by Rob Swift
If Hip Hop were the human body, the DJ would be the heartbeat. Pumping blood, or should I say music, to each part of the body at varying beats per minute. Without the DJ, the body fails to receive the essential nutrients, better yet sounds, which keep us moving, flowing through life. Once the heartbeat stops the body dies. In other words, the music's over! We obviously don't want that, so here I am, Rob Swift, about to give you the run down on what it takes to become a well rounded DJ/Turntablist.
What You'll Need - Equipment
Our bodies are made up of different accessories, bone, tissue, muscle, organs, etc. In DJing terms let's think of these accessories as the equipment we need to function.
(A) Turntables, you're gonna need two of these. If you can afford them, I suggest you start with those. Technics are the industry standard. So once you become a seasoned veteran and start getting hired to DJ at bars/clubs, 10 times out of 10, you'll have a pair of Technic 1200 turntables just waiting for you at the DJ booth.
(B) One mixer, I strongly suggest you purchase the RANE TTM 57. It's the best DJ mixer on the market, hands down! The sound quality is top notch. The fader is smooth as butter. It's dimensions are perfect for transporting and it fits in your average carry on size bag of luggage. This way you can bring it with you to all your gigs. But here's the killer. the RANE TTM 57 was designed to work with a DJ software called Serato Scratch Live which allows you to play MP3s from your laptop. All you gotta do is install the Scratch LIve software into your computer, connect the laptop to the TTM 57 via a USB cable and in 2 seconds, you instantly have access to as many songs as your
computer can hold. Therefore making it easier to travel without the burden of lugging around multiple back breaking crates of records. What makes using the TTM 57 fun and cool is you're manipulating the Serato Scratch Live software on your laptop straight from the mixer itself! Add a hard drive to the picture and you'll be rocking till the club shuts down. That being said, a solid collection of vinyl is always important. So don't neglect periodic trips to your local vintage record store. Some songs you just won't find online so on those occasions you can transfer whatever rare records you plan on playing at your next party straight into the Serato Scratch Live program from your turntables!
(C) Cartridges/Needles, go with SHURE. They have a wide variety of that cater to all types of DJs, Turntablists, etc.
(D) Headphones, buy what you can afford.
(D) Last but not least, you won't be able to hear what you're doing without a decent pair of Speakers. To save yourself some money, avoid getting the type of Speakers that also require you to also purchase an amp or receiver. I suggest you roll with a Speakers that possess a built in power amp. This way, you can make the connection out of the mixer into your Speakers using the cables of your choosing, 1/4 inch, RCA, etc. Once you've managed to acquire all of the above, the fun starts!
Steps
When we're born, we don't jump out of our mother's womb doing back flips and running sprints. We crawl before we walk. We walk before we run. Mixing, blending or matching beats are terms DJs use to describe the act of transitions between songs of varying beats per minute. It's a style that has been developed by the likes of Kool Herc and Afrika Bambata during the beginning of Hip Hop. This is an essential skill ALL DJS MUST HAVE in order to truly understand the concept of turntable manipulation.
While one song is playing out of your speakers, you must simultaneously be listening to the next song you're about to play in your headphones and verify whether it's playing slower or faster than the song your audience is dancing to. If the song in your headphones is playing slower then you'll have to speed it up so that it perfectly matches the track being heard through your speakers. If the song in your headphones is playing faster then... you guessed it, you'll have to slow it down. As you get a hang of mixing 2 songs of varying speeds you're ready to create a club set. The main thing is to keep a consistent rhythm going from the first song you play to the last. Keeping your audience on the dance floor is your main goal! Once you've mastered mixing, pat yourself on the back because you've made it through the crawling stage. The next step is learning how to Scratch aka the walking stage.
A Scratch is a sound created when you move a record back and forth. This technique was created by GrandWizard Theodore back in the mid 1970s. Learning how to Scratch will allow you to enhance the music your audience is listening to. It's like adding vocals to a funky beat but instead of speaking with your lips, your using your hands. Believe it or not, you can teach yourself a lot of different Scratches. You need a good ear though and hopefully you've developed that ear during the first stage of "Mixing." What I used to do was listen to songs by Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, in addition to many songs from other Hip Hop groups, and through trial and error, learn how to replicate the scratches I heard Jazzy Jeff perform. Eventually, I went on to develop my own unique style and you can too with dedication and practice. Once you've reached this stage, give yourself another pat on the back cause you went from crawling to walking. The third stage is Beat Juggling aka the sprinters stage.
This is basically the last invented style of DJing. Created by Steve D in the late 1980s, Beat Juggling is accomplished by taking the drums sounds on a particular record and manually forming a new beat, in real time, strictly using vinyl and your hands. You must have a keen ear, a sharp sense of timing and bar structure. In a nutshell, think of
Beat Juggling as a combination of the ability to Mix and Scratch. It's the most intense skill out of the 3 because it requires constant manipulation of the mixer and turntables. While Beat Juggling, not a second goes by where your hands aren't doing something. Learn how to Beat Juggle and you can now consider yourself a well rounded DJ/Turntablist.
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Word!
xo
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