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Rare Scratch Technique - Double Clover Tears


Vet

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The Double Clover Tear

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g4snpxxepxdztzt/The%20Double%20Clover%20Scratch.m4a?dl=0

 

So after much work/play with this technique I finally decided to 'post a fyle' of a new/rare scratch technique.

 

Well perhaps it isn't new (hence the potential 'rare' title) but I have searched around and in my 25 years scratching have not really heard anything like this...so let's begin shall we?

 

The 'traditional' Clover Tear was created/popularized by Dj QBert of course and is at this age of scratching, somewhat common. 2 forward tears immediately followed by 2 reverse tears.

 

TECHNIQUE AND APPLICATION/THOERY

 

The main differences in the Double Clover are simple and obvious...4 tears forward + 4 tears backward!

 

The catch is that it is virtually impossible to achieve this at speed with traditional tears as they are simply not varied or fast enough to achieve the sound in question.

 

The solution to this is by using 'hand waves' or as some here have called 'bumpy knuckles'. I find the terms 'hand waves' or 'wave tears' or perhaps even 'segmented waves' is a touch more appropriate as it is the oscillation (wave) that really defines each tear and gives an oscillation in pitch not otherwise achievable via traditional tear methods using hand/forearm in a push/pull method.

 

The audio file above starts with the traditional 2/2 clover tear...first I start slowly and then at speed...then quickly changes to 4/4 with some 3/4 and a couple of 2/4 just to show how variation applies to bpm and time signature depending on the beat/rhythm....then I ended with some random click placement just to illustrate some potential I find facinating...

 

4/4 clover tears = 8 sounds...depending on how many times you click...you can esentially have 16 sounds in less than one bar of a 4/4 measure!

 

What this means is that this is not simply ONE scratch but when used correctly is an system/style of scratching that allows for

immediate speed increases and relatively untapped scratch possibilities than I really thought were possible.

 

The most difficult part about this scratch was the forward waves moving seamlessly into the reverse waves...they feel un-natural until you start to think of this technique as ONE movement rather than 4 forward / 4 reverse. Having said that you may find that trying to get around learning the forward wave tears cannprove slightly more difficult due to not having platter resistance like you would doing this technique in reverse.

 

Anyhow, I just wanted to share what I've been messing with.

 

I will post a full video soon but thought this was a good start to get people going... :)

 

- V

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I want to add a shout out to DJ Focus as well...his ripples were part of the inspiration for this technique as I could never replicate ripples due to being a natural lefty and this tech although different falls under that family of techniques that texturize sound when scratching.

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Guest Symatic

yeah nice, i just listened. sounds liek youre starting forwards right?

 

Its taken me about a year or more to get bumpy wave tear knuckle flaps or whatever theyre called down at all, and i could NOT do them forwards till i went round to manipulates house and he just told me i could do em so i did haha some mad reverse psychology shit but it worked. but combining the fwd and bwd versions is tricky and i get what your saying about it being like one movement

 

the clicking thing definately has loads of potential man! i am not at the level where i can do independant movements on the fader that easily whilst waving, so i guess another year is in order :)

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Guest broke

Nice, Vet. I've already played around with this combo, but like Symatic before Manipulate worked his magic, I'm terrible at forward wave tears.

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I do hella waves these days in many combos. I don't have much video proof cuz I'm a hermit but I busted some in this jam in Chile. Various combos of 2 and 4 here, and I do some 6 forward earlier and a couple 8 forward at some point and fast reverse triplets. I don't bust any orbits, but I can.

https://youtu.be/5826ocFuKzE?t=2m51s

I kinda seem them like transforms now... Each tear/wave is just another click/note, I can keep going until I hit the needle, whatever number that is.

 

I gotta give credit to EricUK on waves/bumpy knuckles. I haven't seen him for a minute but when I cut with him at Super Scratch Sunday 2 years ago he was doing wave patterns that I'm just starting to get now like clovers twice as fast as the ones I do in that vid.

Enfoe + a lot of the french cats do a lot of wave combos too of course but some they seem to stick to 1 direction and don't mix it up with forwards and backs, so as you said there aren't tooo many examples of people doing orbits or waves in both directions.

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Yeah Sy, in that file I am starting on the forward but have also found I can start almost from any fwd/rev position now and end up 'orbiting' it in a way where it just circulates/oscillates.

 

The only thing I'm doing different than any examples I've heard is removing the pause between fwd/rev and also perhaps doing it at the speeds I've hit so far.

 

And yeah Vekked, there really aren't many examples that arent segmented out there...I've been doing variations of waves since early 2000's but not forwards in the way I do now until 2014 and not connected like I do them now.

 

Either way super useful in amyones scratch vocab...especially if you want a new challenge.

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Guest Symatic

nice vekked, are you doing some sort of Tabla scratch there as well? like Tableturnsmore's thing of using your fader hand to tap finger/thum on the record to create quick groups of pauses?

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Guest It'sPhilFromThursdays

Dope vet and dope vek :)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

This is super nice and Vekked thing was super nice, too. I was all like "8 fwd :o that seems like a hella loads!!" and then was doing like 11 or so fwd when i practiced earlier, not as nice i expect though. Mine aren't a wibbly as Vets, they are more hard tears so i probs need to up my tech. I'm pretty good at going fwd and bwd at will with no pauses tho if do say so my sen.

 

I can do this exact tear pattern with my left handed woodpeckers and, though not quite as well, with my one handed fwd/bwd hydros, too. Wooo, aren't I a big time gloatist! Ooo, look at me, i'm the bestist! Etc.

 

Also Sy, isn't he just doiing really nice tap tears, it doesn't look like he's using his thumb to me, but i might be a wrongist. Solve this mystery Jake!

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nice vekked, are you doing some sort of Tabla scratch there as well? like Tableturnsmore's thing of using your fader hand to tap finger/thum on the record to create quick groups of pauses?

hahaha table scratch, never thought of that. Mine is just simple pats with my fingers, TTM's scratch is like a faderless euro scratch... that vid is probs close to the fastest I can do that and TTM's scratch is probably double that speed still lol

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Dope vet and dope vek :)

 

 

Also Sy, isn't he just doiing really nice tap tears, it doesn't look like he's using his thumb to me, but i might be a wrongist. Solve this mystery Jake!

 

Tigerstyle does them with his thumb too. And some people use the bend up to create the "click" and some use the bend down to create it... They're all variations of the same technique but I think for this scratch it's especially dependent on your hand size/finger length etc to see what ergonomically makes the most sense. I have tiny baby hands and Vet's fingers are each 10 inches +, so if we do the exact same movement it's probs gonna sound/look different by nature.

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Hahahaha @ 10 inch fingers...Vekked brings up a really valid point albeit jokingly...finger length and more so.. flexibility...are really what gives the uniqueness of each persons wave tears.

 

For years I have actually done a bit of a regiment to increase flexibility in my hands and to ward off RSI's...I really credit any dexterity I have to keeping that up for 20 yearss.

 

Perhaps a tutorial video is in order to explain all this hand flappin madness!

 

Will try to post something later this week.

 

- V

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I do the 4 fwd/4 back tear/wave thing too and a few variations to create different transform like effects, as Vekked said :)

Jon, can you post an acapella clip of how yours sound?

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Guest broke

Sy - what was the change in approach that helped you clean up your forward wave tears? Or was it literally just Manipulate saying "you can do it"? I feel like the first half of my forward wave tear is barely audible but the second syllable (if you like) is much more pronounced... but I'm doing the same hand movement that I would so going backwards.

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Don't wanna be a killjoy here but I'd definitely recommend doing some kind of stretches before really experimenting with this stuff...It's probably my weak ass skinny wrists but I really damaged mine by overdoing it trying to get the Deska whip tear sound thing he does so well....Still to this day I have to be careful about overdoing it/stretch first and that was years ago.

 

For years I have actually done a bit of a regiment to increase flexibility in my hands and to ward off RSI's...I really credit any dexterity I have to keeping that up for 20 yearss.

 

Vet don't want to de-rail the thread but those flexibility exercises could really help me as I haven't really been able to get any help from various doctors etc. Would you mind posting a few you recommend sometime or a link to them, perhaps in another thread?

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Thanks for the mentions Vet. It's got the classic Ripple sound to me for sure, I think I understand now what you meant by waving. I originally called it waving myself :-)

Not going to get into the usual 10 page post but imho, it's coo you are bringing the sound/technique to forefront and made it easier for

lefties since they took over the block. There is still some untapped potential :-)...Peace...

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@Broke

 

The one thing for me that really made all the difference in that clear annunciation of the start of a forward wave tear was adding a deliberate push on the initial forward with your hand and forearm like you would with the OG 2/2 clover.

 

Starting this way gives you the velocity to carry you through the pattern...of course since velocity = pitch here...that would by why the first note(s) get lost to the ear.

 

I would also suggest to anyone working on them and the double clover to start your initial forward just BEFORE the sample (ahhh for example)...that extra space helps emphasize the sharper beginning of ahhh, gives a moment for velocity of your forward wave to build and also helps add SYMMETRY to the 4/4 double clover...

 

If you think of the double clover as:

 

12344321

 

The 4 in this sequence needs movement forward after its note to make the transition to reverse, seamless...so after your 4th note of your forward is where the velocity from your initial PUSH forward (like the forward push in the 2/2 clover) will help carry the pattern with some practice.

 

Forgot to add one more thing... depending on the tempo/signature of a beat you cut to...3/3 waves are often better suited and slightly easier to do albeit with a different cadence than the 4/4.

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