Turntablism: Is the Turntable a musical instrument?

I feel like this is a topic that becomes more an more relevant as the years go by and DJ culture becomes more mainstream. This discussion is meant be informative on the Art of DJing and how it evolved. I highly encourage any aspiring bedroom djs, club djs, turntablists etc. to truly learn their craft and continue to promote this beautiful culture.

Turntablists vs DJs

Often there is a negative connotation with one calling themselves a D.J. Many people think that Disk Jockeys simply play back music (and many do), but are either ignorant to or dismiss the fact that there are a subculture of DJs who use the turntable to manipulate and create new sounds and music. These DJs are given the title “turntablist”. They learn and master  techniques to manipulate the records, using the turntable as an instrument.

Should Turntablists be considered musicians?

Because  turntablists have the ability to create a work that is entirely new and unique, they should be considered musicians and the turntable should be considered an instrument.

Turntablism History and the evolution of turntablism

DJs pre-scratching

The DJs main goal was to have people dancing. The most advanced techniques involved beatmatching, mixing and looping. Beatmatching is when a DJ will match the tempo of two songs and seamlessly mix them. Looping is self-explanatory. Before scratching there was limited creativity and the DJ would simply play other people’s music. The DJ was never featured, he would either back up an mc or play others music. After the invention of scratching the DJ became a musician.

The Invention of Scratching

Grand Wizzard Theodore is widely credited as the inventor of scratching. It is claimed that his mother was yelling at him to turn off his music and he stopped the record with his hand to create the first scratching sound. It is here that he experimented and perfected the first baby scratch. Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the 1990s, it has been used in some styles of pop and nu metal.

Evolution Of Scratching (New Techniques)

New techniques are constantly evolving in the turntablist community which allows different sounds and patterns to be created. This allows for an ever evolving culture.

Scratch Drumming

Is exactly what it sounds like. The turntablist makes a new beat entirely out of scratching. This is usually done with a kick, snare and hi hat. This, of course, enables the turntablist to essence “drum” any pattern they would like. This would make them a musician as they can create a new beat instantly and can create complex patterns similar and sometimes more advanced than regular drumming. This technique enables turntablist to form bands, or perform with other turntablists at the same time.

Beat Juggling

Beat juggling is the act of manipulating two or more samples in order to create a unique composition, using multiple turntables and one or more mixers. This can involve pauses, scratching, backspins and delays. Beat Juggling has its roots in cutting, in which a small section of a beat is looped using two copies of the same record. This was first done by Kool DJ Herc, and later refined by DJs such as Grandmaster Flash in the early 80s. Two other fundamentals of modern beat juggling technique include “tapping” or “walking,” where the DJ taps the record in between percussion sounds, stopping it momentarily to slow down the beat, or pushing it faster to speed it up, and “shuffling” or “strobing,” where the DJ loops the two records at different points in the beat, literally remixing the record live by playing new combinations of the sounds on the records.

Competitions

The DMC World DJ Championships is an annual DJ competition hosted by Disco Mix Club (DMC) which began in 1986. It helped push the boundaries of Djing and turntablism. The battle places turntablists against one another in an effort to create the most creative and clean routine. This competition has helped to bring forth new techniques, new fans, new artists, new technologies. in 1986 DJ Cheese brought the best out of the turntables by scratching his way to DMC’s first ever World Title. By the following year, turntable tricks started to establish themselves with the emergence of props, body tricks and a variety of scratching techniques, DJs scratched with bicycles and even kitchen sinks, Chad Jackson used a billiard cue and an American football to help him become the 1987 Champion at a venue that had never before featured a DJ let alone heard hip-hop riffs.

New Technology

Vinyl emulation software allows the user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on ‘feel’ of djing with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in phonograph This allows DJs to scratch, beatmatch, and perform other turntablism that would be impossible with a conventional keyboard-and-mouse computer interface. DJs can essentially have any song they wish now and have easier access to sound effects, and new types of sound manipulation.

DJ Schools

DJ Academy :The ”Turntable Technique: The Art of the D.J.,” by Stephen Webber is the first musical method book for aspiring hip-hop D.J.’s. For his book Mr. Webber used interviews, photographs and traditional music notation to translate the turntablists’ approach into a series of lessons and exercises that an aspiring D.J. could practice. These include basic back-spinning and beat-matching and more advanced techniques like the four-finger crab scratch. Webber is a professor at The Berklee College of Music and wants to introduce a class in Turntablism. There are already outside organizations such as the DJ Scratch Academy that teach students the art of djing and turntablism. In 2002, Rob Principe and the late Jam Master Jay founded Scratch DJ Academy with the goal of lowering the barrier of entry to the art form of the DJ.

Whether you’re an aspiring turntablist or club DJ we encourage all djs to learn the art of djing to the best of their abilities