Having got this rather spiffing studio that gives me ample room to play with DJ toys all day long, it seemed like a shame to keep it all to myself. Thus on Sunday it was opened up to a large crowd of like minded generally north UK based turntablists, in part to celebrate the winners of the UK IDA battle finals, and so that some of the UK scratch community can come together in one place and have a bloody good scratch (a gift for you).
So I set up a veritable plethora of DJ technology for them to play with, from some almost antique Vestax PDX-A1s’ to the latest Numark NS7II, Reloop RP-8000 turntables and the Rane Sixty Four. What followed was a full hour longer than the originally planned 4 hour jam, with some gems captured on video, and more or less the whole thing captured via the direct mixer feed.
Aside from being a killer session featuring the stellar skills of world online DMC champion Jon Furst, globetrotting turntablist poster boy DJ Angelo, and the powerhouse of scratch audio and video that is DJ Woody, the event was attended by a more northern crowd, all of which rocked the cut. There was no plan, and the assembled DJs soon found their groove, all bouncing off each other, culminating with the NS7II being used as a live MPC and everyone else doing their bit to create a live scratch band style session.
From my perspective, this was the ideal opportunity to test out a few ideas, and see exactly what we’ll need to really do out the space to a level that we’re happy with, as well as firming up a few more important decisions, and creating some interesting opportunities. I couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out.
I’ll be working on the video tomorrow, and will also post the full audio for those who want to listen to the best of 4 hours of ahhh and fresh being mercilessly beaten into submission.
Big thanks to everyone who turned up, especially Mike Trix from Vestax UK for the loan of some turntables and for donating some giveaways. And big thanks to Sophie at inMusic without whom we couldn’t have been able to make quite so much noise.
This is just the start, a test run if you will. I learned a lot and have already started putting things into place to make things so much better next time around. If I may borrow an existing slogan: The future’s bright — the future’s orange. ;)
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