Who scratches here?
Who scratches here? Posted on: 22.12.2011 by Len Lukawski A couple of months ago I decided to start learning to scratch, properly. Not just pushing the record around and hoping for the best (which best describes the previous 17 attempts back in the day). I have consumed hundreds of hours of videos on Youtube, been reading books, signed up for Qbert's SkratchU and practice whenever I can which unfortunately is maybe half an hour a day. I am definitely off the blocks skills-wise but still in skratch primary/elementary school.So who here scratches? Are you beginner or Grandmaster? What are you learning right now? What's been the hardest technique for you to learn? How did you or do you learn? What's your setup? What do you scratch to? Would you like to go to dinner? - I edited this list as I had a repeat question on setups. Would love to hear people's stories and views on this! | |
| Lilliana Perris 08.05.2012 | Nice one bro! I did not give it a full listen nor am i qualified to give advice. But I liked it and believe you are on your way to being badass. |
| Myrtle Billegas 07.05.2012 | I recently scratched just a little, lucky for me i recorded it so you can judge me on my almost nonexistant skills I |
| Verona Spradlin 05.05.2012 | Just had a fun little jam with my friend who's a drummer. I may upload the entire freestyle (13 mins). I just liked the tempo switch because it was improvised. Fun stuff. Edit: I went ahead and uploaded the entire thing. Feel free to watch 30 seconds of it or the whole thing. Edit2: Skip to 5:00 because the beginning is slow. |
| Verona Spradlin 28.04.2012 | It is for sure. I'd rather not scratch on a DVS if I have a choice. I should probably own a copy of Super Duck Breaks also, hah. I got the rest of the parts and the TTX is perfect. I'll be sure to put up a scratching 1200 vs. TTX video. |
| Roxann Hermann 27.04.2012 | I scratch a fair bit.. Im using 1200 mk5s and some M44Gs.. Along with my most recent purchase, 2 copies of DJ Babu's Super Duper Duck Breaks! Absolute classic.. scratching with real vinyl is so much nicer imho. |
| Lilliana Perris 26.04.2012 | I have a similar issue. I find, that if I practice...and do babies to the beat for a while to warm up, i can much more ON the beats and my timing is much better. Then I start to add the jerky type scribble to the babies. Then I start doing it with the fader worked in. Step by Step. Practice I guess. I also can only use the fader with my right hand. I can rub with my left and right...just not control the fader with both! HEHEHE...does my head in, but love it. I AM LEARNING NEW STUFF! |
| Evelyn Navarijo 26.04.2012 | I might have posted this before, not entirely sure, but here goes: I need some help with my record movement, I struggle to get that really quick, "jerky" movement that seems to work so well for others when doing babies, transforms and such, any advice? |
| Danae Dumler 25.04.2012 | I've owned a few dozen M44 tips over the years. Some I broke them in like described and that seemed to work; others I just broke in by using and that was fine too. Never had any problems with either approach, but never noticed them really skipping more in the beginning either. I wonder if "breaking in" needles is even really necessary; either way, it happens just by playing them so I eventually stopped using the overevening sitting trick. |
| Verona Spradlin 25.04.2012 | Glad you enjoy them! I did notice that the wires that the M44s come with are very small and hard to get to stick on the little pins on the headshell and cart. Besides that, have fun with the M44s! Just remember, they do take a little while to "wear in" the stylus so at first they may skip just a bit. After some playing time, they'll settle right in. One recommendation (I have not tried this) would be to just leave the needle on the record without playing overevening so the stylus breaks itself in. I'm not too sure how well it works, but I hear some people really recommend it. |
| Ginger Vinegar 25.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by hipnopath
edit: when setting up my tracking force the counter weight was pissing me off, so i came up with an idea. Busted out my old digital pot scale and weighed a perfect 3 grams right at the stylus (with the guard flipped down). Tracking force is perfect now. |
| Verona Spradlin 25.04.2012 | Good news, just installed the IC Chip and the platter spins and starts up perfectly! Now to see how long it takes to burn out... I should be getting the tonearm base and target light and stuff tomorrow in the mail so the TTX will probably be done by then! |
| Lilliana Perris 25.04.2012 | Dude....if I were in your area...you could sort my pair of PDX2000's. They need some feet, tonearms and new power cables. But alas... I found new tonearms but the feet are MAD expensive. The power I will be able to sort it myself. Sitting in a box at home at the mo. |
| Verona Spradlin 25.04.2012 | Awesome! Yeah I love the M44s, they're loud as hell so get ready to turn your gain down. Also, since you're practicing scratching, I'd first get s Superseal and a scratch mixer because it feels much better analogue, I really don't like the feel of scratching on a DVS. For a scratch mixer, I'd recommend a used Vestax PMC series. They're solid scratch mixers with a great stock fader, plus they're pretty cheap on eBay. As long as they turn on and have power adapters, I'd say buy one. You could also check GuitarCenter's used section on the site and call in to inquire about anything you find, and if it checks out, you can buy it over the phone. I'd recommend a used PMC05Pro3 or an 07Pro for maybe sub $200 which is about the price of an Audio 6. GC, eBay, and Craigslist are your friend! Edit: What's up Jon? I've heard about the DV community s but after one look, I knew you guys were on an entirely different planet with guys like Yoshi and Chile who are insane. I may man up and join you guys soon. Edit2: Just one more edit then bedtime, I will hopefully get the TTX working by this weekend! The previous owner didn't mention to me that the tonearm collar (where the tonearm screws in the base) was broken! Easy enough, with salvaging the tonearm that came with the TTX (which was bent hard) I replaced the collar, soldered the leads and done! As I was screwing the bearing back in, I heard a *snap* and after an array of explicit words, I realized I ruined the tonearm base. Anyway, I found a guy on skratchworx who would sell me the tonearm base, another tonearm, a foot (previous owner had a bottlecap as a foot) , target light (didn't include one) and the target light jack (broke previous target light in jack) for $60 shipped! Dude was badass! Anyway, I've ordered the IC chip so once I get that in, I'll get to some fresh ultrapitch scratching which will make this headache worth it! |
| Ginger Vinegar 24.04.2012 | So after watching all of hipno's videos i realize that he's pretty attached to those M44-7's, so i figure that must be the best cartridge so i ordered a couple to replace my burnt out miss matched stanton/numark cartridges, they should be arriving tomorrow.. i cant wait!!! now that i have money im battling myself right now.. traktor audio 6 or a cheap scratch mixer and a superseal record.. though im leaning towards the traktor audio 6. That way i can hook up my turntables and use my shitty hercules midi mixer to practise my scratching untill i can afford a real mixer.. what do you guys believe?. |
| Ira Alsadi 24.04.2012 | Welcome to our little haven Jon1st. I'm sure Hipno is happy to someone else on here who is good rather than just us beginners. |
| Carletta Lueker 24.04.2012 | So who here scratches? Me! Are you beginner or Grandmaster? I've been scratching about 8 years. I DJ/battle as my full time job. What are you learning right now? Reverse juggles- those ones where you hit the stop button on the turntable and push the platter anticlockwise while maintaining the beat in a beat juggle. What's been the hardest technique for you to learn? Flare combos. How did you or do you learn? I originally learned by ear by mimicing scratches and melodies off my favourite records. I learn new patterns just by jamming every day and I learn the odd new technique by jamming with friends or from youtube tutorials. What's your setup? technics 1210s, pioneer 909 and a vestax pmc07pro. I use serato for routines/DJing too. Regular vinyl for listening/freestyle scratching What do you scratch to? All tempos, though I used to be stuck in 90-100ish bpm. Would you like to go to dinner? PS if anyone here is looking for a decent online scratching community check out www.digitalvertigo.co.uk <- a community I frequent dedicated to scratch and non scratch related banter. Members range from beginners to dmc/wtk champs. |
| Verona Spradlin 22.04.2012 | Traded an 06 Pro for it. Maybe worth $100. Quick video as well! |
| Len Lukawski 22.04.2012 | and how much pray tell, did you pay for that? |
| Verona Spradlin 22.04.2012 | Tonearm wires ripped, IC chip burnt out, Tonearm Bent, Bottle Cap as a foot (lol), and broken tonearm clip. Already ordered the parts so I've got the soldering iron at the ready. |
| Len Lukawski 22.04.2012 | whats up with it? |
| Verona Spradlin 21.04.2012 | Finally got a TTX, too bad it needs some fixing. I can't wait to get it running within the next week or so. |
| Ira Alsadi 20.04.2012 | Whatever you are comfortable with. |
| Lilliana Perris 20.04.2012 | Sweet! Is there any specific beat you are using for the back? And whats its BPM? |
| Ira Alsadi 20.04.2012 | Absolutely. I would have another vid up but I have my decks apart for a mod at the moment. |
| Lilliana Perris 20.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by djproben
I just moved and setup all my gear in a new studio! (Love doing that!) Swam with my iPhone in Thailand...so now am forced to find a battery charger for my handycam. Soon as, I would like to get into the Q + A too. |
| Evelyn Navarijo 14.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by hipnopath
I'm kinda reluctant to get a Maschine, as I really like the concept of having everything in one unit, and I'd love to be able to bring it with me to friends and jam with them, which makes the 500 a bit more appealing. Obviously the price is a factor as well, and I'd probably get it used no matter what, they seem to be going for around |
| Verona Spradlin 13.04.2012 | It has a learning curve to learn to use and it's said to not be intended as a main MPC because of its two line screen. I can use it just fine. In hindsight, I could have bought a Maschine Mikro and probably had better results, but like I said, I prefer the idea of a completely standalone piece of hardware. Now what I really wish I had was an MPC1000 or MPC2000XL. Those are legitimate, but not portable. The 500 is about the size of a hardcover novel, but it still feels great to use. The only thing I knew it needed was a RAM upgrade because stock, it has 16mb of RAM making for 1.5 minutes of sample time. The official Akai RAM upgrade costs $150 so I did some research and found an upgrade RAM kit for $20 on Amazon. Now the sample time is 24 minutes. To finish this post, I'd say grab a used MPC1000 (~$400) or an MPC2000XL(~$300). I kind of wish I had saved up but it's all good since I got my MPC500 for $250. If not, get a Maschine Mikro or Maschine. |
| Evelyn Navarijo 13.04.2012 | How do you like the MPC 500 Hipno? I've been believeing about picking one up, I'd like to get into making beats n stuff, is it a solid piece of kit, or am I better just getting a pad controller and hooking it up to the sampler in Reason? |
| Verona Spradlin 12.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by DannyAK
http://www.amazon.com/Thud-Rumble-Su...4207914&sr=8-1 Hope I helped! |
| Ginger Vinegar 12.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by hipnopath
dude hipnopath you are the man, i only like a few hiphop producers and i find myself listening to your soundcloud songs alot, so yeah, awesome beats man.. what program do you use to make those hiphop beats with? they remind me alot of 9th wonder. And also where do you get the 'ahh yeah' and 'fresh' vinyls? keep it up bro. |
| Verona Spradlin 10.04.2012 | I added the download link to my little instrumental on SoundCloud for those interested. Also decided to start planning out another DMC Online entry because my entry wasn't chosen from the 10 selected. I'm going to probably take this one oldschool. Here I'm just juggling (badly) a Qbert Battle Breaks sentence. |
| Ira Alsadi 10.04.2012 | Haha |
| Len Lukawski 10.04.2012 | I just g4'ed a little. |
| Danae Dumler 10.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by Cybertrash
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| Ira Alsadi 10.04.2012 | Dagger!
Originally Posted by Cybertrash
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| Evelyn Navarijo 10.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by djlotus
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| Verona Spradlin 10.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by brainfried
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| Ira Alsadi 10.04.2012 | You have a kitchen with counter tops right?
Originally Posted by Cybertrash
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| Evelyn Navarijo 10.04.2012 |
Originally Posted by djlotus
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| Danae Dumler 10.04.2012 | here's my entry in the Q+A |
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