What You Need to Know

I have toured using a turntable, sampler, DJ mixer, and portable CD player, but I do not consider myself a DJ; nor am I here to turn you into Mixmaster Mike or give you a comprehensive lesson in scratching. Here's what I do want to get across in this two-part series:

1. Basic operation of a turntable and DJ mixer is neither alchemy nor brain surgery. But if you think it's boneheaded or non-musical, think again. Or better yet, try it yourself. Of course, even if you don't ever put your fingers on a records surface, you ought to have some idea of what that guy who just might show up at your next jam session is doing. (Check out Turntable Basics for an explanation of DJing's fundamental principles and key functions.)

The Numark Pro SM-3 ($899) is a new 3-channel scratch mixer.

2. If you've been diving into hard disk audio and sampling, you're missing half the fun if you don't have a turntable. Vinyl records are the coolest sampling source, both in sound and vibe. They're cheap and plentiful (you probably already have a stack in the closet), they range from trippy space music to bizarre spoken word stuff, and they give you the ability to mess with their pitch and timing before you hit the sampler.
3. Adding even a modest DJ setup to your system gives you an interactive stereo. Why just listen to records when you can plunder them, mix them, and make collages out of them? Why make wimpy linear song-pause-song mix tapes for friends, when you can create kooky crossfade-active DJ mix tapes that help you explore your taste in music and the origins of your artistic aesthetic? (We'll discuss what gear might fit your budget and musical goals in Part Two.)

Vinyl "scratching" was developed by pioneers such as Kool Herc and brought into the mainstream by Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. and DJ DXT on Herbie Hancock's "Rock It." Now a refined instrumental form, scratching complements rock with stunning ease, and continues to find new avenues in jazz (DJ Qwest's awesome Live Human), experimental music (SoundLab's Audio Alchemy), and even contemporary classical (DJ Spooky performing Iannis Xennakis). Yet hip-hop and dance music remain the turntable's home and source of evolution. In fact, many band-oriented musicians still know very little about what is now known as "turntablism."

Meanwhile, DJ culture has blossomed into a worldwide state-of-mind. Think "DJ" and an image springs to mind of a baggy-clothed dude hunched behind a couple of Technics SL-1200s, working the vinyl and the mixer fader to elicit jarring, bursts of white noise and stuttering speech, or crossfading between four-on-the-floor records so seamlessly, you're shocked when he or she removes one of the records from the turntable -- you thought that record was playing!

Like some bastard child of '80s shred guitar, scratching has become more competitive as its technical deftness has matured. Scratching "battles," like guitar competitions, encourage a value system based on speed, dexterity, and one-upsmanship. As did Eddie Van Halen's one-fingered tapping beget Jeff Watson's two-finger tapping, so did DJ Q-Bert's Crab scratch beget DJ Madcut's Twiddle scratch.

But just as you don't need to be Steve Vai to make compelling guitar music, you don't need to have mastered DJ Craze's moves to make compelling turntable-based music. Can it hurt to pick up the basics and get the accepted techniques under your thumb? Of course not. But you needn't compete with the virtuosos to make the equipment work for you, and you needn't kowtow to convention or wear the right clothes to make music with it.

Next Page: Turntable Basics....