We Quizzed DMC Champ, Jon1st, About Serato Versus Vinyl

Ahead of the DMCs this Saturday we caught up with champ scratcher Jon 1st AND he gave us a very special mixtape.

September 25, 2013, 10:00am

Ultimate turntablism event, the DMCs, returns Saturday 5th October at IndigO2 for a battle to the death. LMAO, not really, more like a battle of really nice guys playing great music and nailing lots of tricks on the decks that I'd immediately break my wrists trying to replicate. To get everyone lathered up in preparation, I rang up current DMC online champ, Jon1st, to pick his brains about scratching nerds and hip-hop's enduring love of vinyl.

Soooo how are you?

Really good thanks. Over the last week or so I've mainly been preoccupied with practicing for next week's DMC competition. Even though the routine I'll be performing is one I've been developing and practicing for a few months, I find that I have to constantly keep it in my muscle memory to be able to perform it accurately and under pressure. I imagine it’s a bit like learning and performing a complex dance routine where you have to remember your steps- I find I have to constantly remind my hands how to perform a routine, even though I know what it sounds and looks like in my head. At this stage in the run up to the competition I'm going to be repeating the routine over and over again to make my performance as tight as I can for the night.

If you do leave it like a week, do you feel a bit rusty?

Outside of competitions, where I'm not learning a set routine I'm usually ok, but if I don't practice a routine for a competition for a while it will take me an hour or so to get really back on form. So, at the moment I'm trying to stay on top of practicing, as the DMC world competition is something I've always wanted to compete in and it means a lot to me to finally be able to.

I bet. What are the dangers, do you ever get like hand cramp or anything like that?

Haha, if you really push yourself and don't watch what you're doing to your wrists you can potentially do damage to your wrists and forearms. I've heard horror stories of DJs developing carpal tunnel and RSI from intense practicing! I think preventing it is all down to having good posture and knowing when to take a break if you do feel your muscles straining. Fortunately (touch wood!) I've never had any problems from it!

Strong wrists. Do you have a warm up routine before you go on?

Apart from giving myself a couple of moments to compose myself, I'm afraid I don't, but maybe I should start one!

Sorry if that’s ruined a part of your interview!

So with the DMCs has it become more precious to you? As in, nowadays pretty much anyone can say they’re a DJ?

That's a really interesting question. I’m a club DJ first and foremost these days, and I do see newer DJs making the transition from practicing at home to playing out in clubs a lot quicker than when I started, especially due to software being really accessible and affordable now. While I'm a fan of both technically minded DJs and DJs who are purely selectors, I think having something like DMC that showcases and celebrates technical and progressive DJing skills is really important. It's a reminder of what can be done with the equipment and also gives technically minded DJs a platform to perform, which is really important at a time where, like you say, it's becoming even easier to get into DJing. In terms of anyone being able to say they're a DJ I'd like to think that the people who put the hours in, whether they're wanting to be a really individual club DJ or a technically minded turntablist, are going to eventually get much more recognition.

On one hand it’s really good that it’s so accessible, but then do you think a DJ should be able handle every aspect? Or are you just happy it’s going forward?

I see both sides of that argument. I don't think music should be elitist; at the end of the day DJing is about sharing music you love with other people. That’s what it should be about primarily, so the fact that more people are doing this it is great. I think it's the DJ's choice whether he or she wants to have every corner of DJing (digging, mixing skills, scratching, production etc) covered or just focus on one or two things- it's down to their personal taste. I personally aim to be as balanced a DJ as I can be, but that's because every aspect of DJing fascinates me, I love discovering new music and sharing it with people at venues, I love seeing DJs come up with new scratches and tricks and I love finding ways to blend records together etc. As long as the DJ is doing what they want to be doing rather than what they think they should be doing in order to fit in, I respect them. I think there's room for all sorts of DJs.

Diplomatic answer!

The vibe the DJ creates is what should be first and foremost for me and then everything else is extra. Scratching and complicated mixing can add to or be part of that vibe but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea and not something everyone wants to pursue.

With the DMCs, is it nice to see that nerdy, techy side kept alive?

Definitely because it’s a celebration of that side of culture. And even though not all the DJs who are in the competition play hip-hop in their routines, the techniques they are using are largely taken from or developed from hip-hop DJing, so the competition also doubles as a celebration of the technical side of hip-hop Djing and I think that’s really important. It’s something that's not so apparent in today’s music culture, so it's really good that it's given a platform.

Yeah, I was gonna ask, that kind of culture –scratching and turntabling and that kind of thing – has taken a bit of a backseat. Where is its place now?

I was actually thinking about this earlier just in case you asked me. I don't think scratching has dropped off in anyway. It's still around and a lot of DJs still incorporate that skill set in their DJ gigs, I saw D-Styles have a whole club headnodding to very technical scratching at The Village Underground recently and DJs like Kentaro still draw big crowds to their shows. There's also a few smaller events such as the Community Scratch Games that have loyal followings. Some groups have had even had crossover success too ( C2C from France, for example). The level at the top (especially in freestyling) is really strong too. However, it's definetly still an underground scene and I think due to the way mainstream hip-hop has changed in style over the years, scratching has been left out stylistically from a lot of the releases and live shows of modern hip-hop and rap acts.

Yup. Then there's stuff like Joey Bada$$ that has had younger generations looking back to boom-bap's golden age and those elements of hip-hop…

Yeah, definitely. Shiftee, a former 2 x DMC World Champion, featured on a Danny Brown song not too long ago, for example, so maybe there is still a place for it. I think all it takes are a couple of tracks like that to influence a new artist to take an interest in scratching and combine it with the music they're already making or what those around them are making, which will hopefully in turn inspire more new artists to get into scratching too. I think there's room for scratching in all styles of hip-hop production too, not just nostalgic music. The scratch scene has never been linked with one set style of music, of course its origins are in hip hop, but turntablists have always scratched over the type of music they like to listen to, whether it's nostalgic 90s hip hop, funk, classic electro, beats, footwork etc.

Right. So where do you stand on the whole Serato versus vinyl debate?

I’m very diplomatic about it. I play out using Serato Scratch Live, but I still buy vinyl. I buy a lot of MP3s for DJing and for general listening but I make a point of buying all my favourite ones that I know I’ll be listening to for months and years to come on vinyl. There’s part of me that still wants to develop a physical record collection.

Why do you think that is? Is it just having a physical copy, or just habit?

I think a bit of both. Like, right now I’m in my bedroom, which doubles as my practice room and I have all my records here. Whenever I get up, I have this big IKEA unit of records in front of me and I guess over the years the amount of records has got bigger and bigger. Maybe it’s a collectors thing, I just like adding to it. It's something to share with someone someday.

A kind of legacy, that’s true. All I collect is dust.

These days I only buy records I really, really love, so every record in my collection means something different to me. Maybe one day I can give that to someone who’s never heard the songs I own, and they might be able to find the same enjoyment in those records that I do. Of course you could do exactly the same with MP3s, but there is something more tangible with records, and whereas I could send that collection of MP3s to several of my friends if I wanted to, I could only give that record collection in its entirety to one person.

So would you say you're a crate digger?

When I lived in London, I was very lucky to be getting into DJing and buying records before Serato Scratch Live was released, so there were a lot of record shops about than there are now. This was before online record shops became really popular, so you had to hunt down records you wanted physically. I loved the little record hunts you could have searching around various shops until you found the record that you had heard at a club or on the radio. This meant that each record in your collection would have a story behind it and you'd be able to say where you found it. I still have plenty of records where I can look at it and think “I found this one by chance at Mr Bongos” or "this one took me ages to find but I eventually found a copy at a second hand record shop in Soho'. I think that sort of physical connection is lost a bit with buying MP3s, but of course the tracks you buy digitally are still going to have stories of their own, like where you first heard them, the reaction where you first played them out etc.

It’s really interesting to me how people are still interested in vinyl, like, people in their early 20s, I wonder how long that can go on, if that still has another couple of generations left in it.

Yeah, it’s an interesting one, I hope it’s an interest that continues like you say. At the moment it still seems fairly healthy, so fingers crossed!

ANYWAY, at the DMCs what is your plan for the night? Is it quite competitive on the day?

The competitors are really competitive with one another as everyone is trying to one up each other with their techniques and ideas. However, as it’s quite a niche scene, everyone generally has a big respect for one another, we all respect the hours that each has taken to improve their skills that year .

So there’s no fear someone is gonna smash your elbow in Nancy Kerrigan style?

Ha! No one’s going to hijack another person’s decks before their set or smash their records or anything like that. There’s definitely competitiveness for sure, everyone wants to win and everyone has been practicing just as hard as each other. One of my close friends who also battles practices pretty much solidly nearly every day of the year and I expect a lot of the other guys in the competition will have been doing the same.

Haha, like turntablist tricks nerds. So who are your favourites, the guys you really admire in that field?

In terms of battle DJs, there's a lot but I’d say some of my favourites over the years include Kentaro, DJ Craze, Vajra, Muzzell, the Beat Junkies and the X-Ecutioners, who were the guys who got me into it. I’m going to be battling one of X-Ecutioners in the competition actually, DJ Precision. He’s probably my favourite out of the current generation of battle DJs. He’s a really solid beat juggler and always comes with really inventive and funky patterns. I’m a bit nervous about battling him but at the same time I'm also excited as a fan to see what he comes up with as I love his sets.

It must be a kind of weird quandary, to be excited but then also be like “I MUST BEAT YOU”.

Ha! Yeah, exactly, I'm excited to see them perform some sick, inventive sets but at the same time I want to have been able to one up them with my own material!

Amen to that. Thanks Jon1st!