Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes, and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA system (for live events) or broadcasting equipment (if the DJ is performing on radio, TV or Internet radio) so that a wider audience can hear the turntablist's music. Turntablists typically manipulate records on a turntable by moving the record with their hand to cue the stylus to exact points on a record, and by touching or moving the platter or record to stop, slow down, speed up or, spin the record backwards, or moving the turntable platter back and forth (the popular rhythmic "scratching" effect which is a key part of hip-hop), all while using a DJ mixer's cross-fader control and the mixer's gain and equalization controls to adjust the sound and level of each turntable. Turntablists typically use two or more turntables and headphones to cue up desired start points on different records (Greasley & Prior, 2013).
Turntablists, often called DJs (or "deejays"), generally prefer direct-drive turntables over belt-driven or other types, because the belt can be stretched or damaged by "scratching" and other turntable manipulation such as slowing down a record, whereas a direct drive turntable can be stopped, slowed down, or spun backwards without damaging the electric motor. The word turntablist is claimed to be originated by Luis "DJ Disk" Quintanilla (who has notably worked with Primus, Herbie Hancock, Invisibl Skratch Piklz). After a phone conversation with Disk, it was later popularised in 1995 by DJ BabuNewman, Mark "Markski" (January 3, 2003). History of Turntablism. to describe the difference between a DJ who simply plays and mixes records and one who performs by physically manipulating the records, stylus, turntables, turntable speed controls and mixer to produce new sounds. The new term coincided with the resurgence of hip-hop DJing in the 1990s.
According to most DJ historians, it has been documented that "DJ Babu" of the "Beat Junkies" / "Dilated Peoples" was the one who originally coined the term "turntablist" while working on the groundbreaking mixtape "Comprehension", DJ Babu hand wrote the name "Babu The Turntablist" on hundreds of copies of this mixtape to describe his style of DJing, while working on the track "Turntablism" with "D-Styles" and DJ Melo-D, Babu would say "if someone plays the piano, we call them a pianist, if someone plays the guitar, we call them a guitarist, why don't we call ourselves Turntablists?" found in the documentary "Scratch (2001 film)" which was released in 2001.. DJ GrandMixer DXT states that Herbie Hancock was the original person who coined the term "turntablist" in 1984 while he played with the Herbie Hancock Rockit band.
Per GrandMixer DXT - “In 1984 we did the Hammond Smith Auditorium in London, England. There's a video of that concert, “Herbie Hancock: Live in London, England at the Hammond Smith Waterman”… some people actually thought I was Herbie Hancock because he put me center stage… so these guys came up and they said “How do you… what do you call him… you call him a DJ? Like what do you? How do you refer to him like ‘cause he's not really DJ. Herbie Hancock said, “I'm a pianist, I have the bassist, and he's a turntablist,” and I hated it. I was like “I'm a DJ man.” He said, “You're a turntablist… he's playing the turntables… he's a virtuoso.” And I didn't like it at all so I didn't repeat it. A guy named John Coluccio backstage at another place… maybe a year or so after that, approached me and I said to him “I didn't like it… I don't like the term.” But he explained it and it began to stick and so I had no choice but to accept it because I was being a purist of the DJ world… Herbie explains that it's being part of the musical ensemble… you're playing with musicians. When you're deejaying, you're a DJ. When you are turntablist, you're playing with musicians. You're playing as part of an ensemble, a musical ensemble and you have the ability to work it out as a musician so you can improvise… you can you can play whatever songs whatever music and it's not just this one thing it's whatever you choose to, how you choose to approach that particular tune. It's not just this one sound. My bow was the “Fresh” sound because that was my thing. It became everybody's thing…. The title or the term turntablist is being used in the DJ world as people just being DJ's, and just scratch DJ's… but if you put them in a band environment they would be completely lost. You become a turntablist when you're able to do that as well, not just DJ… the turntablist is when you're able to play as a virtuoso musician with a turntable like a pianist, or violinist, or flautist, or bassist… you have to be in that zone. You have to be amongst those musicians and play with them, and that's what the defines being a turntablist. When you're just having to mix on two turntables and you scratch, you're a DJ scratching... you’re a scratch DJ… the turntablist - this is the person performing as part of a musical ensemble. That's what Herbie meant when he coined the definition… it took years before the term was rehashed or so re-expressed through the guys on the West Coast Baboo and DJ Disc were arguing which one of them… but they had no idea that Herbie had already said it before we did the Grammys. He had already coined that phrase… and he explained what it was. So for all of those DJ's who call themselves “turntablists,” if you're not playing as part of a musical ensemble then you're a DJ… the term turntablist applies to musicianship." [time - 3:19:26 - DJ Interview Episode 30 - GRANDMIXER DXT https://www.youtube.com/live/vMUMc2GTyrs?si=xA48cpCci7hMEox1]
John Oswald described the art: "A phonograph in the hands of a 'hiphop/scratch' artist who plays a record like an electronic washboard with a phonographic needle as a plectrum, produces sounds which are unique and not reproduced—the record player becomes a musical instrument." Some turntablists use turntable techniques like beat mixing/matching, scratching, and beat juggling. Some turntablists seek to have themselves recognized as traditional musicians capable of interacting and improvising with other performers. Depending on the records and tracks selected by the DJ and their turntablist style (e.g., hip-hop), a turntablist can create rhythmic accompaniment, percussion breaks, basslines or beat loops, atmospheric "pads", "stabs" of sudden chords or interwoven melodic lines.
The underground movement of turntablism has also emerged to focus on the skills of the DJ. In the 2010s, there were turntablism competitions, where turntablists demonstrate advanced beat juggling and scratching skills.
History
Precursors
The use of the turntable as a musical instrument has its roots dating back to the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s when musique concrète composers did experiments with audio equipment. Experimental composers (such as John Cage, Halim El-Dabh, and Pierre Schaeffer) used them to sample and create music that was entirely produced by the turntable. Cage's Imaginary Landscape No. 1 (1939) is composed for two variable speed turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano and cymbal. Edgard Varèse experimented with turntables even earlier in 1930, though he never formally produced any works using them. Though this school of thought and practice is not directly linked to the 1970s–2010 definition of turntablism within hip-hop and DJ culture, it has had an influence on modern experimental sonic/artists such as Christian Marclay, Janek Schaefer, Otomo Yoshihide, Philip Jeck, and Maria Chavez. Turntablism as it is known today, however, did not surface until the advent of hip-hop in the 1970s.
Examples of turntable effects can also be found on popular records produced in the 1960s and 1970s. This was most prominent in Jamaican dub music of the 1960s, among deejays in the Jamaican sound system culture. Dub music introduced the techniques of mixing and scratching vinyl, which Jamaican immigrants introduced to American hip-hop culture in the early 1970s. Beyond dub music, Creedence Clearwater Revival's 1968 self-titled debut album features a backspin effect in the song "Walk on the Water".
Direct-drive turntables
Turntablism has origins in the invention of direct-drive turntables. Early belt-drive turntables were unsuitable for turntablism, since they had a slow start-up time, and they were prone to wear-and-tear and breakage, as the belt would break from backspinning or scratching. The first direct-drive turntable was invented by Shuichi Obata, an engineer at Matsushita (now Panasonic), based in Osaka, Japan. It eliminated belts, and instead employed a motor to directly drive a platter on which a vinyl record rests. In 1969, Matsushita released it as the SP-10, the first direct-drive turntable on the market, and the first in their influential Technics series of turntables. In 1971, Matsushita released the Technics SL-1100. Due to its strong motor, durability, and fidelity, it was adopted by early hip-hop artists.
A forefather of turntablism was DJ Kool Herc, an immigrant from Jamaica to New York City. He introduced turntable techniques from Jamaican dub music, while developing new techniques made possible by the direct-drive turntable technology of the Technics SL-1100, which he used for the first sound system he set up after emigrating to New York. The signature technique he developed was playing two copies of the same record on two turntables in alternation to extend the b-dancers' favorite section, switching back and forth between the two to loop the breaks to a rhythmic beat.
The most influential turntable was the Technics SL-1200, which was developed in 1971 by a team led by Shuichi Obata at Matsushita, which then released it onto the market in 1972. It was adopted by New York City hip-hop DJs such as Grand Wizard Theodore and Afrika Bambaataa in the 1970s. As they experimented with the SL-1200 decks, they developed scratching techniques when they found that the motor would continue to spin at the correct RPM even if the DJ wiggled the record back and forth on the platter. Since then, turntablism spread widely in hip-hop culture, and the SL-1200 remained the most widely used turntable in DJ culture for the next several decades.
Hip-hop
Turntablism as a modern art form and musical practice has its roots within African-American inner city hip-hop of the late 1970s. Kool Herc (a Jamaican DJ who immigrated to New York City), Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having cemented the now established role of DJ as hip-hop's foremost instrumentalist.Hansen, Kjetil Falkenberg (2000). Turntable Music . Norway: NTNU and Sweden: KTH, p. 4 Kool Herc's invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in hip-hop history, as it gave rise to all other elements of the genre. His influence on the concept of "DJ as turntablist" is equally profound.