The drawback to marking the record in this manner is that if you want to play the entire track, a great big sticker is in the way!
If you think that you’ll want to play the record in full, try using a chinagraph pencil (a white, wax-based pencil) to lightly draw a line (or an arrow, what- ever you want) directly onto the vinyl. Be sure not to press down too heavily, or the wax from the pencil gets in the grooves and is just as troublesome as the sticker. Ultraviolet pens (you need to remember a UV light though so you can read it later!) are good alternatives to the chinagraph, as are silver pens (but you still need to watch that the pen doesn’t fill up the groove).
Eventually, the pen marks do wear off, but as long as you catch the wear in time, and reapply your marker, you shouldn’t need to worry.
If you’re using a battle-breaks record with multiple versions of the same sam- ples through the record, you don’t need to mark the record itself – you can just draw a big fat line on the label of the record (see Figure 16-4). This line refers to the start of every sample (because they all start at the point on the record’s circumference).
Think of the record as a clock face. The idea is to draw a line on the label so that when it’s pointing in a particular direction (twelve o’clock and nine o’clock are best) you know that you’re at the beginning of the sample. Use something small and straight (a cassette box is perfect), draw a line from the centre spindle to the outer edge of the record’s label to point to whatever clock number you’d like. Then make the line more noticeable by using a thick marker, or adding a sticker that protrudes over the blank groovesat the end of the record (the smooth, silent part of the record, next to the label).
If you prefer to have a sticker on the outer edge of the record instead of a line from the centre of the record, follow the same principle, placing the sticker at the nine or twelve o’clock position to point out the start of all the samples.
You can use this technique along with a sticker marking the specific groove to make sure that you can find the sample quickly, and return to it easily.
Fixing the hole in the middle
You can easily blame a jumpy needle on having too little counterweight, but sometimes the jumping is due to the record having too large a hole in the middle. A wide hole can be so loose that the centre spindle bangs off the edges of the hole, and bounces the needle out of the groove. The easiest way to fix this problem is to pass an inch-long (2.5 centimetre) piece of tape through the hole, sticking equal halves of it to either side of the label. When you’ve stuck enough pieces of tape at different positions through the hole, the diameter reduces, solving the problem.
Sometimes the hole is too small so that the record won’t fit over the centre spindle properly (either not at all, or it’s way too tight, causing the turntable to slow down when you try to hold the record still). When I am unfortunate Figure 16-4:
Drawing a line on a record label.
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to get a record that’s too tight, all I do is get a small piece of sandpaper, roll it up into a cylinder, put it through the hole in the record, then holding the sandpaper, spin the record round it. Do this action a couple of times, and the hole opens up a bit.
The sandpaper method can be dangerous. If you spin the record too long, you will make the hole too big, and have to tape it up. Or, if you’re really unlucky, and are a bit heavy handed, you may cause small cracks in the record.
Scratching on CD, MP3, and Computer
The fact that you can’t scratch with CDs used to be true, scratch artists simply weren’t able to perform on this format. Sure, the manuals with some CD decks said that if you ‘play around’ with the jog wheel, you can create interesting ‘scratch effects’. But they weren’t kidding anyone; scratching as we know it, wasn’t available to the CD DJ until recently.
Now, CD decks including the (quite expensive) Denon DN-S3500, Pioneer CDJ-1000, and Technics SL-DZ1200, as well as more affordable CD decks from Numark, Gemini, and Stanton, all let you scratch just as much as you can with vinyl.
All these ‘scratch’ CD decks have large jog wheels, or deckplatters similar to turntables that are motorised to spin round like a record, or a static control that affects the music only when you move it to perform a scratch. (See Chapter 15 for a more detailed description of CD jog wheels and deckplatters.) Different decks have different styles, feel, and design to their scratching controls, along with how well they are able to emulate the sound of a record scratching when moving very fast. The Technics CD deck has a large,
motorised rotating deckplatter, which has grooves cut into it to make the giant deckplatter feel even more like vinyl, whereas the Pioneer CDJ1000s that I use have a smaller control that only turns when you move it. These are all major factors when you come to make your choice of CD deck for scratching.
You’re not just limited to the platter and ability to sound just like a vinyl turntable during the scratch, as these decks have other attributes that allow them to compete with vinyl for scratching: multiple sample banks and cue point controls, built-in effects, instant reverse play, and more, all make the CD deck incredibly versatile to scratch with compared to traditional vinyl.
These effects and controls have removed some of the art and skill from scratching that we associate with vinyl, but they have evolved the creative process of scratching to a completely new, technology driven level. Even
though the fundamental basics of scratching are the same on a vinyl turn- table or a CD deck, the skills are slightly different for either format (you can be rougher on CD decks for a start, as you don’t need to worry about a needle jumping out of the groove) making direct comparison and competition between the two less and less relevant.
Scratching on PC
In my view, the leading software titles that let you scratch with your PC files are Final Scratch, DigiScratch, and Serato.
With these titles, the hardware controller has been taken to a new level.
Instead of using a custom-built control unit like the Hercules with Virtual DJ 3, or something like the DAC3 controller for PCDJ, you just use your existing turntable that hooks into a box of tricks (hardware that is essentially just a soundcard in a box), which then plugs into the PC to control the files through software on the computer.
The key though, is the special vinyl that comes with the package that you use to scratch with. Instead of using ordinary records, the vinyl provided con- tains a control code (which in the case of DigiScratch, they refer to as time- code, a series of blips that refer to time). As you move the vinyl back and forth, the control code is interpreted by the hardware box, which then sends the control information to the computer. This means that when you move the record backwards, the computer file plays backwards; when you play for- wards, really fast, the file plays forwards, really fast. The computer contains the files for you to load up, and set cue point for, but it’s still your hands, your turntable, and your skill that controls the scratching.
The different software and hardware titles available to scratch with offer you slightly different control options, as well as different lengths of ‘lag-time’ spent to interpret the control code. Try to get a demo on the scratch software you’d like to use before going out and buying it to make sure that you’re happy.
Marking CDs and MP3s
When scratching on MP3 using time-coded vinyl, marking your sample is relatively easy. The software interface takes care of a lot of the cueing of the sample, and as you’re using vinyl, you can mark the label with a line to return to the start of a sample (see the earlier section ‘Marking samples’).
As marking the actual CD isn’t possible, the jog dial or display on scratch CD decks have markers that you use to point to the start of the sample. It seems as if they’ve thought of everything . . .
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Mastering the Technique
Technique is everything. If you develop a smooth, flowing – yet still ultra fast – control over the vinyl, you’re more likely to keep the needle glued into the groove. With CD decks, you still need a fluid motion to create a great scratch, but you don’t need to worry about popping the needle out of the groove.
If you spend the time to develop the dexterity and the coordination needed to scratch with either hand on either of your decks and move the cross-fader independently, you’re well on your way to becoming a world-class DJ.
Getting hands on
Vinyl is really sensitive, and even with the extra counterweight pressure, the new needles, the proper hole size, and the slippy mats, if you have a hand like a baby elephant, you’re going to make that needle fly!
You need to develop the correct handtechnique. Things to bear in mind are that although you’re dealing with a lot of quick direction changes, try to be smooth; don’t jerk the record back and forth. When performed in succession, too many rough jerky movements will pop the needle out the groove.
When you scratch the record, try to move it back and forth following the curve of the record. If you try to pull the record back and forth in a straight line, you’re adding a lot of sideways pulling and pushing pressure, which when released, may be enough to jump the needle out of the groove.
As well as hand technique, you need to develop a knowledge of what changes the sound of the scratch, (not including external effects processors). The five key ways to make a sample sound different when scratching are:
Location. You may have found a nice sample on a record, but you still have full control over what part of the sample you play. Just because the sample has someone saying scratch, doesn’t mean that you have to play that full word. You may choose only to scratch with the scpart of the word, or maybe trying a scribble scratch on the tchpart sounds unique, and matches what you want to do perfectly.
Changing where in the sample you scratch by just a couple of millime- tres (or a tenth of a second) can make the difference between a good sound and a great sound.
Direction.Nearly all samples sound incredibly different when played backwards as opposed to forwards, and if you’re not too sure about the sound of your scratch, you may find that scratching the record in the other direction improves the sound immensely.
Speed.The speed that any sample moves can alter your scratch from a low, rumbling, guttural sound to a high-pitched, shrill, chirpy sound.
So don’t fall into the trap of scratching at the same speed all the time.
Change it up mid-scratch from a fast-forward motion to a slow back- wards move, mix up the speed during a move (see ‘The tear’ scratch section later) and listen out for how the speed you scratch the record at can alter the power of your scratch.
Audibility.How loud you can hear the sample playing, or if you can hear it at all, is important. Although the cross-fader is the main control for whether you can hear the sample or not, don’t forget about the channel-fader.
You can scratch using the channel-fader instead of the cross-fader, and you can use the channel-fader to set how loud you hear the scratch, which adds an extra dimension to the scratch. Gradually fading out the scratch using only the cross-fader is difficult, but when used on its own or in conjunction with the cross-fader, the channel-fader can give you that extra level of audio control.
EQ.Using the EQ (equaliser) to adjust the amount of bass, mid, or treble present can change a shrill sounding scratch into a muddy, dark sound- ing one; in the middle of a scratch if you like.
Unless you have four hands, scratching, using the cross-fader, the channel-fader, and the EQ control all at the same time is hard, but with practice and patience, you’ll be amazed at how fast you can move from control to control.
Starting from Scratch and Back Again
Try the following scratches on their own first, without playing anything on the other deck(CD/vinyl/MP3 and so on). Then when you’re happy, choose a tune with a slow beat to play on the other deck, and scratch over that beat.
You don’t have to use a beat-only tune, but scratching over melodies and vocals may sound messy and confusing.
Check my Web site at www.recess.co.ukfor audio files and movie clips of the scratch if you’re unsure of what it should sound or look like.
For all these scratches, I give guidance on what direction you should scratch in, and what cross-fader action you may need, but as you get used to each scratch, adjust how quickly you do the scratch, what part of the sample you’re scratching from, and how much of it you play.
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Scratching without the cross-fader
The three scratches I discuss in this section help you develop the hand con- trol to work with the vinyl (or CD deckplatter control) properly. Plus they’re the building blocks of all the scratches that follow in the section ‘Introducing cross-fader fever.’ Even though they’re simple moves, mastering them is very important. You don’t need to use the cross-fader for these three scratches so leave it in the middle position, with the channel-fader at full.
The baby scratch
The baby scratch is the first scratch for you to try out as it is by far the simplest, easiest scratch to attempt. This one is for anyone who comes to your house, and says ‘can I have a go?’ It may also be how you broke the needle on your dad’s turntable when you were 9 years old . . .
The baby scratch is just a forward movement followed immediately by a backward movement. Both directions are audible throughout the scratch (which is why you don’t need the cross-fader on this scratch). If the sample you’re using is someone singing ‘Hey!’, then the sound would be like:
Hey(forwards)– yeH(backwards)– Hey . . . yeH . . . Hey . . . yeH . . . To start scratching to the beat of another tune, perform the forward motion on the first beat of the bar and the backward motion on the second beat:
Beats: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Scratch: Hey yeH Hey yeH Hey yeH Hey yeH
When you’re comfortable matching the1, 2, 3, 4 beats of the bar with ‘Hey, yeH, Hey, yeH’, (two full baby scratches), speed up the scratch so that you’re going forwards and backwards on each beat (which make a four full baby scratches):
Beats:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
Scratch:
Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH Hey-yeH
The scribble scratch
The scribble scratchis similar to the baby scratch, except the amount that the record moves backwards and forwards is tiny, and there’s a lot more scratches to the beat, let alone the bar!
By tensing the wrist and forearm, while pressing down on the record with one finger, the muscles leading to your finger vibrate, causing the record to move backwards and forwards really quickly. If you think that you can generate enough speed without needing to tense your muscles, just move the record back and forth as fast as you can.
No matter what your technique is, you want to make the amount of vinyl passing under the needle as small as possible (less than a centimetre is best).
The tear
The tear is also similar to the baby scratch, except that instead of two sounds, the scratch is split into three. The cross-fader is still left open(you can hear the sound) for the duration of the scratch, but introducing a change in the backward speed creates the third part of the scratch.
The forward stroke(move) is the same as the baby scratch, but the first half of the backstroke is fast and the second half of the stroke is half that pace.
Practise changing the speed of the backstrokefirst to help you get used to the change in tempo, and then try adding the forward stroke to the two-part backward stroke.
Introducing cross-fader fever
The scratches described in this section involve using the cross-fader. Before you go any further, find where the cut-inpoint on the cross-fader is. The cut in point is how far you have to move the cross-fader before the appropriate channel can be heard. Depending on the cross-fader curve , this point can be a few millimetres of movement, or you may need to get the cross-fader into the middle before hearing the scratch at full volume. (Chapter 8 has more information on cross-fader curves and cut-in points.)
The forward scratch
The forward scratchgives you the perfect start to using the cross-fader. Using exactly the same movement as in the baby scratch, start with the cross-fader past the cut-in point, so that you can hear the forward movement, then just before you move the record back, close the cross-fader so that the back stroke can’t be heard.
When you’re used to cutting off the back stroke of the baby scratch, start to scratch to the beat. With the ‘Hey!’ example, you match the 1, 2, 3, 4 beat of the bar with Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey:
Beats: 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
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