VINYL DRUMMER
Oct 1, 2003 12:00 PM, By Robin Smith
If you are a regular reader of this column, you recently learned the scratch technique called drumming (“Simulated Skins,” August 2003). Drumming involves the creation of beats with parts of a drum pattern scratched on one turntable. Using that as a foundation, you can take that further with a more advanced technique known as beat juggling: beat creation using two turntables. Once you grasp basic scratch techniques such as backspins and breakdowns, the basic theory behind beat juggling will become more apparent.
Beat juggling is significantly more complicated than most other scratch techniques, and when you start beat juggling, it will feel like your hands need to be doing three or four things at one time. Watching good beat jugglers, you will see rhythmic, almost dancelike movements as they create varied drum patterns while scratching back and forth.
CONCEPT
Beat juggling is one of the hardest scratch techniques to master. Like drumming, it is more of an idea than a specific way to manipulate a record. The basic premise is that you create a new drum pattern using parts of separate drumbeats played on both turntables. Creativity is the key to good beat juggling: There is no right or wrong way to do it (although there are good and bad beat juggles). The primary skill to master is maintaining a constant tempo. If you are familiar with drumming techniques, you will already be on track with the concept of tempo and rhythm.
To be a proficient beat juggler, you will need to be able to quickly and precisely position a record on either turntable and release it at full speed so that no dragging sound is heard. While doing this, your other hand should also be manipulating the main faders or crossfader.
BACKSPINS AND BREAKDOWNS
To improve your record control and understand techniques that will directly apply to beat juggling, it is easiest to begin with backspins, or doubles. One of the oldest scratch-DJ techniques, backspins involve repeatedly playing a drumbeat (typically one, two or four bars long) on one turntable and then on the other turntable, which basically allows you to keep a beat going, on tempo, for as long as you please.
To learn to backspin, get two copies of the same record. Mark your records with pen or tape so that you have a clear marker located in the same place relative to the start of the drumbeat that you want to backspin. This ensures that you consistently spin the record back to the same place on both turntables.
Play four bars on one turntable; when the fifth bar is about to play, cut the crossfader over to the other turntable and release the opening bar. While the second turntable is playing the four bars again, spin the original turntable back to the opening bar and repeat the process. As you get more proficient, try backspinning at the two-bar point and then the one-bar point.
Another useful technique, sometimes known as the breakdown, involves slowing down or breaking down a beat into its component pieces by pausing the record with your hand. This technique does not involve the fader and requires exceptional record-hand control. Essentially, you want to play each part of the beat as a separate sound with a pause between each. For example, a basic kick-snare-kick-kick-snare beat would sound as follows: kick, pause, snare, pause, kick, pause, kick, pause, snare.
Start practicing this technique by trying to cut the tempo of the beat in half. If you're using a 100 bpm drumbeat, aim for playing the parts of the beat at full speed, adding a pause in between each to create a 50 bpm tempo.
CHASE SCENE
As mentioned, basic beat juggling is similar to drumming; however, the difference — and advantage — is that, through the manipulation of two copies of the same beat, you can use sounds that are not next to each other on the record. More advanced beat juggles often use two different beats, creating a new beat by combining them in varied ways.
When beat juggling, you will often make a new beat with a slower tempo than that of the beats you are using. Therefore, select beats that have slow tempos when you start practicing. This will give you lots of pause time, or brief periods when neither record is playing that allow you to rewind the beat on one turntable while holding the part you are about to play on the other.
To get started, try one of the most basic beat juggles, the chase. As the name implies, with this technique, you make one record chase the other, echoing on the second turntable what was just played on the first. This requires two copies of the beat you wish to manipulate.
Starting with a basic, slow beat (kick, snare, kick, snare), cue both copies to the opening kick of the same bar. (See the table, “Chasin' That Beat,” for a walk-through of the chase.) This beat juggle makes extensive use of the breakdown technique, and as you practice it, you will create a rhythm with the movement of your hands because both hands always have a job to do (pausing a record or flicking a crossfader). Once you get this rhythm down, the chase should become a lot easier to perform.
For more about beat juggling, check out Shure's Turntablism 101 video, which features Rob Swift demonstrating one of his famous beat-juggle routines, and DMC's The Art of Turntablism, with Madcut presenting the chase. Also, any scratch-competition video should feature excellent examples of beat juggling. Once you master the chase — as well as backspins and breakdowns — you'll be primed for more advanced beat-juggling techniques.
CHASIN' THAT BEAT
The following table shows two bars (eight beats), with the actions of turntable 1, turntable 2 and the crossfader represented for each beat of the two bars. Bold text represents a description of the beat part being played. Italicized text represents a record-manipulation step. The crossfader column indicates which turntable is open (playing).
| Beat | Turntable 1 | Crossfader | Turntable 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kick | left | hold |
| 2 | hold | right | kick |
| 3 | snare | left | hold |
| 4 | hold | right | snare |
| 5 | kick | left | hold |
| 6 | hold | right | kick |
| 7 | snare | left | hold |
| 8 | hold | right | snare |
Acceptable Use Policy blog comments powered by Disqus
| Want to use this article? Click here for options! |  |
