Turntablism: History and Key Facts

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 (for live events) or broadcasting equipment (if the DJ is performing on radio, TV or Internet radio) 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 (the popular rhythmic "scratching" effect which is a key part of hip-hop), all while using a DJ mixer's cross-fader 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 (Greasley & Prior, 2013).

Turntablists, often called DJs (or "deejays"), generally prefer direct-drive turntables over belt-driven or other types, because the belt can be stretched or damaged by "scratching" and other turntable manipulation such as slowing down a record, whereas a direct drive turntable can be stopped, slowed down, or spun backwards without damaging the electric motor. The word turntablist is claimed to be originated by Luis "DJ Disk" Quintanilla (who has notably worked with Primus, Herbie Hancock, Invisibl Skratch Piklz). After a phone conversation with Disk, it was later popularised in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who simply plays and mixes records and one who performs by physically manipulating the records, stylus, turntables, turntable speed controls and mixer to produce new sounds. The new term coincided with the resurgence of hip-hop DJing in the 1990s.

According to most DJ historians, it has been documented that "DJ Babu" of the "Beat Junkies" / "Dilated Peoples" was the one who originally coined the term "turntablist" while working on the groundbreaking mixtape "Comprehension", DJ Babu hand wrote the name "Babu The Turntablist" on hundreds of copies of this mixtape to describe his style of DJing, while working on the track "Turntablism" with "D-Styles" and DJ Melo-D, Babu would say "if someone plays the piano, we call them a pianist, if someone plays the guitar, we call them a guitarist, why don't we call ourselves Turntablists?" found in the documentary "Scratch (2001 film)" which was released in 2001.. DJ GrandMixer DXT states that Herbie Hancock was the original person who coined the term "turntablist" in 1984 while he played with the Herbie Hancock Rockit band.

Per GrandMixer DXT - “In 1984 we did the Hammond Smith Auditorium in London, England. There's a video of that concert, “Herbie Hancock: Live in London, England at the Hammond Smith Waterman”… some people actually thought I was Herbie Hancock because he put me center stage… so these guys came up and they said “How do you… what do you call him… you call him a DJ? Like what do you? How do you refer to him like ‘cause he's not really DJ. Herbie Hancock said, “I'm a pianist, I have the bassist, and he's a turntablist,” and I hated it. I was like “I'm a DJ man.” He said, “You're a turntablist… he's playing the turntables… he's a virtuoso.” And I didn't like it at all so I didn't repeat it. A guy named John Coluccio backstage at another place… maybe a year or so after that, approached me and I said to him “I didn't like it… I don't like the term.” But he explained it and it began to stick and so I had no choice but to accept it because I was being a purist of the DJ world… Herbie explains that it's being part of the musical ensemble… you're playing with musicians. When you're deejaying, you're a DJ. When you are turntablist, you're playing with musicians. You're playing as part of an ensemble, a musical ensemble and you have the ability to work it out as a musician so you can improvise… you can you can play whatever songs whatever music and it's not just this one thing it's whatever you choose to, how you choose to approach that particular tune. It's not just this one sound. My bow was the “Fresh” sound because that was my thing. It became everybody's thing…. The title or the term turntablist is being used in the DJ world as people just being DJ's, and just scratch DJ's… but if you put them in a band environment they would be completely lost. You become a turntablist when you're able to do that as well, not just DJ… the turntablist is when you're able to play as a virtuoso musician with a turntable like a pianist, or violinist, or flautist, or bassist… you have to be in that zone. You have to be amongst those musicians and play with them, and that's what the defines being a turntablist. When you're just having to mix on two turntables and you scratch, you're a DJ scratching... you’re a scratch DJ… the turntablist - this is the person performing as part of a musical ensemble. That's what Herbie meant when he coined the definition… it took years before the term was rehashed or so re-expressed through the guys on the West Coast Baboo and DJ Disc were arguing which one of them… but they had no idea that Herbie had already said it before we did the Grammys. He had already coined that phrase… and he explained what it was. So for all of those DJ's who call themselves “turntablists,” if you're not playing as part of a musical ensemble then you're a DJ… the term turntablist applies to musicianship." [time - 3:19:26 - DJ Interview Episode 30 - GRANDMIXER DXT

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