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Bring up sound of music and students scratching records - JEDSK021-01
Twenty people are playing the same record in a dimly lit room. Each stands at a station that has two spinning turntables and a mixer that's covered with knobs and sliders. They're trying to make music out of a single word - letting the word play before spinning the record back to play it again.
Crossfade 21 down and bring up JEDSK017-01. Play the sound of "fresh" for a couple of seconds before fading 17 under narration.
The word is fresh, and what they're doing is called scratching. By stopping and starting the record with their hands, they what comes through the speakers. As they practice, their instructor, who calls himself DJay Jung, moves among them, adjusting knobs and correcting their techniques.
Play JEDSK019 and fade down under narration.
It's Rodolfo Gillain Rossi's first time trying out this move, which is called the baby scratch. To do it, he has to move the record back and forth while adjusting the volume. It's one of the most basic and most recognized of all scratches, but it's giving him a little trouble.
Ambi for AX is JEDSK021
AX[Rodolfo]: Right now it's just my first day of scratching, and I didn't even know I have to count and stuff. (:08) JEDSK033-1:16
Rodolfo is a student of scratching, and this place is called the DJ Scratch Academy. He's enrolled in an intensive course that runs for 10 weeks and cost him $500. Over the course of the class, the students learn how to scratch, play in clubs, make audition mixtapes, and other aspects of DJ culture. DJay Jung says it's a reasonable price to pay when the alternative is buying your own turntables.
Ambi for AX is DJJUNG001-003
AX[Jung]: You know, it's like hard to just, you know, sit there, ok, let me spend 700, 800 dollars on a pair of Technics 1200s and a mixer that I may never even use again, because I don't know what I'm even doing. (:12) DJJung007-02
The Scratch Academy was founded in 2002 by three people, including the late Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay, who was the DJ for the legendary hip-hop group, Run DMC. They founded the school to fill a void in the hip-hop community. Josh Novicki, the manager of the academy, says that they founded the school to fill a void in the hip-hop community.
AX[Novicki]: There was no place where people who were aspiring to be DJs could go and learn. (:07) JOSH001-2:35
AX[Novicki]: It was pretty much something that was either A- self taught, or B- you learned from friends. (:08) JOSH001-2:43
Turns out, there was a lot of interest in learning how to DJ. The school was mentioned in Hip-Hop magazines, and they started attracting all sorts of people: budding musicians, students, lawyers … retirees. The academy moved into a larger location. Now there are two other academies - one in Miami and one in Los Angeles. Novicki says thousands of students have taken classes. And the school is thriving.
AX[Novicki]: We do birthday parties for kids. We do workshops for investment bankers on Wall Street. It's kind of all over the place. (:11) JOSH003 - 0:20
AX[Novicki]: You know, it's not taking tennis lessons, or golf lessons, or even piano, you know. It's different, and it's cool. (:09) JOSH003 - 2:09
Fade up sound of traffic outside of school. Loop and play until Dee goes back inside - KRONIK016
After finishing a class, students often return to hang out with the faculty or to use the school's equipment. Some of them do it for fun, while others are trying to becomre professional DJs. Declun Sealey took two classes at the academy. Now, he comes by and practices for 3 to 4 hours almost everyday. Everybody here calls him Dee, but his DJ name is Kronik - that's Kronik with two k's.
AX[Kronik]: [Inhales] This summer … is Kronik's summer. Seriously. (:05) KRONIK011 - 2:35
Dee is one who's trying to go pro. He's smoking on the second story fire escape right outside the school. He says it's a ritual that helps his scratching. Today, he's putting together a mix tape to send to a club in Virginia. He's hoping that the club's booker will like what he does and will offer him regular work. Meanwhile, he's been using another strategy.
AX[Kronik]: Play anywhere and everywhere for anybody at anytime. You need me, call me. You ain't got money, I'll play for you. IS THAT WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO? It's not what I have to do. It's what I want to do. Cause that way, people gonna know … it's not about the money with me. (:15) KRONIK012 - 0:18
And that's a good thing, because at this early stage in his career, there isn't much money to be made. There are so many DJs trying to get their start that clubs don't need to pay DJs very much to scratch for them. The end goal for many DJs is to get noticed by celebrities who will hire them to scratch at their parties.
Play fan ambi - KRONIK020
Back inside, Dee's ready to get started. He's sequestered himself inside a cramped, blue-walled room. An industrial fan runs to keep the room from overheating.
AX[Kronik]: Right now, it's about to go down. About to give a little, a little something of Kronik right now. Ain't gonna be nothing too serious, but it's gonna be serious anyway. That's just how it is. (:12) KRONIK022 - 0:01
Play KRONIK022 starting at 0:30. Keep under narration, bringing it up to post at pauses.
Dee is in constant motion from the second he begins recording. His head nods to the beat he creates. When his hands aren't working the two turntables in front of him, they're adjusting knobs or stabbing at buttons that add sound effects to his mix. He seems to favor the sound of a gun cocking and firing. He also likes to use an air horn sound effect.
Play music for a couple seconds, then fade out over the next graf.
The artform that DJs practice has existed since the mid 20th century. In the forties and fifties, a French composer named Pierre Schaeffer began experimenting with 78-rpm records and the sounds he collected. He called his new musical style "musique concrete."
Play MZ000012 and fade down - it's some of Schaeffer's music
It's a little more abstract than what most modern DJs do, but the theory is the same - take existing music, mix it together, and play with how it sounds.
All music should be out at this point.
Around forty years later in New York City, DJs in the Bronx and Brooklyn began scratching records at parties. Its popularity grew as hip-hop culture spread. Over time, DJs refined scratching into the art it is today.
DJing became so popular that the International Music Products Association started to track sales of turntables along with other musical instruments. In 2005, the last year for which the data is available, would be DJs bought 123 million dollars of equipment.
But scratch artists have noticed that a lot of partygoers aren't as interested in turntablism as they were just a decade ago.
AX[Jung]: The whole art of DJing - it's, it's dying. It's absolutely dying. (:06) DJJUNG007-04 - 8:23
That's DJay Jung again. His name is actually Jason Jung, and he's been teaching at the Scratch Academy for about a year now. He's 27 and has been scratching for 14 years. During the summer, he DJs at events around the country for the automobile maker, Scion. He says music fans these days just don't appreciate good DJs.
AX[Jung]: They don't care if they're scratching, they don't care if they're, their mixing is on point. They just want to hear their Britney, they hear their Justin, they hear their Timbaland. That's all they care about. (:09) - DJUNG007 - 3:07
He says that DJing evolved, the fans didn't find the music as exciting as they once did. Also, DJs stopped innovating.
AX[Jung]: … and everybody started sounding the same. Nobody was original anymore, and it just got really boring. You know, like I get bored! And I know what's going on! (:11) - DJJUNG008 - 0:39
Jung says he believes turntablism will come back. But it's going to take a new batch of DJs with new ideas. It's also going to need more people who appreciate the skill involved in scratching. And that's where the Scratch Academy comes in.
Play from NEXTDAY010 - scratching tips between DJs
While Jung waits for one of his students to show up for a private lesson, he's getting tips on a new scratch move from another DJ.
Raise up level to catch criticism, then fade under again.
Three students, who are at the school to practice, stop and watch. Among them is Rodolfo Gillain Rossi, who's back to master the baby scratch he learned earlier in the week. He's stunned by the move that his teacher is trying out.
AX[RODOLFO]: That thing, that was sick! I don't even know what that means. [laughs] But I'm gonna learn that soon. (:07) NEXTDAY016 - 0:08
Rodolfo has gotten a glimpse of the heights he can reach with his scratching, but first he has to master the basics. He returns to his station and puts the needle back on the record. Jed Kim, Columbia Radio News.
Music at back end for 20 seconds