DJ KOREA

One day,You decide to be a DJ. But at first, you will find some difficulties to start. So in this post, I will introduce a good place for some people want to get a taste of DJ equipment.

DJ KOREA (http://www.djkorea.kr/)

It is located at fifth floor, I-Park Mall, Yong-san Station, Line number 1. It is hard to meet DJ equipment, more over, you cannot find a place that has various type of DJ gear like this.

You can try many things such as turntable, mixer, headphone, CDJ... and there are a lot of scratching, and pop LP.

If you have some spare time, this place good for you for fun.

TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNERS

I'm going to post few simple techniques for the beginners. As you know, the fundamentals are most important things in anything, so practicing those elementary tech is really important.


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.

This is my playing. -_-;;
Thanks to DJ Q-Bert, more detailed information you can get through his tutorial video.

Tear Scratch - 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.

Chirp scratch - 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.

If you practice those skills for a while, you can mimic the "Rock it" performance of GrandMixer D.ST with Herbie Hancock, that I posted before.

DJ KENTARO

DJ Kentaro is from Japan. He won third prize in the Technics DMC World DJ Final in 2001 and won it in 2002 when he was just 20. 

So, he became one of the first ever Asians to win the DMC World DJ Final, receiving the highest score in DMC history!

I FIRMLY recommend you watch his videos, because it is speechless. Oh! I almost forgot to mention about his technique. He is good at "Beat Juggling. 

Beat juggling is the act of manipulating two or more samples (e.g. drum beats, or vocal phrases), in order to create a unique composition, using multiple turntables and one or more mixers. This can involve pauses, scratching, backspins and delays. It could be seen as fingertip sampling, and the turntable and mixer combination could be seen as an instrument from which sounds are made, from the sounds of other instruments. (wikipedia)

UPCOMING EVENTS!

  HAVE FUN :-D

DJ Gear for Beginners

Many beginners are confused choosing proper DJ equipment for them. I'm one of those beginners too, but I searched and compared lots of equipment before I purchase mine. Here's some explanations on various brand and suggestions for the beginners.

1. Technics (www.panasonic.com)

Technics invented new type of turntable and If you do some research on this subject you will find that Technics has been manufacturing dj gear for about 30 years and have dominated in DJ gear market share. The reason for this dominance is their insistance for quality, reliability and best manufacture methods with superior components and quality control. So, Technics hase strong competitive power among many DJ equipment manufacturers. 

Suggested Model : SL-1200MK Series, SL-1210MK Series.

2. Pioneer (www.Pioneerelectronics.com)

Pioneer makes CDJ. CDJ is a term used to describe a line of CD players from Pioneer Electronics that allow analogue control of music from CDs. Many electronic DJ use  pioneer equipment.

Suggested Model : CDJ-200, 400, 800MK2, 1000MK3

 <1000MK3>

3. Vestax (www.vestax.com)

Vestax produces only DJ equipment. Many Hip-hop DJ like Vestax's turntable and mixer, because the equipment of the company designed to maximize DJ performance. Vestax has a special turntable that is combined with a mixer. Moreover, there is a Q-bert version! :-D

Suggested model: PDX-2000MK2, PDX-3000

Main Equipment

<BASIC SETTING>

For Hip-hop DJ, two turntable and one mixer is needed. Turntable reproduces sound of LP record, and the one DJ uses is a little bit different from the ordinary one that is used in a household. DJ uses the turntable that has more high-powered motor and needle.

<TURNTABLE>

<MIXER>

In the middle of the mixer, there is a "Cross Fader".  It is the most important part for making various scratch sound. Besides the main setting, other DJ use other equipment such as Multi Track Recorder(MTR), Drum machine and so on.

<Multi Track Recorder>

<Drum Machine>

Scratch (Film)

Scratch is a documentary film, directed and edited by Doug Pray. The film explores the world of the hip-hop DJ. From the birth of hip-hop, when pioneering DJ's began extending breaks on their party records (which helped inspire break dancing and rap), to the invention of scratching and beat-juggling vinyl, to its more recent explosion as a musical movement called turntablism, it's a story of unknown underdogs and serious virtuosos who have radically changed the way we hear, play and create music. The documentary opens with Grand Wizard Theodore (New York) telling the story of how he first introduced scratching. Throughout the documentary, several artists explain how they were introduced to the field of hip-hop and scratch while providing stories and anecdotes of their personal experiences.  <wikipedia>

DJ occupied just small part in the Hip-Hop music at first, like making beat for MC's rapping. But it became main agent. In that film, many famous DJ appear, such as Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Krush, DJ Q-Bert, DJ Shadow, Cut-Chemist and so on. If you want to know some more about Hip-Hop and DJ, I strongly recommend you watch it!!

DJ Qbert

DJ Qbert is my favorite turntablist and one of the legendary player. He is Filipino-American, and was born in 1969. Qbert started playing with records at the age of 15, he was influenced by the street performers and graffiti artists of the local hip hop community in the mid 1980s. He participated in many DJ crews and won the title of DMC World DJ Champion four times. There is a story, when Qbert walks the streets of Japan, people bow to the master; in the Philippines there’s even more love and appreciation. 

He made some educational video series "Do It Yourself" and his own scratching vinyl called "SUPER SEAL". Many people who want to learn how to scratch watch the video and use the Super seal. In 2009 Qbert launched the Qbert Skratch University, an online school and community for DJ's.

The follow video is my favorite one of his playing. He's making a sound of drums. One day, I want to try that performance!

Rock it!

<ROCK IT VIDEO>

"Rock it" is a song recorded by Herbie Hancock. It was released as a single from his 1983 album Future Shockr. It became really popular because scratching and other turntablist techniques were included in the song. 

At MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, GrandMixer D.ST performed the song with Herbie Hancock. Many people got influenced, and some years later many famous turntablists cited the song as 'revelatory'. The single was a major radio hit in the United Kingdom and a popular dance club song in the United States.


I also performed this song. At first it was really hard to play, but whenever I succeed some technics, I found really fulfillment. I didn't have a video of my playing "Rock it", but I have some pictures of the performance.

Turntable?

Phonograph was invented by Thomas Edison in 1877. At first, it was used to both record and reproduce sounds. This device is often called a turntable, record player, or record changer. When it used with a mixer as part of a DJ set up, they are often called decks.



Its shape has changed dramatically.

                               < 1907 >                                                     < 1930 >

The history of the turntable being used as a musical instrument has its roots dating back to the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.

Turntablism as a modern art form and musical practice has its roots within hip hop and hip hop culture of the early 1970s. Scratching was already widespread within hip hop by DJs and producers by the time turntablists started to appear.   <wikipedia>

I'm interested in scratching, so we are going to meet famous turntablists, see some educational videos. In the next page, let's see the starting point of scratching.