Should a funk-dj have scratch skillz?!?

[deeno]

a time ago i was spinning records in a small club.. a young hip-hop fan came up to me and told me that my dj-skillz are absolutely wack because i'm not doing scratchs and stuff like that. i told him: "hey mate i'm spinning just some 45stuff and thats not really the best recordsize for doing dj-battle action"...he:"if you're real you will do tricks also with 45s!"...
o.k., i'm not dj shadow or cut chemist but i think my dj-skillz are well!
what do you think?.should a funk dj have scratch skillz?

[Nick Cope]

Yeah, bust up them expensive 45s... No seriously, let's trash 'em all so we can try to impress some 17yr old kid! Fuck him.

I leave the 45 elbow scratch to the highly skilled shadows of the world - though I do like to beat match 45s and mix on the drops etc - that's as far as you can go without killing the things. However, all hip hop must be mixed in some way, that is a law that must not be broken...

[Col Wolfe]

agree with Nick here, beatmatching is as far as you should go with your funk 45s - its about the music not how you change it - beatmatching done well can make a beautiful flow

with your northern 45s however you can go really wild - leave 4 or 5 seconds between the tracks - mumble incoherently into the mic - let the needle jump off the run-out groove and sctatch across the label....

[son of stan]

Oh God, I hope not.

I realise that this is sacrilege but scratching nowadays always seems a bit naff to me. It's had it's day. Gimmicky, 1980s, show off shite. Let's move on, eh?

Other than that, I really like it!

[Blighty]

Move on to what? Playing old records?

[wayne]

Well, I tend to the bemused observation that current dance music long ago entered its 'arena rock circa 1975' phase: quadruple concept albums, big effects-heavy shows, drug addled pretensions...it's all there! Which I guess would make show-offish 'DJ skillz' to dance music what the 35 minute axe/drum/organ solo was to Rock circa 1975 (and would make your critic the equivalent of the person I once distinctly remember saying James Brown's guitarist wasn't up to much because it was just the one riff played over & over all the time...not like Steve Vai, who could REALLY play).

What goes around...

[Belson]

Quote[/b] (deeno @ Sep. 29 2004,18:38)]a time ago i was spinning records in a small club.. a young hip-hop fan came up to me and told me that my dj-skillz are absolutely wack because i'm not doing scratchs and stuff like that. i told him: "hey mate i'm spinning just some 45stuff and thats not really the best recordsize for doing dj-battle action"...he:"if you're real you will do tricks also with 45s!"...
o.k., i'm not dj shadow or cut chemist but i think my dj-skillz are well!
what do you think?.should a funk dj have scratch skillz?

Absolutely fuckin' not!! Whilst playing funk, at any rate.

If you mix it up with hiphop, then the playing field changes a tad.

I'm a firm believer that the 2.5 minutes your average funk track is in length, should be heard from start to practical finish.

Did you have the dancefloor moving? I'm sure you did. Job done. I actually think it's not only 'wack' to be scratching all over somebody elses art, I think it detracts from the purpose of playing funk in the first place.

Sure Shadow, Chemist and Nu-mark do their thing on stage and it's great what they do - but it's a spectator sport.

Anybody wants to play funk in my club, keep it simple, keep it focussed, watch for your tempos and concentrate on your selection. That's the real skill in getting a club moving. Not the fact that you can cue up a 'frrrrrressssh' stab and inanely 'crab', 'tear' and 'flare' all over a Reginald Milton-esque groove.

The yoof of today, eh    !

[son of stan]

Quote[/b] (Blighty @ Sep. 30 2004,01:01)]Move on to what? Playing old records?

Yeah you're absolutely right. Sorry about that. One of my dopier moments...

[Rich Hero]

Quote[/b] (wayne @ Sep. 30 2004,01:32)]James Brown's guitarist wasn't up to much because it was just the one riff played over & over all the time...

Where was it I read that James's audition consisted of asking the guitarist to play one chord. And then to leave him to it for thirty minutes*. If he could do it without noodling or trying to switch things up he had a chance of getting hired.

(*I may be exaggerating a little. Hell, I may have made the entire thing up. ).

[formigo]

I don't really think what a DJ "should" be able to do ought to come into consideration myself... a set can be excellent for various reasons which may or may not include the technical ability / method / creativity with which the songs are mixed.

(Though basic competence is nice).

[Hadrian Elephant]

Quote[/b] (formigo @ Sep. 30 2004,11:05)](Though basic competence is nice).

Damn!

That puts an end to my (already limited) DJ career

[formigo]

Quote[/b] (Hadrian Elephant @ Sep. 30 2004,12:22)]

Quote[/b] (formigo @ Sep. 30 2004,11:05)](Though basic competence is nice).

Damn!

That puts an end to my (already limited) DJ career  

I'm just mean stuff like... not accidentally picking up the tonearm on the record that's playing.

Well, more than say once a month.

Not including if you're really, really drunk. Or somewhat drunk.

...oh, and times when you thinking "damn I really want to hear the break and it's still two minutes away"...

[sermad]

Quote[/b] (formigo @ Sep. 30 2004,12:41)]I'm just mean stuff like... not accidentally picking up the tonearm on the record that's playing.

Well, more than say once a month.

That and doing a perfect mix and then taking off the record that is playing.

Having your headphones on and not noticing a recording skipping for about 30 seconds...

oh boy.

[Matt Hero]

....or walking away from the decks with headphones still around your neck and either dragging the mixer to the floor, or strangling yourself with the cable.

[the old hayes]

Quote[/b] (formigo @ Sep. 30 2004,12:41)]not accidentally picking up the tonearm on the record that's playing

and then after realising what you've done, dropping it back onto the record hoping no-one will notice (without adjusting a fader)..