.”

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DJ Soak (@djsoak)- 3x Champion DMC Spain Champion, ITF Spain Champion 2006, IDA Spain Champion 2006

Provided us with an exclusive video for our IGTV and Youtube channels where he demonstrates some of his favorite combos. 

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DJ Soak Exclusive Scratch Geek Combo Demonstration

In this video DJ Soak is using the Boomerang-Baby Bahn combo that Kut Real demonstrated in the previous video as the starting point for his flow. He frequent adds Skribbles or quick baby scratches before the combo, and throws autobahns in the mix. Since he is freestyling and flowing in this video it is difficult to just point to one combo that defines the sound here, but it stems from this delayed triplet sound you get from knowing how to do delayed flares, Baby Bahns, Boomerangs and Autobahns. He also accentuates the sounds extremely well with strong tears. 

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Jose Rodriguez (@JoseRodriguezDJ)- Wild Cuts 2018 Champ, Clash of Titans Spain 2018 Champ, IDA Scratch Spain 2017-2018 Champ

Provided us with an exlcusive video for our IGTV and Youtube Channels where he demonstes one of his favorite scratches that he seamlessly throws into his scratch  combos.

Jose Rodriguez Exclusive Scratch Combos Demonstration

Here he is demonstrating his fast clover tear (2 foward and 2 back) that he uses in between chirps, one click flares, crescent flares as well as og flares. The tear is not fadered, but is extremely versatile in adding extra sounds between scratches.

More Exclusive and Tutorials Coming Soon!

We will continue to edit this post and add new exclusive videos as they come along. We just couldn’t keep this post on hold anymore because there is already so much value here. 

Sign up for our mailing list to be the first to know when we update this post and add new exclusive videos and tutorials from these Top DJs and Turntablists.

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Scratching 303: Advanced Scratch Techniques https://scratchgeek.com/scratching-303-advanced-scratch-techniques/ Sun, 14 Oct 2018 17:52:22 +0000 https://scratchgeek.com/?p=719 Hello Scratch Geeks, We’re continuing our Scratching Tutorial series here with Advanced Techniques. We recommend starting at Scratching 101: Introduction to Scratching and Basic Scratch Tutorials and Scratching 202: Intermediate Scratch Tutorials if this is the first page you’ve stumbled on. If you’re proficient in the techniques in the previous posts you will see us continue to dive in […]

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Hello Scratch Geeks,

We’re continuing our Scratching Tutorial series here with Advanced Techniques. We recommend starting at Scratching 101: Introduction to Scratching and Basic Scratch Tutorials and Scratching 202: Intermediate Scratch Tutorials if this is the first page you’ve stumbled on. If you’re proficient in the techniques in the previous posts you will see us continue to dive in here. Remember learning these techniques take time, we’re here to try and make that process easier by curating the best tutorials already on the internet and adding our additional commentary.

Delayed Two-Click Flare, Boomerang & Autobahn (Differences, Overview and Tutorial) :

Delayed 2 Click Flare

The video above explains it best out of any video on youtube, but the technique is essentially a two click flare starting with the 5th sound or starting with the record coming backwards (we will record our own delayed two click flare video to upload soon)

In the meantime, though we haven’t gotten to 3 click flares, this delayed 3 click flare video may help you think about it:

The delayed two click flare is the same movement but with one less click both ways.

Boomerang Scratch

Again here is another video to see the differences between delayed 2 click flares, regular 2 click flares and boomerangs:

As you can see they create similar sounds, but the hand motions are different. The first video by Yoshi is the best to see the differences

Baby Bahn (Formely called the delayed two click flare):

Like I stated earlier, the names definitely get confusing because they evolved over time but it is best to think of the video above as a baby bahn or the first part of an autobahn rather than a delayed flare. A delayed two-click flare is best to be thought as a phase shifted flare (starting on a different note).

This is the beginning sounds of an autobahn and getting this record movement down will help you with your autobahn scratch.

Autobahn Scratch:

Slow Autobahn Scratch:

Prism Scratch:

The prism scratch uses a ton of record control, and you should be pretty proficient in tears before getting to these.

Tazers:

Though we never discussed lazers, the video above breaks down lazers and tazers. Tazers are essentially a combo of lazers and an OG flare (mentioned in the intermediate scratching guide).

Review of many scratches using two click flares:

Three Click Flares

Up until this point all the scratches above are still using the two-click flare motion. This is where we add more sounds and speed. I do wholeheartly believe you should master all the two click sounds before beginning 3-Click flares.

Three-Click Flare (3 Click Flares):

Delayed 3 Click Flare:

As we continue to future scratching posts, they will feature even more advanced scratches and combos. Good luck with the practice sessions, and enjoy Scratch Geeks!

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Scratching 202: Intermediate Scratch Tutorials https://scratchgeek.com/scratching-202-intermediate-scratch-tutorials/ Tue, 02 Oct 2018 14:29:50 +0000 http://scratchgeek.com/?p=199 Hello Scratch Geeks, This post is going to be long, with hours of videos linked to it. Again scratching takes time and as we get to harder scratches, these techniques take a while to wrap your head around and to develop the muscle memory. This post should take you time to complete and you should […]

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Hello Scratch Geeks,

This post is going to be long, with hours of videos linked to it. Again scratching takes time and as we get to harder scratches, these techniques take a while to wrap your head around and to develop the muscle memory. This post should take you time to complete and you should revisit regularly to help you progress through the more advanced techniques.

Intermediate Scratches cannot be showcased before discussing the importance of getting the next scratch down. Two-click flares are the most important scratch to learn after your basics scratches. This two-click motion will open the doors to all the advanced scratches and can provide endless variations to your scratch vocabulary. It is for this reason that I am going to link multiple videos of two click flares to show you all the different ways to add this to your aresenal.

I am also going to add that while there are variations that make this scratch easier (twiddle method) I found, personally, that learning that method first hindered my development into advanced scratches and it took me a long time to overcome that. For this reason, while I think you should learn all the ways to do a two click flare, it is most important to learn the first method shown here

The Two-Click Flare (also known as the Orbit Scratch)

If you’re struggling with the first method this may help:

Another in-depth look with a different way of thinking of the scratch (looks more like the tapping method, I believe the previous videos are less complicated but some people like this type of breakdown):

Here is a look for Both Regular and Hamster Style (Reverse) Scratchers:

Twiddle Method :

Here is the Twiddle method for two click flares (thought by many to be cheating) but this can also open up different possibilities for you. As stated earlier, I wish I learned the methods shown above first, as I had trouble with more advanced techniques because I learned the twiddle method first. With that being said this is what it looks and sounds like:

Once you get good at both of these two click motions, the possibilities really become endless.

This is a preview of what learning the first two click flare motion can help you learn:

As you can see the door is wide open once you learn this two click pattern, but we will go in depth more in all the scratches in the video above in a more advanced post.

The Crab Scratch

Some people throw the crab scratch before all of these, but I find that djs who learn this scratch too early rely on it heavily and it hinders their development. The crab scratch sounds best when used in combinations with other scratches to add flavor and funk. There are a few variations of the crab scratch depending on the number of fingers you use and whether you start with the fader on or off.

Crab Scratch Technique:

Three Finger Closed Crab Scratch

Hamster Stye (Reverse) Open Crab Scratch

Regular Open Fader Crab Scratch :

My advice to begin to learn this technique is to practice without the crossfader by tapping your pointer finger, then middle finger, then ring finger to your thumb separately to build strength.

The Swing Flare

Though we did not specifically talk about dicing or slicing the record, you’ve been doing this already if you have practiced different stab variations, reverse stabs, and chirp variations. The Swing Flare scratch should NOT be learned before the 2-click flare. It uses the same fader movements but combines previously shown hand movements.

This is an intermediate scratch that shows how the foundations of previous scratches can create new sounds.

Original Flare (OG Flare)

Reverse Original Flare (Reverse OG Flare)

That will conclude this intermediate scratch post, If you’ve progressed through all these scratches more advanced scratches can be found in the next post.

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Scratching 101: Introduction to Scratching and Basic Scratch Tutorials https://scratchgeek.com/scratching-101-introduction-to-scratching-and-basic-scratch-tutorials/ Tue, 02 Oct 2018 13:31:17 +0000 http://scratchgeek.com/?p=193 Hello Scratch Geeks, Scratching is hard. It takes time and deliberate practice on specific techniques. Many people don’t know where to start and how to progress through the scratches accordingly. Millions of tutorials have been done and these scratches are not new. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here at Scratch Geek but we […]

The post Scratching 101: Introduction to Scratching and Basic Scratch Tutorials first appeared on Scratch Geek.

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Hello Scratch Geeks,

Scratching is hard. It takes time and deliberate practice on specific techniques. Many people don’t know where to start and how to progress through the scratches accordingly.

Millions of tutorials have been done and these scratches are not new. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel here at Scratch Geek but we want to give you guys a starting place with some additional commentary on how to begin to learn how to scratch and how to progress to an intermediate and advanced level quickly.

We’re curating our favorite videos on learning the basics of scratching.

This post is lengthy and its meant to give you everything you’ll need to get started in scratching from setup, to samples and records to technique. This is NOT a post that you should try to finish and learn in one day, but one you should revisit as you progress through the techniques and become a better turntablist.

If you already know some basic mixing and know how to set up your turntable and mixer as well as tone arm, cartridge and stylus so they are optimized for scratching you can continue down the article to get into the scratches.

Before set up if you want to learn about some basic history of turntablism you can check out our previous post.

Equipment and Set Up

First you’ll need some equipment, if you do not know where to start in purchasing dj equipment, www.djturntablereview.com has a great list of turntables from different price ranges and discusses an indepth guide to portable turntables here which are a great cheap introduction to the scratch world. You’ll also need a mixer and some speakers

For those that need help setting up their equipment for optimal performance check out these videos below:

Setting up Needle and Catridge :

You may notice some people set up their cartridge a little differently but I would say the video above is the most correct way to set up your needle and cartridge (though the sadly M44-7 have recently been discontinued).

These next two videos will also help with learning the Basics of Turntablism and setting up you’re equipment.

Getting Started in Turntablism :

Setting up Mixer for Scratching :

Now that your equipment is set up correctly you’ll need some samples. If you have Serato you can find the basic scratch samples here.

Scratch Samples :

With the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/scxgde70xtasd5z/Serato+Scratch+Sentence.wav

If you do not have Serato we recommend buying some battle records many of which are skip-less for scratch samples and break beats.

We recommend:

12″ Scratch Records for Regular Turntables: Thud Rumble Super Seal- Skratchy Seal Vinyl ;

7″ Scratch Records For Portable Turntables: Practice Yo Cuts Vol. 5 ; Baby Seal 3

Scratching Hand Placement and Philosophy

Before getting into these tutorials, I want to start by saying you’ll see people with all sorts of different hand placements on the record and cross fader. Many people have different philosophies on which hand should be on the record and which should be on the crossfader. Some believe that your writing hand (dominant hand) should be on the crossfader so you can move it faster and then there’s the opposite school of thought that believes your dominant hand should be on the record to better express your sounds. This decision is ultimately up to you as there is no right or wrong answer. You can always develop either hand to be proficient in either position.

The other thing you may notice in these videos that there are two styles of cut on the crossfader: regular or hamster style (reverse). Again no right or wrong answer, do what feels right initially.

Basic Scratch Tutorials :

We are going to start with the most basic of scratches. The movements from these basic scratches are the foundation of every scratch afterwards and will not only help your scratching but will also help your mixing and cueing.

We will start with Faderless scratches and getting more control with your record hand. We believe that it is important to get your record hand comfortable before even touching the crossfader in your scratches.

3 Basic Scratches: Baby Scratch, Scribble, Drags

The Baby Scratch is the foundation of all other scratches, so definitely become proficient with the scratches above before moving on.

Tear Scratch :

Basic Scratches Starting with a Closed Crossfader :

Now that we have some decent control with our record hand we can start learning how to involve the crossfader. The first scratch anyone should learn with the crossfader is the stab. Even if you only mastered this one scratch you could make very articulate sounds. (If you scrolled through the ScratchGeek instagram page you’d see Stab Challenges where top scratchers create full freestyles just with the Stab Scratch)

Stab Scratch :

Transform Scratch

We believe that next in your progression you should learn the transform scratch, this next video goes in depth on the different patterns you can perform with the transform scratch and brief history of the scratch.

Open Fader Scratches :

I’m going to link two videos for the Chirp Scratch and the reason is because I feel that this scratch will open the door to begin to add texture and funk to your scratch sessions.

Once you’re good at the chirp scratch you can really jam with anyone. Here, though subtle, you can actually see two different ways of closing the record open and closed. So either with your wrist (SkratchBastid video) or Fingers (Archie Reyes demonstration at ~10min mark). I feel that this distinction is key to point out early in your scratch career. We at ScratchGeek feel that while there is no absolutely correct way between the two, being able to chirp with just your fingers as opposed to involving the large wrist movement will help your future progression through scratch combinations.

The Chirp Scratch :

One-Click Flare :

The next scratch we will discuss is the One-Click Flare scratch, this is the simplest of the Flare Scratches and is a true open-fader scratch. Getting this scratch down is the key to progressing to intermediate scratches. We again want to make the distinction of scratching with your wrist and scratching with your fingers so we will provide two examples here.

Scratch Combo

This is your first scratch combo, and shows you the possibilities that come with expanding your scratch vocabulary and linking scratches. There will be many more scratch combos in future posts, but getting this combo down will help you express your scratch skills.

The Chirp-Flare Scratch

The Next Post continues the discussion with Intermediate Scratches

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