"Two turntables and a microphone" is the basic concept of a DJ's equipment. This phrase describes turntables (phonographs) and a microphone connected to a mixer. The DJ uses the mixer's crossfader to fade between two songs playing on the turntables. Fading often includes beatmatching. Live hip hop music also often has an MC rapping into the microphone. In nightclubs the microphone is usually used only for announcements.
In his autobiography, Jimmy Savile claimed to be the first person to use two turntables and a microphone, at the Grand Records Ball at the Guardbridge Hotel in 1947. [1] Savile is acknowledged as one of the pioneers of twin turntables for continuous play of music, [2] though his claim has been disputed. Twin turntables were illustrated in the BBC Handbook in 1929, and were advertised for sale in Gramophone magazine in 1931. [3] There was an obvious need for such a setup when the normal music format was 78rpm records that played for five minutes at most and a classical symphony came in a box which might contain ten discs or more. Using a pair of turntables was a way to keep the music playing without a break, as can be seen in the 1948 movie The Red Shoes , where two stage hands do a poor job of changing records during a ballet performance in the church hall that housed the Mercury Theatre.
"Two turntables and a microphone" is the title of a 2008 documentary of the life of hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell). The phrase is also featured in the chorus of the song "Where It's At" by Beck.
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs, club DJs, mobile DJs, and turntablists. Originally, the "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to shellac and later vinyl records, but nowadays DJ is used as an all-encompassing term to also describe persons who mix music from other recording media such as cassettes, CDs or digital audio files on a CDJ, controller, or even a laptop. DJs may adopt the title "DJ" in front of their real names, adopted pseudonyms, or stage names.
Eric B. & Rakim are an American hip hop duo formed on Long Island, New York, in 1986, composed of DJ Eric B. and rapper Rakim. They first received acclaim for their 1987 debut album Paid in Full, which featured versions of the popular singles "Eric B. Is President" and the title track. They followed with three successful albums: Follow the Leader (1988), Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em (1990), and Don't Sweat the Technique (1992).
A mixing console or mixing desk is an electronic device for mixing audio signals, used in sound recording and reproduction and sound reinforcement systems. Inputs to the console include microphones, signals from electric or electronic instruments, or recorded sounds. Mixers may control analog or digital signals. The modified signals are summed to produce the combined output signals, which can then be broadcast, amplified through a sound reinforcement system or recorded.
Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two records simultaneously.
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 and/or broadcasting equipment 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, all while using a DJ mixer's crossfader 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.
Beat juggling is a deejaying and turntablism technique in which two records are used to prolong an existing beat, or to create a new one. It is associated with the context of hip hop, but not necessarily limited to this genre.
Scratch is a 2001 documentary film, directed and edited by Doug Pray. The film explores the world of the hip-hop DJ from the birth of hip-hop when pioneering DJs began extending breaks on records, to the invention of scratching and beat juggling, to the more recent explosion of turntablism. Throughout the documentary, many artists explain how they were introduced to hip-hop while providing stories of their personal experiences.
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theatre lighting in much the same way.
A DJ mixer is a type of audio mixing console used by disc jockeys (DJs) to control and manipulate multiple audio signals. Some DJs use the mixer to make seamless transitions from one song to another when they are playing records at a dance club. Hip hop DJs and turntablists use the DJ mixer to play record players like a musical instrument and create new sounds. DJs in the disco, house music, electronic dance music and other dance-oriented genres use the mixer to make smooth transitions between different sound recordings as they are playing. The sources are typically record turntables, compact cassettes, CDJs, or DJ software on a laptop. DJ mixers allow the DJ to use headphones to preview the next song before playing it to the audience. Most low- to mid-priced DJ mixers can only accommodate two turntables or CD players, but some mixers can accommodate up to four turntables or CD players. DJs and turntablists in hip hop music and nu metal use DJ mixers to create beats, loops and so-called scratching sound effects.
Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music in a recording studio. While the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music creation, including recording the rapping of an MC, a turntablist or DJ providing a beat, playing samples and "scratching" using record players and the creation of a rhythmic backing track, using a drum machine or sequencer, it is most commonly used to refer to recording the instrumental, non-lyrical and non-vocal aspects of hip hop.
Stanton Magnetics, doing business as Stanton, is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets turntables, cartridges, DJ mixers, DJ media players, and DJ controllers.
Donald Cannon is an American DJ, record producer, songwriter, and record executive. Cannon is a co-founder of the Atlantic Records imprint, Generation Now. He was also a member of the prominent Atlanta mixtape collective, Aphilliates Music Group, with his long-time collaborator and fellow Generation Now founder, DJ Drama. Over the course of his career, Cannon has produced tracks and albums for artists like Jeezy, Logic, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, 50 Cent, and numerous others. He also served as the Vice President of A&R at Def Jam Recordings.
djay is a digital music mixing software program for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch created by the German company algoriddim. It allows playback and mixing of digital audio files with a user interface that tries to simulate the concept of "two turntables and a microphone" on a computer. Before the commercial release in November 2007, djay had initially been released as freeware in June 2006. In December 2010 the software was also released for the iPad, and subsequently for iPhone and iPod Touch in March 2011.
Clive Campbell, better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is credited with being one of the founders of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in 1973. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown.
Hip-hop or hip hop, also known as rap, and formerly known as disco rap, is a genre of popular music that originated in the early 1970s by African Americans and Caribbean immigrants in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Hip-hop music originated as an anti-drug and anti-violence genre consisting of stylized rhythmic music that often accompanies rapping, a rhythmic delivery of poetic speech. According to the professor Asante of African American studies at Temple University, "hip hop is something that blacks can unequivocally claim as their own". The music developed as part of the broader hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements: MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, breakdancing, and graffiti art. While often used to refer solely to rapping and rap music, "hip hop" more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. The term hip hop music is sometimes used synonymously with the term rap music, though rapping is not a required component of hip hop music; the genre may also incorporate other elements of the culture, including DJing, turntablism, scratching, beatboxing, and instrumental tracks.
Controllerism is the art and practice of using musical software controllers, e.g. MIDI, Open Sound Control (OSC), joystick, etc., to build upon, mix, scratch, remix, effect, modify, or otherwise create music, usually by a Digital DJ or Live PA performer, often called a controllerist. Controllerism is also a nod to traditional musicianship and instrumental-ism paired with modern computer sequencing software such as Ableton Live and Native Instruments Traktor. However a working knowledge of scales and chords is not necessarily required as the performers typically focus their efforts more on sequencing events, software effect and instrument manipulations using buttons, knobs, faders, keys, foot switches and pedals than on instrumental notes played in real time. With recent developments in music technology, particularly in software instruments, a USB MIDI controller enables musicians almost unlimited possibilities to control a wide variety of sound types.
Joseph Robert Saddler, popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American DJ, rapper and producer. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by elongating the drum breaks through the use of duplicate copies of vinyl. This technique gave birth to cutting and scratching. It also gave rappers better music with a seamless elongated bed of beats to speak on. He also invented the slipmat.
The TTM 57SL is an audio mixer console, also known as a DJ mixer, designed by Rane Corporation. Rane and their software partner Serato, also known as Serato Scratch Live, teamed up together to create the TTM 57SL from Rane's prior TTM 56 disc jockey DJ mixer. The unique feature of this DJ mixer is that Serato and Rane brought their respective software and mixer hardware to create a hybrid mixer integrating two products into one, thus making it the first DJ mixer of its kind.
Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell, known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC.
DJing is the act of playing existing recorded music for a live audience.