Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a winner! Please join us in congratulating the new 2013 QSU Valedictorian: it's Mr Cerdan from Seattle!!! This guy has been quietly killing it on QSU for some time now… if you'll recall he was also the winner of both the Stab and the Boomerang Battles we had here this year. He's on a roll and I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him. 

He now joins the ranks of the elite group of QSU Valedictorians:

• Zeke (2010)
• Primo (2011)
• IQ (2012)
• Mr Cerdan (2013)

Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Mr Cerdan coming soon! In the meantime, check him out on YouTube below as his alter ego DJ Boski. 

Thanks for everyone who submitted a video for the 2013 QSU Valedictorian Battle! I'm really excited to check out all the entries myself, and I'm sure everyone is excited to find out who's gonna be the new Valedictorian.

If you watch Q's new Welcome video, he has picked a winner. But, he wants all the students to try to figure out who it is first. So, check out all the entries and leave some comments - Q wants to see know Who you think should win and Why.

Stay tuned... the winner will be announced in a week. 

Also - check out Vekked's latest blog on Turntablist World, it's a nice list of Top 10 Scratch Routines that he's compiled with YouTube clips. Some interesting discussions going on over there in the forums, it's great to see all the different turntablists chiming in!

***Less than 1 Week Remains to Submit for the 2013 QSU Valedictorian Battle!***

The deadline to submit is Sunday Dec. 1... the day before the Black Moon... Stay tuned. 

Don't regret not entering, just do it! It's your time to shine. 

Percussion is the foundation of so many things, and skratching is one of them. Qbert was recently visited by Fredo Ortiz (@Bongoloidz), who's been playing percussion with the Beastie Boys since 1996 (watch out for that cuica!). There's a lot we can learn from percussionists, since many of the same concepts can be applied to the turntables. In these 3 new lessons Qbert helps translate some musical ideas of Fredo's percussion into skratching. Click on links below or find them in the Guest Professors area!

• Bongos with Fredo Ortiz
• Cuica with Fredo Ortiz
• SPD-SX Sampling Pad with Fredo Ortiz
  

DJ Craze and DJ Klever have just released the long awaited sequel to Scratch Nerds, their highly regarded album from 2002 that showcases their ridiculous scratch skills - as well as their own production. It took almost 12 years, but the Scratch Nerds are back! This time featuring a very impressive array of guest skratchers that include Qbert, A-Trak, Ruckazoid, Teeko, Chris Karns, and D-Styles.

"Basically we got like the best skratchers of all time. I'm very proud of this." - DJ Craze

Listen/Download Scratch Nerds II on SoundCloud! 

It's amazing how just a bit of swing can change everything. This was the first of the "Skratch Theory" concepts that blew my mind. I'd been skratching pretty consistently for around 9 years when I submitted my first video to Qbert for his review back in 2009. Qbert Skratch University was still under construction - the lessons had all been recorded, the website had been built, but it hadn't been launched to the public. Lucky for me, as an integral insider at ArtistWorks, I had access to everything. So when it came time to test out the new Video Exchange system, I was actually the first person to get video feedback from Qbert. It was a humbling experience to say the least.

He's a mystery wrapped in a riddle... Maybe not quite, but I've always wanted to describe someone that way. Regardless, I first became aware of Gold Voltron in 2009 when QSU first launched. He was always positive and encouraging, and always uploading beats for us to skratch to. He also had a quirky sense of humour which felt right at home, and quickly became one of the most well-known characters on QSU. Not only was I seriously impressed by the level of his skratch skills, but also his knowlege of beats and music is insane! I learned a lot just through the stuff he posted, but always wanted to interview him for the blog - I had a lot of questions! So finally after years of procrastinating, I sent all the questions I had - and thankfully he answered them all!  So here it is, Gold Voltron speaking on just about everything I wanted to know - enjoy it nerdz!  

Greetings - we come in peace! There's a new 2-part lesson on Syncopation that just went up in the Skratch Theory section - this is a very important concept that we discuss a lot around here, it helps you to break out of old patterns in your skratching and sound less predicable on where you land your sounds... Definitely not to be overlooked! Find it in Skratch Theory or just click on the pic to jump to it! 

UPDATE 10/18/13: Got some more lessons to announce... In Skratch Theory:

• Rhyme Schemes

​In Real Instrument Skratching with Alex Sonnenfeld:

• Several Players 7
• Music Theory 4

"I've never seen anyone do Bubbles like that." - Qbert

And the winner for the QSU Bubble Battle… Byone! This guy has been around here since we first opened QSU, quietly submitting some of the freshest videos for over 4 years now (speaking of fresh, check his artwork below). Congrats man, you def earned those headphones! Also we've added your video to the Official Bubble Lesson page and gave ya a nice badge on your student page, aww yea!

The Next Battle will be on… REVERSE TEARS! That's right, Reverse Tears Only! This will definitely get you thinking outside the box… stretch your mind and really see what kind of crazy patterns you can come up with. The Deadline is Monday, October 14 6pm PST - just submit your entries into the Battle Category - Good luck and always remember to have fun with it!

Well, I'm back… what a trip (figuratively and literally)! So you probably already know from the Welcome Video who won the Clover Tear Battle, but let me be the first to Officially Announce In Writing that the big winner is… DJ Pekoe (with a honorable mention going out to DJ Catch, big ups)!

Pekoe is murderously insane with both hands, he's been around QSU since the beginning and never fails to impress… be sure to check out all the videos on Pekoe's page! 

Next up - it's The Bubble Battle… whoever has the best variations on this fun little skratch will win the highly valuable (and resellable) HD 25 Sennheister headphones, plus your winning video will be featured on the Official Bubble Lesson page until the end of time… which hopefully won't be anytime soon.

The deadline for The Bubble Battle will be Monday September 23… good luck! Please note: you should always submit your Battle Entry videos in to the Battle Category when you click on the Submit Videos Tab up top. For any questions, just email me at Adam@artistworks.com or CustomerService@ArtistWorks.com, we'll help ya out!

Also - we got some new lessons up (Updated)! Check em out:

• Level 2: Bubbles
• Level 3: Chirps to Crabs
• Level 3: Slice to Transformer
• Level 3: Red Light District & Salt Water Crabs
• Level 5: Prizm Drumming

In Turntable Tune-Up with DJ Mas: 

• Coarse Pitch Calibration 
• Upgrading and Replacing Turntable LED's

In Real Instrument Skratching with Alex Sonnenfeld:

• Music Theory 3
• Drumming 7
• Skratch Techniques 7