Dept. for Speech, Music and Hearing Quarterly Progress and Status Report
Playing the turntable: An introduction to scratching
Falkenberg Hansen, K.
journal: TMH-QPSR volume: 42 number: 1 year: 2001 pages: 069-079
http://www.speech.kth.se/qpsr
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Pierre Schaeffer’s producing sounds has during the last two (and Pierre Henry’s) concept of ÍSÎ ÏUÐGÑ Î<ÒtÓÔ Õ Ö decades made the turntable become a ÓD×PÒDØ+Ò is as much a result from tape-manipu- popular instrument for both solo and lation as vinyl-manipulation, and his practices ensemble playing in different musical styles, would probably have been commenced even though mostly hip-hop. However, all without the phonograph technology (Griffiths, musical forms seem to keenly adopt the 1995; Khazam, 1997). turntables into its instrumental scenery, Instrumentalists must learn to employ a traditions like rock, metal, pop, disco, jazz, variety of techniques and methods for mani- experimental music, film music, contempo- pulation. It is unproblematic to state that a rary music and numerous others. Experi- fundamental ground has now been established mental Disk Jockeys (DJs) and most hip-hop with an almost compulsory assortment of DJs now frequently call themselves ¹Gº<»P¼ ½ techniques. All new ways of playing and ¹G¾ ¿ À+ÁGÂU¹G , and the music style of “cutting scratching are persistently explained and vinyl” with all its scratching and extensive debated on, especially on Internet discussion ÃGÄ<ÅPÆ Ã+Ç È É+Ê+ËPÌ mixing is called . These terms, forums on sites devoted to ÙGÚ ÛPÜ<ÙGÝ Þ<ßGà+áPâ (see derived from “turntable”, are now generally “List of Links” in the References section). accepted. There are moreover numerous techniques today In the early eighties, scratching DJs – that more or less resemble and originate from and the entire hip-hop community – got the the ones that will be described and analysed in attention of the record-buying generation, the following. Many ways to scratch do not fit inescapably spreading their sounds to the into the general scheme, and are not widely rest of the musical world (see “List of key used. They are, however, all explained on recordings” in the References section). It is turntablism Internet sites as soon as they yet more than seventy years ago that Paul surface. This overview will not deal with the Hindemith, Ernest Toch, Percy Grainger, more unconventional scratches. Edgar Varèse, Darius Milhaud, and first and ¦ £¥ ¨ ¤¨ ¦¥!¥§ " # ¨ $%£¥ £¥ ¢¡¤£¥£¥¦¥§¢¨ © ¢ & '()+* , - . /¤01 2435 687 9 );:¢9¢/<5= => 69 ãSä å æPçDå è élê ë¬ê¢ì í¬îGäïðGå<ñRòGó<çò+ô õPå òGä<ö îGç Turntablism includes both ÷PøDùPú û+øDü ý+þ ÿ , from the professionals, even though this new using one turntable and an audio mixer, and equipment could aspire to development of new ¦¨§¢©¢© © ¢¡¤£¢¥ , using two turntables and a techniques. mixer. Scratching is a typical solo-playing A list grasping over most of the major style, comparable to that of electric guitar. manufacturers include Technics and Vestax, The musician expresses in intricate rhyth- that make DJ turntables, Vestax, Numark, mical patterns and in tonal structures. Ecler, Stanton and Rane that all make specially Beatjuggling sometimes has a rhythmical designed mixers, and Shure, Stanton and backing function to ¢¢ , but is often Ortofon that make cartridges (pick-ups) for played in expressive solo-acts. An overview scratching (see Manufacturers in List of Links of the practice of using turntables as paragraph). Low budget equipment from instruments and a short history of turn- countless less-known manufacturers fail to tablism is reported in a previous paper by convince users. The standard line-up for many Hansen (Hansen, 2000). turntablists is two Technics SL-1200/1210 Mk2 Research in this field has lately led to turntables with Shure M44-7 pick-ups, and a improved “scratchable” CD-players and scratch mixer without unnecessary controllers. software like Flash-based applications and Normally this equipment is organized with one turntable simulators. Still they seem insuffi- turntable placed on either side of the mixer, and cient as replacement for the present equip- to avoid uncontrolled contact with the sensitive ment as the turntablism-society unfailingly tone-arm the turntables are even flipped 90 sticks to vinyl. The apparent unwillingness degrees with the tone-arms away from the to make use of these innovations has a body. counter-side in a desire to be spared the hassle of skipping needles and replacing wrecked records. Some actual examples of such hardware and software will later be discussed shortly in the paragraph “Scratch- equipment based on digital technology”. "!$#&% ' Any turntable might be used for scratching, but the standard is a direct-driven machine 9¢;L< with the platter mounted on the motor. (*) +¢,¢-.0/1*23.54¤6¢7¢)4¤8:9¢;=<>/?A@ @CBED¤?GF , -7¢F H I¢J .0K Scratching also utilizes a mixer that mostly /?A@¢@:)8&+¢-H MNH¢7¢OP9¢;=<>/?A/ @:)8&I¢J H 4¤DRQ1 is used for controlling the onsets and offsets of each tone. So the turntable as a musical The quartz direct-driven turntable (Figure 1) instrument includes the turntable with pick- has advantages to the belt-driven in terms of up, stylus and slip-mat, an audio mixer and a pick-up speed and motor strength (the starting vinyl record. Relatively few manufacturers torque of a Technics is 1.5 kg/cm). When have succeeded to enter the market with pushing the start-button, a mere third of a purposeful equipment, compared to the revolution (0.7 seconds) is needed to reach full massive popularity and prospective of good 1 speed at 33 3 RPM (revolutions per minute), sales. Why this is so and which conse- and stopping the record goes even faster quences this inflict on the evolution of the (Online 1200 in List of Links). scene is an extensive discussion, but in brief With a felt slipmat lying between the platter there seems to be a general unwillingness and the record, moving the record in both among the turntablists to adept to radical directions with the motor on and the platter still innovations, especially those that over- going is fairly easy. In rougher moves and simplify and trivialize playing. One example when maintaining a heavier touch, the platter is the production of a mixer that with the might follow the record back and forth, but push of a button imitates one of the hardest because of the pick-up speed, that is not a techniques to acquire. This mixer, Vestax problem. Samurai, never got much positive attention 70 S3TEUWV>XZY*[¢\^]*_ `ba¢c decAf¢f¢g with a special ¢W¤ -switch. Several varieties in how the crossfader operates are fabricated, the newest development being Rane’s A ¦¥ C¡W ¢¢¢¢£5 ¤ ¢§¢£5¨© ¢ . “Fader” might, how- ever, be a misguiding term as the fading curve on the crossfader normally is adjusted to be very steep, making it act as an on-off switch. h*i j¢k¢lmCn¢o¢p¢q¢k lmCrEs¢s t>u:v¤w lxli y¢j¢m5o The zA{|¤}¤~z mechanism (Figure 2) is specially designed for scratching to prevent b the ¢ ¢ (needle) from skipping from one groove to another, and even the stylus is designed to make scratching easier. Normal high fidelity styli are often elliptical at the end while scratch styli are spherical and made stronger as the force on the needle get so high that both the reels and the needle are in hazard of being damaged. An M44-7 can handle three times the tracking force (from the needles tip to the groove) of the hi-fi cartridge Shure V15 VxMR – up to 3.0 grams on the M44-7 compared to 1.00 gram on the V15. Output voltage from the scratch cartridges is 3-4 times higher (9.5 mV) than the hi-fi cartridge. The hi-fi cartridge has of course better frequency response, from 10 to 25.000 Hz, compared to M44-7’s 20 to 17.000 Hz. The W¤¤ (Figure 3 ) has several features, the volume controls being the most important. It was originally made for switch- ing smoothly between two turntable decks ª*« ¬¢¢®¯±°¢²´³µ$¶*³¢·¢¯¹¸L¸¨ºE»A¼¾½¿¤®À³¢Á ¿5ÂÄÃW«Å¤¯¤® Æ Î¨³¢Ï¢¯5®&³ ·¢ÏPÐbÈÇ¢ÃW¯Ñ¿bÈ· Á ®ÍÈ Ç ½² when doing beat mixing, making one section µ:¿¤ÇeȽ¯5ÉÊËÌÈ ·P¿¤®ÍÈ ½½ of a record last for as long as wanted by cross mixing between two identical records. Any vinyl record might be used for All mixers have for both stereo channels at scratching, but during the last ten years sounds least a volume fader, tone controls (bass, with certain qualities have dominated. Only mid and treble ranges) and often also a kind fragments of original recordings are being of sound on-off switch. The central control manipulated, often shorter than one second. is the crossfader, positioned at the near end Isolated musical incidents like drumbeats, of the mixer (Figure 3 shows crossfader guitar chords, orchestra hits or words represent and volume faders). the majority of sounds used. Especially the The crossfader glides seamlessly from sung, spoken or shouted words from little letting in sound from channel 1 (left turn- known recordings, commercials and films are table), through channel 1 plus channel 2, to preferred. To simplify playing, and for obvious channel 2 (right turntable) alone. Whether a economical reasons, a number of popular left-positioned crossfader shall let in sound sounds are compiled on one record pressed for from left or right turntable is now adjustable DJ use, commonly called a Ò¢Ó¢Ô ÔÕ Ö¾×ÀÖ¤ØbÙ ×Ú 71 ÛWܢݢÞߤݢà¢á:â ã*âä¢å*æ Ü çbè Ý éPê ë ßÑêì¢íÝ¢ê Ü î¢æ ß (copyrighting is of course an abiding but has been to have the strong hand on the vinyl, disconcerting question). The sound samples but with more intricate use of crossfader come without long gaps in one track. Longer learners now tend to use their strong hand on sentences are scratched one word or syllable the mixer instead. The volume controls ujvwxr at the time. Short sounds can be given (foremost the q rls breathy-sounding ø¢ù¢ù¢ù -sample (a multipart acceleration then completes before the sound ¤¦¥ ü¢ýþ ÿÿ¡ £¢ choir sings ú¢û¢û¢û with a falling in cut in. The crossfader will have no effect. In the the end). second kind of onset the scratch movement The sound material was recorded directly starts within the sound sample without use of to DAT at 48 kHz by the author. All crossfader; the record will speed up from stand scratching was performed by DJ 1210 Jazz still and produce a very fast glissando from 20 on a §©¨ ¦£ turntable Hz to desirable pitch, often more than 1 kHz. A equipped with a !"#£$¡%'&)((£*+ pick-up, and a third onset category occurs when the crossfader ,©- . /012. 3546'7'8:9<;¦== mixer. The recordings cut in sound from within the sample, creating lasted for about 30 minutes, out of which an insignificant crescendo-effect, as if it was long sections (several seconds) of con- switched on. Any sound can be deprived of its tinuous playing of a single technique was original attack by cutting away the start with extracted. About twenty different techniques the crossfader. were recorded in this session. Figure 4 shows the four different possi- Recordings were analysed using >@?A B C bilities of treating a sample with a push or drag D¡EF G F H¦IJ£KLM¡NPOQQ B and software (see “List of motion. Links” in the References section). RTSVUVWYXYZ<[Y\YSV] ^P_a`cb dfehgjilklemklnpo ` Basic DJ hand movements are naturally distinguished in two separate entities; record movement and mixer (crossfader) move- ment. Most scratching techniques are derivatives from fast but rather simple movements. The two parts, record-control y{z|}~¡y }~P¡~ { ~Vf¡ { p¦~¡ ~¡ p and mixer-control, depend strongly on one another, analogous to right and left hand in guitar playing. Both hands can operate both The grey box represents the sound, and the devices, and most players switch hands black lines represent the movement of the hand effortlessly, both for playing purpose and for and record. There is a short silence both before visual showing-off purpose. Even tech- and after the sample. In scratch movement niques where both hands go to the same types 1 and 2, the movement starts before the device are being performed. A general rule sound, and for movements 3 and 4 in the 72 © 'p {¡¢¤£{¥<¦:§¨<©¨¦ªª« middle of the sound. Movements 2 and 4 Figure 6ç . The first eight starts abruptly when end before the sound is finished. In Figure 5 the sound cuts in, evident on the amplitude also the returning movement is shown. level figure, while the second eight has a smoother attack with increase of both frequency and amplitude. è{éêëì¡íYîïÊð@ñò í2óaô<ì¡õ÷ö ñø ñù£ú¶ûýü¦íþ ÿì©ôêì¡ñõ÷ö ø¶ô ó ¬{®¯°¡±³²´¶µ·®¸¹5ºP»¼½¾¹¿À½¡¹»°¹5»ÁÂñ ÁÂû û¡éõpü¢¡2íVóaô줣Pñ£ì¡úhñùú¥ ñ£þ§¦YõYôÿéôù©¨{þ ñ©¡ ¡í ú¥ ñ© Ä ¿°¡ºP»°Âf»ÁÂfÅ»£Æ Ç ÈY¿É± È'± Á£¹Ê¿É ±°V»f½¡»ÈpË̱{Í ½ û¡þ ì¡ñ£ÿþ§£éùê Ŧ¿°¡Â± °½¡´ The x-axis represents position in the Ending of tones can equally be divided into sample. There are eight different forms of a three categories, with the quick slowing down forward-back motion. Movement types 1, 2, to a halt perhaps being the most interesting one. 5 and 6 starts before the sound, and During a scratch performance a big portion of movements 3, 4, 7 and 8 start within the the onsets and offsets are just the record sound. Movements 1, 3, 5 and 7 have the changing direction within the boundaries of a change of direction outside the borders of sound sample. ©¤ shows a combination the sound, while 2, 4, 6 and 8 change of movement type 5 followed by type 3 from direction within the sound. Movements 1 to Figure 5. It means that the eight tenth of a 4 end outside the sound border, and 5 to 8 second long scratch is built up by four eight- end before the sound has finished. notes in 150 BPM. The first eight has an abrupt Waveform and spectrogram of sounds attack, while the second and fourth eights have produced by common hand movements, a more smooth attack. The third eight has a faster attack than the second and the fourth, but Ï Figure 6Î and (these specific ones will be the sound is still achieved in the same way. The explained as ÐÑÐ<Ò:ÓÕÔÖ ×¡Ñ£ØÖ Ù£ÚÛÜ ), show some interesting features of the sounds. They are explanation to these differences lies in the both illustrations of a very simple scratch speed of the turn of record direction. In the similar to type 2 in Figure 5. The scratch is example in, the turn when going from forward approximately four tenths of a second long to backward movement is quicker than the turn and can in traditional musical notation when going from backward to forward again – resemble two eights at about 150 BPM. The the initial move from the body is faster than the initial move towards the body. All the endings original sound (ÝÞ£ÞÞ ) has a noise band with a broad maximum, inducing the perception except from the last one are results of slowing of a pitch. Arguably the first eight has a down the record to change the direction, broad maximum around 1200 Hz and the producing a fast drop in frequency. second eight around 2400 Hz, or an octave higher, but it’s hard to establish a definite tonal phrase because of the ßà2áâ¡â¡ã£äå¦æ effects that can be observed in the spectrogram in 73 © © ¤ § ©!©"$# %#'&©() *+ ,.-/ 0- 1©2¤ ©- 3©) ghi©j©k¤lcmWn¢oqp©r§l s8tWk¤uwv pWx$p©yz.{?|¢l§}Z~k[t i©k¤p©uwv Wx.t sJ~.t{¤h u|¢l0©p}§§ py©z© s8tWkL~.utWrZlZu l§y©~{¤n The pitch we perceive from the broad 4658789;:¥<8=?>?<@7 maximum of the noise band is determined Each DJ has a personal approach to moving the by the original recording and by the speed record, even though the aim is a well-defined by which it is played back. A recording of a technique. There seems to be an agreement sustained flute tone will of course not imply among the performers as to how it should any diffuse noise band, but such tones are sound, but not so much as to how it is 1 unusual. Normally 33 3 RPM is used for accomplished. Since the record has a large area scratching, but also 45 RPM. These numbers for positioning the hands and fingers, and the can be adjusted a certain percentage in both turntable can be rotated and angled as directions depending on the product: a preferred, the movements can be organized Technics SL-1200 Mk2 manages 8 percent with great variety (Figure 8). The charac- tempo increase and decrease. Eight percent teristics of the hand movements associated with make a span of almost a major sixth (from different types of scratches will be examined in 2 3 30 3 to 48 5 RPM, a factor of 1.58). Even a future investigation. the force on the record in the strokes of course decides the speed of the sample. There are no musical restrictions to which audible frequencies that can be used, and the normal pick-up have a range from 20 Hz up to 17-20 kHz. For a 500 Hz tone to reach 15 kHz, however, playback at 30 times the original speed, or 1000 RPM, is required, which of course is impossible for a human to accomplish (recordings can of course exceed K K@F§ELF§M©NPO©Q©M©RTS$UWV¤B NBXUWMV$NQ©Y§FZMK§E[UW\]Q the pick-up’s range). ABC©D©E¤F G©HIJB S¢F§E K8U E¤\ Q©M©^ZF0_W`6I acbWd¢b©e$aZQf¤f¤H 74 © © X¢©© ? ¡¢8£8 ¤[¥¦¢@§§ ¨[©8ª8«[¥ The most fundamental technique, also known as “the first scratch”, is done by pushing the record back and forth without using the crossfader. When done in a steady rhythmical pattern of for example eighth- notes or triplets it is called ¬©©¬W®°¯±L²§³¤´²§µ . Movement types number 2 and 5 and the combination of 5 and 3 from Figure 5 are most frequent in baby-scratching. How fast the turntablist turns the record direction influences both attacks and decays. A long slowdown or start gives a noticeable glissando-like sound. Also the frequency- drop will make the listener experience amplitude decrease, thoroughly explained in Moore (Moore, 1997). This can also be extrapolated from equal loudness contours æçè©é©ê¤ë ì©íïîqð©ñ§ë ò8ó ê¤ôöõ ðW÷0ð©øù6ú?û¢ëZü§ýêóWè©ê¤ð©ôöõ þW÷6ó ò and ¶· ¸§¹ º§»©¸§¼L½¾À¿©Á©Â[ÃWÁ diagrams (Fletcher & ¡ ©í Munson, 1933). ýë§ð©êLÿú¤üZê¤ð©ý ü Another fundamental technique is the ÄŧƩÇLÈɤÊZÇ¤Æ©Ä Ê§Ë that divides one stroke, usually Both hydroplane- and scribble-scratches the backstroke, in two. The division is kind produces continuous breaks in the sound, and of a halt before returning the sample to the on a spectrogram of a hydroplane-scratch, starting point. It is not usual that the record Figure 10, it is possible from the tops and stop entirely in the backstroke, but the fall in valleys around 1 kHz to see how the finger frequency will give an impression of a new bounces on the vinyl. Diminutive slowdowns at tone attack. Figure 9 shows how the simple a frequent rate, here about thirty per second, division inflicts the sound. produces a humming sound. The broad Two techniques take advantage of a maximum makes jumps of about 1 kHz in these tremble-motion on the record. Tensing the slowdowns. muscles on one arm to perform a spasm-like movement is called a ̤ͧÎLÏÐ©Ð©Ñ Ò§ÓÌLͧΤÔÕ꤅ . Dragging the record with one hand while holding one finger of the other hand lightly against the direction make a stuttering sound called × ØÙ©Ú[ÛÝÜ¢Þß©àá§âãLä§Ú¤ßåä§× . ¢¤£¦¥¨§¨© ¨¨ ¡¦©¥© ¨ "!¨©#$¦¨%¨ &(')¡© ¦¡ ¨ 75 *,+¨-¨. /¡-¨0¨132 4¤2#5¨6¤7¦+98":¦-;=<¦>/ <@?¨A -¨<¦+B¨7¦/ HJIKMLONPN QRTSTUK CEDGF regular these cuts should occur. In a relatively The volume controls can cut a sound in or slow forward movement that starts with the out at will, which also triggered the sound on, the sound is quickly clicked off and experiments of Pierre Schaeffer in the fifties back on by bouncing the crossfader between (Griffiths, 1995). A cut off bell might sound thumb and index finger. The names of the like a church organ, for instance. Normally various flares are defined by number of such the turntablists let the crossfader abruptly clicks. A ¦=#¡@¦¡¡¦¨ is one stroke with two cut the sound, in this way cutting the clicks, or sound-gaps, producing a total of three ¡¢¦£P¤O¥@¦¨ § transition. The sound can easily be turned on onsets. An ¦ or is the same type and off several times a second, making the of scratch on both forward and backward scratches sound very fast. This is probably strokes. In a ¨¦©=ª9«(¬¦®¦¬¯°ª9± ²¨®@¨´³¡¦µ¨± ¶ there will be a one reason why scratching sounds so total of six onsets; three on the forward stroke, recognizable and inimitable. Some tech- one when the record changes direction and two niques are just baby-scratching with varying on the backward stroke. These terms are not treatment of the crossfader. Others use decisively accepted, though, and the flaring- technique generates lots of other techniques. longer strokes with excessive crossfader ·¹¸3º¦»¨»¨¼@½ cutting. and ¾¡¿ ÀÁ further take advantage of V WX Y3Z¨X [¨\ the possibility to bounce the light crossfader e¡fhg#ij and ]^¨_¡`¡a3^b cd , and k l¦m¨nk all hide one of the two sounds in a between thumb and other fingers, making a baby-scratch, either the forward push or the rapid series of clicks. The superficial similarity with the flamenco-guitar picking technique o¡p¨q¦rGst backward pull. In only two snippets ¦à ġŰÆ9Ç´Æ of sounds are heard from a very fast baby- is clearly evident. Figure 12 comes scratch. On every movement forward the from a twiddle, where the index and middle fader closes fast after the start, and fingers on the left hand thrust the crossfader on backwards only the last bit of the sound is the thumb. The short gaps are easily audible cut in. At these points of the scratch, the even in a very short scratch. vinyl speed is high and so the broad maximum of the noise band is high, 2 kHz in Figure 11. The drawn line, adapted from the baby-scratch spectrogram (Figure 6u ), shows the probable broad maximum curve 1 of the forward and back movement with 10 of a second silenced, hiding the turn of record direction. ÜÝÞܨߨàâáGãhä¡åæ¦çØ9è¨ç ܨÙÛÚ éÝ È¤É¦Ê¨Ë¨Ì ÍÏÎ9ШÑÓÒÕÔ¨Ö¡Í@×TØÌ ÙÛÚ Ø ×Óæ¦êìë¦à¨àí¦ä á)å¡ç Üæ¦å¡î¨ï v¤w¦x¨y¨z { |¨|}¨~{¡¦zxz ¨ ¡¨w¦zG()¡z ¦¡¨} Because the numerous clicks are done in The most debated technique is the ¡¦¨) - one single stroke, the frequency of each attack scratch, with all its variations. Basically or tone will be quite stable. Roughly speaking, flaring means cutting out sound during the ðOñ¦òó¦ó@ô¡õ ö#ó´÷ø¨ùò¨ô playing on brass instruments and stroke, but discussions among the per- flutes produces a similar sound (Meyer, 1972). formers concern how many times and how 76 ú¹ûýü,þPÿ¡ £¢¥¤§¦£¨ © ¥ ¥¥ £¥¥ ¥ "!¥#$&%(' )+* ! ,-!¥.¥/103254$67' ¥!¥)+* 8 ,1' %96!¥.:0 %(' );$=<>0=4$!:64$?¥ E(F A=G;H$AI>D=J$AB:@J$K The old technique @&AB¥C¥D is it will not sound good, at least to appreciating often compared to strobe lights, as the and accustomed ears. But aspiring DJs must crossfader is pushed back and forth as quick devote hours to training every day to get the as possible during relatively long and slow timing right. strokes, or even at original playback speed. npo\q\r(slo\t£ulv\w£x£y3z£{|v\}£s¡~£r(v\(}£y3(y3slr( Figure 13L shows a spectrogram of a typical slv\o\t£}£( 3(( R(S NT;UP¥V transformer-scratch section. M7NO¥P¥Q generally attain greater tonal variety than the techniques where rapid fader clicks is the Expensive equipment and hard-to-learn playing main musical purpose, as for instance in the techniques are motivations for developers of twiddle-scratch. turntable-imitating hardware and software. Several scratch simulators have emerged during X\[\](^(_:Xa` ^cbedgfh` _ W-XZY the last ten years, but none have proven to be successful among the professionals. This is Techniques are seldom played individually bound to change, and one of the promising for longer periods, but are blended and products today is the Pioneer CDJ 1000, intertwined for greater expression and developed for CD-scratching. What it really musical substance. When hearing, for does is loading some seconds of music into its instance, a 2-click flare-scratch and a memory. This memory can easily be accessed twiddle-scratch in rapid succession it might via a so-called “scratch pad”, and the vinyl be difficult to distinguish the techniques record simulation is good enough for more than from each other. That is not the intention just the basic scratching. Numark (-;->¥ ), either. Turntablists often refer to the ; American DJ (£\ >¥5¥&5 ) and Denon ( different playing styles and scratch solos in ¥¥§ ) make other scratchable CD-players. terms of igjlk m , and the whole seem to be MP3 and MiniDisc players can be based on the more important than the components. same technology of buffering sound, for Mastering one single scratch should be com- example in American DJ £\ a &¡¢a££ and pared to mastering a scale (or rather being Soundgraph ¤;¥¦£§¥¨ª©¬« ©« . Other experiments able to take advantage of scales) in tonal include the £®&¯¥°¥±²:³$´°:µ³$¶ concept where a improvisation. Without the sufficient skills, 77 ·;¸¥¹¥º»$¹¥¼¥½-¾ ¿£¾ÁÀ¥Â£Ã¸ Ä Å¹:Æ1ÇÈ:»9Ç&ɥʹ¥Ç¸:˥û turntable is used for controlling recorded 3"4*576/89;:'<$=/><$?@<$6BA&C sound in different formats (for wave and MP3 on the BeOS platform). This work was supported by the EU IHP The scratch-simulating software without Network MOSART (Music Orchestration a physical controller is interesting mostly Systems in Algorithmic Research and Techno- because of the low expenses. Ì7Í$ÎÏÑÐÒ¥Ó:ÔÕ Î3Ö logy, HPRN-CT-2000-00115). for Linux and ×;Ø7ÙÛÚ$Ü¥Ý5Þ$ß;Ú for PC are I would like to thank the renowned and already introduced, but they have yet to skilled DJ 1210 Jazz, Alexander Danielsson, prove to be useful for more than simple for wonderful scratching, equipment and for entertainment. People seem to like the idea being unfailingly helpful. Thanks to all mem- of scratching in software, and a lot of games bers of DE¡F£GH E¡IKJLIMJLNPO E¡Q for enlightening and profit from this, both in advanced arcade helping me during the last three years. games (Konami’s à£á$â:ãä;â¥å:æâ , recently even I am very grateful to Roberto Bresin and adapted for Sony Playstation) and banal Johan Sundberg for invaluable help and Flash- and ShockWave applications encouragement. õ-ö$÷ùø:ú$ûü¥ü ý (ç¥è$é5êë¥ì&è$í¥îÁìðï¡ñ&òóç¥è5íô¥ô ñ and , þ¥ÿ¡ £¢¥¤&ÿ¡¦¥§©¨¡ R"S$T&S$U$S*V/W$S$X , ©¥ ¥ ¡ ). For references, see Manufacturers and software YZ\[^]&_&`a[^bc_&] in the List of Links paragraph. Fletcher H & Munson WA (1933). Loudness, its "!$#&%'!$(*)&+',-/. definition measurements and calculation. In: s p'kgl&tgegp's u'r vwe mon$x*u'hjs p'k degfghjigkgl&e mon$p£egfgqjr : 5: 82- It is not obvious to see whether models of 108. scratching will hold a comparison to vinyl Griffiths P (1995). Modern music and after. Oxford University Press: 17ff. technology. All simulators have in common Hall DE (1980). Musical Acoustics. Wadsworth its digital approach, which is quite natural, Publishing Company: 115ff, 425ff. but there are benefits and catches with vinyl Hansen KF (2000). Turntable Music. In: ~'~''} 'g|j~' ' } $jgg~ g¡g that is either overlooked or even side- y{zg|j} NTNU: 145-160 stepped. One specific example of a vinyl- and on http://www.speech.kth.se/~hansen/ typical feature is the deterioration of the turntablemusic.html. vinyl; a few minutes of dragging the needle Hansen KF (1999). Turntablisme – His Master’s back and forth over the same spot on the Voice: The Art of the Record Player. NTNU. record has devastating consequences for the Rocchesso D, Bresin R & Fernström M (submitted). sound quality, and the needle even seem to Sounding Objects. Khazam R (1997). Electroacoustic alchemist. ¥g respond differently to movement on that spot. The Pioneer player will not wear out {a #160: 36ff. any spot of sound the same way a record Meyer J (1972). Akustik und musikalische does, and this might take the edge off a Aufführungspraxis. Verlag das Musikinstrument, 1972: 50-51. performance the same way a producer in a Moore BCJ (1997). An introduction to the Psycho- recording studio can polish a rough perform- logy of Hearing. Academic Press, Fourth Edition: ance to the nearly unbearable. chapter 2. To simulate every aspect of the turntable, Strong WJ, Plitnik GR (1983). Music Speech High the vinyl, the needle 0¥1¥2 the more remote Fidelity. Soundprint: 311ff. aspects like wearing, will probably turn out Verplank B, Sapp C & Mathews M (2000). A to be the only suitable option for making a course on controllers. replacement for today’s instrument set-up. (http://www-ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/250a) An approach built on physical-modelling- based technology seems therefore appro- \ ¡a¢$¤£c¥c priate and worth to experiment with in the Wavesurfer – An Open Source Speech Tool. Kåre future (Rocchesso et al., submitted). Sjölander and Jonas Beskow (http://www.speech.kth.se/wavesurfer/) Soundswell Signal Workstation. Hitech Development. 78 ¦¨§ª©©« ¬ c®¥¯±°c²'³µ´¥¶'·¶K¸¥¸¥¹ ¸ º »3¼5½ (http://www.hitech.se/development/products/ Shure ¬®¡¯°¬²±³´¶µ¤·¡¸ ¹ soundswell.htm) (http://www.shure.com/v15vxmr.html) ¿'ÀgÁ Ãg½jÁg ÀgÄgÅ ¾ Æj»ÇÆj¾È ¼ Éʾ Â Ë ¾¡¿¡À¡Á¤ÂÃġŤÆ*ÄÇ¡Ç*È É Á¤Ä¡Ê É À¡Ë Asisphonics º$»*¼L½j¾ SkratchDelux Ãg Ìg½j¾ ÀgÅ Â (http://www.asisphonics.com) (http://www.sillon-delux.com (extras)) Ó Ô*Ï'ÕgÖ&×jÏ'Ø'Ò Ï'ÙÊÚ ÌÍÎ1Ï¡Ð Ñ¡Ò¡Ñ Ò Audioclimax ÍoΩÏ'ÐgÑgÒ Soundgraph (http://www.audioclimax.com) (http://www.soundgraph.com/ sub_main.asp?mn01=pd&mn02=pd01) àjáâ ãgäjågâ ægç¡è ß àjéÇàjßÈâ Ý ÜÊß â á DJ Battle Net ÛgÜÊÝ'Þgß ê ë äjãgé (http://www.djbattle.net) Stanton 890SA cartridge (http://www.stantonmagnetics.com/stingray/ ñ'ògóô õgïjógô ògög÷ ð øjíÇøjð ô î$ùÊð ô ú Flaredycats ì$í*î'ï^ð index2.asp) õgô ûgïjð òg÷ ô (http://www.flaredycats.com) ¢ Technics ¡ þ¤£¦¥¡§©¨¡ ¡ ¤ Online 1200 ü¥ý'þ'ÿ ¢ ¢ ¢ (http://www.panasonic.com/consumer_electronics ý'þ þ¤¡ ¡£ £ (http://www.turntablism.com/online1200/) /technics_audio/turntables.asp) TerminatorX !¡" ¡ ¡#¡$ &%' (*)+ -,.¡" !¡% Scratch DK ¡¡ (http://www.scratch.dk) (http://www.terminatorx.cx) Vestax 6 7 8 9 :¡; 0¡9 <¡=¡4 6 7&>'7 6 9 ?*@+6 9 8-AB¡; :¡> Scratch UK /103254 (http://www.scratch.co.uk) (http://www.vestax.co.uk) I¤J¡K L M¡G K¡L J¡N¡O H P D'P H L FEQ+H L R-ST¡G M¡D Scratch DJ CEDF¤G H (http://www.scratchdj.com) ÓÕÔ×ÖØ*Ù5ÚEÛlÜpÝßÞpÜpàpÙ5ÞpálÔ×âlã5Ö [¤\¡] ^ _¡X ]¡^ \¡` a Z b V'b Zc^ W*d+Z ^ e Turntablism UEVWYX Z Cage, John: Imaginary Landscapes No 1 (1939) _¡^ f¡X Z \¡a ^ (http://www.turntablism.com) Grandmaster Flash: Grandmaster Flash on the Wired Magazine Online Wheels of Steel (Sugar Hill, 1981) (http://www.wired.com) Ground Zero: Ground Zero (Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L’Acier, 1992) gih5jlklm3h5npo&klqprpqpsth5jlu'sv5m3o wxh5qpr Hancock, Herbie: Future Shock (Columbia/Legacy, American DJ 1983) (http://www.americandj.com) Hooker, William: Mindfulness (Knitting Factory Denon (http://www.denon.com/catalog/- Works, 1997) products.asp?l=3&c=31) Limp Bizkit: Three Dollar Bill, Y’all$ (Flip/Interscope, 1997) DJ Fu: Wax Attack y¡z¡{¡|¤}~¡Y55¡ (http://www.shockwave.com/sw/- Marclay, Christian: Record Without a Cover (1985) content/djfu01) Marclay, Christian: Records (Atavistic, 1997) Ecler Portishead: Dummy (UNI/Mercury, 1994) (http://www.eclerdjdivision.com) Q-Bert: Demolition Pumpkin Squeeze Muzic FinalScratch (Dirtstyle, 1994) (http://www.finalscratch.com) Run-DMC: Raising Hell (BMG/Arista, 1986) FinalScratch (http://www.stantonmagnetics.com/stingray/ Schaeffer, Pierre: Etude aux Chemins de Fer (1948) index2.asp) Schaeffer, Pierre: Symphonie pour un Homme Seul (1949) Konami Beatmania ¡ ¤ ¡¡55 (http://www.konami-europe.com/ The Golden Palominos: The Golden Palominos English/konami/press/beatmania15-09-99.htm) (Celluloid/OAO, 1983) Numark Various: Return of the DJ volumes 1 to 5 (Bomb (http://www.numark.com) Hip-hop, 1995-2001) Ortofon Various: The Wire Tapper volumes 1 to 7 (The (http://www.ortofon.com) Wire Magazine) OTSJuke DJ Waits, Tom: Mule Variations (Anti/Epitaph, 1999) (http://www.otsjuke.com/support/scratching) Zorn, John: Locus Solus (Rift 1982/Tzadik, 1995). Pioneer +¡¡¡ (http://www.djsounds.com/djsounds.htm) Rane (http://www.rane.com/djcat.html#mixers) ¡ ¡* ¤¡ ¡¡ SckratchIt 1 (http://www.turntables.de) ¦ ¨ ©3ª5« Shure ¡ ¡¡£¢+¤¤¥¡¦ § (http://www.needlz.com/m44-7.asp) 79 80