The motion of a turntablist’s hands is fascinating, sometimes mesmerising. But what exactly are the movements? Can we define them in some way? We asked Anthony Redmond PhD., professor of Clinical Biomechanics at the Leeds (UK) Institute of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Medicine, to help describe DJ Woody’s hand motions. (Note: Woody has the crossfader set up in orthodox mode (not reverse/‘hamster’)).

2-CLICK FLARE or 'ORBIT' - The flare is one of the most essential scratch techniques in turntablism. Here Woody demonstrates the two-click version (aka ‘orbit’) - the two clicks simply mean cutting the sound twice to make three sounds.

To understand what's happening here let's break it into two segments: 1) the crossfader is pushed open by the forefinger (notice how the forefinger thuds down onto the mixer from the top of the fader) and is then closed by the thumb pushing the other way and (2) the thumb and forefinger tighten around the fader to open and close once more.

It’s the transition between (1) and (2) that allows the turntablist to maintain momentum in the scratch without getting tired. It is also where the pinching motion (the signature of the orbit) comes from.

Prof. Redmond confirms this action is controlled by the wrist which “translates (from side to side) minimally. The wrist pronates/supinates to get the hand roughly in the correct position to work the crossfader and then the fingers do most of the fast and complex work.

“This is consistent with two principles: (1) that fast movements require minimisation of inertia and so are done by the smallest segments and (2) that rotation is less susceptible to having to overcome inertia than translation (side to side)".

In other words, the speed is created using the smallest parts of the hand and then maintained by the rotation of the wrist, ahead of side-to-side movement which requires more effort.

CRAB - The most exciting of scratch techniques - the fingers act like drumming on a table to punch the fader open while the thumb pushes it closed each time. A three-fingered crab like this will create four rapid sounds. We can see the tendons flexing underneath the forearm as the fingers drill on the fader.

WOODPECKER - Those with a keen eye will know that DJ Woody’s record control is phenomenal. As demonstrated in his woodpecker and twiddlepecker scratches, along with countless other variations, he can stop, pause and start the record with incredible speed and precision. It allows him more complex control over the pitch of the sound and also lets him create complicated rhythms of punctuation with and without the crossfader. Woody moves the record with his thumb while simultaneously creating a stuttering effect by drumming the fingers against the thumb.

TWIDDLEPECKER - Similar to the Woodpecker scratch but this time the first two fingers tap on the thumb to create the stutter effect.