Regular readers will be aware of the ScrubBoard. For those who have been in a cave, it’s the insane brainchild of Jeremy Bell, a kind of mad scientist musician who was hell bent on using cassette tape as a viable scratch performance tool. The ScrubBoard has seen a few iterations since 2014, but now it’s hit what Jeremy describes as beta, thanks to a FabLab case and a motor.
The original version was little more than prerecorded tape stuck to a board with the cassette head moved over it. We loved that of course, but now after a trip to a FabLab, it’s looking more like an actual product than a selection of wood and wires held together with hope.
Essentially, The ScrubBoard beta is a cassette tape loop, driven by a motor, and controlled for speed and direction. The live singing is recorded to the tape loop (actually a pair of stereo channels i.e. the full width of the tape), and the combination of handheld play head, motor speed, and direction delivers the performance you see in the video.
Pat your tummy, rub your head
For experienced scratchers, it’s easy to watch the video and start screaming fake, because the sound doesn’t match the hand movement to our brains. But you have to imagine that you’re moving the head shell on the record, and at the same time moving the record back and forth and changing pitch — all without touching a crossfader. Yes — my head hurts too.
I don’t know if this will every be turned into a commercial product. And honestly it wouldn’t matter if it didn’t. I just love that Jeremy has taken a totally out there idea, and persevered with it for four years to make something that’s insane and genius in equal measure. We need more Jeremys, people who are unfettered by conventional thinking to shape the madness into something that the rest of us can deal with and use.
Once again, hats off to Jeremy Bell. I look forward to my inbox pinging in roughly another 9 months for the next update.
gosh, about 4 years ago. I wrote about how “scratching” isn’t the most technical of terms, and it’s definition has nothing to do with djing. “scratching” is our description of the basic sound; the sound we’ve all made with a jacket zipper at some point. To cling too tightly onto some “perceived doctrine” of what it is and isn’t, is well….it’s contradictory to the spirit of how and why scratching was created in the first place.
What he’s doing, IS scratching, it’s complicated and difficult, and has many expressive, creative opportunities. Frankly, it’s something like this (or elements of this system) that will finally solidify scratching as genuine music.
It’s true to the diy spirit of hiphop and techno.
I’ll beat mudo to the punch with this one, and remind us all of what bruce lee said about this:
“styles tends to not only separate man, because they have their own doctrines, and the doctrine became the ‘gospel truth’ that you cannot change”
This dude is brilliant! :)
Careful now.
Your still aggrieved posting veiled responses & reminders directed to the misguided Adam Stone Djing is dead article from 2015 . It was just an opinion. Are you aware that your comments appear ignorant & dismissive to anyone unfamiliar with that event as your responding to the site. Not the feature which indirectly puts you in the same realm ?
History ,culture , creative minds & new products have & will continue to counter & humble Adams thoughts. Don’t let it continue to poison & paralyse you.
Re: tape scratch.
Ive been on a long quest trying to find the earliest recordings of the tape scratch. Tape manipulation is documented in William Burroughs – The Ticket That Exploded book. It’s present as a sound effect on some dub reggae recordings.
( Tappa Zukie – Simpleton Badness ) Pink Floyd is also rumored to feature it. Musique concrète also deserves a mention.
The closest approximation to a dj scratching is from Laurie Anderson – Song for Juanita. ( Laurie is using a tape-bow violin )
Jeremy Bell is continuing the tradition & exploration of the potential of tape scratch.
Good sound quality and ingenuity. I wonder what the final version would look like? I think its one of the most creative ideas with DJs in mind. Also, why not be able to do the same with wavelengths on a touch screen that you can control the speed?