Turntablism

Under Turntablism refers to the manipulation of records with a record player, so that the sounds of the record are put together in a completely new context. This term was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu of the Beat Junkies from Los Angeles.

History and Technology

Already in the late 1940s turntables were used as musical instruments. Artists and composers such as Marcel Duchamp, John Cage and Edgar Varese and especially the representatives of the musique concrète experimented with turntables.

Turntablism is a further development and refinement of the well-known in hip-hop since the invention of Kool DJ Herc by musicians such as Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, Afrika Bambaataa and Grand Wizard Theodore techniques.

Essentially, there are two special areas in turntablism have developed:

• The Scratching that focuses on all the techniques that can be mastered with a record, relates, and
• The Beatjuggling, the rhythmic interplay sum of two records.

These areas have been pursued by many artists, of which especially the Californian formation ISP ( Invisibl Skratch Piklz / members include: D-Styles, DJ QBert, flare, MixMasterMike, Shortkut, Yogafrog ) as one of the most important (actually the most important ) engines to name the scene. They developed most varied techniques and influenced the " young " ( Scratching ) scene enormous and profound.

Among the masters of Beatjuggling include such as The X - Ecutioners ( Roc Raida, Rob Swift, Total Eclipse, Mista Sinista )

Significant Turntablism crews of today are Ned Hoddings, Birdy Nam Nam, C2C, Lordz of Fitness and many more. Mainly inspired by this Skratchmusiker the genre developed more and more into innovative musicality and the turntable as a real musical instrument, which is in contrast to the often " unmusical " and technological battle scene. Recent developments ( such as the MP3 compatibility of turntables, effects, Loopstationen etc. ) make it possible to expand the " Restrictions" of the analogue record player called up by the. However, about the ghosts of many turntablists: some supposedly championing of vinyl and the analog, others are of digitization against open minded and still others try to bring these two into line. General can attest that the "Scratch industry" and many artists achieve lower profits by these innovations.

Notable plates of these developments are " scetchbook " by Ricci Rucker & Mike Boogie, " Phantazmagorea " by D-Styles, the " Birdy Nam Nam " album of the same crew and " Table Manners " Noisy Stylus and " Wave Twisters " by DJ QBert.

Away from the hip-hop turntables are now mainly used in improvised and experimental music. Well-known representatives of this trend are Otomo Yoshihide, Christian Marclay, eRikm, dieb13, the Institute of fine motor skills and Philip Jeck.

An interface between the classical notation and turntablism was created by the S- notation. With this notation, it is possible all movements which take place at the turntables and mixer to record, to play together, for example, with other "classical" instruments.