First off, allow me to define the domain of my thesis study known as turntablism. This musical art form developed through vibrant hip hop culture. This society thrives off four unique mediums of urban expression. They include the break dancer, the master of ceremony or M.C., the graffiti artist, and the turntablist. The sum of these expression equal to a rich civilization in every major city. The role of a turntablist is not only the gateway keeper of music, but a musician with an instrument. This is what defines the difference between a turntablist and DJ. The tablist plays the turntable like the guitarist playing the electric guitar. It is treated as an instrument for personal expression, while the DJ plays recordings on the turntable machine. It is the sequencing of rhythmic scratches, beat juggling, selecting samples, and body tricks that make up an individual turntablist. Hence, turntablists are truly unique musicians based upon their own personalities. But what happens when these individual musicians come together and form a small ensemble? The collaborative group energy spreads the idea of turntablism as an expression. This thesis paper attempts to academically develop a radio show based around the art form of turntablism.
Concept: My thesis goal aims to demonstrate the proof of concept that turntablism is the future for a universal creative expression. I plan to reach this proof of concept through the Little Fish Radio Show. This will be a full season, 12 radio shows, focusing on the art of turntablism. In this Little Fish Radio Show the agenda markets the future development of turntablism through distributing podcasts. These downloadable podcasts are radio friendly fifteen minutes shows of talk and music. The talk and music go hand in hand because the conversation assists in the method of how the audiences digests the content.
Concept (team): Currently I have divided the production roles of Little Fish Radio Show into four major roles which include the executive writer, main engineer, the host, and the turntablist DJ. I have hired myself to play all these roles in order to produce the show. The executive writer is responsible for the overall direction, how the show engages audiences, accepting feedback, and implementing a marketing approach. The main engineer is responsible for the audio quality of the production and uploading audio content onto turntabletalks.com. The host, “Little Fish,” is responsible for conducting interviews and eloquently lecturing of turntablism. This Little Fish mentality of teaching turntablism shows that I am confident to talk about it to the public. It is a positive way to exercise my points of views. I also play the turntablist because I have 10 years experience combined of DJing and turntablism as DJ Carol. Now I would like to develop a radio show system., Little Fish Radio to teach others what turntablism means to me and how it impacts our society.
Concept (form): My goal is to assist my audience to visualize the future through turntablism. This cannot happen without the views of others who influence the direction of turntablism. In doing do, I point my show subjects towards universal language such as turntable notations, Ms. Pinky related concepts and turntable portability. The first proof of concept is 12 radio shows. The first radio show is turntable transcription, following that is DJ Carol’s example of turntable transcription. The third show is the Jess Kriss, notating scratches in MaxMsp or visualizing it through ms pinky. The fourth show is the scratchaphone. The fifth show is Dainato Watanabe who does Ms. Pinky in Japan. The sixth show is DJ Carol’s example of Max Msp. The seventh show is Rob Rameriz who performs using Ms Pinky in NYC. The eigth show is another portable instrument. The ninth show is finding someone who uses Ms. Pinky for animation. The tenth show is DJ Carol’s using Ms. Pinky for animation. The eleventh show is an Ms. Pinky ensemble orchestration. The twelfth show is a Ms. Pinky live performance in Los Angeles show title: “The Little Fish Conclusion of Turntablism Future.” These 12 radio shows demonstrate my argument that “making turntablism your own style is the future.”
Audience: The primary targeted audience are current fans of turntablism music. I describe them as turntable enthusiasts which means they possess positive attitude towards turntablists and DJs. This audience is constantly seeking information on where to listen to these turntablists in a live setting and online as well. They enjoy being fed entertaining music that constantly changes sound textures in an urban style such as DJ battles and turntablist showcases. The beautiful thing is that this targeted audience tends to remain open minded towards a turntablist performance.
Setting: But when this audience cannot be there to physically experience a turntablist’s live performance, where else can this community engage amongst one another? The internet provides room for opportunities to network inside the turntablism communities. This lead me to own the domain name, www.turntabletalks.com, in order to provide an easy name that is what it is, talks about turntables. Here I can freely question and journalize what is interesting and what will set the drive of the content. I constantly ask the question, “how are artists, producers, story tellers using turntablism as a universal musical expression?” My production goals aim to yield how I exercise the proof of concept, that turntablism is a universal musical expression.
Impetus: I want to be part of the new direction of turntablism because it has always been a part of my life since 1996. That was the year I discovered turntablism. It was my first year in high school. I started to go to parties with friends who always knew the DJs. I got the chance try out the techniques turntables before I bought a pair. The first few years with my turntables were mostly in the bedroom, garage, and house parties. In the bedroom, I practiced mixing and some scratching. In my garage, I invited friends over. We practiced mixing records and break dancing. The music and vibe stimulated a few artists who practiced graffiti in their black books. I realized how I am able to connect to other beings through common activities. I digged deeper in media (Wild Style) and found out about the same activities I was hosting were reminisce of hip hop culture. This culture, embraces practioners of four elements, turntablism, dancing, graffiti and beat boxing, is part of my identity.
The deep connection I have with turntables grew over the years in undergraduate college. The first thing I wanted to be at K-Beach Radio at California Long Beach State. Here I hosted my own radio show titled, “Vitamin C” – Nutritional Beats. I gained experienced operating the main console. I took this experience and wanted to build upon it.
I started doing more mobile DJing 2000-2003. It was a grueling process but I loved the satisfaction I felt at the end. These mobile gigs included afternoon on campus music, frat parties, and Hollywood clubs. Preparing for these mobile gigs meant I had to maintenance my turntables and obtain new music. Every few months, I would open the bottom frame, by removing twenty or so screws, sauter off the old cables, add new cables, and tune up the pitch control. Then screw everything back together. This preparation process took one and half hours, but it increased my tactile sense towards the instrument.
Obtaining music was always fun. I joined Joint One Record Pool 2001. They just started this pool in downtown Los Angeles. Here was a great place to network with other DJs and producers. What I liked about being a part of Joint One was the support and advice of older DJs. Also, it was really interesting to check out other DJs and their music styles. Joint One was how I obtained updated radio play hits. Also, I spent time at record shopping around Los Angeles including Amobea, Fat Beats, and the regular swap meets.
My hardening truth of mobile DJ was physically wearing down on my body. It was not always glamorous and easy. The most physically demanding part was hauling pounds of equipment at the end of the night. This was why I loved the record pool so much. As a team of DJs, you look out and assist each other.
I worked on a few mixes, but my most successful mix was titled “Tu Amorette” which stands for your love. It was a metaphor for being in love with the music I played. The music was a combination of downtempo, underground hip hop, and trip hop. For a moment in life, I felt very close to the music in this mix. I could talk about each artists and why I like each song. I felt passionate about supporting the artists on this mix.
Why It Matters: I want to own my own work and take pride in it.
Design Questions The design questions are the following:
1. What will the next generations of turntablists produce?
2. Since it’s been proven the turntable can control how animations, videos, and linear motion media is played back, how does this effect our future?
3. How will Little Fish Radio impact turntable culture?
4. How does turntabletalks.com fit into my thesis picture?
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