Turntablism is an artistic practice of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer. The art of manipulating sounds began in the late 1970s when hip-hop DJs began isolating portions of records and experimenting with cutting, scratching, and mixing them together. This technique known as “turntablism” gained popularity throughout the 1980s and has been refined and advanced ever since.
A DJ turntable consists of a motor-driven platter that rotates a phonograph record at a desired speed. This platter is usually controlled by a pulley or belt driven by a motor. The remaining components of a turntable are a stylus (aka a needle), tonearm, anti-skate mechanism, and a pitch control. With a combination of these components, a DJ is able to scratch, play, and mix between different records.
One of the great aspects of turntablism is the ability to create unique sounds simply by manipulating records and materials that already exist. DJs are able to scratch and cut records, create their own sound effects, and create their own individualized mix. Scratching is the act of playing a back-and-forth motion on a record using the stylus. This is a widely used technique by turntablists to create interesting sound effects and breakbeats in their music. DJs are also able to cut-in between songs without any perceptible “gap”. This technique is widely used in hip-hop and club music.
Mixing is the process of blending two or more songs together to create a new song. DJs are able to mix songs together using a combination of tempo, EQ, and volume adjustments on their DJ mixer. DJs can also use rhythmic mixing, which involves mixing songs together based on their rhythm. Finally, DJs are able to use beatmatching, which is a technique of manually syncing different songs so that they have the exact same BPM.
Turntablism has become a popular form of music-making and performing throughout the world. It is an art form that is highly respected and has gained widespread recognition from its practitioners and fans alike. Although turntablism can be used both as a method of performing and as a production technique, its main purpose is to create music through improvisation and exploration of sound. DJs are constantly pushing the boundaries of what is possible with turntables, creating new and imaginative music.
