Scratching is a DJ or
turntablistTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
technique used to produce distinctive
soundSound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
s by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a
turntableThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with
hip hop musicHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
, since the late 1980s, it has been used in some styles of
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and
nu metalNu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
. Within hip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills, and there are many scratching competitions.
In recorded hip-hop songs, scratched
hookA hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
s often use portions of different rap songs.
History
Scratching was developed by early
hip hopHip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
DJs from
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
such as
Grand Wizard TheodoreGrand Wizzard Theodore , is an American hip hop DJ. He is widely credited as the inventor of scratching.Born Theodore Livingston in Bronx, New York, his brother, Mean Gene, was Theodore's mentor, and began teaching him DJing before Theodore was even a teen...
and DJ Grandmaster Flash, who describes scratching as, "
nothing but the back-cueing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd." (Toop, 1991). Jamaican-born DJ Kool Herc also influenced the early development of scratching. Kool Herc developed
break-beatIn popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
DJing, where the breaks of
funkFunk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
songs—being the most danceable part, often featuring
percussionA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties.
Although previous artists such as
William S. BurroughsWilliam Seward Burroughs II was an American novelist, poet, essayist and spoken word performer. A primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodernist author, he is considered to be "one of the most politically trenchant, culturally influential, and innovative artists of the 20th...
had experimented with the idea of manipulating a record manually for the sounds produced (such as with his 1950s recording, "Sound Piece"), scratching as an element of hip hop pioneered the idea of making the sound an integral and rhythmic part of music instead of uncontrolled noise.
Christian MarclayChristian Marclay is a Swiss-American visual artist and composer.Marclay's work explores connections between sound, noise, photography, video, and film...
was one of the earliest musicians to scratch outside of hip hop. In the mid-1970s, Marclay used gramophone records and
turntablesThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
as
musical instrumentA musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
s to create
sound collageIn music, montage or sound collage is a technique where sound objects or compositions, including songs, are created from collage, also known as montage, the use of portions of previous recordings or scores...
s. He developed his turntable sounds independently of hip hop DJs. Although he is little-known to mainstream audiences, Marclay has been described as "the most influential
turntableTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
figure outside hip hop." and the "unwitting inventor of
turntablismTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
."
Grandmaster Flash was the first person to release a song, "
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel"The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" is a single released by Grandmaster Flash in 1981. It is a live DJ mix recording of Flash scratching and mixing records from various groups using three turntables...
", with scratching on it in 1981. In 1982,
Malcolm McLarenMalcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
& the
World's Famous Supreme TeamThe World's Famous Supreme Team was an American hip hop group founded in the 1980s. Members included Larry Price and Ronald Larkins Jr., among others. The group joined forces with Malcolm McLaren on a number of early hit hip hop records. Among the group's most well-known works were the singles...
released a single "
Buffalo GalsBuffalo Gals is a hip-hop single released by Malcolm McLaren & the World's Famous Supreme Team as a single in 1982 and on their 1983 album Duck Rock. The song is composed of extensive scratching with calls from square dancing...
", juxtaposing extensive scratching with calls from square dancing, and, in 1983, the EP,
D'ya Like Scratchin'?, which is entirely focused on scratching. Scratching (and sampling) later gained mainstream popularity in the UK and
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from the 1987 hit
"Pump Up The Volume""Pump Up the Volume" is a song and the only single by British recording act MARRS. It was a number-one hit in many countries and is generally regarded as a significant milestone in the development of British house music and music sampling....
by M/A/R/R/S.
Vinyl recordings
Most scratches are produced by moving a vinyl record back and forth with the hand while it is playing on a
turntableThe phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
. This creates a distinctive sound that has come to be one of the most recognizable features of hip hop music. Over time with excessive scratching the needle will cause what is referred to as record burn.
The basic equipment setup for scratching includes two turntables, and a DJ mixer, which is a mixer that has a crossfader and "cue" buttons to allow the DJ to "cue up" new music without the audience hearing. When scratching, this crossfader is utilized in conjunction with the "scratching hand" to cut in and out of the scratched record.
Non-vinyl scratching
- CDJ
CDJ is a term used to describe a line of CD players from Pioneer Electronics that allow analogue control of music from CDs, usually using an emulated vinyl control surface...
s, devices that allow a DJ to manipulate a CD as if it were a vinyl record, have become widely available.
- Vinyl emulation software allows a DJ to manipulate the playback of digital music files on a computer using the turntables as an interface. This allows DJs to scratch, beatmatch
Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track e.g. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously...
, and perform other turntablistTurntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
maneuvers that would be impossible with a conventional keyboard-and-mouse. Scratch software includes Traktor Scratch ProTraktor is a DJ software package developed by Native Instruments. The most recent version, Traktor Pro, offers seamless looping, effects, automatic beat-gridding of tracks, advanced beat detection and Sync Lock for automatic synchronization of tracks, a 4-channel mixer, emulating the Xone:92...
, Final ScratchFinal Scratch is a DJ tool created by the Dutch company N2IT with input from Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva that allows manipulation and playback of digital audio sources using traditional vinyl and turntables...
, MixxxMixxx is open source digital DJ'ing software that allows an individual to mix music using a personal computer, as a DJ would with a pair of physical turntables. It is specifically suited to the style of mixing known as beatmatching. - Overview :...
, Serato Scratch Live, Virtual DJ, M-AudioM-Audio is a business unit of Avid Technology that designs and markets digital audio and MIDI interfaces, keyboards and MIDI controllers, synthesizers, loudspeakers, studio monitors, digital DJ systems, microphones, and music software...
Torq, algoriddim djaydjay is a digital music mixing software program for Mac OS X, iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch created by the German company algoriddim. It allows playback and mixing of digital audio files with a user interface that tries to simulate the concept of "two turntables and a microphone" on a computer...
, and Digital Scratch.
- More rarely, DJs do scratching with magnetic tape, sometimes by recording music onto magnetic stripes and disassembling a cassette tape recorder to play the magnetic stripes. An example of tape-scratching can be viewed in this video of Mr. Tape, from Latvia
Sounds
Sounds that are frequently scratched include but are not limited to drum beats, horn stabs, spoken word
samplesIn music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
, and lines from other songs. Any sound recorded to vinyl can be used, and
CDThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
players providing a turntable-like interface allow DJs to scratch not only material that was never released on vinyl, but also field recordings and samples from television and movies that have been burned to
CD-RA CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
. Some DJs and anonymous collectors release
12-inch singleThe 12-inch single is a type of gramophone record that has wider groove spacing compared to other types of records. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the cutting engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality...
s called
battle recordsBattle records are vinyl records made up of brief samples from songs, film dialogue, sound effects, and drum loops for use by a DJ. The samples and drum loops are used for scratching and performances by turntablists....
that include trademark, novel or hard-to-find scratch fodder. The most recognizable samples used for scratching are the "Ahh" and "Fresh" samples, which originate from the song "Change the Beat" by Fab 5 Freddy.
There are many scratching techniques, which differ in how the movements of the record is combined with opening and closing the crossfader (or another fader or switch, where "open" means that the signal is audible, and "closed" means that the signal is inaudible). This terminology is not unique; the following discussion, however, is consistent with the terminology used by
DJ Q-BertRichard Quitevis, born October 7, 1969, in San Francisco, California, known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert , is a Filipino-American Turntablist and composer.- Early life :...
on his Do It Yourself Scratching DVD.
Sophisticated techniques
- Baby scratch - The simplest scratch form, it is performed with the scratching hand only, moving the record back and forth in continuous movements while the crossfader is in the open position.
- Forward and backward scratch - The forward scratch, also referred to as "cutting", is a baby scratch where the crossfader is closed during the backwards movement of the record. If the record is let go instead of being pushed forward it is also called "release scratch". Cutting out the forward part of the record movement instead of the backward part gives a "backward scratch".
- Tear Scratch
A tear is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from moving the record on the turntable by hand.- Technique :The tear is much like a baby scratch in that one does not need the fader to perform it, but unlike a baby scratch, when the DJ pulls the record back he or she pauses his or her...
- Tear scratches are scratches where the record is moved in a staggered fashion, dividing the forward and backward movement into two or more movements. This allows creating sounds similar to "flare scratches" without use of the crossfader and it allows for more complex rhythmic patterns. The term can also refer to a simpler, slower version of the chirp.
- Scribble scratch - The scribble scratch is performed without the crossfader, and is performed by tensing the forearm muscles of the scratching hand and rapidly jiggling the record back and forth.
- Chirp scratch
A chirp is scratch, a term used by turntablists. It involves the use of record hand movement and the cross-fader.-Technique:The scratch is somewhat difficult to perform because it takes a good amount of coordination....
- The chirp scratch involves closing the fader just after playing the start of a sound .. and as you shut the sound off you should also stop the record moving at that point too , then reverse manouvre the record while opening the fader to get a kinda " chir-pa " pattern simply from one baby scratch and a cut in the centre . When performed using a recording of drums this allows creating the illusion of doubled scratching speed, due to the attack created by cutting in the crossfader on the backward movement.
- Hydrophonic Scratch - is a baby scratch with a "tear scratch" sound produced by your thumb running the opposite direction as your scratch fingers. This rubbing of the thumb adds a vibrating effect or reverberation to forward movements on the turntable.
- Transformer scratch
A transform is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from a combination of moving the record on the turntable by hand and repeated movement of the crossfader.- Creation :...
- with the crossfader closed, the record is moved with the scratching hand while periodically "tapping" the crossfader open and immediately closing it again.
- Flare scratch
Flare is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from a combination of moving the record on the turntable by hand and quick movement of the crossfader.The flare was invented by its namesake, DJ Flare, in 1991, but was further developed by DJ Q-Bert....
- it begins with the crossfader open, and then the record is moved while briefly closing the fader one or more times to cut the sound out. This produces a staggering sound which can make a single "flare" sound like a very fast series of "chirps" or "tears." The number of times the fader is closed ("clicks") during the record's movement is usually used as a prefix to distinguish the variations. The flare allows a DJ to scratch continuously with less hand fatigue than transforming. The flare can be combined with the crabA crab is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from a combination of moving the record on the turntable by hand and quick movement of the crossfader.- Creation :...
for an extremely rapid continuous series of scratches.
- Crab scratch
A crab is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is made from a combination of moving the record on the turntable by hand and quick movement of the crossfader.- Creation :...
- it consists of moving the record while quickly tapping the crossfader open with each finger of the crossfader hand. In this way, DJs are able to perform transforms or flares much faster than they could by manipulating the crossfader with the whole hand. It produces a fading/increasing transforming sound.
- Twiddle scratch - consists of a two finger Crab Scratch using your index and middle fingers
- Orbit scratch
An orbit is a type of scratch used by turntablists. It is generally any scratch that incorporates both a forward and backward movement, or vice versa, of the record in sequence.- Creation :...
- this term describes any scratch (most commonly flares) that are repeated during the forward and backward movement of the record. Orbit is also used as a shorthand for 2-click flares.
- Tweak scratch - it is performed with the turntable's motor off. The record platter is set in motion manually, then "tweaked" faster and slower to create a songlike scratch. This scratch form is best performed with long, sustained sounds.
- Euro scratch - a variation of the "flare scratch" in which two faders are used simultaneously with one hand to cut the sound much faster. The euro scratch can also be done by using only the up fader and the phono line switch to cut the sound.
Scratching culture
While scratching is becoming more and more popular within pop music, sophisticated scratching is still predominantly an underground style. The
Invisibl Skratch PiklzThe Invisibl Skratch Piklz were a group of Americans of Filipino Ancestry turntablists.The members of the group were originally hip-hop DJs, who were among the pioneers of the turntablism movement in the 1990s; turntablists create musical pieces by mixing samples from records, by using multiple...
from San Francisco focuses on scratching. In 1994, the group was formed by DJs
Q-BertRichard Quitevis, born October 7, 1969, in San Francisco, California, known by his stage name DJ Qbert or Qbert , is a Filipino-American Turntablist and composer.- Early life :...
,
DiskDJ Disk is a San Francisco Bay Area turntablist of Panamanian, Colombian, and Nicaraguan descent. Born Luis Quintanilla on October 7, 1970, in San Francisco, Disk began scratching and mixing vinyl at a young age...
& Shortkut and later
Mix Master MikeMix Master Mike is an American turntablist and contributing member of the Beastie Boys.-Life and career:Born Michael Schwartz in San Francisco, California, Mix Master Mike is of German and Filipino descent. He first came to prominence upon winning the 1992 New Music Seminar/Supermen Inc...
. In July 2000, San Francisco’s
Yerba Buena Center for the ArtsYerba Buena Center for the Arts is a multi-disiplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, national, and international artists and the Bay Area's diverse...
held Skratchcon2000, the first DJ Skratch forum that provided “the education and development of skratch music literacy”. In 2001,Thud Rumble became an independent company that works with DJ artists to produce and distribute scratch records.
In 2004,
Scratch MagazineScratch was a magazine about the art of creating hip-hop. It featured articles regarding producers, musicians and DJs that make beats for rap records, and details the secret methods, stories, partnerships, philosophies and equipment behind the music...
, one of the first publications about hip-hop DJs and producers, released its debut issue, following in the footsteps of the lesser-known Tablist magazine. Pedestrian is a UK arts organisation that runs Urban Music Mentors workshops for youth in which DJs tell youth how to create beats, use turntables, MC, and perform.
Use outside of hip hop
Scratching has been incorporated into a number of other musical genres, including
popPop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
,
rockRock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
,
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
,
heavy metalHeavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
and classical music performances.
For recording use,
samplersA sampler is an electronic musical instrument similar in some respects to a synthesizer but, instead of generating sounds, it uses recordings of sounds that are loaded or recorded into it by the user and then played back by means of a keyboard, sequencer or other triggering device to perform or...
are often used instead of physically scratching a vinyl record.
Rage Against the MachineRage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
(and former
AudioslaveAudioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
) guitarist
Tom MorelloThomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
performs scratching-inspired
guitar soloIn popular music, a guitar solo is a melodic passage, section, or entire piece of music written for an electric guitar or an acoustic guitar. Guitar solos, which often contain varying degrees of improvisation, are used in many styles of popular music such as blues, jazz, rock and metal styles such...
s. In the song "
Bulls on Parade"Bulls on Parade" is a song released by Rage Against the Machine in 1996, and can be found on their second album Evil Empire.-Context:"Bulls on Parade" addresses the American military-industrial complex, a situation in which industry urges government to take military action, with the intent of...
", and many other songs in which he solos, he creates scratch-like rhythmic sounds by rubbing the strings over the pick-ups while using the pick-up selector switch as a cross-fader.
Since the 1990s, scratching has begun being used in a variety of popular music genres, such as
nu metalNu metal is a subgenre of heavy metal. It is a fusion genre which combines elements of heavy metal with other genres, including grunge and hip hop...
acts (like
Linkin ParkLinkin Park is an American rock band from Agoura Hills, California. Formed in 1996, the band rose to international fame with their debut album, Hybrid Theory, which was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2005 and multi-platinum in several other countries...
,
SlipknotSlipknot is an American heavy metal band from Des Moines, Iowa. Formed in 1995, the group was founded by percussionist Shawn Crahan and bassist Paul Gray...
and
Limp BizkitLimp Bizkit is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida. Formed in 1995, the group's lineup consists of Fred Durst , Wes Borland , Sam Rivers , John Otto and DJ Lethal . The band achieved mainstream success with their second studio album Significant Other, released in 1999...
) and in some types of pop music (e.g.
Nelly FurtadoNelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...
), and in some types of
alternative rockAlternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
(e.g.
IncubusIncubus is an American rock band from Calabasas, California. The band was formed in 1991 by vocalist Brandon Boyd, lead guitarist Mike Einziger, and drummer Jose Pasillas while enrolled in high school and later expanded to include bassist Alex "Dirk Lance" Katunich, and Gavin "DJ Lyfe" Koppell;...
).. Scratching is also popular in various
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
styles, most particularly in hard-groove techno.
See also
- Tape-bow Violin
- Vinyl Emulation Software
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 deejaying with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in phonograph form...
- VirtualDJ
VirtualDJ is a range of audio/video mixing software developed by Atomix Productions Inc. for use by mobile and club DJs. The software is also exclusively repackaged for Numark, called Numark CUE....
- Final Scratch
Final Scratch is a DJ tool created by the Dutch company N2IT with input from Richie Hawtin and John Acquaviva that allows manipulation and playback of digital audio sources using traditional vinyl and turntables...
- Serato Scratch Live
- List of Turntablists
Sources
External links