Qbert Skratch University Blog

Blog/News

Aug 8
Alex Sonnenfeld

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

drum scratching pattern by d-styles

Posted in qsu, skratch, turntablism
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Jul 15
ArtistWorks_Help

dj qbert new album extraterrestria

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!

stewie skratch battle winnerIn 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!

Posted in battle, qbert, qsu, skratch
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Jun 30
DJ Grotask

infamous toadman speed booster

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! 

 

infamous toadman speed booster

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! 

Posted in qsu, skratch, training dojo
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Jun 25
Danno9999

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. 

Posted in Interview, qsu, skratch
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Jun 19
ArtistWorks_Help

stewie swirl

There's a new lesson in Level 2, it's a variation of the Stewie skratch called the "Stewie Swirl" - don't forget to try the looper tool on the lessons too! Set the In and Out points and watch whatever little section you want on repeat. Also don't forget to submit for the Stewie Skratch Battle, deadline is Monday, June 23!

Lessons --> Level 2 --> Stewie Swirl

Posted in qsu, skratch
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Jun 11
ArtistWorks_Help

warflex d-styles app

Thud Rumble has released their latest app in their series of Speed Booster Loopers, this time from the one and only D-Styles. Featuring beats from the Wax Fondler himself, this is another great tool to keep on hand for your skratch training. As with all the Warflex Looper Apps, you can adjust the BPM plus or minus 50, or you can set it to manually increase by 1% every 20 seconds - perfect for speed training!

Download the app from the links below:

Posted in D-Styles, qsu, skratch
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Jun 2
ArtistWorks_Help

qsu freddy skratch battle winner: dj adexAnd the winner of the Freddy Battle is… DJ Adex! He had the best overall demo of this unique skratch combo, although there were some great other entries as well. Since these winning entries are linked to from the official Lesson Page, it's really important that we can see what both hands are doing. Congrats to Adex, be sure to check out his video from the Freddy Skratch lesson page in Level 2! 

Here's a tip: be sure to record your video at an angle that shows both your record and fader hands so we can see everything you're doing. Students are going to be studying all these videos forever so we want to make it as easy for them as possible.  

Next Battle: The Stewie Skratch - Deadline to submit is Monday, June 23!

We have also uploaded an official Stevie Skratch lesson in Level 2, find it in the curriculum:

Lessons --> Level 2 --> Stewie Skratch

Posted in battle, qsu, skratch
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May 6
ArtistWorks_Help

joe cooley battle winner

Greetings out there, we have some things to announce. First up is the Winner of the Joe Cooley Battle. Q really liked a lot of the entries including Hypnotize (who's entry even included a shout out from Mr Cooley himself), cdrsilva, JB Wizardry, POTB, but the winner he has chosen is… Tecumseh! It's the little details that ultimately made him rise to the top, such as executing a clean and focused flow that stays on the target skratch without deviating - that's something to keep in mind for these future battles.
 
So congrats to Tecumseh, you get the Joe Cooley Battle Winner Badge on your profile and your video will forever live in the curriculum as a fine example of the Joe Cooley Skratch in action. Plus you got a secret prize coming your way!
 
 
***The Deadline to Submit for The Next Battle is May 26th***

More about the Next Battle in a minute, but first…

Posted in battle, qsu
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Apr 21
ArtistWorks_Help

phongo original logoWe 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.

 

phongo original logoWe 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.

Posted in
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Mar 26
ArtistWorks_Help

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***

Posted in battle, qsu, skratch
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