Turntablism
Turntablism is live, musical manipulation of recorded media, using vinyl records or a similar manual interface.
While the terms are often used interchangeably, a DJ or disc jockey is a broad role which includes anyone who programs recorded music for a live event or broadcast, where the term turntablist refers to someone who manipulates the playback of the recording in a creative fashion.
History
Turntablism is technically a form of musique concrète, and some composers experimented with special effects using early turntables, especially before the advent of magnetic tape. Jamaican composer and performer Lee "Scratch" Perry made use of turntablism techniques in his dub music of the 1960s.
Beat Juggling
Modern turntablism arose as a foundational part of American hip hop culture. A common technique involved the artificial extension of solo drum breaks by quickly cuing one copy of a recording while a second one is playing, and continuing to switch back and forth in the proper tempo. Gradually, performers experimented with other manual manipulations used in a creative and rhythmic ways.
DJs and MCs
In early hip hop culture, turntablists often performed with rappers, providing an improvised accompaniment that was responsive to the rapper's content and flow.
As hip hop began to be embraced by the recording industry, rappers — as the more visible part of the ensemble — began to garner more attention than the turntablists they were performing with, and producers would often use recorded backing tracks in lieu of a turntablist on rap recordings. As a result, the two art forms began to diverge, with turntablists performing as solo acts, with other turntablists, or in ensembles where they had a featured role.
Equipment
Turntablism pioneers like Jamaican-American DJ Kool Herc and Barbadian-American Grandmaster Flash developed their craft using consumer equipment designed for traditional music playback and mixers intended for sound reinforcement. As the genre grew, turntablists sought out specialized equipment and manufacturers began filling the need.
Turntables
Turntablism is traditionally done using physical record players or turntables playing vinyl records. To facilitate the manipulation of records during playback, turntablists prefer direct-drive turntables, in which the motor is placed directly beneath the spindle. This is in contrast to belt-drive turntables, which use rubber belts to transfer movement from the motor to the spindle, and which can be subject to slippage or tension delays. Specialized needles are also required which accommodate record movement in both directions without damaging either the record or the needle itself.
When turntablists manually move the record back and forth, they do not actually stop or slow the spinning platter beneath, as this can cause harmful wear to the turntable's motor. Instead, they place a disc of smooth material called a slipmat between the platter and the record. This allows the record to be rotated smoothly while the platter continues to spin at a consistent speed beneath.
DJ Mixers
Early turntablist setups would consist of two turntables placed side by side, both connected to a mixer. Modern turntablists usually use a specialized two-channel mixer, called a DJ mixer, which provides simple controls for each channel and a large, horizontal crossfader at the bottom. Consolidated units, which contain two turntables and a DJ mixer in a single case, are also available.
Digital Controllers
Instead of relying on vinyl records, some turntablists use digital controllers designed to provide a similar interface. These units use jogwheels which sense manual manipulation — through either a mechanical interface or a touch-sensitive surface — and control the playback of digital audio. This allows the performer to store large amounts of audio and quickly switch between tracks without needing to change vinyl records.
Techniques
As with other musicians, turntablists make use of a large vocabulary of performing techniques, each of which creates a different aural result.
Mixing
The use of dual turntables allowed early DJs to segue from one song to the next without a break, allowing for uninterrupted sequences of music in dance environments. On a DJ mixer, this is done using a crossfader, a slider which controls over mixing the two audio channels.
To crossfade from one track to the next, DJs will generally select tracks that have similar or even identical tempos, and some will organize music libraries according to tempo. Subgenres of EDM tend to be defined in part by specific tempos indicated by BPM or beats per minute.
In addition to segueing, turntablists use more complex mixing — crossfading back and forth between the same two tracks in creative ways — as a means of musical composition or improvisation.
Chopping
Chopping is a special type of mixing in which identical tracks are played on each turntable, with one delayed by one or more beats from the other. The turntablist then rhythmically alternates playback between the two, creating an echo-like effect.
Chopping is often used with tracks played at a slower speed, a technique called screwing. This combination forms the basis of a subgenre of turntablism called chopped and screwed that emerged from hip hop culture centered in Houston, Texas.
Scratching
Scratching involves the manual movement of a record while being played, distorting the music intentionally. Despite the name, this process is not damaging to the record when done with appropriate equipment and technique. The turntablist's hand is placed on the left side of the record as it spins clockwise, so pushing the hand plays the audio forward and pulling it backward plays the audio in reverse.
The most basic scratches are done using only record movement while the needle is engaged:
- Baby: a gentle push-pull motion, changing direction every beat
- Scribble: a faster push-pull motion, in eighth-note or sixteenth-note rhythms
- Drag: a slower push-pull motion, often in half-note rhythms
- Tear: a push motion followed by two shorter pull motions with a stop between them
Beyond these basics, scratching is done with one hand on the record and one hand operating the crossfader. Turntablists refer to the crossfader as being in the open position, allowing the manipulated record audio to play at full volume, or closed position, muting the audio.
- Forward: pushing the record with the crossfader open, then closing the crossfader while the record is pulled back
- Release: letting the record play normally with the crossfader open, then closing the crossfader while the record is pulled back
- Backward: pushing the record with the crossfader closed, then opening the crossfader while the record is pulled back
- Flare: moving the crossfader from open to closed and back to open during a single push or pull movement
- Orbit: moving the crossfader from open to closed and back to open twice during a single push or pull movement
- Chirp: pushing the record while closing the crossfader, then pulling it back while opening the crossfader
More advanced scratches involve a motion that turntablists call a click: tapping a closed crossfader against a thumb or finger which snaps it back, resulting in a short burst of sound.
- Stab: clicking the crossfader while pushing the record
- Transform: clicking the crossfader rhythmically while pushing the record or letting it play normally
- Twiddle: using two fingers in rapid succession to create two short clicks
- Crab: using three or four fingers in rapid succession to create multiple short clicks
Other complex scratches, such as the boomerang, swing flare, autobahn, and military are created by combining these basic motions into larger rhythmic constructs.
Notation
While turntablism is most often improvised or learned by rote, there have been some efforts to create notational systems to facilitate performance, teaching and analysis. Some of these systems have received enthusiastic support in the turntablism community, but none has achieved widespread use.
Turntablism: Summary
- Turntablism is live, musical manipulation of recorded media, generally using record players or interfaces modeled after them.
- A turntablist is a musician who performs using turntablism.
- While turntablists often use the title, the term DJ can refer to anyone who programs recorded music for a live event or broadcast.
- Turntablism first arose as part of hip hop culture, where DJs would extend drum breaks using beat juggling: switching between cued sections on two copies of a recording.
- Early rappers relied on turntablists to provide beats, but switched to prerecorded, sampled beats for commercial recordings.
- Turntablists rely on particular equipment for performance:
- Turntables are used with specialized needles which support direction reversal and slipmats which allow the record to move independently of the platter.
- DJ Mixers are designed to be placed between two turntables and supply specific controls, most notably a crossfader which controls the relative volume of each turntable.
- Digital controllers are designed to mimic the functionality of traditional turntables with digital audio, and feature jogwheels in place of platters for manipulating playback.
- Turntablists make use of several techniques specific to the genre:
- Mixing is the process of fading between two different recordings, often selected to have identical or similar tempos.
- Chopping is alternating between two identical recordings offset by one or more beats.
- Screwing is playing tracks at a slower speed, which lowers the pitch of the music.
- Scratching is the manual movement of an actively playing record, usually with one hand on the record or jogwheel and another hand operating the crossfader.
- Some systems of turntablism notation have been devised, but have not gained widespread usage.