Turntable Technique: The Art of the DJ [With 2-Record Set]

by Stephen Webber

Book Overview

Learn to play the turntable like your favorite DJs and create your own style This essential guidebook and companion 2-record set teaches you to play the turntable as a musical instrument. Using this firstever turntable method, techniques and tricks can be mastered quickly and effectively. Includes step-by-step instructions on: setting up your equipment, scratching, beat matching, mixing, transforming, crabbing, crossfader technique, cutting and stabs.Book...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 063401434X
• ISBN13: 9780634014345
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Berklee Press Publications
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 12.0" x 12.2"

Customer Reviews

Straight-ahead method, easy to use

I've been a club and mobile DJ for over 12 years, but I've never gotten into scratching, even though I love the way it sounds. This book made it easy, and gave me some background on where the artform came from. The records gives you useful samples, in fact I use them every night in my mobile and club sets to sprinkle in some cuts and stabs. This goes over huge, especially at my high school and college gigs. Highly recommended, will get you started in no time.

12" Records Very Handy

I have probably all of the books on DJing that are out there, and this is my favorite. It comes with two 12" records that contain a wide band of white noise (like a continuous "Ahhhhh" sample) that really help you ease into skratching. I've been DJing for years now, and I still use that track.There is also a very cool acid jazz track which has a Miles Davis muted trumpet vibe going which you can beat match with an R & B style track---I never could get the hang of beat matching until I bought this book/record set. This really made it easy.The other technique this book helped me with better than any other source I could find is the crab scratch. The exercises break it down into very easy to follow steps, and by practicing slowly and speeding it up a little at a time, my crabs are now even and clean. I think maybe this book throws off some people who are expecting it to read like a copy of Source magazine---it's refreshingly free of trendy lingo and the silly posturing that often accompanies the DJ scene. It also treats the turntable as a musical instrument, which some DJs still have a problem with. It helped me a lot, and like I said, I still use the records--there are a lot of good synth and spoken word samples on them as well!

I love this book!

I received a pair of turntables and a mixer for Christmas last year, and this book got me off my rear end and got me practicing. I mastered beat matching in one night. The book is very easy to follow. The records that come along with it are great, too. I heard the author on NPR and he was cutting Richard Nixon saying "I am not a crook," which is right off of the records that come with this book!I also learned about Grandmaster Flash, Qbert and Craze from the interviews and history section. Well worth the price!

The Industry Standard

I began scratching two years ago using this book, and progressed faster through the basics than any of my friends who started at about the same time. Now I use this book to teach others. It breaks things down into easy to follow and clear descriptions, something that no video I own bothers to do. The interviews are also dope; QBert, Swamp, Mixmaster Mike, Craze, Atrac, and Kuttin Kandi all have interesting stories to tell. There is also a short history of the hip-hop DJ, which is stuff everyone should know if you're going to DJ.The two pieces of vinyl that come with the book have some great samples for scratching and two cuts for beatmatching. I especially enjoy teaching with this book, it makes it easy for my students to make progress between lessons. It also includes some traditional music notation, which gives me a clear vocabulary to talk to my students with. If you're starting out this book is excellent. It works!

A must for new DJ's!

This book is an awesome reference for the new DJ. It comes with 2 albums that are exactly the same, so as you can learn to beat-match and scratch properly. It has alot of good tips and pointers, and really is a great help. My only criticism is that the info on beatmatching is a bit limited, as this book is for the budding scratcher, and it has heaps of info on scratching. Maybe in the next publication Stephen Webber will remeber to put down that the easiest way to get the beats together is to listen to the bass drum. Other than that, this book is great, and I think Stevie boy has done a good job. DJ Zanshin (Australia)