Can I Scratch Dj?

m@cker

I have a technics record player and i want to use it for scratching. Can i use it as is or do i need to buy special heads for it in order to scratch. As you have probably guessed i am a novice at this so any help would be appreciated thanks.

Helix

erm, define technics record player

model number and the like would be useful

but to answer your question... no, you need a mixer

Kali

aye you'll need a mixer.. and a copy of DJ Qberts Do It Yourself DVD.. absolutely brilliant if you're just starting, multi-angle playbacks as well so you can see everything he does

m@cker

I have a mixer its a spirit notepad. The record player i have is one of those vinyl players that you get when you buy a home hi-fi. Its about 10 years old but its in top condition. I only have 1 of these record players by the way and not 2.

uberwolf

ah here.:rolleyes:

you'd gain little, IMO, from scratching with one deck, cos you'd be playing over nothing. As it it, what you own could hardly be described as a deck. I'm open to corrections, but you'd prob end up frustrated and with a broken vinyl playing device

m@cker

What?

m@cker

No i will have it hooked up to a computer and i will be playing it over other music.
Thats why i only need 1. Do I need to change the head?

uberwolf

you prob have a belt drive deck, model number would be helpful here. If its belt drive - no chance. Direct drive then you could get started.

pyramid man

Thats Funny.

I thought he said that he wanted to scratch with a Hi-Fi record deck. The needle would be no where near good enough and you would need to have a....

The list is endless. get a set of 1012 mk 5.0's and you will be flyin it.

Helix

most home hifi turntables dont allow reverse cueing on them, in otherwords, scratching is more or less impossible coz the platter and needle wont allow it

Son of Blam

1012s eh?

If you're serious about scratching/DJing then you should get a pair of Technics 1210s or 1200s. They're around 390 each, both models are the same except the 1200s are silver and the 1210s are black.

There are a few newer versions (mk3 and mk5) of these but the standard cheapest MK2 version is fine for what you want. You'll also want decent needles, uh, Stanton make some good needles espically for scratching, check their site.

Then you'll need to get a mixer, I don't do any scratching myself (well I try, but it's more comedy scratching where the needle bounces on the vinyl and a room of people stop dancing and stare at you with a blank face) but there are loads of mixers made espically for scratch DJs where you can reverse the cross fade and loads of fancy stuff. I don't know about those to recommend any, but I'm sure if you type "scratch DJ + mixer" into Google it'll learn you some.

Helix

Originally posted by Son of Blam
If you're serious about scratching/DJing then you should get a pair of Technics 1210s or 1200s. They're around 390 each

theyre not, €950 for a pair, and thats not including carts

Son of Blam

Woops you're right. I bought one for 390 Irish pounds years ago and was thinking of that price. I got a new 1210 Mk3 recently (actually, April last year) for 450 Euro in that place beside where Richer Sounds used to be.

harVee

I have a pair of Shure M44-7 carts. You're not going to get much better for scratching. But that said, spend the money on the decks first and worry about the carts second. I'd also say that if you can't afford to buy two 1210s, don't. just get one first. If all you're doing is scratching that'll start you off nicely.

Helix

yeh as harvee says there, you can scratch along over a cd or something to practice

hannable80

does any on know how to mix break beat or hip hop records cause its doin me nut in

Klimseven

this should be in the hip hop section

Helix

Originally posted by hannable80
does any on know how to mix break beat or hip hop records cause its doin me nut in

eh

the exact same way you mix other music

first beat of the bar on one tune on top of the first beat of the bar on the other, and then adjust tempo til its correct, then cue up again and let it out

tman

moving over from 4/4 to breaks can be awfully confusing at first.
does wonders for your mixing skills though. gets you out of the mixing purely by bass beat mentaility...

Helix

ah breaks are waaaaay more fun to mix, and to be honest i find them an awful lot easier to get perfect

my advice to anyone startin to dj is to play breaks for the first 3 months

BaZmO*

Originally posted by Helix
ah breaks are waaaaay more fun to mix, and to be honest i find them an awful lot easier to get perfect

my advice to anyone startin to dj is to play breaks for the first 3 months

Yeah, totally agree there. Breaks tend to be easier because the snare/second beat tends to be more pronounced therefore making it easier to sort out the beat matching if the mix goes out of sync.

B.

Catsmokinpot

you dont need to go technics when your starting off just a cheap set of decks or just one deck a half decent scratch mixer and youll be flying dont go all out if your just starting

Executive Steve

what helix said, except i'd suggest buying drum and bass for three months instead, its 40 bpm fasterso you can hear it going out of time waaaay sooner.

and when you start playing breaks you can just play your drum and bass at 33rpm.

*edit* be warned: scratching will require serious mental and physical discipline. i know guys who will quite happily sit down for three hours doing the same scratch routine over and over and over till its perfect. and even then turntablism just sounds like undanceable noise to me...

/me legs it before the baggy trousers cru read that!