Thoughts on Turntablism by Alex Sonnenfeld
Fri, 08/08/2014 - 3:42pm
Hey what’s up folks - this is Alex Sonnenfeld from Berlin, Germany. Since 2011 I’ve been a Guest Professor at Qbert Skratch University and also have published around 400 tutorials on Turntablism which you can check out on my YouTube channel (Tonspielzeug). I am reaching out to the Turntablism community in hopes that some of you may be interested to work with me on some related upcoming projects.
After 15 years of research and practical training on Turntablism, in 2011 I published Bewegungslehre as a German eBook. I developed this 300 page thesis in order to provide the first musical analysis of Turntablism, based on a written system called “S-Notation” - which follows the orthographical rules of classical music notation in order to be able to “communicate” with “traditional” musicians outside of Turntablism.
Pic 1: Drum Scratching pattern by D-Styles
Qbert's New Album / The Tazer Battle
Tue, 07/15/2014 - 11:42am
Greetings to all throughout the skratchosphere! We are very excited about the official release of Qbert's new double album, Extraterrestria / GalaXXXian, which is now available and well worth the wait. This is the first album since 1998's seminal Wave Twisters, Qbert's first concept album which also went on to be an award winning animated film. The new albums are in heavy rotation over here and sound amazing. From the production to the skratching to the concepts and guest appearances... it's got something for everyone - even cameos from past QSU Valedictorians Zeke and IQ!
Be sure to pick visit www.djqbert.com and get yourself a copy if you have not already. Also check the tour dates, he may be coming to a city near you!
In Battle News, we want to extend our congratulations to JB Wizardry! This long time student here won the recent Stewie Skratch Battle and is now the recipient of the coveted golden 45. His winning entry is also linked to from the Stewie Skratch Lesson page (Lessons --> Level 2 --> Stewie Skratch) as a demonstration of this unique combo in action. This marks JB's second battle win here, as he also won the Chirp Battle last year.
Now, the next battle is on Tazers, which were first showed to Qbert by the world champion DJ Rafik from Germany way back when. Similar to Lazers, Tazers involve flinging the record back and forth with one hand while doing a 2-click motion on the fader much like an OG Flare. Make sense? Don't worry, these little guys are tricky, but the good news is that there's a lesson for that (Lessons --> Level 3 --> Tazers) - so be sure to spend some time practicing it before you record a video on it.
You have until August 4th to enter with a 1 minute video that shows all your Tazer skills… good luck!
Skratch Training Speed Booster by DJ Grotask
Mon, 06/30/2014 - 5:20pm
The idea for this came in two parts. The first is that I am also an MC and love to kick freestyles over instrumental beats, and the second is the Speed Booster at QSU [Located in the Training Dojo area of the Lessons, the Infamous Toadman plays a beat from Qbert's SP-1200 and increases the tempo by 1 BPM every 4 bars until it reaches twice the original speed. He also dances and smiles for you].
I wanted to combine these two ideas and create my own Speed Booster using some beats that I love to skratch with. So I did, and it really helped with getting some skratch techniques in double and triple time. So, I wanted to share it with rest of the world. If it works for me then it might help others as well!
The idea for this came in two parts. The first is that I am also an MC and love to kick freestyles over instrumental beats, and the second is the Speed Booster at QSU [Located in the Training Dojo area of the Lessons, the Infamous Toadman plays a beat from Qbert's SP-1200 and increases the tempo by 1 BPM every 4 bars until it reaches twice the original speed. He also dances and smiles for you].
I wanted to combine these two ideas and create my own Speed Booster using some beats that I love to skratch with. So I did, and it really helped with getting some skratch techniques in double and triple time. So, I wanted to share it with rest of the world. If it works for me then it might help others as well!
DJ History: Tony Prince and the DMC
Wed, 06/25/2014 - 4:03pm
Tony Prince is a legend in turntablism. Founder of the DMC [organization / DJ competition], he has been instrumental in driving forward the art form, providing a platform for countless DJ innovators to amaze audiences by masterly manipulating records in real-time. Not only that, the videos of the competition have inspired countless others to become DJs themselves. Indeed, ArtistWorks might not even have a Qbert Skratch University if it wasn’t for the DMC competitions which inspired so many to first get hold of turntables and start skratching.
As the build-up to the 2014 DMC World Finals in London in October heats up, a video documenting the history of the competition has been released by the DMC to celebrate 30 years of supporting DJing excellence. It's just Part 1 so far, which provides excellent context into the history of the organization as well as commentary from the man who started it all, Tony Prince.
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