Hey Short-E! Sunday Skool Skratch Sessions are in full effect for September and with our last session being the biggest ever with 19 DJs total in attendance we expect it to be even more epic than the last.
All skill levels are welcome. We now also end the evening with a few skratch tutorials, both beginner skratches and advanced skratches. Experienced mix DJs are welcome to mix beats for the DJs to cut to.
Check out the video of the third installment below.
And here’s the flyer for the upcoming September session.
I was recently sent footage of the legendary scratcher Dee Swift who as many of you know sadly passed away recently. (Footage sent via Jodi, Dees girlfriend)
The words below are by his close friend that sum it all up and give you an idea of how and why this has been released. Seeing Dee cut is a first for myself as I am sure it will be for many of you. For those of you that knew of Dee and heard him cut I know that you will appreciate what this footage means. For those of you that are unaware I hope it gives you an insight. Respect and RIP Dee! Thanks for all the cuts!
- Short-e
Part 1
Only existing footage of Dee on the cut, this would never have seen the light of day if he were still here but as that isn’t the case his friends and loved ones feel it should be shared
Part 2
Part 3
Rare home footage of Dee in late 2001, you can see by then he had some nasty combos under his belt but still way off the standard he would eventually achieve, by then it was practically demoralising to QnA with him.
Part 4
Dee rockin’ the finger styles
Part 5
The final part of some selected moments from the only existing film of Dee Swift on the scratch, if you’ve watched all parts then on behalf of Dee thankyou, he lacked the ability to be a ’show-off’ and as I said in the first part if he hadn’t passed then no way would this ever be up on here, to him there’d be too many mistakes. tasteless moments etc. his filter was so thick that rarely was he satisfied, in one sense this was a godsend in that it made him super-passionate of his artform which combined with his adept nature made him the dope scratcher he’d eventually become but on the flipside it meant that very little of his was ever heard out loud, this isn’t to say he was obsessive, it was all in context.
There were moments though, especially when he got real good later in the mid to late 2000s, i remember him droppin’ cuts that were so crazy he’d fall away from the deck laughing, all of us doubled up ‘cos he’d painted his way out of a corner with some stupidly complex but ever soulful combo, he was naturally a funny guy tho and could always crack you up with a funnily phrased cut or if you weren’t careful a surprise flying elbow attack(yep he liked those) truth was he mastered the guitar, put that down, fell in love with scratching, eventually mastered that too, went back to the guitar for a spell but returned to cutting leading up to the time he passed in 2010
Sorry for posting this Dee, sure there was better, but this early stuff here’s all that we can show to those who either admired you or those you admired, it might even inspire others too which I know would make you happy,
thanks to Rob for the footage, I left a lot of stuff out in these posts so that those with personal copies have a little something extra to keep, love to Jodi and the Holmes clan.
Just received this question from Matt, but Matt your email address isn’t working so I hope you are reading this! Get in touch!
Hey Short-e, firstly I just wanna say I love the site, it’s proved really useful and inspiring to me over recent months, really appreciate what you do! Basically been learning to scratch for about 1-2yrs, I’m really determined to reach a standard that I’m happy with and it’s going ok. My main concern at the mo it my fader hand, I guess I could always put in more practice but I can’t seem to get quicker, fast 2 clicks and boomerangs are proving soooo frustrating! In your experience, is greater speed and dexterity something that can be achieved with time and practice? or do we have individual limits? I’d be gutted if I simply couldn’t ever get these techniques down double time.
- Matt Le Gallez
Hey Matt
Great that you are scratching!
The speed thing will come with time. There is no individual limits, unless you think there are!
The key is to relax, make sure you understand the fundamentals of each scratch then gradually build up over time.
You could try starting of with a slow beat then gradually speed it up.
To give you an idea I used to practice for at least 4 – 5 hours a day. I still have issues with fast stabs but I am getting quicker the more I practice. There were so many times when I got frustrated and felt like quitting!
Keep a positive outlook and remember to take breaks. If scratching is becoming too much do something else.
See these posts here for some more explanation and guidance:
Short-e recently shot a series of scratch freestlye videos for clothing brand No Rival’s appearance at the upcoming S.L.A.T.E. section at MAGIC in Las Vegas!!! Booth # 22223. 17th / 18th / 19th August 2010.
The videos will be featured in No Rival’s stand on a large screen, so drop by if you get the chance.
Here are some preview stills of Short-e on the shoot.
These are just a few of our brand new designs. Come see the rest at the NO RIVAL booth (#22223) in the S.L.A.T.E. section at MAGIC. Walk-ins are welcome. We look forward to seeing you at the show.
Other exhibitors include:
10 DEEP CLOTHING
L-R-G CLOTHING CO
OBEY
STUSSY
VISION STREET WEAR
XLARGE CLOTHING
Message: Hi, love your site. I got a basic question, I’m a guitarist who spent years searching for a DJ to add to a band (like Incubus / Linkin Park) only to get frustrated and buy myself some Technics and decide to be the DJ since I couldn’t find one. I have 2 questions maybe you can help me with: I -really- don’t want to resort to using a computer to DJ but am having trouble finding good scratch records… any suggestions? I have Super Seal, battle breaks, hee-haw breaks, and a few others. And how do you loop your beats? Considering I have 2 decks and a DJM-400, whats the best way to play and loop beats without having to bring a 2000 dollar laptop to gigs? Obviously I can’t loop with a 2nd turntable, how do you do it in your videos? Thanks.
Thanks for visiting the site. Awesome that you became a DJ because you couldn’t find one! Here’s some answers.
1 – Some of my favourite scratch records are Superseal or Superseal 2. Can anyone else recommend their favourite scratch records for Joe in the comments? What constitutes a good scratch record for you?
2 – I believe that particular mixer has a built in sample feature. You could hook up an mp3 player into the line in then loop up beats that way. In my videos I usually use Serato Scratch and a laptop.
Heres a little beat for you all. More hip hop than scratch instrumental but you might like to bust some acapella cuts over it. Link to your videos in the comments if you use it.
