Soon after the reign of Alladin and Miz, there were very few DJ\rquote s that stood out as innovators, many DJ\rquote s recycled routine that Cash Money and other greats created years before. Then what seems like out of the blue, came probably the most innovative and most influential DJ/ Turntablist musician of them all, DJ Q Bert of the then Rock Steady DJ’S (now Invisible Scratch Picklez). Besides the scratch pickles the most influential DJ crown can hang on the head of today’s turntablists and crews. Like the X-Ecutioners, the Beat Junkies, the Scratch Perverts and the Allies.

TURNTABLISM
The art of manipulating/restructuring previously existing phonograph recordings to produce new, musically creative combinations of sounds using turntables and mixer.

HAMSTER STYLE
Normally a dj setup be configured with the right turntable playing on the right channel of the mixer and the left turntable playing on the left channel of the mixer. With the hamster style setup, however the opposite is true. When using the crossfader, the right turntable plays trough the left channel and vice versa.

HAMSTER SWITCH
:A switch on a mixer that reverses the crossfader without reversing the volume faders so that you can scratch hamster style without physically hooking up the turntables to different channels on the back of the mixer. It is now available also the upfader hamster switch that does the same features but on the volume faders.

BABY SCRATCH
The simplest of scratches, the baby is performed without the use of the crossfader by simply moving the record back and forth;1 forward stroke and 1 backward stroke or vice versa, in sequence.

FORWARD and BACKWARD SCRATCHES
Forward and backward scratches are also fairly simple scratches but unlike the baby scratch are performed using the fader to cut the sound in and out. To do 2 forward scratches in sequence for example you just do 2 baby scratches cutting the sound when you move the record forward and out while you’re pulling the record back. To do a backward scratch you just do the same thing, but cut the backward stroke in and the forward stroke out.

TEAR SCRATCH
Much like a baby scratch in that you do not need the fader to perform it, but unlike a baby scratch when you pull the record back you pause your hand for split second in the middle of the stroke. The result is one forward sound and two distinct backward sounds with the crossfader open the entire time. You can also do 2/3/4 forward and 2/3/4 backward always with open crossfader.

TRANSFORM SCRATCH
The transform is achieved by moving a sound with your record hand while repeatedly tapping the fader to cut the sound in and out in sequence as the sound plays. A transform scratch should begin with the sound off tapping the fader once you want the effect/sound to start. Imagine the crossfader as a button, and your thumb as the spring (vice versa if you hamster style).What you would be doing is tapping the button repeatedly as the sound plays giving a stuttering effect.

CHIRP SCRATCH
A chirp scratch is performed by fading the sound out with the crossfader as you push the record forward and fading the sound back in with the crossfader as you pull the record back. Done slowly the effect might not be too impressive, but done quickly and accurately, a chirp sounding scratch is the effect. While the concept is easy to understand, chirps are of the hardest scratches to perfect with great speed and consistency.

FLARE SCRATCH
Invented by dj FLARE this scratch is much like the transform in many ways, only instead of starting with the sound that your are cutting up off, you start with the sound on cutting it into pieces by bouncing the fader off of the cut out side of the fader to make the sound cut out and then back in a split second. Each time you bounce the fader off of the side of the fader slot it makes a distinct clicking noise. For this reason, flares are named according to clicks. A one click forward would be a forward scratch starting with the sound on as you click the fader against the side once in the middle of the forward stroke creating 2 distinct sounds in one stroke of your record hand. In the same manner,2 clicks,3 clicks and even more can be performed to do different type of flares. These type of scratch can also be performed with the up faders.

ORBIT SCRATCH
Invented by dj DISK an orbit is most generally any scratch move performed both backward and forward in sequence. Usually when someone is referring to an orbit, however, they are most likely talking about flare orbits. For example, a 1click forward flare and a 1click backward flare in quick succession (altogether creating 4 very quick distinct sounds) would be a 1click orbit. A 2click forward and a 2click backward flares in quick succession (altogether creating 6 very distinct sounds) would be a 2click orbit and so on .

CRAB SCRATCH
To do a crab scratch you tap the fader knob with 3 or 4 different fingers in sequence starting with the pinkie or ring finger using the thumb as a spring to cut the fader back out after each tap(or in if you scratch hamster style).The result is much like a 3 or 4 tap transformer (or a 3 or 4 click flare if you are hamster style)only much quicker than you could do with 1 finger especially if you get into doing continuous crabs .Many turntablists find this move easier to perform hamster since you are bouncing the fader off of the side of the slot, but the move can be performed both styles.

SCRIBBLE SCRATCH
A scribble scratch is performed by tensing up the forearm muscles moving the record back and forth by very small increments (almost like an extremely fast continuous baby scratch).The result is best described as a vibrating scribbly sounding effects.

TWEAK SCRATCH
The tweak scratch is perhaps made most famous by ISPmember Mixmaster Mike. To perform a tweak scratch, you turn the motor off on your turntable and move the platter and record back and forth with your fingers in whatever pattern you desire. The fader may be used to do transform sounding tweaks, but the fader doesn’t have to be used at all for this move if you choose not to use it.This scratch is best performed on long tone type samples, but can be applied to any sound.The result varies, but usually is a somewhat jerky sounding scratch. Because the turntables is turned off, each time your fingers hit the record in a certain direction, it continues to go in that direction, but slows down as it does instead of returning to a constant speed after each time it is released as it does when the motor is on.

HIDROPLANE SCRATCH
A hydroplane scratch is performed while the record is spinning and you lightly apply pressure to the surface with one or more fingers without stopping the record. The idea is to create light friction between your fingers and the record and if you have the right touch, a bassy friction sound is the result. It’ s also called RUBBER.

BUBBLE SCRATCH
Invented by dj Noize, this technique is achieved by moving the record back and forth while at the same time turning the EQ knob back and forth from minimum to maximum to get a sort of wah wah pedal sounding scratch effect. the EQ is setted HIGH normal MEDIUM zero to max BASS zero .This move is easier to perform on a Technics SHDJ1200 because of his different EQ adjustment.

ZIG ZAG SCRATCH
What i call a zig zag scratch is a move that i first saw Q Bert perform where you use one hand on the record and one hand moving back and forth between the volume fader and the record to create a unique scratch effect.if you scratch with your right hand on the record the technique would go something like this:1)right hand pull back the sound and lets go ......2)left hand tap the record as it’ s coming back forward to make a quick pause in the forward movement of the sound to make 2 distinct forward sounds instead of one......3)left hand quickly moves and taps down the volume fader a small increment to make the volume a little lower (or higher since you could do the same thing in reverse).....4)repeat pattern.....The effect you get is a 1,2,3 1,2,3 1,2,3 scratch of the sound while the 1,2,3 fades out a little more each time the volume fader is tapped a little lower (the sound can be faded completely out or you can start fading the sound in and out).

FEEDBACK SCRATCH
All you need to get is a lead with a normal headphone jack at one end and 2 phono plugs at the other. Plug it in as alias says (headphone jack in headphone input, and phono plugs into left and right line inputs on whatever channel you want to use). Select line on you chosen channel. Whatever mixer you are using, use the headphone fader (or program dial, whatever) to output to the line channel you are using. Plug in headphone jack. Plug in phono to Line Input of channel 1 (or left) Turn input selector from phono to line on channel 1 (left) Turn headphone selector to channel 1 (left) (as if listening to left hand deck) Turn up the headphone volume for low freq., and down for high. Start with the left (whatever) fader on a low volume to avoid damage. Be very careful - if you have shelled out a few grand for a decent system, don’ t fuck it up by blowing your amp.

BEAT JUGGLING
To beat juggle,you use two records the same or different with a beat on each turntable and mix them together with the cross fader and the up faders to create new combinations of beats and sounds or to create complete new patterns in a cut and paste style.

STROBING
Strobing is a type of beat juggling made famous by DJ Shortkut where you usually mix back and forth between 2 records with a beat on each while you also tap the records with you’re hand to slow down the tempo on each and keep them in sync. An example might sound like kick/kick/snare/snare, kick/kick snare/snare/kick/kick/snare/snare.......alternating between the same sounds on the 2 different records. You can perform this juggle also with 2 different kinds of records.

LOOPING
Alternating between 2 different copies of the same record, this technique is achieved by using the crossfader cutting in a phrase of music from 1 record,then cutting in the same phrase of music from the other record while at the same time pulling back each cut out record to the phrase beginning point before it is cut back in again.By doing this you end up playing the same sound over and over again much like a sampler looping a beat (or any sound for that matter).

NEEDLE DROPPIN
Invented by Grand Wizard Theodore with this technique you also loop a part of the record but only dropping the needle back 1 or 2 line on the vinyl without using the crossfader.