Turntablism Defined

"turntablism"

"turntablist"

International Turntablist Federation

"turntablist"

"turntablism".

turntablist

Turntablism

turntablism

turntablists

turntablism.

mixing, scratching, beat juggling, dissing,

turntable band.

turntablist

turntablism

turntablists

Turntablists

turntablist

Disk

A-Trak, Quest,

Apollo

Mixing
Invented by Grandmaster Flash, this was the basic foundation of turntablism itself. The concept of blending two records together was made extremely popular by most club disc jocks nowadays, but the history behind mixing originated from the hip hop culture.

Scratching
Invented by Grand Wizard Theodore, this element of turntablism is the most common. This is the process of taking a sample or sound on a record, and moving back and forth to create a "scratching sound". There were many different concepts of scratching created by various pioneer deejays. The Transform Scratch was invented by Spinbad and made popular by Jazzy Jeff and Cash Money. The ever popular Flare Scratch was invented by DJ Flare. The Drum Scratch was invented by Steve D of the X-ecutioners. Drum Scratching involves making a drum beat with a small segment of a record by scratching it. There are may different types of scratching such as babys, military scratches, tears, rubs, crabs, chirps, stabs, and the list goes on. For more information on how to perform these scratches, you can order some instructional videos from the Skratch Piklz Official Website, or check out Doc Rice's Wicked-Styles.

Beat Juggling
Invented by Steve D of the X-ectutioners, this element of turntablism involves the process of using two of the same records, or two different records, to make a different melody by rearranging the beats contained within the song. In other words, the turntablist is in complete control of the beats. There are many different ways to beat juggle. Like I've stated before, different techniques are born every day. For some beat juggling samples, go to the Turntable Manipulations section of this site.

Body Tricks
I'm not really quite sure who invented this element of turntablism. I first saw it performed by DJ Aladdin. This is really not a technique, but more of a "visual" skill in turntablism. The turntablist would use various parts of their body to scratch or move the fader on the mixer to perform tricks. Long ago, body tricks were mainly used with flashing (see below for details on flashing). Now, body tricks are incorporated into a lot of beat juggling. The X-ecutioners are famous for this.

Flashing
I don't know who invented this element as well. Flashing is basically using two of the same or different records, and looping a sample or beat segment in a record. This is not to be confused with beat juggling. Now the reason I say this is that if you were to close your eyes while listening to someone flash, you couldn't really bob your head consistently to the beat. With juggling, you can. With flashing, it's similar to using a sampler and having a sound repeat itself over and over again. For example, say you have two of the same records containing a sample that says "It's Time". The turntablist would go back and forth with each record, making the samples repeat - "It's Time, It's Time, It's Time, It's Time". Back in the days of the DMC Competitions, deejays competed on who could flash the fastest. Some even incorporated body tricks while flashing for that "visual" effect. Flashing is also considered a "visual" skill as well. Not really that technical or hard to do.

Dissing
Dissing was, and still is, one of the cool things to see in a battle. Back in the days, deejay crews who had rivalry with another crew, used disses to taunt them in battles. They would take a phrase from a record and play it for their opponent, therefore dissing him/her. This can range up to telling a story using phrases, or just using the phrases to call the opponent names. Some turntablists flick off their opponent in the middle of their sets. DJ Noise from Denmark made dissing very popular. He researched all his beats and found the right samples to go with others. He strung them all together into a production piece.

Turntable Band
Made popular by the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, this element of turntablism was introduced in 1992 by Q-bert, Mixmaster Mike, and Apollo. The turntable band is considered the next level in turntablism. This involves a group of turntablists using three or more turntables to create a musical composition similar to a band.One turntablist would Drum Scratch a beat while the other one scratched. Sometimes a third turntablist would throw in samples to accent the melodies being produced (headnoting). Most turntable bands create their own productions, and others re-mixed popular hip hop songs right on the turntables. The Skratch Piklz recreated Soul Sonic Force's "Planet Rock" by using just three turntables. No four tracks, DAT equipment or samplers. This is featured on the video. The Beat Junkies, 5th Platoon, X-Men, Turnstyles, Scratch Perverts, Turntable Orchestra and STA have turntable bands. To order any of the ITF videos, call the San Francisco ITF office at (415) 991-0108.

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