Comment if you think this is awesome!

(Don’t expect to find ways to hook up your mixer to your amp and things like that, that’s what manuals are for!)

The sound doesn’t seem to ‘cut’

Several reasons why the effect you’re trying to reach sounds more like a fade than a cut are described below.

X-fader curve

You should put this on the sharpest possible. Read more about curve-control here.

Non-scratch x-fader

Some mixers do not offer curve control but still come equipped with x-faders suitable for scratching. However, most mixers do not. If there’s no curve-control on your mixer chances are that you got a x-fader that’s not able to give you sharp cuts.

Fader-bleeding

When your x-fader is all the way to one side you should be hearing just one line-channel. However, sometimes you can still hear the other channel, especially when you slightly touch the fader. This phenomenon is called bleeding. It normally occurs after a lot of usage. However, if your mixer’s got a faulty x-fader ,or just a bad one, then it could occur after a few hours of scratching (even with a brand-new x-fader!).

There’s no real way of preventing this since it is mostly due to contact-parts that have worn out. On the other hand you should always be sure not to let dust and other crap pile up inside your x-fader since this could speed up the process. Use an old towel to cover your mixer when you are not using it and, if you can get your hand on some, use compressed air to blow dust out of your fader once in a while.

The fader doesn’t glide smoothly

If you feel your line- or x-fader doesn’t glide as smoothly anymore as it did when it was new, here is what to do.

Get your hands on some fader-friendly lube. Cali-lube will do, or some gun or sowing-machine oil. You cannot use any lube or, even worse, oil, since they are not made for fast moving parts and will simply mess up your mixer. WD40 will eat any plastic parts in your fader so don’t use that!

Using a lot of lube to smoothen the way your x-fader glides might seem a good idea at first but it’s not. Dust gets stuck on excessive lube and will only make your x-fader run shittier in the long run. If you really want to re-lube your fader make sure you get all the dust and old lube of the gliding parts (you might have to open up your fader for this). When it’s all clean apply a moderate amount of lube. Done.

X-fader use in scratching

A lot of scratches need the x-fader to be moved back and forth over the cut-in point. The sound goes on and off. This is true for Hamster as well as normal-style scratching. The hand you use to move the x-fader is commonly referred to as the fader-hand. Because the distance the x-fader has to travel back and forth is relatively small, it is obvious that you shouldn’t move your whole arm. For this wears out your arm-muscles pretty quickly. A technique adopted by many turntablist is the pinching technique.

Pinching technique

Position your thumb on one end of the fader and your fingers on the other end. Now you ‘pinch’ the fader between your fingers and thumb. This allows you to move the fader by flicking your wrist. At first this might feel awkward and maybe it doesn’t go that fast at all. This is because the muscles that move your wrist are normally not used to moving fast. This x-fader technique is called ‘pinching’-style.

Whether you pinch the fader with all of your fingers or just a few doesn’t matter, as long as you are able to direct your wrist movement to your fader. Don’t focus to much on the pinching, it’s ok if your fingers and thumb loose contact with the fader. The key thing to keep in mind is that your thumb and fingers should work together. Depending on the scratch-style you adopted you’ll flick your wrist in the other direction to create silences, or ‘clicks‘, with your fader.

If you want your x-fader skills to progress you should bare in mind that the trick to fast muscle movement is relaxation as opposed to tensioning. Try to use short burst of muscle movement to control the fader and let your wrist relax in between. This allows you to move the x-fader at greater speeds for a prolonged period of time.

Faders on your mixer

Something that you will find on every mixer are faders. Faders come in different sizes and shapes. On a battle-mixer you’ll mostly find 3 faders:

• 2 line-faders (also called up-faders); these are placed vertically
• 1 x-fader (cross-fader); this one is placed horizontally

Fader knob

Because usage of especially the x-fader is much higher for the turntablist than for a normal DJ it is vital that the faders are durable. This is because wear and tear of faders occurs sooner when you’re scratching as opposed to normal mixing.

For a turntablist some models of faders are a pleasure to use whilst others simply do not suffice. Even amongst battle mixers and manufacturers the ‘feel’ of faders varies quite much. This is why ‘modding’ of faders has been done for ages already by turntablists. A few manufacturers have relized this and are now offering ‘high-end’ custom faders that can virtually be fitted into any mixer.

The Innofader and the Pro X Fade are amognst the popular ones in turntablist circles.

Innofader

Pro X Fade

The X-fader (cross-fader)

The most important part of the mixer for a turntablist is the x-fader. The x-fader gets its name because of the fact that it can ‘cross’ two channels. The most striking difference between the line-faders and the x-fader is that the x-fader is placed horizontally instead of vertically. It allows you to manipulate the volume of the signals by moving the fader from left to right and vice versa.

A difference that is not so obvious lies in the way the x-fader treats the signals. A line-fader fades in a signal when you move it from bottom to top. This is not the case with the x-fader. If the x-fader is placed all the way to the left, the left line-channel (often channel 1) will be audible. To only hear the right line-channel you have to slide the x-fader all the way to the right (note: if your DJ-setup is Hamster-style this will be different!). When you place the x-fader in the middle you will hear both channels at equal volume. All positions in between the ones discussed above will fade one of the channels and leave the other one at highest volume (fig.1).

Figure 1 - Normal X-fader curve

Curve-control

Something that is a vital option on a mixer for a turntablist is ‘curve-control’ for the x-fader, and preferably for the line-faders too. The curve-control allows you to make the ‘fade’ really short. Ideally you will not even noticeably hear the fade but it will sound like the signal is suddenly there (fig.2). As can be seen in figure 2, a sharp curve makes both signals audible over a much bigger length on your x-fader. This is a side effect, the main thing is that the curve is as sharp as possible.

Figure 2 - Sharp X-fader curve

The cut-in point

The position of the x-fader under point B (fig.3) is referred to as the cut-in point of your x-fader. This is the point where the signal becomes audible. When using a normal curve-setting on your x-fader (fig.1) the travel-distance to get to this point is really long. To get good sounding scratches this distance should be as small as possible, that’s why your curve-setting should always be at its sharpest.

Figure 3 - Cut-in point

If your mixer doesn’t offer curve-adjust for your x-fader then normally the curve will be like the one shown in figure 1. This is often the case with ‘dance’ mixers. You can pull off some scratches with these but you’ll never reach a high ‘cut’-speed. That’s why, as a turntablist, it’s best to use a battle-mixer that offers curve-adjust.

Line-fader

Sometimes the line-fader will be used during scratching as well. Because a line-fader usually has a normal curve-setting you will need a separate curve-adjust for these faders. It depends on the type of mixer you’re using if there’s curve-adjust for the line-faders as well as the x-fader.

Fader reverse-switch

A lot of battle-mixers are able to reverse the ‘fade’ of the line- or x-fader. With a line-fader up will become down and vice versa. Similarly with the x-fader, left will become right and right will become left. The x-fader reverse switch is often referred to as the ‘Hamster-switch’. The scratching style of a turntablist derives from the way the x-fader gets used: ‘Normal-style’ or ‘Hamster-style.

Some DJ’s prefer to scratch Hamster-style because it allows you to ‘bounce’ the x-fader of the fader-slot with your fingers instead of your thumb.

If your mixer’s not equipped with a Hamster-switch you can still scratch Hamster-style by setting up your mixer Hamster-style.

Phono-line switch

This switches between the phono and the line input on your mixer. A turntable will always be connected to the phono input. The line input is for other devices such as CD-players. If there’s no signal coming in on your line input you can use the P/L switch for the same goal as you use your x-fader: cutting the sound. Some mixers offer a way to position this switch in 8 different directions so you can adjust the switching direction to your own liking.

Mixers come in all shapes and sizes but for turntablism it is best to use specialized models called ‘battle’ mixers. Some aren’t specifically called that way but are still used for the same purpose: turntablism.

A typical good turntablism (or battle-mixer) offers at least the following:

• 2 line-faders with curve-adjust
• A long-lasting x-fader with curve-adjust
• A hamster-switch
• 2 phono/line switches
• 2-way Eq. adjust

In my opinion these are the bare essentials and should give you enough possibilities to start of with.

As with the turntable, for a good mixer you have to be willing to pay the cash as well! Most cheaper models do not offer curve-adjust on the faders. I have found that models that do not at least offer curve-adjust for the x-fader have a x-fader that is not suitable for scratching anyway.