This week’s DJ Skill Sessions is another great submission from our tutor Carlo Atendido, who hits the turntables to provide a Rekordbox and Pioneer DJM-S9 routine harking back to the glory days of hip-hop with some well chosen acapellas, but with a thoroughly modern feel thanks to his choice of backing beats. Look out for:
- Chirp & flare scratches – Carlo is a consummate scratch DJ and you don’t need to be to do routines that contain a lot of these skills – but for those of you who are interested, here he’s using chirp and flare scratches intensively
- Key matching – even with hip hop, it pays to keep an eye on your keys – Carlo does a great job of that here
- Looping – A fundamental in today’s digital DJ sets, allowing you to live remix with ease
- Dropping “before the one” – Carlo loves to scratch with a sound a beat before the “one” beat, and mix so tracks line up when he finally lets the music play
- Quick mixing – This is obviously a high-octane routine showing skills off and you wouldn’t DJ like this all night, but some of the ways he quick mixes from deck to deck are worth noting
- Instant doubles – notice how he “instant doubles” from one deck to the other so he can scratch in his favoured deck
- “Hip hop flavoured” not “hip hop” – There are actually a few different styles going on here, but the hip hop acapellas hold it all together and give it its flavour
Like this? Need any help working out what’s going on? Got anything you’d like us to include in these routines, or any gear you’d like to see them on? Let us know below…