Beginning Scratching.
Anyone who has tried to scratch on belt drive decks or anything that isn't top end, is going to know that it really is important (not only for improving your learning curve, but also maintaining your sanity) to ensure that the equipment you're using is suitable.
The first thing you're going to need is a set of good, slippy slip mats. Either go into a specialist record shop, and ask their opinion (They should point you towards hip-hop mats (coz they are designed to aid the hip-hop artists do his 'thang' (or her))). As I said before in the equipment section, you can place a piece of wax paper underneath the slip mat to aid it in its slippiness, the paper creating less friction. Be careful though, as much as sticky mates can hinder the budding scratch artist, too slippy a mat can also really cause problems according to José of Borderline Crew:-
In relation to why the slipmat shouldn't be too slippery:-
If the mat's too slippery then on release it wont catch with the turntable platter quick enough, thus effecting the position of the scratch...(when the record is released it needs to get up to speed as quickly as possible and at the same time the force required to hold the record while the platter is spinning needs to be light but precise.
Fairy 'nuff. Remember, I'm not a scratch person, so it might be an idea to take that to heart over what I say.
You're also going to have to make sure that things like needles, and the general well being of the vinyl you are using are up to scratch (forgive the pun). Make sure the needle is clean (without all the sunk that gathers around it) relatively new (an old one just won't do) and positioned correctly. A lot of people swear by angling the needle in by about 10 degrees, meaning it cuts into the records groove at an angle, therefore, giving it more bite, and less chance of slipping. I don't know how it's done, and I have absolutely no intention of learning. This set up, though giving more traction wears out the record like a knife through butter. (That's maybe a bit harsh, but it really does wear it down). This also means dealing with the counter balance on the deck. Don't opt directly for maximum weight though. Try and increase it gradually, although you might only end up a couple of milligrams off maximum, those milligrams can mean months of wear on your needle.
If the worst comes to the worst though, and the needle still flies when you're trying to scratch, even with the counter weight set to maximum, there are a few other options. The first is to put the counter weight on backwards. Allegedly, this can give a little more weight, because it's not tapered towards the front anymore. The second (if you have the right kind of deck) is to raise the height of the tone arm. This extra height creates more down-force. The last - and most 'dangerous' to your needle is to add weight to the cartridge, by means of a coin or blu-tack etc. Bad move, you can watch the needle wear down this way!! And watch your wallet empty, as you have to replace needles.
The other problem that you have to overcome before really mixing it up and becoming a pro at scratching is your hand technique. Remember that vinyl is really sensitive, and even with the extra pressure, the new needles and the slippy mats, if you've a hand like a baby elephant, then you're going to see that needle fly!!
Check out the vinyl you're using too. You may end up blaming bad scratches on weight and bad mats, when in fact it comes down to the size of the hole in your records. A wide hole is going to have a lot of perpendicular movement going on when you try to scratch, pulling the needle out of the groove. This can be fixed a couple of ways. The fist is to put tape through the hole (reducing the diameter of the hole). The second to find the sticky rings that you put round paper when placing it in a ring binder, to reinforce the existing holes. Put one of these either side, they are about the right width, but if they are still too slack, put a few more on, a little off center. If the hole is far too tight, then you start to worry. I've actually bought records that won't fit onto the plate. I know I'll incur the wrath of a thousand Dj's for saying this, but all I do is get a small piece of sandpaper, roll it up it a cylinder, put it through the hole in the record, then, holding the sandpaper, spin the record round the sandpaper. Do this a couple of times, and it will relax. A bit dangerous though, it has the possibility of cracking your records.
Scratching Styles
Here's where it all starts to go wrong!! If I have any names or descriptions completely screwed up, please tell me, I don't want to seem like an arse!!
The baby scratch is probably the easiest scratch there is. This is the one that I CAN do!! It has an easy pattern to remember and it provides a great starting point for the beginner. This is the one that anyone who comes to you're house, sees your decks, and says "Can I have a go" will do almost immediately. It's just a forwards movement followed immediately by a backwards movement. It is important that the placement within the bar of tune is correct. It's the convention to do the full forward and backward cycle in the matter of one beat. Just think of it as starting the record, as though you are going to drop in the tune in a mix, but then after half a beat, pull it back. The speed that you do both of these actions with can affect the sound produced, as does choosing whether to go backwards or forwards first. This involves no cross-fader action, apart from dropping it in, then taking it back out again.
The scribble scratch is all but identical to the baby scratch, except that there are far more scratches. The technique is to tense the forearm and wrist (you may have a better way, but this is what I do) (Yes, I know two scratches!!) And then "stab" back and forth. I put that in inverts coz I can't think of a better way to describe it, the one I read says it's like having a bad case of the shakes. The other way of doing it though (if they are limber enough) is just to use your fingers to move the record back and forth through the needle. It's basically the same; all you're trying to do is improve the speed that you can scratch at. Obviously, through doing this, you want to make the amount of vinyl passing under the needle as small as possible. Just find the beat or sample you are scratching through, and keep it on that, try not too spill too far before or after the sample.
The tear involves a bit more skill than the scratches covered so far. Essentially the movement is the same as a baby scratch but is now split into three. The forward stroke stays the same, but the backwards s split into two; the first half being fast and the second being half the pace. Try to practice just the backward stroke first, so that you can get used to changing the tempo. (Any drummers out there would recognise this as a variation on the triple)
Using the Fader
Before I get going on this part, find out on your x-fader where the cut in point is. This is the point where the channel first becomes audible. It will help to know where on the fader this is.
The chop (or stab) is a perfect introduction to the use of the cross fader. The scratch itself is the same as in the Baby Scratch, but the difference is in using the crossfader to cut off the back stroke halfway. The fader should start with the sound on (just past the cut in point) and the forward stroke completed as normal. The cut comes just before you start the back stroke where you should close the fader. The key to this scratch is the timing of the fader action. The overall sound created should be a short sudden scratch.
The forward scratch. Rather then go into a long-winded explanation, I'll give you an example. Kadoc's Nightrain starts off with a simple vocal saying "All aboard". Position the sample so that it is right behind the needle. On a particular point (normally at the start of a bar in this case) move the cross fader in and let the record run. As the sample stops, pull the cross fader back, wind the record back to the beginning of the sample, and let it run again. Then it's matter of repeating till your hearts content, playing about with the sample (I like using just the 'All' part a couple of times, then dropping in the whole sample. The trick here though is to make sure you get the sample wound back to the correct place, in time. Some Dj's use tape or a marker, to aid them visually in this, but I tend just to get used to how far it has to get pulled back (of course I use headphones as well, which a lot of scratch Dj's do without.)
The Chirp this is where hand-co-ordination really comes into play. Start with the fader open and make a forward stroke as normal but fade out as you get to the end. The reverse is carried out on the back stroke i.e. start fading the back stroke in. As the name suggests this should create short snappy chirp sounds.
The transformer all explanations of this seem quite confusing to me. As far as I can gather, the essence of this is a use of high-speed cuts in and out with the crossfader. At the beginning of this scratch the fader should be in the closed position. When you are ready to begin you should slowly drag the record forwards and backwards under the needle. The fader should then be used to cut the sound in and then back out straight away. To create a desired stuttering effect, the fader needs to be moved in and out quickly, and quite a few times. One tip I read was to find the cut I point, and place your thumb at that point. Now every-time you want the scratch to cut in, you just tap the fader with a finger. The fader should hit your thumb, then bounce back into the closed position (with a little bend of the thumb that is) Now all you have to do is tap till your hearts content. There are special techniques to get this going faster, which I've put at the bottom.
Here's some background to that Transformer scratch though:-
1) The Transformer Scratch, a bit of history:
It's named after the sound made by the American TV Cartoon Transformers, which, when "transforming" between robot and automobile, made a sound like "chi-cho-chu-chi-chi-cha-chik" (I grew up with all the toys and watched it religiously. I can make the noises with my mouth, and I've heard a good transformer scratch that sounds incredibly accurate) incidentally, the chief robots got two more "chu"s because they were bigger. Thanks to Barret Lawson for that history.
Here's a couple that Dj Dave sent to me. I've not tried them, coz I don't scratch! But give 'em a shot and see what you think. Send him a mail if you want @ awdw2@aol.com to either congratulate, or flatulate (tee-hee) him.
The Trans-Backspin:- You do a backspin while doing a transform or flare. It's easier when you turn the turntable off first and when a mixer that has a transform button.
Fast Track:-It's where you touch the record very lightly so it makes a slow and wierd sound. But the trick is not to completly stop the record. Just make it sound slow. Now that you've got that, you have to do that very fast to make it sound very cool. It's almost like the sound when you hear a baby in a mothers belly.
And we have YET another entry on the "I have a mix" line. This one is from Dj Break It Down and is called
THE ULTI SCRATCH.
Place your right hand on your right turntable, place your left hand on the switch on top of your right channel. Do a baby scratch with your right hand and rapidly move the switch between line and phono. You will get a scratch effect that sounds sort of like if you used/have a transformer.
And here's ANOTHER one!! I'll just paste in the whole mail:-
When you were talking about stutter and orbital scratching, it made me think of a trick I discovered on an old gemini mixer of mine. It has an assignable crossfader. If you set both sides to the same channel (i.e. fade between channel 1 and channel 1) you can perform the stutter and orbital scratching a little faster.( you don't have to worry about the position of the fader). Plus since the channel is fading itself, it gives a little bit of a funkier sound. ( can't really describe it) Plus you don't have to worry about throwing the fader too far and cutting out the second channel.
Hope I described that well enough. (so do I!)
Again, I must point out that I don't know if any of these ARE invented by them, or how good they sound, I just know they asked me to stick 'em in for you all to read.
I'm going to do some blatant copying now. I really don't know enough about any of these scratches, and Dj-jd knows everything there is to know. If you want to know any more about scratching, I implore you, go to this guys site, it's fantastic!! (Just finish dealing with mine first!!!)
Anyway, many thanks to Dj-jd for giving me permission to quote off his site.
"Flare Scratch - Invented by DJ flare, this scratch is much like the transform scratch in many ways. Only instead of starting with the sound that you are cutting up 'off', you start with the sound 'on'. Concentrate on cutting the sound into pieces by bouncing the fader off the cut out side of the fader slot to make the sound cut out and then come back in in a split second. Each time you bounce the fader off of the side of the fader slot it makes a distinct clicking noise. For this reason, flares are named according to clicks. A one click forward flare would be a forward scratch starting with the sound on as you click the fader against the side once in the middle of the forward stroke creating two distinct sounds in one stroke of your record hand. In the same manner, 2 clicks, 3 clicks, and even more clicks (if you're fast enough) can be performed to do different types of flares..
Orbit Scratch - An orbit is most generally any scratch move performed both backward and forward in sequence. Usually when someone is referring to an orbit, however, they are most likely talking about flare orbits. For example, A 1 click forward flare and a 1 click backward flare in quick succession (altogether creating 4 very quick distinct sounds) would be a 1 click orbit. A 2 click forward flare and a 2 click backward flare in quick succession (altogether creating 6 very distinct sounds) would be a 2 click orbit, etc...
Crab Scratch - To do a crab scratch you tap the fader knob with 3 or 4 different fingers in sequence starting with the pinkie or ring finger using the thumb as a spring to cut the fader back out after each tap (or in if you scratch hamster style). The result is much like a 3 or 4 tap transform (or a 3 or 4 click flare if you scratch hamster style) only much quicker than you could probably do with one finger. Many DJs find this move easier to perform hamster style since you are bouncing the fader off of the side of the fader slot, but the move can be performed both styles.
Twiddle Scratch - The Twiddle scratch is the precursor to the crab scratch. Quite basically, the twiddle is a crab scratch using two fingers instead of 3 or 4 to repeatedly "twiddle" the fader.
Tweak Scratch - The tweak scratch is a scratch perhaps made most famous by Invisbl Skratch Piklz member Mixmaster Mike. To perform a tweak scratch, you turn the motor off on your turntable and move the platter and record back and forth with your fingers in whatever pattern you desire. The fader may be used to do transform sounding tweaks, but the fader doesn't have to be used at all for this move if you choose not to use it. This scratch is best performed on long tone type samples, but can be applied to any sound. The result varies, but usually is a somewhat jerky sounding scratch. Because the turntable is turned off, each time your finger hits the record in a certain direction, it continues to go in that direction, but slows down as it does instead of returning to a constant speed after each time it is released as it does when the motor is on.
Bubble Scratch - Invented by DJ Noize, this technique is achieved by moving the record back and forth while at the same time turning the EQ knob back and forth from minimum to maximum to get a sort of wah-wah pedal sounding scratch effect. This move is easier to perform on a Technics SHDJ1200 than on a Vestax 05/06 Pro since the DJ1200's EQ adjustment is different.
Zig-Zag Scratch - What I call a zig zag is a move that I first saw QBert perform where you use one hand on the record, and one hand moving back and forth between the volume fader and the record to create a unique scratch effect. If you scratch with your right hand on the record the technique would go something like this:
right hand pulls back sound and lets go
left hand taps the record as it's coming back forward to make a quick pause in the forward movement of the sound to make two distinct forward sounds instead of one
left hand quickly moves and taps down the volume fader a small increment to make the volume a little lower (or higher since you could do the same thing in reverse).
repeat pattern
effect you get is a 1,2,3 1,2,3 1,2,3... scratch of the sound while the 1,2,3 fades out a little more each time the volume fader is tapped a little lower (the sound can be faded completely out or you can start fading the sound in and out).
Hydroplane - A hydroplane is performed while the record is spinning and you lightly apply pressure to the surface with one or more fingers without stopping the record. The idea is to create light friction between your fingers and the record and if you have the right touch, a bassy friction sound is the result.
Airplane - Although I haven't heard this term used very often, what I have heard referred to as an airplane is taking two identical beats and playing them simultaneously on both turntables with the crossfader in the middle position. Although you're trying to match them up exactly, the beats will always be a little bit off (but not enough off for too much of a noticeable delay) so the end product doesn't sound the same as just one of the channels playing the beat on it's own. The result is a flange/phase sounding effect. I have also heard this technique referred to as phasing.
Juggling - To beat juggle, you use two records with a beat on each turntable and mix them together with the crossfader to create new combinations of beats or to create new beats altogether in a "cut and paste" fashion.
Strobing - Strobing is a type of beat juggling made most famous by DJ Shortkut where you usually mix back and forth between two records with a beat on each while you also tap the records with you're hand to slow down the tempo on each and keep them in sync. An example might sound like kick, kick, snare, snare, kick, kick snare, snare, kick, kick, snare, snare...alternating between the same sounds on the two different records, but any combination is possible using 2 of the same records, or 2 completely different beats. By cutting back and forth you're usually separating kicks, snares, cymbal sounds, etc., to make new sounding or doubled sounding beats.
Looping - Alternating between two different copies of the same record, this technique is achieved by using the crossfader cutting in a phrase of music from one record, then cutting in the same phrase of music from the other record. At the same time, pull back each cut out record to the phrase's beginning point before it is cut back in again. By doing this you end up playing the same sound over and over again much like a sampler looping a beat (or any other sound for that matter).
Hamster Style - Normally a DJ set-up would be configured with the right turntable playing on the right channel of the mixer and the left turntable playing on the left channel of the mixer. With a hamster style set-up, however, the opposite is true. When using the crossfader, the right turntable plays through the left channel, and the left turntable plays through the right channel. Many DJs find it more comfortable to scratch hamster style since to do many moves it is easier to bounce the fader off of the side of the fader slot using your multiple fingers rather than your thumb. Personally I think that hamster style seems more conducive to flaring and doing continuous crabs. DJ members of the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters crew are most commonly recognised as the first DJs to practice/demonstrate this style thus giving it the nickname "hamster" style.
Hamster Switch - A switch on a mixer that reverses the crossfader without reversing the volume faders so that you can scratch hamster style without physically hooking up the turntables to different channels on the back of the mixer. "
Thanks once again to Dj-jd for the information. If everyone can be this co-operative, life would be a damn sight easier!!
I also strongly advise checking out these guys below too. I don't have half as much info about scratching as this lot can tell ya, just make sure and come on back!!
