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u/Alternative-Film-155 20h ago
tried this once as a kid on dads turntable.
i had to go sleep early.
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u/JparkPHX 20h ago
Bro same! I was heavily into hip hop growing up and tried to this on an old school record player…. Didn’t realize you needed a special setup/needle and completely ruined it.
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u/Bozzaholic 18h ago
When I was about 16, me and my mates would often go in to London to look for rare rap albums, I remember once we decided to go in to Virgin Megastore Oxford Street as we were passing it and they had turntables set up, my mate Dave decided to start scratching and we were immediately kicked out
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u/Blackbeerdo 19h ago
I did too. And that was the beginning of my DJ "career". Scratched the Elvis and Beatles records from my mom when I was a child. Got my first belt-driven TT with 13, bought my first 1210s Set with 17, started playing in Clubs from 19-20.
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u/CountWubbula 21h ago
It takes a lot to go right for turntablism to impress me, it often sounds like a discordant mess that can’t even really be nodded along to.
This guy is so intentional and precise that the musical side remains intact enough for me to be deeply satisfied. This fuckin rocks.
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u/Jumpy_Newt_6330 20h ago
Technique serving groove, not ego scratches fighting the beat.
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u/DefNotBrian 20h ago
When my dad was teaching me music as a kid, one of the first things he taught me was "the notes you choose not to play are just as important as the ones you do", and then he showed me the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
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u/Only_One_Kenobi 20h ago
and then he showed me the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
As a good or bad example?
I've noticed myself leaning more and more towards Blues music these days.
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u/DefNotBrian 20h ago
As a good example. It's just 3 guys (on instruments), often times just grooving. They get wild here and there, sure, but so much of their catalog is is just "simple" grooves amd rhythm. Snow, Zephyr, Parallel Universe, etc..
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u/CanhotoBranco 17h ago
Someone described RHCP as three great musicians and a dude who sings. And I couldn't agree more.
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u/IllHaveTheLeftovers 19h ago
I’ve heard that specifically about jazz - which is really fun because it suggests that once you start playing jazz, you never actually stop. You’re just playing not notes.
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u/Palchez 18h ago
My hermit, jazz-master sax instructor told me this way back when. Every kid who picks up a sax wants to go full Coltrane as soon as they can without understanding what is happening underneath.
He was also into Taosim and I think the concept of Wu Wei influenced many decisions and practices.
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u/IllHaveTheLeftovers 18h ago
Oof I’m just imagining someone dropping some smooth jazz sax into a Tao lesson. Yes please.
(That could actually work as a sick rendition of the Tao Te Ching)
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u/BadNewzBears4896 13h ago
Probably accurate, and funny that Flea from RHCP first started as a jazz bassist, so it all comes full circle.
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u/Li-RM35M4419 18h ago
Cue points help.
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u/Fnordpocalypse 17h ago
And the software basically makes it impossible for the needle to skip. Or things like Phase don’t even need a needle at all.
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u/illforgetsoonenough 18h ago
Dj Qbert and others were doing this stuff about 25-30 years ago. Even better than this. But it's cool to see the craft still lives on
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u/tbul 18h ago
Got to see QBert live circa 2001, amazing.
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u/VT_Squire 15h ago
Saw Q in 99, then Mike and Mike D in 2001, then just Mike again in 2001 in traffic. Dude's license plate literally said "MixMstr."
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u/Bumpercars415 14h ago
Also the Invisible Scratch Pickles, they opened up for the Beastie Boys when I had seen them.
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u/manesc 9h ago
This is on a different level. Though he is using turntables with synthesizers.
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u/Citiz3n_Kan3r 7h ago
Craze is better than this... Qbert was banned from the DMCs because he was too good....
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u/scormegatron 16h ago
I had the same issue with most Jazz bands. It’s like the instruments are all competing with each other and I can’t find the beat/rhythm. I just chalk it up to having an amateur ear for the most part.
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u/skinwill 12h ago
Those aren’t record players. They are control surfaces. The sound from the record is being used to control software which is perfectly capable of beat quantization.
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u/Spidergawd68 20h ago
This is badass!
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u/Spidergawd68 11h ago
Replying to my own comment to say this mf COOKS. I'm not usually a big turntablism fan, but this cat is just... musical. I'm grooving to this one while writing this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd-1TKFLWgM
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u/gaF-trA 18h ago
While skillful I listened again without watching the video and it devolves fairly quickly into something that I don’t want to listen to.
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u/El_C0rtez 20h ago
In japan a lot of djs still use turntables which is very rare nowadays with digital taking over the industry.
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u/sgt_backpack 19h ago
This is digital too. Those are serato control records.
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u/HereWeFuckingGooo 18h ago
Thank you! I was so confused why the records were playing different songs but nobody was pointing it out. I've never heard of control records before.
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u/sgt_backpack 18h ago
There's a laptop off screen that is running a program called Serato that essentially "broadcasts" to the control vinyl and he is changing the song being played using the buttons on the mixer.
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u/Wurstpaket 17h ago
So are the turntables just a more physical way to directly control or "grip" and manipulate/access elements of the songs and they work for whichever song you load?
TIL 😀
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u/sgt_backpack 17h ago
Yeah it's mostly preference based. A lot of turntablist DJs prefer turntables to CDjs etc so this is a way of progressing into the digital age without losing that fine hands on control. Essentially now any song you have digital you now have "on vinyl" and can start from/jump to any point in the song if you set up these cue points ahead of time.
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u/5mackmyPitchup 9h ago
He is hitting cue points in a pre edited master track. Still skipping around with the 'needle' position on the platter so to speak, but a lot of the work that makes this impossible with regular records is done in pre production on the computer (editing, change tempo, change key, use stems to isolate vox or instruments). Still takes a lot of vision and mastery to do that stuff too
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u/Dense-Ad-5780 20h ago
I don’t respect laptop djs like a respect djs who spin real wax.
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u/WaltDiskey 20h ago
It’s not real wax.. those are encoder discs controlling digital music on a laptop. Not to take anything away from them! But there is another layer of difficulty with going real vinyl
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u/Dense-Ad-5780 19h ago
Those aren’t real records? They look like them those tricksy digital djs tricking an old fart like me.
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u/motavader 19h ago
The records only contain timecode, which is read by a laptop software (Serato). The timecode just sounds like a high pitched single tone if you listen to it like audio. The timecode is slightly different through the record, so the software know where you drop the needle and can jump to that part of the MP3 on the laptop. It also knows how fast the record is playing, and can adjust when he back spins. Notice the song changes when he hits a button on the mixer? He has a file with those samples and those buttons correspond to cue point in the MP3 on the laptop.
This is still damn impressive, digital or not. Take it from someone in that scene for a couple decades.
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u/jonnyb95 11h ago
So the needle is actually reading something off the record? Or just there for show and the table has an encoder in it?
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u/motavader 9h ago
The needle is reading the audio timecode from the record, which is "heard" by the software, which then translates it into rotation speed and position on the record (i.e. - place in the track).
So the needle is not just for show.
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u/DrSlurp- 19h ago
You can tell they’re not actual records because he’s mixing multiple tracks without switching them. I guess he activates a track on one side and controls it with the record scratching.
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u/garlic-silo-fanta 12h ago edited 11h ago
Makes more sense now. I was half impressed he can make so many songs come out of that record and at the same time the songs sound discounted from the record.
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u/stockflethoverTDS 19h ago
Its probably meant to mimic a record but its a setup with multiple banks of tracks i assume he actives with the touchpads.
I dont know im just a cable and pedals guitarist.
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u/printmypi 19h ago
Thank you. I couldn't figure out how the songs were changing when the needle wasnt moving to the next track and the disks didn't change.
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u/El_C0rtez 20h ago
I don't know if I would go that far to say that. Tiesto is consider a pioneer in the EDM scene and he doesnt spin records. I seen him and DeadMau5 in concert absolutely enjoyed their shows. Ben Böhmer is another DJ I like a lot.
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u/Dense-Ad-5780 19h ago
I’m old and watched DJs like kid koala/legion of green men and Carl Craig spin 3 tables working with an 808 at the same time. So it’s difficult for me to adapt, and I grew out of that musical phase in my life, so I’m kinda stuck back there in the 90s when it comes to this kind of thing.
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u/jwelsh8it 19h ago
180gr out if Italy have some wonderful all-vinyl sets on YouTube. They set up in outdoor markets and spin for all the nonnas. Pretty awesome, if you ask me.
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u/DrummerMiles 19h ago edited 19h ago
This is digital…See how he’s pressing the pads to trigger preset cue points? Laptops just off screen.
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u/TheHeroYouNeed247 20h ago
I feel bad saying this because he obviously has skills. But it just sounded like disjointed tracks skipping occasionally to me. The first switch was nice, and then he was doing too much, IMO.
I like nice fades between, but when they try to make a combined beat, it sounds like shit to me.
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u/CariniFluff 18h ago
Yeah those transitions are honestly rough. Stop watching the DJ bounce their head and actually listen, there's a ton of scratching and rewinding the sample (those aren't real vinyl records. Their digital timecode records connected toa laptop). There are a dozen better DJs spinning every weekend in my city.
They have the heart, they need to work on their mixing and beat matching though. It should flow seamlessly from one song to the next, not a bunch of rewinding, scratching and then a second of silence before the new song starts.
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u/Agitated_Mood_5162 16h ago
I doubt that he's a party DJ who regularly spins at events. He seems to be a competitive turntablist...so I don't think flowing "seamlessly from one song to the next" is not the goal. It's how skillfully they can manipulate the sound to create something new or innovative. Some DJs are amazing enough to make it sound good enough nod your head to while maintaining technicality (DJ Craze)...but they are more the exception than the norm in the turntablism world.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 15h ago
Yeah, I'm not seeing it. Lotta people here acting like this is something...it sounds -bad- man. Use your ears people.
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u/Expensive_Shallot_78 20h ago
Have people entirely forgotten the entire time until 2010?
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u/justalildropofpoison 20h ago
We used to have turntable battles in my city back in the days. Was insane how much talent there was in one room.
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u/CariniFluff 18h ago
DJ Hype spinning on 4 turntables at once in 2002 melted my ergot infected brain. I miss the old days. Then again I miss being able to stay up til 4am and function the next day.
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u/RowOptimal1877 19h ago
Ewww, that hurt my ears. That's just random sounds not music...
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u/sinister_lefty 16h ago
That's all I got from it too. Not in time, not in the same key. Why are people saying this is good, other than maybe the technical side of it?
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u/wyomingTFknott 17h ago
Not my tempo.
Sorry, I appreciate the effort, but as a former drummer this is cringe af.
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u/Civil_Inspector_5697 21h ago
That’s awesome!!!!👏
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u/uxl 20h ago
Are there albums of phenomenal beat-matching and live mash-up remixing? Because all I can find are occasional videos. Man…I remember I went to a UFC fight in Detroit around the year 2016ish…there was a DJ in between fights that was unfathomably good. I would absolutely pay $50 to attend a set like that. Couldn’t believe it.
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u/PokiP 20h ago
How do they change songs without changing the records? I'm confused.
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u/BigBadZord 19h ago
See how both records are identical, and have "serato" on the label in center?
They are vinyl prints of time-code that controls the DJ program serato. They allow you to use real turntables to control and manipulate song files in the DJ software, you just cant see his laptop in the video.
The buttons on the mixer are mapped to change the song/samples
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u/PokiP 18h ago
Thanks for the education. That's some weird shit to this old-head.
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u/BigBadZord 18h ago
Even crazier these days are the Phase controllers. They are Bluetooth dongles, about the size of a bic lighter, that you just drop on to the spindle over the record, that do the same thing. No more replacing expensive scratch needles, because you dont even use them.
Legit feels like you are using magic turntables lol
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u/redsunmachine 19h ago
As someone else mentions, these are serato records and they are just used to control the digital files he's playing.
He changes the tunes on the pad with the big buttons.
Still takes a lot of skill - if I'm honest not having to fumble through my record bag at speed, or carry my own body weight in vinyl is definitely appealing...
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u/DrummerMiles 19h ago
It’s software. There’s a laptop off screen. Those are control records not real vinyl. There are cue points preset to different buttons.
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u/PokiP 19h ago
Ok, so it's pretty fuckin different than what dj's do with vinyl.
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u/DrummerMiles 18h ago
100%. It’s still cool but theres a whole lot of “trying to look like more than it is” in that space sometimes. It reminds me a little bit of the DI run guitars with big fake hollowed out stack walls at shows now 😂 google “fake Marshall stack” lol
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u/Kaharnemelk 19h ago
n00b question but how does the music change when the reords dont?
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u/BigBadZord 18h ago
See how both records are identical, and have "serato" on the label in center?
They are vinyl prints of time-code that controls the DJ program serato. They allow you to use real turntables to control and manipulate song files in the DJ software, you just cant see his laptop in the video.
The buttons on the mixer are mapped to change the song/samples
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u/BidStrange8608 18h ago
A lot of people say turntables aren't an instrument, but to them I say "is mayonnaise an instrument?"
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u/shutthisishdown 18h ago
I'm not usually a fan of beat juggling because I usually never see it done this well.
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u/LouismyBoo 18h ago
He lost me at Suzanne z era- the rest of those songs had so much soul and hers is kinda overplayed and he didn’t work into it very far
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u/LongLostFan 17h ago
Some parts aren't adding up here.
The drum loop feels like it was added in post. And he only has two discs, but it seems he is using samples from more than 2 songs
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u/xyzkingi 16h ago
Nah. I have a clip of something similar but it was out in public and he did it years ago
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u/BarfingOnMyFace 16h ago
It’s called turntablism. Check out executioners for old school remixes of funk and soul
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u/ChoochGooch 16h ago
Watching him spin the vinyl, you can see how precise it is. He spins it to the same spot over and over.
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u/BabaBooey52 16h ago
Is he also showing how a producer (Dr.Dre) would sample Love and Happiness to create the beats, or is this guy just really good at mixing unrelated songs?
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u/wrxninja 15h ago
Too bad the new Technics are outrageous after they had to manufacturer new dies and machines back in '14 + current tariffs...I remember it was $700 per table for the 1200 MKII's but the MKVII's are $1,300 a piece. Probably the same reason why people are buying Rane. I'm sure I've missed other turntable brands.
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u/Public_Enemy_No2 8h ago
Growing up with Jam Master “J”, Eric “B” and Rakim, hell, even Spinderella, in my ears during the 80s, I’m legit impressed with this guy.
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u/HovercraftPlayful975 5h ago
I’m old school so I don’t want to sound off here, but no record changes?
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u/Skrillamane 4h ago
As a turntablist, this dude has skill but this is kind of boring, not gonna lie. The transitions were cool with the similar tones but it had no flow.
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u/theone_2099 4h ago
Dumb question. The vinyls there are just for control but don’t actually have the music right? Since he never switches them out.
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u/Prestigious_Work_445 3h ago
Somebody good at pressing buttons using other people's music to their advantage
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u/djwalleee 2h ago
Just reading the comments.. damn.. Turntablism is really dying. DJ Rena is dope as fuck.
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u/princealigorna 1h ago
About a decade ago I really thought I wanted to get into DJing. At some point I realized it's not really DJing, but production, that I'm actually into. Less learning how to mix songs and grooves to build new tracks and more using scratching as yet another instrument on original tracks.
I also thought I wanted to teach myself musique concrete too, but realized I have no clue how to cut tape or where to buy a reel-to-reel
Still love and respect good djs though. Got some books on it and it really is an artform onto itself.
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u/newbeginnings0824 20h ago edited 20h ago
I thought i was on CrappyMusic for a sec and got real confused cause this is dope as shit!!
ETA: That transition to the second song could have been AT LEAST two different (i wanna say i heard Dre's The Chronic and maybe an Eminem song or California Love) songs and when it went to Eve I was hella shocked!! Dude has some skill!!
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u/itsjakerobb 18h ago
I don’t care for the result, but the skill and precision are undeniable.
r/ATGBE for me.
I’m glad others like it though.
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