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Turntables?
Godfather
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
A friend of mine on the net was talking about how he loved to play turntables. I asked him how or where he exactly learned about picking that up, but it's a very slow forum, so I don't expect a response for a couple of days from him.
That being said, can anyone give me the details on just about everything regarding playing these? How do you start off, where do you learn (if they teach it anywhere), what's the price of buying one, etc?
This is a really broad question, so I apologize if I didn't phrase it right.
That being said, can anyone give me the details on just about everything regarding playing these? How do you start off, where do you learn (if they teach it anywhere), what's the price of buying one, etc?
This is a really broad question, so I apologize if I didn't phrase it right.
Godfather on
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Panasonic Technics are well regarded; granted they're pretty expensive and they hold their value well. So even 2nd hand they will set you back some cash.
It'll cost you a grand for two of them , but its the only turntables you will ever need.
if your not looking to drop alot of money. a company named Numark makes something called the "battle pack"
its everything you need and its cheap, but it'll be enough to learn on. however, once you build some skill and/or decide that you like it, you will want the SL-1200s.
Also make sure you get slip pads
you want direct drive turn tables not belt driven turn tables. apparently direct drive (a motor turning the platter directly underneath) is more sturdy if you ever plan to start scratching, because belt driven gets angry because you're forcing it to skip around the belt.
that's what i was told anyway.
But before you go and drop a grand on something you may never use again you might want to see if you enjoy using them.
If you go to guitar center most have a synthesizer, turntable, lighting section now, so if you head down there you can probably get one of the guys to show you what its like.
You can also check the yellow pages for a place that teaches turntabilism(sp?) sometimes they will give you a free first lesson too.
If all that fails you can check out Dj Tutor guy has beginner vids on there, they are not the best but they are very helpful for beginners
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however i suggest you dont grow dependant beat counter, it will only cripple you in the end
You know, like DJ Tiesto and shit, where you make beats or whatever.
That kind of stuff.
EDIT: That's a poor example. Scratching in general is what i'm after, but similar stuff like the artist above is fine as well.
there are tons of guides around, i cant find the one i first looked at which made it click in my head exactly what i was doing wrong. but just search around google or im sure theres a pa'er here who knows a good link.
but basically what it is is using the pitch adjustment on one turntable so that the songs beat will synch up with the record that is already playing.
a good way to learn is to get 2 copies of the same song and play one record at whatever pitch, and then honing your ear on how it sounds the closer you get when adjusting the 2nd song. and getting used to pushing the second record off on beat, once they are at the same bpm.
im sorry if my post is kind of confusing at all... im not the best at explaining things. but yes before learning how to scratch. beatmatching is an important fundamental to djing. thats basically all that tiesto is doing
CUZ THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE MIDDLE AND IT'S GIVING ME A RASH
Beat match? Scratching? Channel Mixer?
What the shit fuckery?
Is there a book I can read that could point me in the right direction on this?
Slide it to one side, you get one song, the middle is both at the same time.
Each turntable has a pitch adjustment that changes the speed of the song. By adjusting the speed, the goal is to get the songs beat (that's what you tap your toe to when the song is playing) to match each other. When this is done correctly the songs will mesh togeather when your channel mixer is set in the middle. You then move the channel mixer left and right with the beat of the song, switching between turntables, or letting them play at the same time.
The result is taking two songs, and making a new one "on the fly"
Scratching is manually moving the turntable to create a "scratch" sound. This is also done in beat with the song as well as along with changing the channel selector.
I hope that clears some things up.
The best DJs manage to do original and entertaining things with their cross-ups, effects, etc without ever dropping the beat between songs - no jarring pauses in the song set, in other words.
I saw a guy working with an interesting peripheral the other night - it was a controller for his turntable where he put a sort of blank placekeeper disk on on the table and could then use it to manually pitch control and scratch his MP3s - has anyone seen those?
I host a podcast about movies.
Everybody says to buy a set of good decks right off the bat but I'm not sure about that. Are you looking to do this as a hobby or a career? I used to be real into it and laid out for a pair of Technics and a Stanton mixer right at the beginning but if you're iffy about this and don't have two grand to lay out then get a cheap battle kit. Go down to your local music store and see if they have a setup you can try out before you commit to anything.
I used to spin back just before the digital records came out and it eventually got to the point where I had to get out of my bedroom and start spinning for cash on the side just to keep up with hot records. I gave up mostly because there's no scene around here except for reggae and hippie shit. Not my scene at all.
Once you decide what you're gonna do, let us know and I'll shoot you some more info.
I host a podcast about movies.
So yeah, it's just for kicks. If it grows on me at a considerable rate, i'll invest in something more advanced.
I've always had an interest in turntablism, but it's not at all cheap to get into.
Then comes the wax. I'd just buy like two or three doubles of cheap battle records or just one set of super duck breaks if you don't think you'll get bored of it too fast. It will take some time before you flesh out a feel for whatever genres you like and what your scratch is going to sound like. There's no shortage of biters but just do whatever feels natural. Good luck.
This is where you just have to go nuts buying stuff. Like right now at the street fair in west seattle, easy street is selling off huge boxes of records for 25cents a peice. You just have to go fucking buckwild and buy a million records.
Stanton has pretty reasonable direct-drive tables for not too much. You'll also need a crossfader/mixer, a receiver or amp(s) (to amplify the signal), speakers, and a set of headphones. Straight tone-arms for scratching (though curved arms track better when left alone), and get cheap cartridges for now. You want direct drive so when you're futzing with the speed of the platter (slowing or speeding it up) you don't have a chain/rubber band in the way. Also "hi-torque" means the platter will spin up to operating speed faster.
Vinyl will cost a lot (at least good shit you actually want to listen to). A nice heavy weight vinyl new release pop album may cost 2-3 times the cost of it on CD (if you can find it). You might have luck finding used 80's stuff in your typical channels (craiglist, papers, ebay).
I know at record stores in the seattle area, vinyl releases of pop albums cost about the same as on a CD, sometimes even cheeper
So I'm shopping for a new set of tables . . . i personally will probably get a set of these because money isn't a huge factor, but I'd be curious to hear about alternatives.
I looked hard at panasonic's digital table, but it seems like a really expensive way to do less then the laptop system above.
This is the battle kit you were talking about right?
failing further discussion it would be cool if someone could point me out some good forums/websites/etc where people such as this congregate (believe it or not the last time I put a record on a turntable I did not have an isp)
I missed this before: You want direct drive tables because the belt drive ones have windup lag and are harder to start and stop, in addition to the belt being a pain in the ass. "Direct drive" means the platter is right off the motor - motor comes on, platter turns, no lag.
I host a podcast about movies.
Shit, if money's not a factor then pick up these. That's a pretty decent website to check out DJ gear but their prices are a little iffy and their music drops are pretty goddamn slow on the website. They've got fire if you live near the retail store though.
There's a reasons 1200's are famous. My pair fell from a third story height, twice, and still work just fine. They're easy to maintain, but I'd go for the newer models without the hinge covers built in and the removable plugs.
Uh and there's a bunch of different training videos out there. I don't know about any forums but there's a fair share of blogs out there. It's still a word of mouth scene, people still fucking put blank covers over their records or cover that shit up when you get close, keep their mouth shut about digging spots, etc. You have to just get out there and make some friends in your local scene and learn from them.
I host a podcast about movies.