Chapter 17

Scratching Lyrical

In This Chapter

Ensuring your gear is up to scratch

Marking your records properly

Scratching with vinyl, CDs and computers

Lending you a helping hand with basic scratching

Scratching is a specialised skill that takes a lot of practice and patience to master. When you’ve invested the time to develop the skill, half the people you know will drop their jaws in amazement at what you’re doing, while the other half will open their mouths just as wide – and yawn.

Whether you go on to develop the crab, the flare or the twiddle is up to you, but if you can master the baby scratch, the forward scratch and the cut, even if you consider yourself only a beatmatching, mixing DJ, you’ll be adding another weapon to your arsenal of DJ knowledge.

Scratching skills help you develop a smooth, fast technique when using your equipment – especially vinyl. When you’ve grasped the basics, you develop a feel for how much pressure you need to apply (very little) to hold a record still while the platter is turning, you’re able to wind the record back and forth without the needle flying off, and you develop solid, stable hands when holding the record stopped, ready to start it.

CD DJs and digital DJs using controllers can be a blur of activity as they load up samples and let the jog wheels fly! But whether you’re digital or analogue, scratching is about using your skills to create something that sounds great.

Because most of the techniques in his chapter are better shown rather than described, my website at www.recess.co.uk has clips and links to support the information in this chapter.

Setting Up Equipment the Right Way

Anyone who’s used equipment that was poorly configured or wasn’t suitable for scratching will show the emotional scars as proof that you can’t afford to get the setup wrong.

CDs

If you’re using CDs to scratch with, you don’t need to set up much, apart from maybe the resistance of the platter (see Chapter 8) and switching the CD deck to vinyl mode in order to create the right scratch sounds.

Software

Digital DJs need to set the software up the way they want to use it. Vinyl emulation sound is vital, but if you’re using a digital vinyl system (a system that uses turntables or CD decks with time coded vinyl or CDs to control the music; see Chapter 9), you may want to set the playback mode to relative instead of absolute.

Absolute mode is the closest experience a digital DJ will have to traditional vinyl or CD DJing. Put the needle at the beginning of the vinyl or skip the CD control track to the beginning and the music in the software will go back to the beginning. Move the needle in a bit, and the tune will start playing from a part later in the track. So if you moved the needle on the time code control vinyl or skipped the CD one minute in, the tune would start playing one minute in. This means however, that when scratching, if the needle pops out of the groove and skips to another part of the record, the music will jump too.

Relative mode uses the time code control information only to let the software know how fast you’re playing the tune, and in which direction. So if you start a tune playing from the beginning of the control vinyl, lift the needle off, and replace it half way through the record, the tune will continue to play from where it was when you lifted off the needle.

So setting the playback to relative means that if the needle skips while you’re scratching, the sound from the section you’re scratching won’t skip.

Look at the onscreen layout of the software too. How many virtual decks do you want to have access to? Do you need the software mixer? Effects? Loops? Hot cues? You may be clicking around the screen frantically trying to load up the next sample, so make sure nothing is cluttering up the screen. You may also want to create a library containing just the samples you’ll use in a performance, so you’re not searching through thousands of samples trying to find that perfect ‘wah’ noise that you know is in there somewhere!

Turntables

For turntable scratch DJs using either time coded vinyl or traditional records, I mention a few of the basic but vital requirements that your turntables need to be suitable for DJing in Chapter 6. Turntables built for mixing share many of the same qualities as those you use for scratching; powerful, direct-drive motors are essential, and an adjustable tonearm, removable headshells and sturdy design are also crucial.

However, how you set up the needles, the orientation of the turntable and how you plug into your mixer are just as important as the make and model of turntable that you’re using.

A big factor for scratch DJs is the positioning of the decks. Instead of setting them up as the manufacturer intended (tonearm and pitch fader on the right-hand side), scratch DJs rotate the entire turntable anticlockwise by 90 degrees, so that the tonearm and pitch control are farthest away from the DJ.

The traditional setup only gives the DJ around 100 degrees of the record’s circumference to work with (shown in Figure 17-1, top), so the DJ can only pull the record back so far without hitting the needle out of the groove. Rotating the turntable by 90 degrees gives the DJ a lot more vinyl to work with (shown in Figure 17-1, bottom), making scratching much easier.

Weighing up needles

No matter what you use, how you set up the needle and the counterweight can drastically affect the stability of the needle. You don’t want the needle jumping out of the groove when you’re performing a tough scratch on traditional vinyl! Check out Chapter 7 for information on what makes a needle good for scratch use; the Shure M44-7 needle and cartridge (shown in Figure 17-2) has proved the most popular needle for scratching over the years.

The two ways to control the stability of your needle are through the downforce acting on the needle and the angle at which it digs into the groove. Simply set the needle so that it angles into the groove by 10 degrees and it’ll stick to the groove like glue. The downside, though, is that the needle wears out the groove like a hot knife through butter.

If you’re adjusting the downforce on the needle to control stability, don’t automatically add the heaviest counterweight available. Try to take the needle manufacturer’s guidance first and then add weight gradually. Although you may only end up a couple of milligrams off maximum, those milligrams can add months to the lifespan of your needle and records.

If the worst comes to the worst and the needle still flies when you’re trying to scratch even with the counterweight set to maximum, you can try a couple of more drastic options:

• Put the counterweight on backwards, so that the black ring (with numbers on it) points away from the tonearm. Because the other side of the counterweight isn’t tapered, it has more bulk, adding more weight.
• Raise the height of the tonearm so that the sharper angle makes the needle point down into the groove, creating more downforce. Don’t put the tonearm too high, though, or the front of the cartridge may rub against the record.
• The last and most destructive option is to create extra downforce by adding a weight such as a coin or some reusable putty, stuck onto the headshell. Doing this may help keep the needle in the groove, but you’ll wear out your records and needles quicker than your wallet can buy them!

Fixing the hole in the middle

It’s easy to blame a jumping needle on having too little counterweight, but sometimes the hole in the middle of the record is so big that the centre spindle bangs off the edges of the hole and bounces the needle out of the groove. The easiest way to fix this problem is to pass a short piece of tape through the hole, sticking equal halves of it to either side of the label. When you’ve stuck enough pieces of tape at different positions through the hole, the diameter reduces, solving the problem.

Sometimes the hole is too small, and the record won’t fit over the centre spindle properly (either not at all, or it’s way too tight, causing the turntable to slow down when you try to hold the record still). A simple fix is to get a small piece of sandpaper, roll it up into a cylinder, put it through the hole in the record and then, holding the sandpaper, spin the record around it. Do this action a couple of times and the hole opens up a bit.

If you spin the record for too long, you may make the hole too big and have to tape it up. Or, if you’re really unlucky and are a bit heavy-handed, you may cause small cracks in the record.

Wearing out your records

Between the increased downforce into the groove and the repetition of the needle passing back and forth over the same part of the record when scratching, the record inevitably suffers wear and tear.

However, because audio fidelity isn’t essential with scratching, record wear only becomes a problem if the record is damaged and starts to skip, or if the sample starts to sound too fuzzy. Keep your needles and records clean to reduce the possibility of dirt gouging holes in the record or making the needle less stable, and don’t add more counterweight than you need to the needle, and your vinyl collection will last a long time.

Preservation of your records is another good reason to use the relative mode in digital vinyl setups. This way, you’re not forced into using the very beginning of the record as the start of the sample, so you can spread out the wear of the record, vastly increasing its lifespan.

Giving slipmats the slip

As a vinyl scratch DJ, your slipmats should be slippery enough so that they don’t resist or drag when you’re scratching, yet still have enough grip so they won’t skid during a scratch or when you let go of the record to play it. (Check out Chapter 7 for everything you need to know about slipmats.)

Touching up mixers

Chapter 10 covers the vital functions you need in a scratch mixer, but you can make a couple of further improvements yourself. Firstly, take a look at your cross-fader. Make sure that you keep it lubricated so that it moves smoothly, without unwanted resistance.

Secondly, secure the faders and cross-faders. The parts that you touch to move the faders do have a tendency to fly off if you’re a bit rough with them. Pull the knob off and put a piece of paper over the metal protrusion that sticks out, making it thicker, and then put the knob back on. The knob is now wedged and harder to knock off, solving any flying knob problems!

Making the mixer a hamster

Many scratch DJs find it a lot more comfortable to scratch if they reverse the normal function of the cross-fader. This means that instead of moving the cross-fader to the left to hear channel 1 and the right to hear channel 2, you move to the right to hear channel 1 and the left to hear channel 2.

You can do this either with a switch (called a hamster switch) on certain mixers, or by connecting the turntables the wrong way around; you plug in the left deck, which you’d normally connect to channel 1, into channel 2, and the right deck connects to channel 1 instead of channel 2.

This is useful from a body mechanics point of view. You can perform some of the scratch moves faster if you ‘bounce’ the cross-fader off your thumb (which is placed a quarter of the way along the cross-fader slot) and the end of the cross-fader slot to cut the music in and out very quickly. This can be quite uncomfortable for a lot of DJs with the standard mixer setup as they have to twist their wrists to do this, so the hamster switch sets the mixer to make these moves a lot easier and more comfortable to perform.

In case you’re wondering, it’s not called a hamster switch because a hamster chewed through the cables to reverse the control (which crossed my mind). It’s named after the Bullet Proof Scratch Hamsters, who used to connect the decks up to the mixer the wrong way around in order to reverse the normal channel and cross-fader setup.

Preparing for the Big Push

You can’t scratch if you don’t have anything to scratch with. You need to find a section of a tune (called a sample) that you’ll use when scratching. For most scratches, this sample isn’t very long – a few seconds at most. No rule dictates what to use as your sample, but vocal samples, drums, beeps and brass stabs can all sound great in the right hands.

Although vinyl DJs can use 7-inch singles and 12-inch LPs for scratching, they have grooves that are a bit too compact to scratch with properly, making it easier for the needle to jump out of the groove, harder to mark the start of a sample, and a lot harder to find a sample in a rush. This means DJs more commonly use 12-inch singles, but if you find a sample on an LP or 7-inch, can mark the record correctly and have the technique to scratch well with it, don’t let anyone tell you that you’re wrong.

You don’t need to pick dance music, either. Classical tunes, spoken-word records, rock, folk and country – they all have the potential to have a sample that sounds great as a scratch. I had a ‘teach yourself Spanish’ record that I used a couple of times because of its strange vocal sounds.

The ultimate records for scratching, though, are specifically designed battle breaks with scratch-friendly samples. Although these records may only have ten short samples on an entire side, each sample repeats at the same point on the circumference of the vinyl. This design means that if the needle skips out of the groove into the groove next to it, you’re still at the exact same point in the sample, and no one knows any different (much like using the relative mode in a digital vinyl setup).

Marking samples

Scratch DJs need to locate the sample on a tune quickly, and to be able to return to it accurately over and over again. CD and digital scratch DJs can use cue points to instantly return to the start of a sample (see Chapter 8), but it’s a little trickier for traditional vinyl DJs. However, a combination of markers on the vinyl locating the exact groove where the sample starts, and marks on the label can make it easier to return to the beginning of that sample.

Getting to the point

The first thing you need to do is locate the specific point in a specific groove on a record that contains the sample you’re going to scratch, and mark it so you can return to it quickly.

One of the most popular ways to mark the start of the sample is to use a small sticker on the vinyl. I use numbered stickers that you used to get with video tapes, because they’re small and the numbers help me remember what sample to use next (check out Figure 17-3). Every DJ has a different kind of sticker they like using, so find one that you like and … stick with it.

Mark the groove to the left of the sample, so that the sticker’s not in the way when you perform the scratch. Here’s how:

1. Find the sample on the record and press stop on the turntable, with the needle at the very beginning of the sample.
2. Place a sticker very lightly (so it’s not stuck) directly in front of the needle. Then slowly turn the record with your hand so it plays in the forwards direction.

   Turning the record pushes the sticker out of the way, into the groove to the left of the sample (if it goes to the right instead, try again, but when you place the sticker in front of the needle, offset it to the left slightly).

3. Check that you’re in the right place by gently rocking the record back and forth and, if you got it right, press down on the sticker to make it stick to the groove next to the start of the sample.

The drawback to marking the record in this manner is that if you want to play the entire track, a great big sticker is in the way!

If you think that you’ll want to play the record in full, try using a chinagraph pencil (a white, wax-based pencil) to lightly draw a line (or an arrow; whatever you want) directly onto the vinyl. Be sure not to press down too heavily, or the wax from the pencil will get in the grooves and be just as troublesome as the sticker. Marks made with ultraviolet pens are good alternatives (you need to remember a UV light so you can see them), as are silver pens (but you still need to watch that the ink doesn’t fill up the groove). Eventually, the pen marks do wear off, but as long as you catch the wear in time and reapply your marker, you shouldn’t need to worry.

Following a line-up

Marking the start of a sample is a great way to find it initially, but a small pen mark is hard to return to when you’re in the middle of a mad scratch move. To help you find the start of a sample quickly, draw a big fat line on the label of the record (see Figure 17-4).

Think of the record as a clock face. The idea is to draw a line on the label so that when it’s pointing in a particular direction (12 o’clock and 9 o’clock are best) you know that you’re at the beginning of the sample. Here’s how:

1. Find the very beginning of the sample and stop the record.
2. Without moving the record (steady hands) use a CD case (or anything small and straight) to draw a line from the centre spindle to the outer edge of the record, pointing to whatever clock number you like. (I strongly suggest 12 o’clock; straight up.)
3. Take the record off the deck and make the line more noticeable by using a thick marker.

Instead of drawing a line, you can add a long, straight sticker on the record instead. If the sample is far enough into the record, add the sticker to the outer edge, pointing into the record. Or add the sticker on the inner part of the record so it protrudes over the blank grooves at the smooth, silent part next to the label.

Scratching on CD, MP3 and Computer

CD decks and software controllers with platters can let scratch DJs perform just as well (sometimes better) as they can with turntables. (See Chapters 8 and 9 for a more detailed description of jog wheels and platters on CD decks and controllers.)

From a purist DJ’s point of view, scratching using a digital vinyl system is the closest a digital DJ can get to the old analogue traditions. Where a beatmaching DJ who matches the bass beats of two tunes to progress through the mix is able to circumvent the mechanics of doing this by using auto sync and auto mix controls, a scratch DJ doesn’t have the same option. Controllers and mixers may be able to affect the tune in some way, but it’s still down to the DJ to move the control vinyl or control platter and the cross-fader to create the scratch moves and sounds.

Along with accurately emulating the sound of a record scratching, DJ software and some CD decks have other attributes that allow them to compete with vinyl. Memory banks to store multiple cue points (start points – in this case, of samples), built-in effects, loops, performance pads, instant reverse play and more all make software controllers and CD decks incredibly versatile for scratching compared with the more traditional vinyl.

These effects and controls may have removed some of the art and skill from scratching that you associate with vinyl, but they’ve evolved the creative process of scratching to a completely new technology-driven level. Even though the fundamental basics of scratching are the same on a vinyl turntable, controller or CD deck, the skills are slightly different for each format (you can be rougher on CD decks and controllers for a start, because you don’t need to worry about a needle jumping out of the groove), making direct comparison and competition between the two less and less relevant.

Marking bits and bytes

Because you can’t see a mark on a CD itself (and it would make the CD skip anyway), indicators on the jog dial or a separate display on some CD decks show you the start of the sample.

Digital vinyl DJs who set the control to relative just have to load in a sample, and it’s already right at the start. Waveform displays and graphics on screen let digital DJs know where they are in the sample, so they can easily see when they’ve returned to the start of the sample (as well as hear it!).

Mastering the Technique

Technique is everything when scratching vinyl. If you can develop a smooth, flowing, yet still ultra-fast action, you’re more likely to keep the needle glued into the groove. With CD decks and controllers, you still need a fluid motion to create a great scratch, but you don’t need to worry about popping the needle out of the groove.

Practise with both hands. If you spend the time to develop the dexterity and co-ordination needed to scratch with either hand on either of your decks and move the cross-fader independently, you’re well on your way to becoming a world-class scratch DJ. If you’re struggling trying to use both hands well, start eating with your knife and fork in the wrong hands. This will kickstart your brain into getting used to using your other hand more – and will eventually filter into your scratching skills.

Getting hands-on with vinyl

Always bear in mind that vinyl is really sensitive, and even with the extra counterweight pressure, new needles, a proper hole size and slippy mats, if you have a hand like a baby elephant, you’re going to make that needle fly!

You need to develop the correct hand technique. Things to bear in mind are that although you’re dealing with a lot of quick direction changes, try to be smooth; don’t jerk the record back and forth. When performed in succession, too many rough, jerky movements will pop the needle out the groove.

When you scratch the record, try to move it back and forth following the curve of the record. If you try to pull the record back and forth in a straight line, you’re adding a lot of sideways pulling and pushing pressure, which when combined may be enough to jump the needle out of the groove.

Changing sample sounds

As you start to scratch, you need to develop the knowledge of what changes the sound of the sample you’re scratching. The six key aspects to consider to make a sample sound different when scratching are:

• Location: You may have found a nice sample on a record, but you still have full control over what part of the sample you play. Just because the sample has someone saying scratch doesn’t mean that you have to play that full word. You may choose only to scratch with the sc part of the word, or maybe a scribble scratch on the tch part sounds unique and matches what you want to do perfectly.

  Changing where in the sample you scratch by just a couple of millimetres (or a tenth of a second) can make the difference between a good sound and a great sound.

• Direction: Nearly all samples sound incredibly different when you play them backwards as opposed to forwards, and if you’re not too sure about the sound of your scratch, you may find that scratching in the other direction improves the sound immensely.
• Speed: The speed at which any sample moves can alter your scratch from a low, rumbling, guttural sound to a high-pitched, shrill, chirpy sound. So don’t fall into the trap of scratching at the same speed all the time. Change up mid-scratch from a fast forwards motion to a slow backwards move, mix up the speed during a move (see ‘The tear’ scratch section, later in this chapter) and listen out for how the speed at which you scratch can alter the resulting power and sound.
• 33/45: One for the vinyl scratch DJs; playing the record at 33 or 45 rpm when letting go of the vinyl will make two different sounds. If you’re scratching something like a trumpet note, flicking between 33 and 45 can help you to play a tune with the one note! (Search the Internet for ‘Kid Koala – Drunk Trumpet’ for an amazing example.) Changing the pitch control on turntables, CDs or in software can have a similar effect, too.
• Audibility: How loudly you hear the sample playing, or whether you can hear it at all, is very important. Although the cross-fader is the main control for whether you can hear the sample, don’t forget about the channel fader.

  You can scratch using the channel fader instead of the cross-fader, and you can use the channel fader to set how loudly you hear the scratch, which adds an extra dimension to the scratch. Gradually fading out the scratch using only the cross-fader is difficult, but whether you use the channel fader on its own or in conjunction with the cross-fader, the channel fader can give you an extra level of audio control.

• EQ: Using the EQ (equaliser) to adjust the amount of bass, mid or treble present can change a shrill sounding scratch into a muddy, dark sounding one – in the middle of a scratch, if you like.

  Unless you have four hands, scratching using the cross-fader, the channel fader and the EQ control all at the same time is hard, but with practice and patience you’ll be amazed at how fast you can move from control to control.

Effects processors can also lend a hand. Effects like filters, flanger, distortion, echo, reverb and delay can all change the sound of the sample you’re scratching. As with everything in DJing, experimentation is key. Consider the scratch technique you’re performing and whether an effect will help it, hinder it or end up redundant. Give it a try, and weigh up whether the effect made the scratch better or worse.

Starting from Scratch and Back Again

All of the following scratch techniques work with any format, whether you’re scratching on vinyl, CD or in software. Try the following scratches on their own first, without playing anything on the other deck. Then when you’re happy, choose a tune with a slow beat to play on the other deck, and scratch in time with that beat. You don’t have to use a beat-only tune, but scratching over melodies and vocals may sound messy and confusing at first.

See my website at www.recess.co.uk for audio files and movie clips of a particular scratch if you’re unsure what it should sound or look like. Or search the Internet for video tutorials, such as ones by DJ QBert.

For all these scratches I give guidance on what direction you should scratch in, and what cross-fader action you may need, but as you get used to each scratch, adjust how quickly you do the scratch, what part of the sample you’re scratching from and how much of it you play.

Scratching without the cross-fader

The three scratches I discuss in this section help you develop the hand control to work with the vinyl (or CD platter or controller jog wheel) properly. Plus they’re the building blocks for all the scratches that follow in the section ‘Introducing cross-fader fever’. Even though they’re simple moves, mastering them is very important. You don’t need to use the cross-fader for these three scratches, so leave it in the middle position, with the channel fader at full.

The baby scratch

The baby scratch is the first scratch for you to try, and is by far the simplest, easiest scratch to attempt. It may also be how you broke the needle on your dad’s turntable when you were 9 years old …

The baby scratch is just a forwards movement followed by a backwards movement. Both directions are audible throughout the scratch (which is why you don’t need to touch the cross-fader on this scratch). If the sample you’re using is someone singing ‘Hey!’, then the sound would be like:

Hey (forwards) – yeH (backwards) – Hey … yeH … Hey … yeH …

When you’re happy and want to start scratching to the beat of a tune playing on your other deck, perform the forwards motion on the first beat of the bar and the backwards motion on the second beat:

• Beats:  1  2   3  4   1  2   3  4
• Scratch: Hey yeH Hey yeH Hey yeH Hey yeH

When you’re comfortable matching the 1, 2, 3, 4 beats of the bar with ‘Hey, yeH, Hey, yeH’ (two full baby scratches), speed up the scratch so that you’re going forwards and backwards on each beat (which makes four full baby scratches):

• Beats:  1   2   3   4   1   2  3   4
• Scratch: Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH      Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH  Hey-yeH

The scribble scratch

The scribble scratch is similar to the baby scratch, except that the amount that the record moves backwards and forwards is tiny (just the ‘H’ of hey, if that!) and you get a lot more scratches to the beat, let alone the bar!

By tensing the wrist and forearm while pressing down on the record with one finger, the muscles leading to your finger vibrate, causing the record to move backwards and forwards really quickly. If you think that you can generate enough speed without needing to tense your muscles, just move the record back and forth as fast as you can.

No matter what your technique is, you want to make the amount of vinyl passing under the needle as small as possible (less than 1 centimetre is best).

The tear

The tear is similar to the baby scratch, except that instead of two sounds, the scratch splits into three. You leave the cross-fader open (you can hear the sound) for the duration of the scratch, but introduce a change in the backwards speed that creates the third part of the scratch.

The forwards stroke (move) is the same as the baby scratch, but the first half of the back stroke is fast, and the second half of the stroke is half that pace.

Practise changing the speed of just the back stroke first to help you get used to the change in tempo. When you’re happy doing that, try adding in the forwards stroke to the two-part backwards stroke you’ve just mastered.

Introducing cross-fader fever

The scratches that I describe in this section involve using the cross-fader. Before you go any further, find out where the cut-in point on the cross-fader is. The cut-in point is where you have to move the cross-fader to in order to hear the appropriate channel. Depending on the cross-fader curve, this point can be a few millimetres of movement, or you may need to get the cross-fader into the middle before hearing the scratch at full volume. (Chapter 10 has more information on cross-fader curves and cut-in points.)

The forward scratch

The forward scratch gives you the perfect start to practising use of the cross-fader. Using exactly the same movement as in the baby scratch, start with the cross-fader past the cut-in point, so that you can hear the forwards movement, and then before you move the record back close the cross-fader so that you can’t hear the back stroke.

When you’re happy cutting off the back stroke of the baby scratch, start to scratch to the beat. With the ‘Hey!’ example, you match the 1, 2, 3, 4 beat of the bar with Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey:

• Beats:  1   2  3  4   1  2   3  4
• Scratch: Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey

If that’s a little too fast for you at first, give yourself more time by slowing down the scratch so you only hear ‘Hey’ on odd beats:

• Beats:  1  2  3  4  1  2  3  4
• Scratch: Hey    Hey    Hey    Hey

The backward scratch

As you may have guessed, the backward scratch is similar to the forward scratch, except that this time you hear only the back stroke of the baby scratch. So, you hear ‘yeH, yeH, yeH, yeH’ as you scratch to the four beats of the bar:

• Beats:   1  2   3  4   1  2  3   4
• Scratch:      yeH  yeH yeH yeH  yeH     yeH  yeH  yeH

You may find it easier at first to use the backward scratch in the off-beat, which is where it would be naturally if you were performing a baby scratch:

• Beats: 1  2   3  4  1   2  3  4
• Scratch: yeH yeH yeH yeH yeH yeH yeH

The cut

The cut is when you play the sample at normal speed and in the normal direction, but only play parts of it. I used to love doing this scratch with the James Brown ‘All Aboard’ sample at the beginning of Kadoc’s ‘Nighttrain’. It may sound something like ‘All (pause) All All A All-Aboard’:

• Beats:   1  2   3  4  1  2     3     4
• Scratch:   All  (rest) All All A All Aboard(rest)   (rest)

After I’d scratched with it for a while over another tune, I’d just let the sample play, the tune would kick in and the mix was done, which shows that scratching and mixing aren’t mutually exclusive; they can work together.

To perform this scratch, position the sample so that it’s right behind the needle. On a particular point in the other tune (at the start of a bar in my Kadoc example), move the cross-fader in and let the record run. When you want the sample to stop, close the cross-fader, wind the record back to the beginning of the sample and let it run again.

The trick is to make sure that you wind the sample back to the correct place in time. This is the perfect time to mark a line on the record label, so that when the line is pointing at 12 o’clock, you know that you’re at the start of the sample (see the earlier section ‘Marking samples’).

The chop

The chop is very similar to the cut, except that instead of playing the sample at normal pace, you control how fast it plays. By doing this, you can create some strange melodies to accompany what you’re scratching over.

And, of course, the reverse chop (and reverse cut) is when the fader is open for the back stroke rather than the forwards stroke.

The chirp

The chirp is where hand co-ordination starts to become essential. Start the sample with the cross-fader open, but just as you hear the sample play, smoothly (though quickly) close off the cross-fader. For the back stroke, do the exact opposite: as you move the record backwards, open the cross-fader. It’s easier to play the sample at normal speed at first, but you’ll most likely find better results when you scratch the sample quickly back and forth.

With the right sample, speed of scratch and movement of the cross-fader, this technique creates a bird-like whistling, or chirp noise.

The transformer

The transformer is another simple scratch that helps with the timing of your cross-fader moves, and also develops co-ordination between your hands.

To get used to the transformer, play the sample forwards so that it lasts one bar’s length (probably a couple of seconds, which means playing it very slowly) and then backwards for one bar. You can play for more or less time if you wish, but keeping the move to one bar gives you boundaries to work with for now that you can expand on when you get good at the transformer.

As you play the sample, open the cross-fader for half a beat then close it for half a beat. Do this for each beat in the bar. Four beats in the bar means you open and close four times – so the sample will split into four when playing forwards in the first bar, and four when playing backwards in the next bar. When you’re happy, double the speed at which you cut the music in and out. Then, if you think that you can move the cross-fader fast enough, double the speed again, so that you’re opening and closing the cross-fader 16 times for a bar.

Flares

The flare scratch takes the sample and splits it into two by quickly closing and re-opening the cross-fader. The scratch starts with the cross-fader open, which closes halfway through the sample and then opens again. If the sample you’re scratching is just someone saying the word scratch, then the flare means you hear scr tch.

When you close the cross-fader off quickly, it makes a clicking sound. In the preceding scr tch example, chopping the sample into two takes one movement – one click – and is called a one click forward flare.

The crab scratch

To get used to the cross-fader action for a crab scratch, click your fingers. Now instead of just your middle finger clicking off your thumb, click all four of your fingers across your thumb, starting off with the pinkie. This is the crab action: just place a cross-fader knob between your fingers and thumb.

Place your thumb as a spring to the cross-fader in the same way that you use it for the transformer scratch. As your fingers bounce the cross-fader off your thumb, you cut the sample into four – really quickly.

This is another scratch that can be easier to do if you set your mixer up in a hamster style, because you can bounce the fader off the side of the fader slot and your thumb.

The twiddle scratch

The twiddle scratch is the precursor to the crab scratch. Instead of using all four fingers to perform the crab scratch, you use only two to twiddle the cross-fader, which produces a slightly more constant rhythm to the scratch than the crab.

Combining scratches

When you’re familiar with these fundamentals, start combining them to create strings of different scratches over the beat. Start off simply, by switching from one scratch to another, like changing from a baby scratch to a forward scratch, or a forward scratch to a reverse scratch.

Here are a few more ideas:

• Transforming with transformers: Adding transforms to any of your scratches is a great way to change up the sound of some of the basic moves. Add a transform to a forward scratch so that you transform the forward movement but still don’t hear any of the back stroke. Or add a transform to a tear to really test your co-ordination!
• Adding flare: Add a flare or a crab to my ‘All Aboard’ cut scratch example, which adds a stutter effect to part of it.
• Add a speed bump: When scratching the record backwards, lightly tap the vinyl with your other hand, adding a ‘hiccup’ to the sound. Go even further by performing the hydroplane, where instead of tapping the record with your other hand you lightly rest your finger on the vinyl. The light touch should mean that friction caused when touching the record will lightly bounce/vibrate your finger when moving the record back, adding a rumble stutter to the scratch but without cutting it in and out.
• Try drop-ons to make your own tune: This is where you hold the needle and quickly touch the record with the needle at different parts of the tune. Each time you touch the record, you hear a musical note. String these all together to make a tune (like, bizarrely, the ‘Star Wars Death March’, which I’ve just watched on YouTube … ) And remember, changing the speed at which the sample plays (with the pitch control, 33/45 button or speed at which you move the vinyl/control) will change the note too.

The fundamentals that I mention here are just building blocks to get you on your way towards a vast array of different scratches. Many combinations exist for how to move the record, how to move the cross-fader and the speed at which to do it all. Check out my website at www.recess.co.uk and www.youtube.com for a few more ideas on how to mix up the fundamentals.

Juggling the Beats

Beatjuggling is a great skill and one that, when mastered, earns you a lot of respect from your peers. Start off using two tunes (they don’t have to be identical, but it helps at first) with just a drum beat to create a new drum beat using a combination of all the scratch fundamentals. When you move on to beatjuggling with tunes that have musical elements too, you can make something really special.

Precision when returning the tune to the beginning of the sample is paramount and a real test of your skills. Although the following guide explains the mechanics of how to do this with two records, you may find it a lot easier to do on CD or with software controllers that have cue points saved to a memory that you can access instantly at the push of a button.

Properly marking your records is incredibly important here, because you won’t have the time to listen in headphones to how you’re cueing up the tune to start it again. You need to rely on spotting the marker line you may have set at 12 o’clock, and have faith that you’re at the start of the sample. Eventually you’ll develop the feel to do this without relying so much on markers or screen displays, but they’re vital at the start.

Much as you would if you were juggling with balls, start off simply:

1. With two identical records at 0 pitch, cue them so that they’ll both play from the exact same point. Then start only one of them playing while holding the other tune ready to go when you want it to.
2. Play one bar of the drum beat from the first record, and at the end of the bar, start the other record playing, moving the cross-fader at the same time so you now hear its beats for a bar.
3. While that second bar is playing, wind the first record back to the start of the first bar again. When the second record has finished its bar of beats, start the first record again, moving the cross-fader over so you can hear it now. Keep doing this until it’s effortless to keep a flowing beat.

This method means that you play the same bar of drums over and over again, which may sound easy, but, believe me, it isn’t! You can get easily flustered, get the timing wrong for the start of the bar and make a pig’s ear of something that sounds so simple. Or you may be a natural and get it first time! If you’re finding it tricky at first, instead of repeating one bar, try four bars to give yourself lots more time to return the other tune to the beginning. Then, when you’ve got that, try three, then two and then one. Start easy and then make it harder and harder. Practise enough and you’ll crack it.

If you’re trying this on CD or DJ software, instead of winding back the sample to the beginning each time, just hit the cue button to return to the beginning of the sample, and hit play again at the start of the bar. Your CD decks or software will vary in how they return to the cue point and what you press to start the tune again, but as long as you can get back there in time to restart the tune, and start it at the right time, that’s all that counts. If you’re using a digital vinyl system, remember to set the mode to relative if you’re going to reset back to the cue point – otherwise you’ll still need to wind the record back to the start of the sample.

When you’re happy repeating the whole bar, halve the time that one record plays before switching over (now two beats instead of four). Then when you’re really confident, play the first beat from the first record and the second beat from the second record, and keep winding back the beats so you only hear the first two beats of the bar play over and over again.

Offsetting

By the time you can swap from beat to beat comfortably, you’ll want to create more complicated drum beats. Offsetting one of the records is a great and simple way to start. Begin by starting one of the tunes half a beat later, so instead of a simple Bass Snare Bass Snare for the four beats of the bar, you hear BassBass SnareSnare BassBass SnareSnare in the exact same amount of time. The first bass is from the first tune, and the second one is from the second tune.

Leaving the cross-fader in the middle creates that run of beats, but closing the cross-fader off to some of the beats starts to chop it up a lot more.

• Beats:  1   2  3   4   1  2    3    4
• Sounds: B1 B2 S1 B1  S1 S2  B2 S1 S2       B1 B2  S1

(B is bass, S is snare and 1 or 2 means from deck 1 or 2.)

Hot cue functions on CD decks or software, and performance pads on controllers can make beatjuggling a piece of cake – all you need is a good sense of rhythm and it’s easy. Save the bass drum from one tune to hot cue A on one deck, and the snare drum of another tune to hot cue A on the other deck. Leaving the cross-fader in the middle, just hit them in time to create your own new drum beat. And with three hot cues on each deck, you can save a selection of drum sounds for incredible creativity. You don’t even need two decks! Just store the bass drum into hot cue A and the snare drum into hot cue B on the same CD deck, and create your own drum beat on one CD deck. For more on hot cues, see Chapter 8.

Performance pads let you assign samples to pads on DJ controllers, so just hitting the pad will trigger the start of a sample. With multiple pads and multiple samples, you can create intricate drum beats if you have a creative sense of rhythm – throw in some musical samples too and you have the option of creating an entirely new tune!

It’s essential to have a great sense of rhythm if you’re creating a full drum beat out of single beats. If you’re not sure about creating drum beats, start off by checking out Drums For Dummies by Jeff Strong (Wiley).

These methods are only the tip of the iceberg for cutting up and creating drum beats. Increasing the speed at which you cut between tracks, changing how much you offset the beats and using beats from two different tunes can all come together to make a really complicated beat. And that’s without even considering adding cymbals, hi-hats and drum rolls!

Practice, dedication and patience

Practice, dedication and patience should make up your personal mantra for beat juggling (and scratching as a whole). Record/sample knowledge and manual dexterity are extremely important, but you need to be fluent and tight with the beats. You need to keep your scratch moves fluid and in keeping with the rhythm of what you’re scratching over, and if you’re beat juggling, the beat you make needs to flow as though a drummer is playing it – that way, you’ll earn respect for your skills.

It’s always good to take inspiration from others and set yourself a goal. Search YouTube for Kid Koala scratching with ‘Moon river’, and go on the DMC World Championships website (www.dmcdjchamps.com) – when you can juggle and scratch like that, you’ll be among the best.