When fine-tuning the cue, if you want to start on a bass drum, you’ll hear the sound change to have more bass frequencies as the drum hits. Experiment with setting the cue before, or on this sound, to see how this affects your timing when you press play. It may only be 100th of a second difference, but it can make allthe difference between starting beats in time, or slightly out of time.
Storing the cue
After you’ve found your cue point, you need to store that position to the CD deck. On some CD decks, when the CD is in Pause mode and you’ve located the exact cue, you simply need to press Play to set the cue point and if you ever need to return to it, just press the cue button again. Pioneer CD decks are different in that you press the Cue button to store the cue when you’ve found it. Interestingly, the Denon DNS3500 CD decks have a button that lets you choose between either of those methods, so you can set the cue in the way that’s most familiar to you. Read the manual that comes with your CD decks so you know what method you should use to store the cue.
Check the cue
Press Play, and if you find that you haven’t set the cue accurately enough, press the Cue button to return to the cue. Use the jog controls to find the cor- rect cue, and then set the a new cue by pressing Play or Cue when in Pause mode (depending on your CD decks).
After you’ve found and successfully stored the cue, you need to return the CD to that cue, ready to start the tune in the mix. This usually means pressing the Cue button. If you paused the CD as you pressed Cue, the CD may return and pause. If the CD was playing at the time you pressed Cue, it’ll return to cue and continue playing.
If you’re in Pause mode on a Pioneer CD deck, pressing Cue resets the cue to the point where you paused the CD instead of returning to the set cue, so it needs to be in Play mode to return to the cue. You won’t make this mistake too often, but it may take a little time to get used to.
Starting the tune
Starting tracks for beatmatching on CD is a lot easier than on vinyl. Listen to the bass beat from the other tune, try to block out the rest of the music and focus on the boom from the bass; almost like meditation. When you are at onewith the beat, and are at the best part of the tune to start, press the Play button, and you should start the bass beats in sync with the other tune.
Pressing the button exactly on the beat takes practice, but it’s nowhere near as hard as starting tunes on a turntable.
If you prefer starting tunes like vinyl, CD decks with motorised platters let you do this. You simply find the cue point, hold the platter still, then let go, or give a little push to start the tune.
Adjusting the Pitch
As with vinyl DJing, locating the cue and starting the tune in time is only part of beatmatching. The other important part is using the pitch control to adjust the speed to make the bass beats of the new tune in the mix play at the same time as the one currently playing through the speakers.
The good news is that the pitch slider on CD decks acts in exactly the same way as on a turntable (refer to Chapter 5). They may have improvements, such as adjusting the range from 4 per cent to 100 per cent or more, but the
TEAM LinG
principle is the same: moving it towards you (into the + area) makes the tune play faster; away from you (the – area) makes the tune play slower. (Check out Chapter 12 for more on the basics of using pitch control when mixing.) If the pitch control is set slightly too fast or too slow and the beats start to drift, you can’t push the CD like a piece of vinyl (even if you could, the CD would skip). So pitch bendcontrols are on hand to get the tracks back in time.
These controls may be different depending on the CD decks you’re using:
Buttons:Normally found on twin CD decks rather than single decks, two buttons, one marked ‘+’ and one marked ‘–’ temporarily speed up or slow down the tune when you press them. The longer (and sometimes harder) you press the button, the greater the pitch bend you achieve.
When you let go of the button, the CD returns to the speed you originally set with the pitch control.
Small jog ring:Found on a number of twin CD decks, there’s usually a button or switch that changes the function of the sprung outer ring from
‘search’ to ‘pitch-bend’. You turn the jog ring to the right to go slightly faster, and to the left to go slower. How far left or right you turn the ring affects how large a pitch bend you get. When you return the ring to the centre position, the CD plays at the set pitch again
Large jog wheel:Depending on your CD deck, the large jog wheel may work in exactly the same way as the small jog ring above. In the case of the expensive CD decks with platters, you can temporarily adjust the speed that the tune plays at as if it was a piece of vinyl.
With vinyl, if you need the record to run faster you can make the record turn faster, or if you need to slow it down, you add some resistance to the side of the deck. It’s exactly the same with the DNS3500 and the SLDZ1200, push the platter to play it faster, or run your finger along the side to slow it.
The Pioneer CDJ1000 uses a ring around the edge of the platter as a pitch bend. Turn it clockwise to speed up the tune, or anticlockwise to slow it down. Importantly, it’s only when the ring moves that any change happens to the CD and the speed the ring is moved at directly affects the amount of pitch bend. So quickly spinning the ring forward or back by a couple of inches is normally all it takes to get the beats back in sync.
No matter what method you use to adjust the pitch error, remember to change the pitch control to reflect your adjustment. If you needed to briefly slow down the tune, make sure that you reduce the pitch control slightly, and increase it if you needed to speed up. Otherwise, because you haven’t set the speed of the tunes exactly in time, you’ll need to keep using the pitch bend to get the beats back in time.
Taking Advantage of Special Features
Given that scratching on CD seemed impossible a few years ago, yet now most professional CD decks offer this function, guessing what future possibili- ties may be in store for the CD deck is exciting. For the present though, CD decks have more creative control than a regular, vinyl turntable, offering fea- tures such as the following:
Master tempo: Master tempoon a CD deck is the same as on a turntable (refer to Chapter 5). This function allows you to speed up or slow down a tune without changing the key that the music was recorded in. So if you play Barry White and pitch him up(speed up the tune) by 16 per cent, he still sounds like Barry, whereas decks without Master Tempo make him sound like a chipmunk.
Hot Cues:Normally labeled 1, 2, 3or A, B, C, these are extra cue points that can be set on-the-fly, which means that you don’t have to stop or pause the CD in order to set them. Doing so takes a little hand/ear coor- dination, but setting and then returning to these cue points is very simple.
You can use hot-cues to jump around the CD, instantly playing different parts of a tune, or even jump to a cue set in another track on the CD!
Repeatedly pressing the same Cue button lets you play the same part over and over, returning to that cue point each time you press the button.
Loop: The loopfunction plays a discreet part of a tune from an in point (that you can set anywhere in the tune) to an out point(that you also need to set). When you hit the Loop button, the music plays from in to out, then in to out over and over again, until you stop the loop. You can use this creatively to keep a good part of a track repeating, or you can use it as a safety net. If you haven’t had time to set up the next track in the mix yet and you’re approaching the end of a tune, you can repeat a section of the end of the tune, giving you the time to set up and mix in a new tune. (This shouldn’t ever happen, but sometimes, you spend too long talking to the wrong person, and run out of record.)
Looping intros and outros, or sections of a tune can extend the mix, and subtly remix the tune to make something different, or looping part of a buildup to extend it adds variety to the mix. If the build-up is a drum- roll, edit the length of the loop so it gets shorter and shorter; the shorter the loop gets, the more frantic the breakdown sounds and you can work the crowd into a frenzy before finally ending the loop or hitting a hot-cue button and crashing back into the powerful beats of the tune.
TEAM LinG
Sample banks: Similar to the loop function, instead of setting in and out points to play, you can record a section of the music into sample banks (memory contained on the CD deck) to play back as and when you like.
You can use the stored samples in as many ways as you can think of.
They can be looped, played on their own, and, on some CD decks, they can also play over the CD that the sample was taken from, letting you remix a track or mix into another tune on the same CD! The creative pos- sibilities are endless.
Reverse: Reverseplay is possible, and a nice gimmick with vinyl, but CD decks give you a lot more control. For starters, you can choose whether you want the CD to go into reverse just like a turntable or instantly. If a record is at 0 pitch at 33 revs per minute (rpm), the record needs to slow down from 33 rpm to 0, and then accelerate from 0 to 33 rpm in reverse. Some CD decks offer the same de-acceleration and acceleration sound, but also the choice to instantly reverse the tune without any delay. The Denon DNS3500 gives an incredible level of control over reverse playback.
The extras available on CD decks mount up with each release. Built-in effects, scratching, MP3 playback, advanced reverse play, visual displays for the track’s waveform, and more – to go through each feature and their best uses would take up the rest of this book!
If you’re unsure about what your CD deck can do, or the best way to utilise the functions, read the manual, go to clubs to see them used in action, and look at the manufacturers’ Web sites; they may have video clips of their gear in action.
Or just toss the manual under the bed and experiment for a while. Then after you’re thoroughly confused, try to find that manual again . . .
Chapter 16
Scratching Lyrical
In This Chapter
Ensuring your gear is up to scratch Marking your records properly
Scratching on vinyl, CD, MP3, and computer Lending you a helping hand with basic scratching
Scratching is a specialised skill that takes a lot of practice and patience to master. When you’ve taken the time to develop the skill, half the people you know will drop their jaws in amazement at what you’re doing, while the other half will open their mouths just as wide – and yawn.
Whether you go on to develop the crab, the flare, or the twiddle is up to you, but if you can master the baby scratch, the forward scratch, and the cut, even if you consider yourself only a beatmatching, mixing DJ, you’ll be adding another weapon to your arsenal of knowledge.
Scratching techniques get you used to working with vinyl. When you’ve grasped the basics you develop a feel for how much pressure you need to apply (very little) in order to hold the record still while the deckplatter is turning, you’re able to wind the record back and forth without the needle flying off, and you develop solid, stable hands when holding the record stopped, ready to start it.
The Web site that accompanies this book has audio and video clips to sup- port the information contained in this chapter, because most of the tech- niques are better shown rather than described. Be sure to logon to check that you’re happy with what you’re doing (see www.recess.co.uk).
TEAM LinG
Setting Up the Equipment the Right Way
Anyone who has used equipment that was poorly configured or wasn’t suit- able for scratching will show the emotional scars as proof that you can’t afford to get the set-up wrong.
If you’re using CDs to scratch with, you don’t need to set up much on the CD decks, apart from maybe the resistance of the platter (see Chapters 7 and 15) and switching the CD deck to vinyl mode in order to create the right ‘scratch’
sounds.
For traditional, turntable scratch DJs, I mention a few of the basic, but vital requirements that your turntables need to be suitable for DJing in Chapter 5.
Turntables built for mixing share many of the same characteristics as those used for scratching. Powerful, direct-drive motors are essential, and an adjustable tonearm, removable headshells, and sturdy design are also crucial.
However, how you set up the needles, the orientation of the turntable, and how you plug in to your mixer are just as important as the make and model of turntable that you’re using.
A big factor for scratching DJs is the positioning of the decks. Instead of set- ting them up as the manufacturer intended (tonearm and pitch fader on the right-hand side), scratch DJs rotate the entire turntable, 90 degrees anticlock- wise, so that the tonearm and pitch control are farthest away from the DJ.
The traditional set-up only gives the DJ around 100 degrees of the record’s circumference to work with (shown in Figure 16-1, top), so the DJ can only pull the record back so far before hitting the needle, which would knock it out of the groove. Rotating the turntable by 90 degrees gives the DJ 250 degrees of vinyl to work with (shown in Figure 16-1, bottom), making scratch- ing that much easier.
Weighing up needles
The most popular needle for scratching over the years has been the Shure M44-7, shown in Figure 16-2, though the DMC Championships (where scratch DJs compete to be the best) recently insisted that all contestants used carts and needles from the Ortofon range, to create fairness among all contestants.
Check out Chapter 6 for information on what makes a needle good for scratch use.
Range of motion
Range of motion
Tone arm
Tone arm
Figure 16-1:
Rotating the turntable gives you 250 degrees of vinyl to work with.
TEAM LinG
No matter what you use, how you set up the needle and the counterweight can drastically affect the stability of the needle. You don’t want the needle jumping out of the groove when you’re performing a tough scratch.
The two ways to control the stability of your needle are through the down- force acting on the needle, and the angle that it ‘digs’ into the groove. Simply set the needle so that it angles into the groove by 10 degrees and it’ll stick to the groove like glue. The downside, though, is that the needle wears out the groove like a hot knife through butter.
If you’re adjusting the downforce on the needle to control stability, don’t automatically add the heaviest counterweight available. Try to take the needle manufacturer’s guidance first and then add weight gradually if the needle still skips. Although you may only end up a couple of milligrams off maximum, those milligrams can add months to the lifespan of your needle and records.
If the worst comes to the worst, and the needle still flies when you’re trying to scratch, even with the counterweight set to maximum, you can try a couple of more drastic options:
Put the counterweight on backwards so the black ring (with numbers on it) points away from the tonearm. As the back end of the counterweight isn’t tapered, it has more bulk, which adds more weight.
Raise the height of the tonearm so the sharper angle makes the needle point down into the groove, creating more downforce. Don’t put it too high though, otherwise the front of the cartridge rubs against the record.
The last, and most destructive option is to create extra downforce to the cartridge by adding a weight, such as a coin or Blutack, stuck onto the Figure 16-2:
The Shure M44-7 needle and cartridge.
headshell. Doing this may help keep the needle in the groove, but you’ll wear out your records and needles quicker than your wallet can buy them! Having to put extra force on the needle probably means that your technique is at fault rather than the set-up of your needle. See section
‘Mastering the Technique’ later in this chapter for a word on proper hand technique.
As a final note, keep your needles and records clean at all times to reduce the possibility of foreign objects gouging holes in the record or making the needle less stable. Chapter 6 covers methods for cleaning and caring for your needles and records.
Giving slipmats the slip
As a scratch DJ, your slipmats should be slippery enough so that they don’t resist or drag when you’re scratching, yet still have enough grip so they won’t skid during a scratch, or when you let go of the record to play it.
(Check out Chapter 6 for everything you need to know about slipmats.)
Touching up mixers
Chapter 8 covers the vital functions needed for a scratch mixer, but you can make a couple of further improvements yourself. Firstly, take a look at your cross-fader. Make sure that you keep it lubricated so that it moves smoothly, without unwanted resistance.
Secondly, secure the faders and cross-faders. The parts that you touch to move the faders do have a tendency to fly off if you’re a bit rough with them.
Pull them off, and put a piece of paper over the metal protrusion that sticks out to make it thicker, and then put the knob back on. The knob will now be wedged and harder to knock off, solving any flying knob problems!
Making the mixer a hamster
When the mixer is connected hamster style(the normal set-up is reversed, so channel 1 plugs into channel 2, and channel 2 plugs into channel 1) or a ham- ster switch is activated, this set-up reverses the normal cross-fader function so that the opposite channel plays to the side that the cross-fader points to.
If you normally move to the left to hear channel 1 and right for channel 2, you’ll now move to the right for channel 1 and the left for channel 2. Many DJs prefer this because it’s a more natural and comfortable way to work.
TEAM LinG