We had a chance to interview Niels Hlawinka, who has created an iOS video game that features DJ Qbert as a character! Niels lives in Germany and spends his time skratching when he's not designing websites and building cool apps for FatSack Games. 

ADA: How did you come up with the PHONGO character?

Niels: In 2005 I had a little online clothing store besides my main job (I always loved cool street fashion) where I imported underground clothing labels to support and sell in my country (Germany). It was then that I created the company name as Phongo-Clothing Co.

The name comes from Phonograph, meaning turntable, and with the G it brings a little bit of craziness to it.

We had a chance to interview Niels Hlawinka, who has created an iOS video game that features DJ Qbert as a character! Niels lives in Germany and spends his time skratching when he's not designing websites and building cool apps for FatSack Games. 

ADA: How did you come up with the PHONGO character?

Niels: In 2005 I had a little online clothing store besides my main job (I always loved cool street fashion) where I imported underground clothing labels to support and sell in my country (Germany). It was then that I created the company name as Phongo-Clothing Co.

The name comes from Phonograph, meaning turntable, and with the G it brings a little bit of craziness to it.

The Battle was fought long and hard, but a winner there must be. And so it was bestowed unto DJ Hypnotize, who most impressed Q with his unique slice variations. One of the original Honor Roll Students of QSU, this marks the HZA’s third battle win (he also won the Tear Battle and the Combo Battle). So congrats to DJ Hypnotize, he'll be getting a Gold Beedle Record in the mail from Qbert and his video is now linked up with the official Slice Lesson here for students to study forever. He also uploaded his winning entry to YouTube so check it out if you're not a member and reading this. Honorable mentions go out to ADA (me) and POTB (aka Pekoe), who also placed high in the Slice Battle.  

Next Up: The Joe Cooley Battle

***Deadline to submit is Monday, April 14th***

Mr Cerdan (2013 Qbert Skratch University Valedictorian), recently gave a workshop at Skratch Lounge Seattle on the Aquaman scratch. He does a great job of breaking down this important technique and also answers questions from people in the audience. 

The good folks at Battle Ave made a great point when sharing this video from their page:

"We're starting to see more 'scratch' events open up the floor by teaching tutorials/workshops prior to letting the cutters go at it. I'm sure we can all agree at some degree, people are intimidated to step up to the fader knobs in fear that they can't hit certain clicks, cuts, etc..

By hosting workshops and tutorials prior to an ALL OUT scratch event, it's encouraging for the crowd to partake on a level that they can be comfortable at. Not everyone is a scratch nerd, but I'm sure someone in that crowd could eventually be the next DJ Qbert or in this case, Mr. Cerdan." - Battle Ave 

Now, back by popular demand, it's the latest QSU Battle: The Slice

This underrated Level 1 Skratch Technique is really easy to learn and is a great addition to your skratch vocabulary. Q wants to see who can incorporate it best in your flow - you can mix it up but he wants to see at least 90% Slice skratches in there. You have 3 weeks to enter, the deadline to submit your video to the "Battle" category is March 10. The winner will receive a cool surprise prize, and the winning video will live forever in the official Slice Lesson. 

Note: Please limit your battle entries to 1 minute!

Watch the new Welcome Video for some Slice tips and be sure to study the official lesson:

Lessons --> Skratching --> Level 1 --> Slice

"I don't know how he's doing it on the drums... but I do know how to do it on the turntables!" 

Qbert recorded a new lesson with some simple ways to get melodic in your drum skratching. Originally inspired by hearing how drummers can create melodies with their drum kits by hitting different notes, Qbert breaks it down in skratch terms. 

Find it from the Lessons Menu -> Skratching -> Level 5 -> "Melodies in Drumming". 

"He is so far advanced, so far ahead of everyone else, he's like Yoda, like the guru." - DJ Jazzy Jeff

"Within DJing, turntablism and skratching is the most technical aspect of the craft, and it's also I would say the most musical. It's the part of DJing that's like playing a musical instrument. And in that world, the sort of Yoda figure, like the pure skratch guy that's on top of Mount Olympus, that's DJ Qbert in a sense.

There's so much of an image of what DJing is nowadays, but so much of what's out there is not the world of Qbert. And what Qbert does is so great. I think music fans out there, people who do and don't know Qbert, should definately keep an eye out for this project because it's gonna sound like nothing else out there. It's about time we get a reminder of how cool skratching can sound when it's really taken to the extreme and treated as a production tool and instrument." - A-Trak

Very excited to present our exclusive interview with the 2013 Valedictorian for Qbert Skratch University, Mr Cerdan. He's been a long time student of QSU and also was the winner of both the Stab and Boomerang battles we had last year. A humble guy with a regular day job to pay the bills, Mr Cerdan is a great example of someone continuing to follow his passion while balancing real life responsibilities. He gave us a great interview and we know we haven't seen the last of this guy, keep watching! 

Thud Rumble has released another in their series of Warflex Speed Booster Apps, this time featuring 10 beats from the highly acclaimed Scratch Nerds 2 mixtape from DJ Craze and DJ Klever. This is a really great tool for long practice sessions as well as speed training. Just hit the Speed Booster button and the beat will increase 1% every 20 seconds. It's like being in the Speed Booster at QSU, just without the Toadman. Get the App at the links below:

• Download link for iPhone/iPad
• Download link for Android

Also available: Warflex Gold - featuring beats from Gold Voltron

Hold up, reverse! We forgot to tell you about a new lesson in the Level 2 area, it's a breakdown of the "Reverse Clover Tear 3-Click Flare", aka the "3-Click Clover Tear Reverse". If anyone's got a better name for this one feel free to put it in the comments! This is a pretty crazy combo, and Qbert recommends first learning Crescent Flares before attempting this one.

Also, check out this new video recorded for Ortofon's YouTube channel where Q demonstrates some different drumming styles. Very intricate patterns on display! If you're inspired to work on your own drumming, head over to Level 5 here which is all about drum skratching.