SIMULATED SKINS
Aug 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Robin Smith
Now that you have a bevy of introductory scratches at your disposal, the time is ripe to explore more advanced scratch techniques. One such exercise is called drumming, the creation of varied drum patterns through scratching the kick-and-snare section of a drumbeat on only one record. A simplified version of beat juggling (the manipulation of two records simultaneously), drumming is a good technique to master if you want to become proficient at beat juggling.
With the drumming scratch technique, you are essentially trying to be a “real” drummer. The basic concept for drumming requires you to find a record with a drumbeat that features a kick drum and a snare drum close together. To create a drum pattern of your own, you alternately scratch the kick and the snare to create your own beat. The closer together the original sounds are, the easier it will be for you to scratch them back and forth.
Drumming is not the creation of a particular drum pattern; in fact, good drumming involves the ability to create multiple drum patterns with only a basic set of drum sounds. As with any scratch technique, the ability to switch things up and be both varied and original will result in a technique that is a good addition to your scratch repertoire.
IT GOES LIKE THIS
Battle-break albums are a good source of “drummable” beats because the creators of the those albums often include specific beat combinations that are especially useful for drumming. However, any hip-hop-style beat (or any drumbeat for that matter) has the potential to be a good drumming candidate.
When starting out with this technique, use a particularly skip-resistant record. You should also tweak your cartridge setup for maximum tracking performance (see “Turntablist Techniques,” June 2003). Successful drumming involves speed and a lot of record manipulation, both of which can be prime causes of skipping.
First, try to master a basic beat, after which you can begin to vary things a little and experiment with different sounds. The easiest beat to begin with is a simple kick-snare-kick-snare pattern. Once you line up a section of a drumbeat that plays a kick followed closely by a snare, to create your basic beat, simply perform a forward scratch of the kick drum, pause and then push forward again for the snare drum. Close the fader and bring the record back to the start of the kick drum and repeat.
On your first few tries, you may notice that your tempo or rhythm is somewhat erratic: This is the most important but basic skill that you first need to master to be able to drum well. Although the simple kick-snare-kick-snare pattern is somewhat boring, it is a good beginner's technique because it lets you concentrate on perfecting the control necessary to master the more advanced patterns.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE
To master the tempo control, the easiest practice technique is to drum along with another beat; getting good at this is mostly about rhythm. If you have been scratching for a while, you may not find this very challenging to master, as many scratch techniques require good rhythm.
Aside from working on rhythm, analyze drum tracks closely. Listen to (traditional) drummers and think about what they are doing as they play a beat. Examine the components of a drumbeat and think about how you might re-create the various sounds by varying the speed of your scratch or by incorporating a quick back pull or baby scratch to add a different sound. Another “thinking” practice technique is to speak the parts of a drum out loud as it plays. Doing this should attune you to the component pieces of a drum pattern.
MAKE ADVANCES
The patterns that you can create with this technique are as varied as your imagination; however, some common patterns that DJs use are the following: kick-snare, kick-kick-snare; kick-kick-snare, kick-kick-snare-snare; and baby-scratched kick-kick-snare, kick, baby-scratched snare-snare.
Notice the inclusion of a baby-scratched sound in the last pattern listed. Do not feel limited to just playing the forward part of the drum sound: You can play it backward, forward and back (as in the baby scratch), or you can even chop the kick or snare into multiple parts with clicks of the fader. (A click is a quick close and open of the fader that creates a brief pause during playback of a sound.)
Other ideas to play with involve the use of different sounds. For example, try playing with scratching cymbals or two different kicks or snares. Furthermore, you can work with different sound combinations. For example, instead of scratching a kick-snare combination, try a snare-kick. This will allow you to create different patterns because you will be able to make the transition more quickly from snare to kick than from kick to snare. (The opposite applies with the basic kick-snare combination described previously.)
WATCH THIS
For a great drumming example, check out the video of the Beastie Boys' “One DJ and Three MCs” featuring live scratching by the fabulous Mix Master Mike. The video was shot as a continuous take with Mike scratching every part of the entire song, from the verse's drum backing to the chorus noises — all from a single battle-break record. If you have the Beastie Boys' Criterion Collection Video Anthology DVD, look for a camera-angle track of this video that shows Mike's entire performance. It is well worth examining if you have difficulty visualizing the concepts described here.
Additional sources of drumming examples are team DJ-battle videos. Often, one or more of the DJs on a team plays the role of the drummer, providing a scratched drum track as the backing over which the rest of the team scratches.
As with most scratches, practice makes perfect (or at least a significant improvement). When starting out, you may be frustrated with your inconsistency or your limited repertoire of patterns. Only by getting the basics down can you progress to more advanced drum patterns and begin including these techniques in your scratch sets.
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