Editing Turntablism (section)

==History==

===Precursors===
{{Main|Recording studio as an instrument}}
The use of the turntable as a [[musical instrument]] has its roots dating back to the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when [[musique concrète]] composers did experiments with audio equipment. [[Experimental music|Experimental]] composers (such as [[John Cage]], [[Halim El-Dabh]], and [[Pierre Schaeffer]]) used them to [[sampling (music)|sample]] and create music that was entirely produced by the turntable. Cage's ''[[Imaginary Landscape No. 1]]'' (1939) is composed for two variable speed turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano and [[cymbal]]. [[Edgard Varèse]] experimented with turntables even earlier in 1930, though he never formally produced any works using them. Though this school of thought and practice is not directly linked to the 1970s–2010 definition of turntablism within hip hop and DJ culture, it has had an influence on modern experimental sonic/artists such as [[Christian Marclay]], [[Janek Schaefer]], [[Otomo Yoshihide]], [[Philip Jeck]], and [[Maria Chavez]]. Turntablism as it is known today, however, did not surface until the advent of [[hip hop]] in the 1970s.

Examples of turntable effects can also be found on popular records produced in the 1960s and 1970s. This was most prominent in Jamaican [[dub music]] of the 1960s,<ref name="cambridge49">{{Cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AJbdPZv1DjgC&pg=PA49|title=The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music|last2=Rincón|first2=Julio d' Escrivan |date= 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-86861-7| page = 49}}</ref> among [[deejay]]s in the Jamaican [[Sound system (Jamaican)|sound system]] culture. Dub music introduced the techniques of mixing and scratching vinyl,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Andrew|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-UJLXXBqUQC&pg=PA127|title=Computers in Music Education: Amplifying Musicality|date= 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-86598-6|page = 127}}</ref> which Jamaican immigrants introduced to American hip hop culture in the early 1970s.<ref name="cambridge">{{Cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Nick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bQeAtG97BmEC&pg=PA105|title=Electronic Music|last2=Schedel|first2=Margaret|last3=Wilson|first3=Scott|date= 2013|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-01093-2|page = 105 |doi = 10.1017/CBO9780511820540}}</ref> Beyond dub music, [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]'s 1968 [[Creedence Clearwater Revival (album)|self-titled debut album]] features a [[Back spinning|backspin]] effect in the song "Walk on the Water".
[[File:Sid Wilson at Mayhem.jpg|thumb|[[Sid Wilson]] of [[Slipknot (band)|Slipknot]] operating [[Direct-drive turntable|direct-drive turntables]] at Mayhem Festival in 2008.]]

===Direct-drive turntables===
{{See also|Direct-drive turntable|Technics (brand)}}

Turntablism has origins in the invention of [[direct-drive turntable]]s. Early [[belt-drive turntable]]s were unsuitable for turntablism, since they had a slow start-up time, and they were prone to wear-and-tear and breakage,<ref name="medium">{{Cite web|last=Coleman|first=Brian|date=January 7, 2016|title=The Technics 1200 — Hammer Of The Gods &#91;XXL, Fall 1998&#93;|url=https://medium.com/@briancoleman/the-technics-1200-hammer-of-the-gods-xxl-fall-1998-5b93180a67da|access-date=January 15, 2023|website=Medium|language=en}}</ref> as the belt would break from backspinning or scratching.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LApZ8KV7bZAC&pg=PA43|title=The World of DJs and the Turntable Culture|date=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation|isbn=978-0-634-05833-2|page=43 }}</ref> The first direct-drive turntable was invented by Shuichi Obata, an engineer at [[Panasonic|Matsushita]] (now [[Panasonic]]),<ref>{{Cite periodical|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT140|magazine=Billboard Magazine|date=1977-05-21|publisher=Nielsen Business Media|page=140 | title=Tracking the next century's disk spinner | author= Steve Trainan }}</ref> based in [[Osaka]], Japan.<ref name="medium"/> It eliminated belts, and instead employed a motor to directly drive a platter on which a vinyl record rests.<ref name="oxford">{{Cite book|last1=Pinch|first1=Trevor|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KuRfLG0IedYC&pg=PA515|title=The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies|last2=Bijsterveld|first2=Karin|date= 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-538894-7|page=515}}</ref> In 1969, Matsushita released it as the [[Technics (brand)|SP-10]],<ref name="oxford"/> the first direct-drive turntable on the market,<ref name="reverb">{{cite web|title=History of the Record Player Part II: The Rise and Fall|url=https://reverb.com/news/history-of-the-record-player-part-ii-the-rise-and-fall|website=[[Reverb.com]]| date=October 2015 |access-date=June 5, 2016 | first = Jess | last= Mayhew }}</ref> and the first in their influential [[Technics (brand)|Technics]] series of turntables.<ref name="oxford"/> In 1971, Matsushita released the Technics SL-1100. Due to its strong motor, durability, and fidelity, it was adopted by early hip hop artists.<ref name="oxford"/>

A forefather of turntablism was [[DJ Kool Herc]], an immigrant from [[Jamaica]] to New York City.<ref name="reverb"/> He introduced turntable techniques from Jamaican dub music,<ref name="cambridge"/> while developing new techniques made possible by the direct-drive turntable technology of the [[Technics (brand)|Technics SL-1100]], which he used for the first [[Sound system (Jamaican)|sound system]] he set up after emigrating to New York.<ref name="reverb"/> The signature technique he developed was playing two copies of the same record on two turntables in alternation to extend the [[Breakdancing|b-dancers]]' favorite section,<ref name="cambridge"/> switching back and forth between the two to [[Music loop|loop]] the [[Break (music)|breaks]] to a rhythmic beat.<ref name="reverb"/>

The most influential turntable was the [[Technics SL-1200]],<ref name="wired">{{Cite magazine|last=Blashill|first=Pat|title=Six Machines That Changed The Music World|language=en-US|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2002/05/blackbox/|access-date=January 15, 2023|date=May 2002}}</ref> which was developed in 1971 by a team led by Shuichi Obata at Matsushita, which then released it onto the market in 1972.<ref name="medium"/> It was adopted by New York City hip hop DJs such as [[Grand Wizard Theodore]] and [[Afrika Bambaataa]] in the 1970s. As they experimented with the SL-1200 decks, they developed scratching techniques when they found that the motor would continue to spin at the correct [[revolutions per minute|RPM]] even if the DJ wiggled the record back and forth on the platter.<ref name="wired"/> Since then, turntablism spread widely in hip hop culture, and the SL-1200 remained the most widely used turntable in DJ culture for the next several decades.<ref name="oxford"/><ref name="wired"/>

===Hip-hop===
[[Image:Turntables and mixer.jpg|thumb|right|325px|A DJ vinyl turntable system, consisting of two turntables and a crossfader-equipped [[DJ mixer]]]]

Turntablism as a modern art form and musical practice has its roots within African-American inner city [[Hip-Hop music|hip-hop]] of the late 1970s. [[Kool Herc]] (a Jamaican DJ who immigrated to New York City), [[Afrika Bambaataa]] and [[Grandmaster Flash]] are widely credited for having cemented the now established role of DJ as hip hop's foremost instrumentalist.<ref name="Hansen2000">Hansen, Kjetil Falkenberg (2000). [http://www.speech.kth.se/~kjetil/files/papers/2000-NTNU-Hansen_Turntablemusic.pdf ''Turntable Music''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607100911/http://www.speech.kth.se/~kjetil/files/papers/2000-NTNU-Hansen_Turntablemusic.pdf |date=June 7, 2011 }}. Norway: NTNU and Sweden: KTH, p. 4</ref> Kool Herc's invention of [[Break (music)|break-beat]] DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in hip hop history, as it gave rise to all other elements of the genre. His influence on the concept of "DJ as turntablist" is equally profound.

To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the "[[break (music)|break]]". Briefly, the "break" of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an "interlude" in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. Kool Herc introduced the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. This is done by buying two of the same record, finding the break on each record, and switching from one to the other using the DJ mixer: e.g., as record ''A'' plays, the DJ quickly backtracks to the same break on record ''B'', which will again take the place of ''A'' at a specific moment where the audience will not notice that the DJ has switched records. Using that idea, Grandmaster Flash elaborated on Kool Herc's invention of break-beat DJing and came up with the [[Grandmaster Flash#Innovations|quick-mix theory]], in which Flash sectioned off a part of the record like a [[Clock face|clock]].<ref name="chang 113">Chang, Jeff. ''Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation''. Picador, 2005, p 113.</ref> He described it as being "...like cutting, the backspin, and the double-back."<ref name="chang 113"/>

Kool Herc's revolutionary techniques set the course for the development of turntablism as an art form in significant ways. Most important, however, he developed a new form of DJing that did not consist of just playing and mixing records one after the other. The type of DJ that specializes in mixing a set is well respected for his/her own set of unique skills, but playlist mixing is still DJing in the traditional sense. Kool Herc instead originated the idea of ''creating'' a sequence for his own purposes, introducing the idea of the DJ as the "feature" of parties, whose performance on any given night would be different from on another night, because the music would be created by the DJ, mixing a bassline from one song with a beat from another song (Greasley & Prior, 2013). The DJ would be examined critically by the crowd on both a technical and entertainment level.

[[Grand Wizzard Theodore]], an apprentice of Flash, who accidentally isolated the most recognizable technique of turntablism: [[scratching]]. He put his hand on a record one day, to silence the music on the turntable while his mother was calling out to him and thus accidentally discovered the sound of scratching by moving the record back and forth under the [[stylus]]. Though Theodore discovered scratching, it was Flash who helped push the early concept and showcase it to the public, in his live shows and on recordings. DJ [[Grand Mixer DXT]] is also credited with furthering the concept of scratching by practicing the rhythmic scratching of a record on one or more turntables (often two), using different velocities to alter the [[pitch (music)|pitch]] of the note or sound on the recording (Alberts 2002). DXT appeared (as DST) on [[Herbie Hancock]]'s hit song "[[Rockit (song)|Rockit]]".<ref name=Hansen2000/> These early pioneers cemented the fundamental practice that would later become the emerging turntablist art form. Scratching would during the 1980s become a staple of hip hop music, being used by producers and DJs on records and in live shows. By the end of the 1980s it was very common to hear scratching on a record, generally as part of the chorus of a track or within its production.

On stage the DJ would provide the music for the MCs to rhyme and rap to, scratching records during the performance and showcasing his or her skills alongside the verbal skills of the MC. The most well known example of this 'equation' of MCs and DJ is probably [[Run-D.M.C.]] who were composed of two MCs and one DJ. The DJ, [[Jam Master Jay]], was an integral part of the group since his turntablism was critical to Run DMC's productions and performances. While Flash and Bambaataa were using the turntable to explore repetition, alter rhythm and create the instrumental stabs and punch phrasing that would come to characterize the sound of hip hop, Grandmaster DST was busy cutting "real" musicians on their own turf. His scratching on Herbie Hancock's 1983 single, "Rockit", makes it perhaps the most influential DJ track of them all – even more than (Grandmaster Flash's) "[[The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel|Wheels of Steel]]", it established the DJ as the star of the record, even if he wasn't the frontman.  Compared to "Rockit", [[West Street Mob]]'s "Break Dancin' – Electric Boogie" (1983) was punk negation. As great as "Break Dancin'" was, though, it highlighted the limited tonal range of scratching, which was in danger of becoming a short-lived fad like [[Human beatboxing|human beat-boxing]] until the emergence of Code Money's DJ Brethren from Philadelphia in the mid-1980s.

Despite New York's continued pre-eminence in the hip-hop world, scratch DJing was modernized less than 100 miles down the road in [[Philadelphia]], where the climate for the return of the DJ was created by inventing transformer scratching. Developed by [[DJ Spinbad]], [[DJ Cash Money]] and [[DJ Jazzy Jeff]], transforming was basically clicking the fader on and off while moving a block of sound (a riff or a short verbal phrase) across the stylus. Expanding the tonal as well as rhythmic possibilities of scratching, the transformer scratch epitomized the chopped-up aesthetic of hip hop culture. Hip hop was starting to become big money and the cult of personality started to take over. Hip hop became very much at the service of the rapper and Cash Money and DJ Jazzy Jeff were accorded maybe one track on an album – for example, DJ Jazzy Jeff's "[[Rock the House (album)|A Touch of Jazz]]" (1987) and "[[He's the DJ, I'm the Rapper|Jazzy's in the House]]" (1988) and Cash Money's "The Music Maker" (1988). Other crucial DJ tracks from this period include [[Tuff Crew]]'s DJ Too Tuff's "Behold the Detonator"  "Soul Food" (both 1989)", and [[Gang Starr]]'s "[[DJ Premier]] in Deep Concentration" (1989).

===Decline in role of DJ in hip hop===
The appearance of turntablists and the birth of turntablism was prompted by one major factor – the disappearance or downplaying of the role of the DJ in hip-hop groups, on records and in live shows at the turn of the 1990s. This disappearance has been widely documented in books and documentaries (among them ''[[Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America|Black Noise]]'' and ''[[Scratch (2001 film)|Scratch]]''), and was linked to the increased use of [[Digital Audio Tape|DAT tapes]] and other studio techniques that would ultimately push the DJ further away from the original hip-hop equation of the MC as the vocalist and the DJ as the music provider alongside the producer. This push and disappearance of the DJ meant that the practices of the DJ, such as scratching, went back underground and were cultivated and built upon by a generation of people who grew up with hip hop, DJs and scratching. By the mid-90s the disappearance of the DJ in hip hop had created a sub-culture which would come to be known as turntablism and which focused entirely on the DJ using his turntables and a mixer to manipulate sounds and create music. By pushing the practice of DJing away, hip hop created the grounds for this sub-culture to evolve (Greasley & Prior, 2013).

===Coining of terms===
The origin of the terms turntablist and turntablism are widely contested and argued about, but over the years some facts have been established by various documentaries (''Battlesounds'', [[Doug Pray]]'s ''[[Scratch (2001 film)|Scratch]]''), books (DJ Culture), conferences (Skratchcon 2000) and interviews in online and printed magazines. These facts are that the origins of the words most likely lay with practitioners on the US West Coast, centered on the [[San Francisco Bay Area]]. Some claim that [[DJ Disk]], a member of the [[Invisibl Skratch Piklz]], was the first to coin the term, others claim that "[[DJ Babu]]", a member of the "[[Beat Junkies]]", was responsible for coining and spreading the term turntablist after inscribing it on his mixtapes as"Babu the Turntablist" and passing them around. Another claim credits DJ Supreme, 1991 World Supremacy Champion and DJ for [[Lauryn Hill]]. The truth most likely lies somewhere in between all these facts.

In an interview with the ''Spin Science'' online resource in 2005, "[[DJ Babu]]" added the following comments about the birth and spread of the term:

{{quote|It was around 95, I was heavily into the whole battling thing, working on the tables constantly, mastering new techniques and scratches...[I] made this mixtape called "Comprehension", and on there was a track called "Turntablism" which featured [[Melo-D]] and D-Styles. And this is part of where this whole thing about turntablist came from. This was a time where all these new techniques were coming out, like flares and stuff, and there were probably 20 people or so, in around California between Frisco and LA, who knew about these. So we worked on them, talked about it and kicked about the ideas that these techniques and new ways of scratching gave us.{{citation needed|date=May 2014}}}}

===Mid- to late 1990s===
By the mid- to late 1990s the terms "turntablism" and "turntablist" had become established and accepted to define the practice and practitioner of using turntables and a mixer to create or manipulate sounds and music. This could be done by scratching a record or manipulating the rhythms on the record either by drumming, looping or beat juggling. The decade of the 1990s is also important in shaping the turntablist art form and culture as it saw the emergence of pioneering artists ([[Mix Master Mike]], [[DJ Qbert]], DJ Quest, [[DJ Krush]], [[A-Trak]], Ricci Rucker, Mike Boo, Pumpin' Pete, Prime Cuts) and crews (Invisibl Skratch Piklz, Beat Junkies, The Allies, [[X-Ecutioners]]), record labels ([[Asphodel Records|Asphodel]]), DJ Battles ([[DMC World DJ Championships|DMC]]) and the evolution of scratching and other turntablism practices such as Beat Juggling which are viewable in the IDA (International DJ Association/ITF) World Finals.

===Techniques ===
More sophisticated methods of scratching were developed during that decade, with crews and individual DJs concentrating on the manipulation of the record in time with the manipulation of the cross fader on the mixer to create new rhythms and [[sonic artifact]]s with a variety of sounds. The evolution of scratching from a fairly simple sound and simple rhythmic cadences to more complicated sounds and more intricate rhythmical patterns allowed the practitioners to further evolve what could be done with scratching musically. These new ways of scratching were all given names, from [[flare (scratch)|flare]] to [[crab (scratch)|crab]] or [[orbit (scratch)|orbit]], and spread as DJs taught each other, practiced together or just showed off their new techniques to other DJs. Alongside the evolution of [[scratching]], other practices such as drumming (or scratch drumming) and [[beat juggling]] were also evolved significantly during the 1990s.

Beat juggling was invented by [[Steve Dee]], a member of the X-Men (later renamed [[X-Ecutioners]]) crew. Beat juggling essentially involves the manipulation of two identical or different drum patterns on two different turntables via the mixer to create a new pattern. A simple example would be to use two copies of the same drum pattern to evolve the pattern by doubling the snares, syncopating the drum kick, adding rhythm and variation to the existing pattern. From this concept, which Steve Dee showcased in the early 1990s at DJ battles, Beat Juggling evolved throughout the decade to the point where by the end of it, it had become an intricate technique to create entirely new "beats" and rhythms out of existing, pre-recorded ones (van Veen & Attias, 2012). These were now not just limited to using drum patterns, but could also consist of other sounds – the ultimate aim being to create a new rhythm out of the pre-recorded existing ones. While beat juggling is not as popular as scratching due to the more demanding rhythmical knowledge it requires, it has proved popular within DJ battles and in certain compositional situations (van Veen & Attias, 2012).

===Studies===
One of the earliest academic studies of turntablism (White 1996) argued for its designation as a legitimate electronic musical instrument—a manual analog sampler—and described turntable techniques such as backspinning, cutting, scratching and blending as basic tools for most hip hop DJs. White's study suggests the proficient hip-hop DJ must possess similar kinds of skills as those required by trained musicians, not limited to a sense of timing, hand–eye coordination, technical competence and musical creativity. By the year 2000, turntablism and turntablists had become widely publicized and accepted in the mainstream and within hip hop as valid artists. Through this recognition came further evolution.

===Evolution===
This evolution took many shapes and forms: some continued to concentrate on the foundations of the art form and its original links to hip hop culture, some became producers utilizing the skills they'd learnt as turntablists and incorporating those into their productions, some concentrated more on the DJing aspect of the art form by combining turntablist skills with the trademark skills of club DJs, while others explored alternative routes in utilizing the turntable as an instrument or production tool solely for the purpose of making music – either by using solely the turntable or by incorporating it into the production process alongside tools such as drum machines, samplers, computer software, and so on.  Digital turntablism techniques later was coined into a term called [[controllerism]], which inspired a movement of new digital DJs such as DJ Buddy Holly and Moldover.  DJ Buddy and Moldover went on to create a song called "Controllerism" that pays homage to the sound of digitally emulated turntablism.

[[File:Aron Rcm.jpg|thumb|right|200px|DJ Aron Scott DJing a set for a French radio station. He is using digital [[CDJ]] decks instead of phonograph turntables.]]

New DJs, turntablists and crews owe a distinct debt{{Why|date=February 2024}} to pioneer [[old school hip hop|old-school]] DJs like [[Kool DJ Herc]], [[Grand Wizard Theodore]], [[Grandmixer DST]], [[Grandmaster Flash]], and [[Afrika Bambaataa]], also [[DJ Jazzy Jeff]], [[DJ Cash Money]], [[DJ Scratch]], [[DJ Clark Kent]], and other DJs of [[the golden age of hip hop]], who originally developed many of the concepts and techniques that evolved into modern turntablism. Within the realm of hip hop, notable modern turntablists are the cinematic{{when defined as|date=December 2017}} [[DJ Shadow]], who influenced [[Diplo (DJ)|Diplo]] and [[RJD2]], among others,{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} and the experimental [[DJ Spooky]], whose ''Optometry'' albums showed that the turntablist can perfectly fit within a jazz setting.{{according to whom|date=December 2017}} [[Mix Master Mike]] was a founding member of the influential turntablist group [[Invisibl Skratch Piklz]] (begun in 1989 as Shadow of the Prophet) and later DJ for the [[Beastie Boys]]. [[Cut Chemist]], [[DJ Nu-Mark]], and [[Kid Koala]] are also known{{by whom|date=December 2017}} as virtuosi of the turntables.

====Concerto for Turntable====

''Concerto for Turntable'' is a groundbreaking musical work that integrates the art of turntablism with classical music composition. Co-created by [[DJ Radar]] and [[Raul Yanez]], a composer and professor at [[Arizona State University]], this composition showcases a unique melding of electronic and orchestral music elements. The concerto was first performed in notable venues including [[Carnegie Hall]], symbolizing its acceptance into the classical music tradition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2005/10/brown-cellist-joins-turntables-in-carnegie-hall|title=Brown cellist joins turntables in Carnegie Hall|date=October 16, 2005|accessdate=2024-06-24}}</ref> The project was initially supported by Red Bull, which helped to sponsor its development and the premiere performance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2005/march/nyus_symphony_orchestra.html|title=NYU's Symphony Orchestra to Feature Innovative Music Including "Turntablist" DJ Radar|date=March 2, 2005|accessdate=2024-06-24}}</ref> The concerto debuted at [[Arizona State University]]'s Gammage Auditorium before its major premiere at Carnegie Hall on October 2, 2005.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/music/scratch-fever-6410550|title=Scratch Fever|date=September 12, 2002|accessdate=2024-06-24}}</ref>

The ''Concerto for Turntable'' features a turntable as the solo instrument, complemented by a full symphony orchestra. This arrangement necessitated the development of "scratch notation" by DJ Radar to transcribe his turntable manipulations into a format readable by classically trained musicians. This innovative scoring method was crucial for integrating the turntable's electronic sounds with the acoustic orchestra.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://somuchsilence.com/dj-radars-concerto-for-turntable/|title=DJ Radar's Concerto for Turntable|date=September 30, 2005|accessdate=2024-06-24}}</ref>

The premiere at Carnegie Hall was met with enthusiastic responses, highlighting the potential of digital instruments within classical music settings and demonstrating the artistic validity of turntablism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.straight.com/article/turntable-symphony|title=Turntable Symphony|date=October 13, 2005|accessdate=2024-06-24}}</ref>