Scratching fascinates. In years gone by, students of the craft would wear out video tapes of DJ battles while trying to work out how they did that scratch. Now there are online forums, YouTube videos and Facebook pages dedicated solely to scratching, websites offering equipment reviews, as well as a number of online DJ schools where students can exchange videos and receive tips.
DJs spend hours and years of their lives pushing and pulling the famous “ahh” sample and cutting the sound in and out in attempts to perfect various complicated manoeuvres at breakneck speed.
DJ Jon 1st’s life changed forever when he became DMC Online World Champion in 2013. He’s since recorded guest mixes for Ninja Tune, Foreign Beggars, and Vice's Noisey website among others. He has gigged across europe and is now a resident DJ for Soundcrash in London.
“It’s like rock ‘n’ roll was. You either liked it, appreciated it and bought into it, or you didn’t get it. People looking casually from the outside do not appreciate the musicianship taking place in a six minute set. That six minutes has taken them six years to perfect.”
Although the six minute set took him three months to create, the techniques involved were honed over years. He says he has sometimes spent up to nine hours a day practising his art, but he’s never seen this as a sacrifice: “I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't want to be doing it, you know? It's not impossible to be dedicated to something and have an active social life, you just have to manage your time well and be selective. I still see my friends and go to check out gigs etc.”
DJ Chile began scratching 11 years ago and in 2011 took the WTK World Freestyle title. He confesses to having been “a little bit obsessed” in the past, practising for up to 14 hours a day. This led to a severe injury, forcing him to take a break for two years.
“The specialist confirmed that the tendon swelling over the MCP (metacarpophalangeal) joint of my thumb, index and middle finger was a build-up of scar tissue on the tendon, caused by micro-tears to the tissue from overuse.
“Back when I was first going to the doctors I tried to continue to scratch even though they advised against it. My hand was already in bad shape, and that made things a lot worse. I guess that’s the maladaptive side of obsession.”
Despite this setback, he has since become a leading contributor to the scratch DJ community through his prolific YouTube channel and his incredibly detailed theories on rhythmical combinations, not to mention his masterly beat productions.
So how can we define scratching? Tony Prince, creator of the world's foremost DJ competition - the DMC, has seen some of the greatest turntablist performances for the last 30 years. He describes it as a “percussive sound effect, the different scratches are like the strings on a guitar or the pistons on a trumpet each creating differing sounds.”
The complicated rhythms would suggest it has most in common with percussion, but in fact it is capable of far more variations of sound than a typical percussion instrument. Categorisation attempts get even more confusing when the DJ manipulates vocals, actual instruments and drums as part of the scratch. It’s not some mongrel rip-off of an instrument or vocal, rather it’s taking one sound and, with the most precise and rapid (or slow) movements, manipulating that sound into different pitches and rhythms to create an entirely new sound.
“Well, its a very strange musical instrument where you have the power to grab sound and play with it’s time, pitch, move it backwards, etc. Not to mention that it sounds super ridiculously funky and insane and bizarre and groovy all rolled in one, times a zillion other things it can do that are yet undiscovered!”
The fact that scratching works well accompanying a beat might suggest its role is similar to that of a bongo or backing beat, but it actually works best in a leading role often occupying the mid-frequencies as a vocal. It is closer to a jazz singer scatting, as the legendary scratch DJ, QBert, likes to say, since both have a freedom of improvisation, both mix up rhythm and tone and both provide an excitement.