Mix Tape-Touchdown

 

 

DJ Untouchable is releasing his new mix tape “Touchdown”, Sunday, December 21^st on datpiff.com. 

Touchdown is a reggae mix tape that used a riddim from 2008 “Unfinished Business”. 

A riddim is an instrumental version of a song, which applies to Jamaican music or other forms of Caribbean music which is a reggae term used for a rhythm pattern.

A riddim is basically a bass line and usually a special drum pattern used with the bass line. Sometimes a short melody is associated with the riddim, but the main ingredient is the bass line. Most riddims have originated from a hit song, and usually the riddim has been given the name of that song.  Riddims are the instrumental backgrounds of reggae, lovers rock, dub, ragga, dancehall, and sometimes ragga-soca compositions. 

If you’re interested in learning more about “Touchdown” or showcasing your work on one of DJ Untouchable upcoming mix tapes contact him at info@deejayuntouchable.com or  (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709

DJ Untouchable’s Upcoming Mix Tapes:

• Got Guap Volume II
• Quiet Storm Volume II

DJ Techniques

As a DJ you will learn different techniques that correspond with the art of DJing. The best way to recognize how good your skills are as a DJ is to record yourself and have other people give you feedback on your craft. Also, another great tip to learning new techniques is to listen to other DJs and pay attention to their styles. As you gradually learn new tricks, you will be able to create your own style and create a name for yourself.

Techniques

Breakdowns

The breakdown of a track is the bit where the beat drops out and you get a sort of pulsing instrumental interlude which builds up into a new launch.
The real key to breakdown mixing is choosing the right tracks. If you have a breakdown on track A that is the same length as the intro to track B, then just as track A goes into its breakdown you can bring up track B so that both tracks are playing at once. Then, when the breakdown/intro is over, move all the way over to track B so that the mix is complete.

Scratching

Scratching is technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer.

Spinback

This can be quite a dramatic way to mix between two tracks, and is sometimes used if the two tracks have a tonal difference that can’t be masked by using standard EQ. The dynamics of the spinback can draw attention away from the EQ difference so that it isn’t as noticeable – for example, if track A has a lot of hi-hats and track B has a huge bass drum but very little hi-hat action, then a spinback might be the best way to mix them.

Dead Stop

The idea of the dead stop is similar to the spinback, but instead of spinning the record back over the last beat or two, you just hit the stop button. You’ll need to know the time it takes your deck to stop the platter if you want to get the timing right – most good decks stop in about a second. Once the live disc has stopped, snap the crossfader to track B which then comes in right on the beat. Don’t overdo this one – if it goes wrong it sounds awful, so you’ll need to be very confident in your sounds and your equipment to pull it off.

EQ Mixing

Any decent mixer will have an EQ section – some only allow you to EQ the entire mix, but some have separate EQ controls for each channel. Typically, the EQ controls are divided up into three sections that control the level of the bass, midrange and high frequencies.

The most common usage of EQ in DJ work is in the bass and treble (high frequency) ranges. The midrange may sometimes be used to adjust the overall sound of a track, but is generally not as useful as the other two.
DJs frequently kill the bass on one track when mixing; there are a number of reasons for doing this. If you’re mixing two tracks that have very distinctive and rhythmically incompatible bass lines, the transition may work better if you leave out the bass on the cued track at first, mix across the mid and high frequencies, and then snap the crossfader across whilst un-killing the bass at the same time. This means the cued bassline will kick in with a greater impact, and the two basslines never get the chance to interfere with one another.

If you have any questions about techniques contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com and (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709

The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture-Part 2

The history of DJ and Hip Hop comes from the term Turntablism that is best known as a modern art form and musical practice that laid down its roots in the early 1970s.

Kool DJ Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash are widely credited for having a strong foundation within the role of Hip Hop DJs as entertainers. Kool Herc’s invention of break-beat DJing is generally regarded as the foundational development in Hip Hop history.To understand the significance of this achievement, it is important to first define the “break.”

 

The “break” of a song is a musical fragment only seconds in length, which typically takes the form of an “interlude” in which all or most of the music stops except for the percussion. The break is roughly equivalent to the song’s “climax,” as it is meant to be the most exciting part of a song before returning once more to its finale.

 

Kool Herc introduced the break-beat technique as a way of extending the break indefinitely. This is done by buying two of the same record and switching from one to the other on the DJ mixer.

Kool Herc’s techniques set the course for the development of turntablism as an art form in significant ways. Most important, however, he developed a new form of DJing that does not consist of playing and mixing records one after the other.  In addition, Kool Herc originates the idea of creating a sequence for his own purposes, introducing the idea of the DJ as the “feature” of parties, whose performance on any given night would be examined critically by the crowd.

However it was Grand Wizard Theodore, an apprentice of Flash, who accidentally isolated the most recognizable technique of turntablism: scratching. He put his hand on a record one day, to silence the music on the turntable while his mother was calling out to him and thus accidentally discovered the sound of scratching by moving the record back and forth under the stylus. Though Theodore discovered scratching, it was Flash who helped push the early concept and showcase it to the public, in his live shows and on recordings.

These early pioneers cemented the fundamental practice that would later become one of the pillars of the emerging turntablist art form. Scratching during the 1980s became a playing field for hip hop music, being used by producers and DJs on records and in live shows. By the end of the 1980s it was very common to hear scratching on a record, generally as part of the chorus of a track or within its production. On stage the DJ would provide the music for the MCs to rhyme to, scratching records during the performance and showcasing his skills alongside the verbal skills of the MC. The most well known example of this ‘equation’ of MCs and DJ is probably Run DMC who was composed of two MCs and one DJ. The DJ, the late Jam Master Jay, was an integral part of the group since his turntablism was critical to Run DMC’s productions and performances.

As you can see, DJs have played a critical role in the art of Hip Hop for many years.  DJs are still evolving every day and learning new techniques to entertain their audiences.

If you would like to start a discussion about history of DJ’s leave a comment or contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com and (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709. 

The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture-Part 1

 

DJ’s have always been influential to Hip Hop Culture.  DJing is one of the four main “elements” of hip hop that includes MCing, graffiti, and break dancing.

While hip hop did not invent DJing, it has extended its boundaries and techniques. The first hip hop DJ was Kool DJ Herc a.k.a. the “godfather of hip hop”, a native of Jamaica who created hip hop through the isolation of “breaks. Herc was one of the most popular DJs in the early 1970s in New York, and he quickly switched from using reggae records to funk, rock and, later, disco, since the New York audience did not particularly like reggae. Because the percussive breaks were generally short, Herc and other DJs began extending them using an audio mixer and two records. Mixing and scratching techniques eventually developed along with the breaks. In addition to developing Herc’s techniques, DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore, and Grandmaster Caz made further innovations with the introduction of scratching.

In the early years of hip hop, the DJs were the stars, but their limelight has been taken by MCs since 1978, thanks largely to Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash’s crew, the Furious Five. However, a number of DJs have gained stardom nonetheless in recent years. Famous DJs include Grandmaster Flash, Mr. Magic, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Scratch from EPMD, DJ Premier from Gang Starr, DJ Scott La Rock from Boogie Down Productions, DJ Pete Rock of Pete Rock & CL Smooth, DJ Muggs from Cypress Hill, Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC, Eric B., Funkmaster Flex, Tony Touch, DJ Clue, DJ Q-Bert.

Stay tuned for part 2 of The Origin of DJ’s in the Hip Hop Culture.  If you would like to discuss the history of DJ’s in further details contact DJ Untouchable at info@deejayuntouchable.com and (Office) 336-833-4752, (Cell) 267-269-9709