Scratching, sometimes referred to asscrubbing, is aDJ andturntablist technique of moving avinyl record back and forth on aturntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. Acrossfader on aDJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.
While scratching is most associated withhip hop music, where it emerged in the mid-1970s, from the 1990s it has been used in some styles ofEDM liketechno,trip hop, andhouse music androck music such asrap rock,rap metal, rapcore, andnu metal. Inhip hop culture, scratching is one of the measures of a DJ's skills. DJs compete in scratching competitions at theDMC World DJ Championships and IDA (International DJ Association), formerly known asITF (InternationalTurntablist Federation). At scratching competitions, DJs can use only scratch-oriented gear (turntables, DJ mixer, digital vinyl systems or vinyl records only). In recorded hip hop songs, scratched"hooks" often use portions of other songs.
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A rudimentary form of turntable manipulation that is related to scratching was developed in the late 1940s by radio music program hosts,disc jockeys (DJs), or the radio program producers who did their own technical operation asaudio console operators. It was known as back-cueing, and was used to find thevery beginning of the start of a song (i.e., the cue point) on a vinyl record groove.[1] This was done to permit the operator to back the disc up (rotate the record or the turntable platter itself counter-clockwise) in order to permit the turntable to be switched on, and come up to full speed without ruining the first few bars of music with the "wow" of incorrect, unnaturally slow-speed playing. This permitted the announcer to time their remarks, and start the turntable in time for when they wanted the music on the record to begin.
Back cueing was a basic skill that all radio production staff needed to learn, and the dynamics of it were unique to the brand of professional turntable in use at a given radio station. The older, larger and heavier turntables needed a 180-degree backward rotation to allow for run up to full speed; some of the newer 1950s models used aluminum platters and cloth-backed rubber mats which required a third of a rotational turn or less to achieve full speed when the song began. All this was done in order to present a music show on air with the least amount of silence ("alive air") between music, the announcer's patter and recorded advertising commercials. The rationale was that any "dead air" on a radio station was likely to prompt a listener to switch stations, so announcers and program directors instructed DJs and announcers to provide a continuous, seamless stream of sound–from music to an announcer to a pre-recorded commercial, to a "jingle" (radio station theme song), and then immediately back to more music.
Back-cueing was a key function in delivering this seamless stream of music. Radio personnel demanded robust equipment and manufacturers developed special tonearms, styli, cartridges and lightweight turntables to meet these demands.
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Modern scratching techniques were made possible by the invention ofdirect-drive turntables, which led to the emergence ofturntablism. Earlybelt-drive turntables were unsuitable for scratching since they had a slow start-up time, and they were prone to wear and tear and breakage,[2] as the belt would break from backspinning or scratching.[3] The first direct-drive turntable was invented by Shuichi Obata, an engineer atMatsushita (nowPanasonic),[4] based inOsaka,Japan.[2] It eliminated belts, and instead employed a motor to directly drive a platter on which a vinyl record rests.[5] In 1969, Matsushita released it as theSP-10,[5] the first direct-drive turntable on the market,[6] and the first in their influentialTechnics series of turntables.[5]
In the 1970s,hip hop musicians and club DJs began to use this specialized turntable equipment to move the record back and forth, creating percussive sounds and effects–"scratching"–to entertain their dance floor audiences. Whereas the 1940s–1960s radio DJs had used back-cueing while listening to the sounds through their headphones, without the audience hearing, with scratching, the DJ intentionally lets the audience hear the sounds that are being created by manipulating the record on the turntable, by directing the output from the turntable to asound reinforcement system so that the audience can hear the sounds. Scratching was developed by earlyhip hop DJs fromNew York City such asGrand Wizzard Theodore, who described scratching as, "nothing but the back-cueing that you hear in your ear before you push it [the recorded sound] out to the crowd."[7] He developed the technique when experimenting with theTechnics SL-1200, a direct-drive turntable released by Matsushita in 1972 when he found that the motor would continue to spin at the correctRPM even if the DJ wiggled the record back and forth on the platter.Afrika Bambaataa made a similar discovery with the SL-1200 in the 1970s. The Technics SL-1200 went on to become the most widely used turntable for the next several decades.[8]
Jamaican-born DJKool Herc, who immigrated to New York City, influenced the early development of scratching. Kool Herc developedbreak-beatDJing, where the breaks offunk songs—being the most danceable part, often featuringpercussion—were isolated and repeated for the purpose of all-night dance parties.[9] He was influenced by Jamaican dub music,[10] and developed his turntable techniques using the Technics SL-1100, released in 1971, due to its strong motor, durability, and fidelity.[5]
Although previous artists such as writer and poetWilliam S. Burroughs had experimented with the idea of manipulating areel-to-reel tape manually to make sounds, as with his 1950s recording, "Sound Piece"), vinyl scratching as an element of hip hop pioneered the idea of making the sound an integral and rhythmic part of music instead of an uncontrolled noise. Scratching is related to "scrubbing" (in terms of audio editing and production) when the reels of an openreel-to-reel tape deck (typically 1/4 inch magnetic audiotape) are gently rotated back and forth while the playback head is live and amplified, to isolate a specific spot on the tape where an editing "cut" is to be made. Today, both scratching and scrubbing can be done ondigital audio workstations (DAWs) which are equipped for these techniques.
Christian Marclay was one of the earliest musicians to scratch outside hip hop. In the mid-1970s, Marclay usedgramophone records andturntables asmusical instruments to createsound collages. He developed his turntable sounds independently ofhip hop DJs. Although he is little-known to mainstream audiences, Marclay has been described as "the most influentialturntable figure outside hip hop"[11] and the "unwitting inventor ofturntablism."[12]
In 1981Grandmaster Flash released the song "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" which is notable for its use of many DJ scratching techniques. It was the first commercial recording produced entirely using turntables. In 1982,Malcolm McLaren & theWorld's Famous Supreme Team released a single "Buffalo Gals", juxtaposing extensive scratching with calls fromsquare dancing, and, in 1983, the EP,D'ya Like Scratchin'?, which is entirely focused on scratching. Another 1983 release to prominently feature scratching isHerbie Hancock'sGrammy Award-winning single "Rockit". This song was also performed live at the1984 Grammy Awards, and in the documentary filmScratch, the performance is cited by many 1980s-era DJs as their first exposure to scratching. The Street Sounds Electro compilation series which started in 1983 is also notable for early examples of scratching. Also, a notable piece was "For A Few Dollars More" byBill Laswell-Michael Beinhorn bandMaterial, released on 12" single in Japan and containing scratch performed byGrand Mixer DXT, another pioneer of scratching.
Most scratches are produced by rotating avinyl record on adirect drive turntable rapidly back and forth with the hand with the stylus ("needle") in the record's groove. This produces the distinctive sound that has come to be one of the most recognizable features of hip hop music.[13] Over time with excessive scratching, the stylus will cause what is referred to as "cue burn", or "record burn".[citation needed]
The basic equipment setup for scratching includes two turntables and aDJ mixer, which is a smallmixer that has a crossfader and cue buttons to allow the DJ to cue up new music in theirheadphones without the audience hearing.[citation needed] When scratching, this crossfader is utilized in conjunction with the scratching hand that is manipulating the record platter. The hand manipulating the crossfader is used to cut in and out of the record's sound.[citation needed]
Using adigital vinyl system (DVS) consists of playing vinyl discs on turntables whose contents are a timecode signal instead of a real music record.
There is not a single standard of DVS, so each form of DJ software has its own settings. Some DJ software such asTraktor Scratch Pro orSerato Scratch Live supports only the audio interface sold with their software, requiring multiple interfaces for one computer to run multiple programs.
Some digital vinyl systems software include:
While some turntablists consider the only true scratching media to be the vinyl disc, there are other ways to scratch, such as:
Sounds that are frequently scratched include but are not limited to drum beats,horn stabs, spoken wordsamples, and vocals/lyrics from other songs. Any sound recorded to vinyl can be used, andCD players providing a turntable-like interface allow DJs to scratch not only material that was never released on vinyl, but also field recordings and samples from television and movies that have been burned toCD-R. Some DJs and anonymous collectors release12-inch singles calledbattle records that include trademark, novel or hard-to-find scratch "fodder" (material). The most recognizable samples used for scratching are the "Ahh" and "Fresh" samples, which originate from the song "Change the Beat" byFab 5 Freddy.
There are many scratching techniques, which differ in how the movements of the record are combined with opening and closing the crossfader (or another fader or switch, such as akill switch, where "open" means that the signal is audible, and "closed" means that the signal is inaudible). This terminology is not unique; the following discussion, however, is consistent with the terminology used byDJ QBert on hisDo It Yourself Scratching DVD.
More complex combinations can be generated by grouping elementary crossfader motions (such as the open, close, and tap) into three and four-move sequences.[17] Closing and tapping motions can be followed by opens and taps, and opens can be followed by closes only.
| Three move sequences | switch position at beginning and end |
|---|---|
| open-close-tap | closed-closed |
| tap-open-close | closed-closed |
| close-tap-open | open-open |
| open-close-open | closed-open |
| close-open-close | open-closed |
| close-tap-tap | open-closed |
| tap-tap-tap | closed-closed |
| tap-tap-open | closed-open |
| four move sequences | switch position at beginning and end |
|---|---|
| close-open-close-open | open-open |
| close-open-close-tap | open-closed |
| close-tap-open-close | open-closed |
| close-tap-tap-tap | open-closed |
| close-tap-tap-open | open-open |
| open-close-open-close | closed-closed |
| open-close-tap-tap | closed-closed |
| open-close-tap-open | closed-open |
| tap-tap-tap-tap | closed-closed |
| tap-tap-tap-open | closed-open |
| tap-tap-open-close | closed-closed |
| tap-open-close-open | closed-open |
| tap-open-close-tap | closed-closed |
Note that some sequences of motions ultimately change the direction of the switch, whereas others end in a position such that they can be repeated immediately without having to reset the position of the switch. Sequences that change the direction of the switch can be dovetailed with sequences that change it in the opposite directions to produce repeating patterns, or can be used to transition between open and closed crossfader techniques, such as chirps/flares and transforms, respectively.[18] These crossfader sequences are frequently combined with orbits and tears to produce combination scratches, such as the aquaman scratch, which goes "close-tap-open".[19]
While scratching is becoming more and more popular in pop music, particularly with the crossover success of pop-hip hop tracks in the 2010s, sophisticated scratching and other expert turntablism techniques are still predominantly an underground style developed by theDJ subculture. TheInvisibl Skratch Piklz fromSan Francisco focuses on scratching. In 1994, the group was formed by DJsQ-Bert,Disk &Shortkut and laterMix Master Mike. In July 2000,San Francisco'sYerba Buena Center for the Arts held Skratchcon2000, the first DJ Skratch forum that provided "the education and development of skratch music literacy". In 2001,Thud Rumble became an independent company that works with DJ artists to produce and distribute scratch records.[citation needed]
In 2004,Scratch Magazine, one of the first publications about hip hop DJs andrecord producers, released its debut issue, following in the footsteps of the lesser-knownTablist magazine. Pedestrian is a UK arts organisation that runs Urban Music Mentors workshops led by DJs. At these workshops, DJs teach youth how to create beats, use turntables to create mixes, act as anMC at events, and perform club sets.
Scratching has been incorporated into a number of other musical genres, includingpop,rock,jazz, some subgenres ofheavy metal (notablynu metal) and some contemporary and avant-gardeclassical music performances. For recording use,samplers are often used instead of physically scratching a vinyl record.
DJ Product©1969, formerly of therap rock bandHed PE, recalled that thepunk rock bandthe Vandals was the first rock band he remembered seeing use turntable scratching.[20] Product©1969 also recalled the earlyrap metal band Proper Grounds, which was signed toMadonna'sMaverick Records, as being another one of the first rock bands to utilize scratching in their music.[20]
GuitaristTom Morello, known for his work withRage Against the Machine andAudioslave, has performedguitar solos that imitate scratching by using the kill switch on his guitar. Perhaps the best-known example is "Bulls on Parade", in which he creates scratch-like rhythmic sounds by rubbing the strings over the pick-ups while using the pickup selector switch as acrossfader.
Since the 1990s, scratching has been used in a variety of popular music genres such asnu metal, exemplified byLinkin Park,Slipknot andLimp Bizkit. It has also been used by artists in pop music (e.g.Nelly Furtado) andalternative rock (e.g.Incubus). Scratching is also popular in variouselectronic music styles, such astechno.